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Kingdom education: God's plan for educating future generations
Book by Schultz, Glen
Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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September 16, 2008
Excellent. We as parents have a huge responsibility to raise our children teaching them about the Lord. A big portion of their lives are spent in school. A child's teacher not only influences their academic learning, but inevitably portrays their world view to the students. We need to make sure our child's education at school, at home, and at church are filled with those with a God-centered world view. This book is not solely homeschool biased/focused, but just raises wonderful points and makes you take a look at your own family.
June 11, 2011
I had to read this course for a leadership class I'm taking for my doctorate at a Protestant University. I don't think I fully understood the term Protestants vs Catholics until I read this book. I am a public school teacher, deeply committed to my faith, to God, and His word. Yet, the author dismantles public education; describing it as an organization that now promotes atheism, tolerance (apparently this is bad), an "anything goes attitude", and is responsible for the growth of teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, and every other ailment one can come up with. The demise of society began when the Bible was taken out of the public school system. Apparently, before this happened, people were living the ultimate Christian lives. I tried to wrap my head around this notion considering what I know about the history of the United States. Fact: this country was founded on SLAVE labor and used the Bible to support the use of enslaved people! Fact: Until the 1950's, Blacks and Hispanics were not even allowed in the same schools as White so-called Christians. Fact: Not all Christians are PROTESTANT, and it is frustrating that the entire book was written from that perspective, leaving me with a lot of contradictions I wanted to address. I'm sure it was a great read for many protestants and evangelists, but it was a disheartening read for me. The book claims that the reason over 70% of young people leave the church is because of the secularism they were exposed to during their experience in public education. I've read several studies, and interestingly enough, the major reason young people leave the church is because they see HYPOCRISY within the Christian community they are part of and are looking for authenticity in their faith. I'll be the first to admit that our country is in peril, but to blame public education for it is ludicrous. How about you start by looking at yourself in the mirror. Are you living a Christian life? Are you teaching your children how to live a Christian life? If so, they should be wise enough not be swayed by the EVIL curriculum and "non-Christian" teachers who are failing to uphold students to any kind of standard (please note the facetious tone).
June 9, 2010
Argh...
September 28, 2012
Dr. Schultz's work is pretty good, though he does rehash the same ideas again and again before the book is over, not saying too much new by then. His main premise is clearly true: genuine education comes when all aspects of reality are unite for the common goal. In his case, he argues for school, church, and family to be united in what the kids are being taught and why. Again, hard to disagree with him on this (from a Christian perspective, of course - certainly other worldviews, such as Secular Humanism and Marxist-Leninism, would very much be in favor of eliminating church and family influence on children "education"). It's not a new idea, nor was it new when Cardinal Newman encouraged us to do it a century earlier, but Dr. Schultz is not claiming to be a revolutionary. He reminds us he is simply urging a return to what God has urged for millennia (why does this Goodreads program think "millennia" is spelled incorrectly?). It's a pretty fast read, on the whole, which is helpful considering the somewhat belabored premise. Perhaps the 3rd edition is more trim. If I were forced to comment on a negative aspect of this book, it would be Dr. Schultz's somewhat bizarre treatment of "which is the best kind of school?" type of question. Throughout the work, he emphasizes, as just mentioned, the need for unanimity among home, school, and church concerning educational paradigms, curricula, and general "philosophy of education" topics. He hesitates to overtly denounce public schools, since he fears alienating Christians working at public schools as if they are somehow Vichy educators - he wants them to stay where they have been called (assuming they have been called there - I'm not saying they haven't been) and not to feel bad for being lights in a near-pitch dark land. Yet, how could public school education ever align with the Biblical educational goals of a Christian worldview? In its present American form ... it won't. Dr. Schultz clearly knows this, but he never admits it here. He never outright urges parents to send their kids to a Christian school, nor does he urge parents to home school their kids; he simply says "make sure all educational outlets align" (several times throughout the book). For those who have never thought of this, Dr. Schultz presents a nice introduction to this important issue. For those who are involved in education in one of these venues, this may be a nice encouraging read.
July 14, 2019
A thought-provoking book on educating the next generation from a Christian perspective.
In Section 1, Schulz defines Kingdom Education as “a life-long, Bible-based, Christ-centred process of leading a child to Christ, building a child up in Christ and equipping a child to serve Christ.” He reminds us that God cares about educating the next generation. In Deuteronomy 6, the two most important things for an adult Israelite were to love God and to teach their children to do the same. Our goals are to lead our children to Christ, to build them up in Christ and present them mature in Christ.
Schulz gives some very useful principles that can guide us as we think about kingdom education. The education of children and youth:
1. is the primary responsibility of parents
2. is a 24-hours-a-day 7-days-a-week process that continues from birth to maturity
3. must have as its primary goals the salvation and discipleship of the next generation
4. must be based on God’s Word as absolute truth
5. must hold Christ as preeminent in all of life
6. must not hinder the spiritual and moral development of the next generation
7. if and when it is delegated must be done by teachers chosen with the utmost care to ensure they follow these principles
8. results in the formation of a belief system or worldview that will be patterned after the belief systems or worldviews of the teacher
9. must lead to true wisdom by connecting all knowledge to a biblical worldview frame of reference
10. must have a view of the future that includes the eternal perspective
All education has some goal or end in mind. Every educational model springs from some image of the future. A wrong image will betray our youth. Secular outcomes in our age will include tolerance (meaning acceptance and celebration of all choices), relativism and subjectivism. Obviously, these are not Christian goals. Christian goals are to know Jesus as Saviour and to be continually transformed into his image and be equipped to serve him in everyday life. Schulz shows how our concepts of reality and truth will shape our beliefs. Our beliefs shape our values, and our values drive our actions. Thus education really matters. The base we build determines the life we live.
As Jesus teaches in Luke 6:40, a child fully trained will be just like his teacher. This means that the worldview of the teacher insofar as he is an effective teacher will gradually condition the worldview of the pupil. A teacher does this in the content he presents, in his communication (how he says it), and his conduct (how he lives).
Section 2 focuses on the role of the home in the education of children. Here Schulz describes children as God’s homework assignment for parents. This was a real challenge. From birth onwards, we as parents have one goal – the passing on of faith to the hearts of our children. Ultimately this is all that matters – not what opportunities we gave them while growing up, not whether they ended up with high paying jobs, but whether they know, love and serve God.
How does a parent find help with their task? In chapter 7 Schulz gives some biblical principles for guiding parents in selecting help. Psalm 1 suggests that continuous listening to the advice of the wicked causes us to eventually take the path of unrighteousness. Psalm 10:4 tells us to avoid the proud and those who do not seek God. If these principles are true for adults how much more do they apply to children? Ultimately we as parents will be held responsible for the job we do, so we ought to avoid turning over our children to ungodly influences.
This brings us to section 3 the role of the church in kingdom education. Since the Church has been tasked with the Great Commission – the conversion, identification with Christ and teaching to produce disciples, churches must maintain a priority position in any educational efforts. From my experience, this is not the case. Churches are often concerned about evangelising outside the church (which of course is essential!) but forget one of the most important avenues for church growth – children of believers. Here Schulz highlights some statistics that show only 30% of youth in the church take ownership of their faith by the time that they have graduated high school. Many leave the church during college. Schulz suggests that part of the problem here is that students are developing a secular worldview as they grow up and the Sunday model of church is not enough to undo what is done during the week.
In section 4 Schulz moves on to investigate the role of the school. In the early days of the States schools were begun in order to support the church and home in instilling biblical values and beliefs. Now, however, the emphasis is in instilling the values of the state. Children’s minds are cast in a secular world. Schulz points out that there can be no such thing as a valueless education, the only question is what the values are. Unfortunately, it seems secular humanists and atheists have understood this a lot better than most Christians. They have seen children as their opportunity to shape society. There are a number of fairly scary quotes from the past demonstrating this.
Horace Mann the father of American public schooling wrote about parents giving hostages to their cause. C.F. Potter, a signatory to the original Humanist Manifesto wrote, “Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism and every American public school is a school of humanism. What can the theistic Sunday Schools, meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?” There are plenty of other quotes along this line which should hopefully convince thoughtful readers that even if they don’t consider schooling in this light, enemies of the faith certainly do.
In this section, Schulz also shows how schools can be a part of the church model. He argues that church leaders and members need to break out of the box that defines the church and the Christian school as separate entities. He also has some interesting counters to common arguments against churches supporting their own Christian school.
The final section is on the future. There is a rather helpful section on dualism which he explains as people living part of their day under a man-centred worldview and part of it under a God-centred worldview. This is indeed one of the biggest issues in my experience. People tend to compartmentalise faith, and education is seen as a neutral enterprise. Here a quote by Walter Ediger is pertinent. “It is impossible to separate God’s world from God. How then is it possible to teach about God’s world and leave him out?” God’s rule extends to everything, and that includes education. The average Christian is not thinking biblically. Christians as a whole in the West have become cultural imitators rather than originators. We tend to view education according to human traditions and the principles of this world rather than according to Christ and his word. This needs to change.
In Section 1, Schulz defines Kingdom Education as “a life-long, Bible-based, Christ-centred process of leading a child to Christ, building a child up in Christ and equipping a child to serve Christ.” He reminds us that God cares about educating the next generation. In Deuteronomy 6, the two most important things for an adult Israelite were to love God and to teach their children to do the same. Our goals are to lead our children to Christ, to build them up in Christ and present them mature in Christ.
Schulz gives some very useful principles that can guide us as we think about kingdom education. The education of children and youth:
1. is the primary responsibility of parents
2. is a 24-hours-a-day 7-days-a-week process that continues from birth to maturity
3. must have as its primary goals the salvation and discipleship of the next generation
4. must be based on God’s Word as absolute truth
5. must hold Christ as preeminent in all of life
6. must not hinder the spiritual and moral development of the next generation
7. if and when it is delegated must be done by teachers chosen with the utmost care to ensure they follow these principles
8. results in the formation of a belief system or worldview that will be patterned after the belief systems or worldviews of the teacher
9. must lead to true wisdom by connecting all knowledge to a biblical worldview frame of reference
10. must have a view of the future that includes the eternal perspective
All education has some goal or end in mind. Every educational model springs from some image of the future. A wrong image will betray our youth. Secular outcomes in our age will include tolerance (meaning acceptance and celebration of all choices), relativism and subjectivism. Obviously, these are not Christian goals. Christian goals are to know Jesus as Saviour and to be continually transformed into his image and be equipped to serve him in everyday life. Schulz shows how our concepts of reality and truth will shape our beliefs. Our beliefs shape our values, and our values drive our actions. Thus education really matters. The base we build determines the life we live.
As Jesus teaches in Luke 6:40, a child fully trained will be just like his teacher. This means that the worldview of the teacher insofar as he is an effective teacher will gradually condition the worldview of the pupil. A teacher does this in the content he presents, in his communication (how he says it), and his conduct (how he lives).
Section 2 focuses on the role of the home in the education of children. Here Schulz describes children as God’s homework assignment for parents. This was a real challenge. From birth onwards, we as parents have one goal – the passing on of faith to the hearts of our children. Ultimately this is all that matters – not what opportunities we gave them while growing up, not whether they ended up with high paying jobs, but whether they know, love and serve God.
How does a parent find help with their task? In chapter 7 Schulz gives some biblical principles for guiding parents in selecting help. Psalm 1 suggests that continuous listening to the advice of the wicked causes us to eventually take the path of unrighteousness. Psalm 10:4 tells us to avoid the proud and those who do not seek God. If these principles are true for adults how much more do they apply to children? Ultimately we as parents will be held responsible for the job we do, so we ought to avoid turning over our children to ungodly influences.
This brings us to section 3 the role of the church in kingdom education. Since the Church has been tasked with the Great Commission – the conversion, identification with Christ and teaching to produce disciples, churches must maintain a priority position in any educational efforts. From my experience, this is not the case. Churches are often concerned about evangelising outside the church (which of course is essential!) but forget one of the most important avenues for church growth – children of believers. Here Schulz highlights some statistics that show only 30% of youth in the church take ownership of their faith by the time that they have graduated high school. Many leave the church during college. Schulz suggests that part of the problem here is that students are developing a secular worldview as they grow up and the Sunday model of church is not enough to undo what is done during the week.
In section 4 Schulz moves on to investigate the role of the school. In the early days of the States schools were begun in order to support the church and home in instilling biblical values and beliefs. Now, however, the emphasis is in instilling the values of the state. Children’s minds are cast in a secular world. Schulz points out that there can be no such thing as a valueless education, the only question is what the values are. Unfortunately, it seems secular humanists and atheists have understood this a lot better than most Christians. They have seen children as their opportunity to shape society. There are a number of fairly scary quotes from the past demonstrating this.
Horace Mann the father of American public schooling wrote about parents giving hostages to their cause. C.F. Potter, a signatory to the original Humanist Manifesto wrote, “Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism and every American public school is a school of humanism. What can the theistic Sunday Schools, meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?” There are plenty of other quotes along this line which should hopefully convince thoughtful readers that even if they don’t consider schooling in this light, enemies of the faith certainly do.
In this section, Schulz also shows how schools can be a part of the church model. He argues that church leaders and members need to break out of the box that defines the church and the Christian school as separate entities. He also has some interesting counters to common arguments against churches supporting their own Christian school.
The final section is on the future. There is a rather helpful section on dualism which he explains as people living part of their day under a man-centred worldview and part of it under a God-centred worldview. This is indeed one of the biggest issues in my experience. People tend to compartmentalise faith, and education is seen as a neutral enterprise. Here a quote by Walter Ediger is pertinent. “It is impossible to separate God’s world from God. How then is it possible to teach about God’s world and leave him out?” God’s rule extends to everything, and that includes education. The average Christian is not thinking biblically. Christians as a whole in the West have become cultural imitators rather than originators. We tend to view education according to human traditions and the principles of this world rather than according to Christ and his word. This needs to change.
August 24, 2013
Every paragraph infuriated me by insulting my Catholic values and views on an inclusive culture. The author of this book, seems to propose that "Christians" segregate themselves from secular society and stand in judgement of anyone that doesn't subscribe to their convoluted mentality. I have always considered myself to be Christian, but after reading this book, I stand (gratefully) corrected.
August 29, 2012
For me, as a homeschooling mom, it is an absolute MUST READ! Challenges your ideas of homeschooling as well as your thoughts on the public school system. It just shares biblical truths regarding educating our children and many statistics. Loved the book and read it in two days.
December 9, 2020
We need more good Christian schools. This author has helped me understand more deeply the responsibility that is laid upon parents to train up their children in the ways of Jesus Christ. Christian schools can be a big blessing in supporting and serving parents in providing "Kingdom Education."
July 29, 2019
I read this last year during the 2018-19 school year. I have learned much from this book, both as a teacher and as a human being. Highly recommend this to all Christian schools!
January 18, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed the content of this book. My desire and passion to raise my children according to TRUTH has been revived. The oppressive nature of the world to take my children's hearts and minds drives me to pursue God's best for them while they are still under my roof, and to give them every opportunity and tool available so I can live up to my end of the parenting mandate as prescribed by God.
I have no greater joy than to know that my children are walking according to truth. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the way the TRUTH and the life!
I have no greater joy than to know that my children are walking according to truth. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the way the TRUTH and the life!
July 5, 2019
The principles were okay, but the application half was lacking, and more time needed to be spent on defining Christianese and explaining why certain secular elements are incompatible with Christianity than repeating the same point multiple times. I'm a little disappointed, especially since it starts out being very clear in the opening principles and making initial connections between some elements/subjects and Biblical principles. I'm a product of Christian education and think this.
July 29, 2021
I wish this book had been available when my children were school age. As a teacher, this is one book that I want at my fingertips, to read and reread each year before school begins and to reference throughout the school year.
December 17, 2021
Admittedly, read for our church's Christian school. Has helpful thoughts, but too model-focused for my liking.
August 7, 2023
A tool for parents to consider education options and a reminder of why I choose Christian education as a way to spend the time and talents God had given me.
February 23, 2024
I didn't agree with all of the arguments in this book, but it provided a logical perspective on education for children.
December 17, 2024
It was okay. Good perspective but very repetitive
February 16, 2014
This book is a bit redundant and I don't agree with everything in it. However, it did precisely what I always hope reading will do. It has messed with me. It provoked me to think and question how churches need to come alongside parents as well as how I need to change my parenting. It provoked me to think about how to challenge parents to consider serious biblical instruction that we could offer after school for public school students. I know it is a longshot, but that is where my mind is running after completing the book. Though he doesn't say it out right, the way the author lays out the decision on how and where to educate your children, I don't think that he would ever recommend public school (He sees the decision of a believer to work in a public school as a different matter.) I'm not ready to write off the public school, however, I am now convinced of this: we parents are fools to take a hands off approach to the education of our kids. This is true in any environment, but is hugely true in the public school when you have little say over who teaches your child and little opportunity to evaluate their character. Education is not morally neutral. When I compare this to the huge importance mentors have on young people, being one of the significant keys to addressing the problem of youth falling away from the church, this becomes urgent. Urgent! I wish I had read this book when my older children were young. Though my adult children are doing well now, my laissez-faire approach to their education hurt them significantly.
Schulz defines kingdom education as "a life-long, Bible-based, Christ-centered process of leading a child to Christ, building a child up in Christ, and equipping a child to serve Christ!
Here are some important quotes:
"The Christian school must not be education dressed up for church. It must be the church armed for intellectual battle." quoting Al Mohler
"All parents are home-schoolers, training their children at home to some degree."
"Whenever Jesus talked about children, He always did so in reference to their nurturing and protection."
"The church must provide godly counsel, instruction, and supporting programs in matters concerning education if it is going to strengthen the home and, in turn, strengthen the effectiveness of the church. Instead of pastors and other church leaders supporting public, Christian, or home schools, they need to teach parents the biblical principles of kingdom education."
"It is time for churches to expand their ministries to include biblical education for children and youth throughout the week."
Commenting on this verse, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6, ESV) "We want to claim this as a promise that will assure us that our children will eventually walk with the Lord if we give them some training from a biblical perspective early in life. However, most of us fail to comprehend how intense this training needs to be."
Sometimes Shultz exaggerates in ways that don't help his case, for instance when he states that more believers should be encouraged to go into the ministry. I'm only comfortable with that challenge if a vision for every believer to see their work as a calling and all of their life having ministry potential as argued in Os Guinness book, The Call, and Tim Keller's book, Every Good Endeavor is also strongly encouraged. Still the book challenged me like few books do.
Schulz defines kingdom education as "a life-long, Bible-based, Christ-centered process of leading a child to Christ, building a child up in Christ, and equipping a child to serve Christ!
Here are some important quotes:
"The Christian school must not be education dressed up for church. It must be the church armed for intellectual battle." quoting Al Mohler
"All parents are home-schoolers, training their children at home to some degree."
"Whenever Jesus talked about children, He always did so in reference to their nurturing and protection."
"The church must provide godly counsel, instruction, and supporting programs in matters concerning education if it is going to strengthen the home and, in turn, strengthen the effectiveness of the church. Instead of pastors and other church leaders supporting public, Christian, or home schools, they need to teach parents the biblical principles of kingdom education."
"It is time for churches to expand their ministries to include biblical education for children and youth throughout the week."
Commenting on this verse, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6, ESV) "We want to claim this as a promise that will assure us that our children will eventually walk with the Lord if we give them some training from a biblical perspective early in life. However, most of us fail to comprehend how intense this training needs to be."
Sometimes Shultz exaggerates in ways that don't help his case, for instance when he states that more believers should be encouraged to go into the ministry. I'm only comfortable with that challenge if a vision for every believer to see their work as a calling and all of their life having ministry potential as argued in Os Guinness book, The Call, and Tim Keller's book, Every Good Endeavor is also strongly encouraged. Still the book challenged me like few books do.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2014
This book articulates many solidly Biblical principles, but would have benefited tremendously from the eye and pen of a skilled editor. The author seems to hold rather naive historical beliefs, i.e. "The church today may not be thinking or acting from a biblical perspective for the first time in our nation's history" (p.136). The "first time"? Really? He also makes too much of a distinction between Christian and non-Christian writings, failing to show how Christians can effectively learn and benefit from the ideas of non-Christians.
The better parts included helpful definitions and paradigms, such as his definition of kingdom education: "Kingdom education is the life-long, Bible-based, Christ-centered process of leading a child into a new identity with Christ and developing him/her according to the specific abilities given to him/her by Christ so that the child will be empowered to live a life characterized by love, trust, and obedience to Christ" (155). Now that's an idea I can get behind.
He also shows fairly effectively the responsibility that parents have to raise their children well. He writes, paraphrasing Psalm 127, "Behold, children are God's homework assignment to parents."
Finally, the appendix features "10 Biblical Principles for Achieving Kingdom Education," which are well-explained and provide a helpful resource.
If you've read much on Christian education, there won't be much new here. If you haven't, I'd recommend beginning with Douglas Wilson instead.
The better parts included helpful definitions and paradigms, such as his definition of kingdom education: "Kingdom education is the life-long, Bible-based, Christ-centered process of leading a child into a new identity with Christ and developing him/her according to the specific abilities given to him/her by Christ so that the child will be empowered to live a life characterized by love, trust, and obedience to Christ" (155). Now that's an idea I can get behind.
He also shows fairly effectively the responsibility that parents have to raise their children well. He writes, paraphrasing Psalm 127, "Behold, children are God's homework assignment to parents."
Finally, the appendix features "10 Biblical Principles for Achieving Kingdom Education," which are well-explained and provide a helpful resource.
If you've read much on Christian education, there won't be much new here. If you haven't, I'd recommend beginning with Douglas Wilson instead.
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