Greetings from Evangel Classical School!
It’s hard to believe that we are staring down the barrel of April. That’s a beautiful time of year here in the Pacific Northwest, but it also means we’re only five turns of the monthly calendar away from the first day of classes at ECS. That’s crazy. A few years ago people stopped telling me that the years go by faster the older you get, and I suspect they stopped telling me because it was obvious they didn’t need to. Well, the months are passing quickly for sure, and we’ll be buying school supplies in no time.
As April approaches, so does April 2, by which day we have asked any families who are interested in having their children attend ECS this fall to express their interest on our Interest Form. If you fit that description, please take a few minutes and fill out that form for us.
Finally, if you’re interested in asking more questions in person or discussing ECS or classical Christian education, we are having one more open house/open forum at the home of Chuck and Teresa Weinberg on Sunday night April 1 at approximately 8:15. As before, all interested parties are welcome.
If you’ve spent any time on the ECS website, you will have noticed the dashing visage of one Abraham Kuyper adorning the homepage. If you click on his nose (or any part of his head, I suppose), it will take you to this link.
Though we have a whole page devoted to Kuyperian Calvinism on the site, it is good to talk about Kuyper’s mindset and influence on our school. While trying not to duplicate everything from the bio page, I want to offer a bit more explanation as to what we find so compelling about Kuyperian Calvinism.
Kuyper famously said the following:
There is not an inch in the whole domain of human life which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, “Mine!”
Now, most Christians will agree with Kuyper because his statement is thoroughly orthodox. And yet its implications are, in fact, comprehensive.
Take work, for instance. Many Christians believe that work is spiritually neutral. It’s separate from what you do on Sunday mornings, so it’s not a spiritual thing. Having a good work ethic and good reputation are fine, but what happens from 8:00-5:00, Monday through Friday is not the real, spiritual stuff of life. The same thinking could apply to education, politics, etc. Enter Kuyper. Kuyper believed that if Christ is Lord over all the world, then that includes the Christian’s workplace. He actually cares about widget making for the glory of God, because Christ isn’t only about His work in the Church, but rather everywhere, and in all spheres.
Christ’s control and care are truly pervasive (Colossians 1:16-17). So the Christian dare not approach education, law, politics, church, nutrition, landscaping, finance or metallurgy as though Christ does not care; Christ cares more than anyone. We, as the Church of Christ, are a strategic instrument that the Lord is using to effect His will in the world and beyond (Ephesians 3:10).
We at ECS hold in happy tension a premillennial eschatology and the fact that Christians are supposed to behave joyfully. Although the world will progressively and morally decline in anticipation of the second coming of Christ and His subsequent millennial reign on the earth (spoken of in Revelation 20), the spirit of the New Testament commands to believers is in no way pessimistic or dour. We are rather to be joyful and confident in Christ as we obey His commands to love one another (John 13:34) and represent Him in the world, even if the world will grow increasingly uncomfortable with our presence.
This was the mindset that drove Abraham Kuyper. He believed that Christ is present and interested in politics, education and the Church, and Christians should be, too. For that reason, he was very active politically, educationally and ecclesiastically.
Due in no small part to the work of Abraham Kuyper, church culture in the Netherlands was powerfully changed as Christians were educated and emboldened to represent Christ in all spheres of life.
This undergirds the vision of ECS. We are passionate about helping our students to realize their place in the Church and the world as Christ’s happy ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). And we want to equip them to do this with joy and effectiveness. That sort of mindset will transcend occupations and will make an already-nervous enemy tremble.