Faith Statement
King Christian School (formerly known as Holland Marsh District Christian School) was founded in 1943 by Christian parents who believed that the education of their children was a parental responsibility and that such education must be Christ-centred. We reaffirm that vision today, and remain committed to the basic underlying philosophy upon which it was founded.
We believe that the Triune Lord God, our Creator and Redeemer, reveals Himself to us as the One who is Lord of our entire being, which includes the education of our children. Therefore we confess the following:
Creation
CREATION. Our Triune God created the world. Nothing exists apart from Him. In spite of sin, this world is still the object of His love and He continues to care for and sustain the creation so that nothing happens by chance. Creation was called into being and is upheld by the Word of God, and thus serves to reveal the Creator to human kind.
LIFE. People are by nature religious beings; we must ultimately choose for God or against Him. Christians recognize and acknowledge that we are called by God to direct our hearts and our whole beings to the glory of God and for His service. Only through Jesus Christ do we recognize God as creator.
HUMANKIND. People are created by God as His image-bearers, enjoying covenantal community with Him in fellowship with each other and caring for the world in loving and obedient service. God called people to develop the gifts of this world to the glory of His name and for their own enjoyment.
The Fall
SIN. Sin is our disobedience to God's law and the breaking of our covenantal relationship with God. It came into the world through Adam and Eve and thus as their children, all people are sinners by nature. Through sin, unless it is confessed and forgiven, we estrange ourselves from God and bring a curse upon ourselves, thereby distorting and twisting our calling. As a result, sin corrupts our hearts and blinds our understanding of the true meaning of life.
Redemption
JESUS CHRIST. We confess that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. The atoning death of Jesus, the Son of God, is the only and complete payment for the debt of human sin, and Christ's resurrection is the only and complete liberation from the powers of evil and death. Through the Word and Spirit, Jesus Christ sanctifies our understanding towards rightly knowing God, ourselves and the world. This is made possible only if one accepts Jesus as personal Lord and Saviour.
THE BIBLE. God, in His grace, has given us the Bible to reveal to us Himself, His work of creation, and the redeeming and sanctifying work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Though our understanding of the Scriptures is also distorted by sin, we do search them continually to gain understanding for our entire lives and the life of the Christian school and its curriculum.
Sanctification
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Jesus Christ has inaugurated the Kingdom of God, thereby breaking the power of Satan. Even so, we still live in a time of spiritual warfare, so that our culture and all our activities are ultimately directed towards either one or the other. Christian education seeks to help children discern the powers at work in our culture and in their own lifestyle. It seeks to help them to mould, shape, and direct their activity and culture to the glory of God, affirming that redemption applies to all of God's creation.
SERVICE. Christians are called to serve in the kingdom of God, developing our God-given talents and abilities in loving God and neighbour. Learning is a service in God's kingdom.
STEWARDSHIP. In the Bible God calls people to be the stewards of the earth. We must use the world's resources wisely as gifts for the service of God and our neighbour.
CHILDREN. Children are entrusted by God to parents. They are wonderfully made in God's image yet sinful by nature.
Children of the Christian home share in the covenantal promises and demands of the Gospel.
Therefore each child belongs to God and needs to accept Christ as his/her personal Saviour.
PARENTS. Parents have the primary and ultimate responsibility to nurture and educate their children and to raise them in the reverence and knowledge of God. Parents voluntarily delegate a degree of authority in educating their children to the school and its teachers. Subsequently, parents show vital interest and concern in the programs, organization and direction of the school.
THE COMMUNITY. One of the tasks of the Christian community is the upbringing of children. It is therefore the joyful responsibility of the whole Christian community to support and encourage the Christian school.
THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL. Education equips the student for a life of service. The process of education is necessary for growing in wisdom, knowledge, awareness and skills. The Christian school is designated by the Christian community to implement the goals and purposes of Christian education.
Its program is based on:
1. A scripturally based philosophy of education.
2. A psychology of learning with a Christian view of the child as a child of God.
3. An assessment of the needs and characteristics of the contemporary society in which children live.
TEACHERS. Teachers have been entrusted by the parents to exercise pedagogical responsibilities. Christian teachers try to convey a Christian perspective in all subject areas and a distinct Christian attitude in discipline and behavioural matters. Christian teachers seek to bring their life and teaching in conformity to God's will and to set an example of godliness.
Glorification
Our Triune God has created us, redeems us and sanctifies us, but now we still see through a glass darkly, awaiting the day when Jesus Christ returns and we shall be like Him, for we shall then see Him face to face. Thus, our life now is a life of humility, mindful of the Now and the Not Yet of redemption, and a life of hope, awaiting the full glorification of the entire creation.
