What Makes a Christian College Education Truly Christian
Other than the teachers and environment, a Christian college education isn’t that different from a secular college education. Or is it?
To avoid the risk of being groomed from their faith, many believers opt for a Christian college education. Usually, they look for a school that is not just Christian in name but has Christian teachers, extracurricular spiritual events, periodic classroom devotionals and prayer before class. That way they can grow spiritually in a Christian atmosphere and avoid the attacks of a secular school.
But that’s not what a true Christian education is. It takes more than a sprinkling of Christianity to prepare students for spiritual success. They need biblical worldview training.
Contrary to popular belief, no subject is neutral — not even a language class! How subjects are taught is just as important as who teaches. That means curriculum and teaching in Christian education must be rooted in biblical reality. In fact, every part of the student experience — including all classes — needs to be understood through, assessed by and produce a biblical worldview.
In a world filled with outright lies and subtle deceptions, the next generation of Christians needs truth — core biblical doctrine and application of creational norms, fallen corruption and redemptive responses. Students need specific skills to identify biblically grounded principles, concepts, contexts and commands that demonstrate God’s purposeful design and governance of creation as He intended it to function; skills to evaluate the strategies used to distort, eliminate or contradict God’s design and governance; and skills to respond biblically to the strategies of fallen corruption regarding God as the final reference point.
A true Christian college education not only teaches those biblical worldview skills but helps students develop them in four ways:
- Diving deep into the subject matter without diversions.
- Providing opportunities for assessment so students can practice worldview evaluation.
- Pushing students to explore more complex and sophisticated ideas about the subject matter.
- Allowing for cross-pollination among diverse subject matter.
Only then will believers get an education that has everything it can give for their vocational and spiritual success.
As discussed by Renton Rathbun on The Steve Noble Show on July 21
