August 2016 - The Excellence Centre

Life together – being a community Pt 1

Aug 17, 2016 | Teds Thoughts

In 1 Corinthians 12, we are given a Biblical understanding of what is termed ‘Body Life’. In this passage, we learn that under the sovereignty of God, each member of the body of Christ has been given special gifts which are to be used for the common good. We are taught that no gift is more important than another, and indeed, that all gifts are to be honoured. We learn also from 1 Peter 4:10 that the gifts that we are given by God are to be used to serve others as an expression of God’s grace.

The theological lessons of Biblical ‘Body Life’ principles are so important for us to understand, appreciate, and share with the new generation. It is also important for us that we display an understanding of an obedience to these Biblical principles in the examples we set for those who observe us, including our children. These foundational Biblical concepts are the foundation of what we seek to do in our Christian school community at Pacific Hills.

A famous German Theologian and Pastor, Dietrich Bonheoffer, who lost his life in a concentration camp in Germany at the end of World War 2, taught us many lessons by his life and teaching. Perhaps his most enduring work of writing was, “Life Together”, which reminds us of the Biblical foundations for living life as a member of a Christian community.

At about the same time in history and also emanating in Germany, was promoted what is called Gestalt Theory, which is a philosophical position which states that the whole is greater than the combination of its parts. Within this theory, it is postulated that there is something within the community of persons which adds to a deeper and richer set of relationships than the discrete elements of that group.

As a Christian educational community, Pacific Hills is a place where people teach and learn and serve. Within this contextual understanding we believe that individuals are able to develop their own gifts and use them well, but in working with others and for others as a Christian community, an additional blessing accrues to the whole community.

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Life together – being a community Pt 2

Aug 17, 2016 | Teds Thoughts

Within our Christian School community, teaching is by parents and other relatives, by churches through Sunday School and youth fellowship, and preaching and teaching, through teachers and other staff at the School. The first way of teaching is by example or modelling, and secondly but also importantly, by instruction and training. Within the Christian community of a family and also a local church, and within the community of Pacific Hills, as a Christian educational community, this teaching should be from Biblical foundations, through love and involvement the integration of faith through all of life. That means faith and learning, faith in the marketplace, faith and social life, and faith in vocational life. In other words, faith in the truth that is from God that is unchanged and unchanging forms the solid foundation by which our words, actions and attitudes are informed.

Learning within a Christian school community takes place from the teaching, from the above members of the community, in other words, from significant others in the life of the learner. Therefore, learning takes place from God’s Word, by His Spirit and from creation and from historical sources and also from our contemporary world. The foundations are unchanging and need to be strongly held whilst the ways in which we learn may differ from place to place, generation to generation, and person to person.

A community must be a place of service, both of its members internally, as each part does its work, and also in order to be healthy, there must be service of others beyond the local community. We understand this as the direct command from God who teaches us to look upwards in worship to Him and to look outward in service to others, whilst at the same time, growing in the grace and knowledge of God within the Christian community. This service should take place as a matter of course and be expressed in ways that are sacrificial and generous. In those ways, we are reflecting the ways in which our Master, Jesus, lived His life as God incarnate on this planet, Earth.

Therefore, let us all, as members of a Christian school community, encourage each other as we live together, to be an authentic community of Christian believers. As we do this, we will make the teaching of God our Saviour attractive (Titus 2:10), and fulfil the command of Christ to follow Him, to be his witnesses and ambassadors and to make disciples in His name.

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Celebration of a Community

Aug 17, 2016 | Teds Thoughts

We thank God for the community of Pacific Hills Christian School. This community commenced with 8 children and 1 teacher in 1 room in an orphanage under the name Pennant Hills Christian School.

The Opening of the School took place on 21 May 1979. Exactly 7 years later the School, that is the students and the staff, relocated to the current site at Quarry Road, Dural. The School has grown strongly to be a community of approximately 1300 students with more than 130 staff on the Dural site, and now with other Pacific schools in the Tweed and Maclean. The School is well-known and highly respected in areas of academics, pastoral care, sport, culture, and service. We thank God for all of those involved from the beginning until now.

Pacific Hills is first not an institution, but rather it is a community of people of the common Christian faith. The school community is staffed by a trans-denominational group of men and women both on the School Board and on the staff whose first purpose is to bring glory to God by acknowledging God’s place in the life of the School and through serving people in the wider community as an act of worship to God.

Pacific Hills has been seeking God’s Will in all aspects of its ministry, from the enrolment of students to the training of staff and parents in the foundations of Christian Education. The Bible is the key text for life for us and we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Head of the body which is Pacific Hills Christian School.

The story of Pacific Hills is a story of dependency on God for personnel, for funds, for resources, for facilities and for opportunities. Therefore, we have learnt to trust God, Who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift. We have received so much from God’s hand for us as a Christian school community and so we believe that we should reach out in service of others. Indeed, we take literally the command as given to us from God in 1 Peter 4: 10-11 which states:

Each one should use whatever gifts received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks that person should do so as if speaking the very words of God.
If anyone serves, that person should do so with the strength that God provides so that in all things God will be praised. To Him be the power and glory for ever and ever. Amen

Pacific Hills has consistently enrolled students of all different ability levels, from very slow learners to very advanced learners. Our reasons for this are Biblical and simple. We believe that God has created every human in His Image, which means that they are all equal in value. Furthermore, we believe that Christ died for the sins of all people and therefore again each of us is equal in worth with one another. As God sees us as of equal value, so we as a Christian school community should see all of our students as equal in value. Thus, we should care for them according to the resources that God has given to us.

We are thankful that we live life together here as fellow travellers on the journey of life under God’s sovereign provision and protection. As I observe the attitudes, words and actions of many of our students I am touched by the maturity of their faith for ones so young. However, we have needed to pray, we continue to pray, and we need to pray more. As we look to the future our trust must always be in God and our fellowship with each other and our service to all those that God brings across our path.

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The Way of Peace

Aug 17, 2016 | Teds Thoughts

In the Bible we read about the peace of God and being at peace with God. Jesus Himself said, “My peace I leave with you” (John 14:27). As we have been justified through faith in Jesus, “We have peace with God’ (Romans 5:1). It is such a privilege for us in our humanness to be at peace with God. We have peace in that we are freed from our sins. We have peace with an inner contentment that comes from God. We have peace as we anticipate an uncertain future because we are right with God, and we have His Spirit living within us. The peace we have with God is in prospect of the eternal peace that we have with God in Heaven.

As a result of being at peace with God our lives can be, and should be, lives of worship for the inestimable privilege of having God’s life within our human soul. For this we are thankful and we should celebrate. It is wonderful to know that having peace with God indicates that we are part of a huge number of persons of all different backgrounds and locations and histories all over the world, both in history and today. This we have received because of our common faith (Titus 1:4).

In Philippians 4:7 we read that, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. By this we understand that being at peace with God and having His peace in our hearts and lives will be the reason by which we will be in a position of relationship with God and others which goes beyond all understanding. This understanding is the imperative of the Christian Gospel by which we are commanded to be right with God first of all.

The privilege for us is that this peace of God in our lives is not dependent on our intelligence, our resources, our personal history or where we live in the world. In the context of a school community this understanding of God’s peace and the reflection of that in our lives is a point of extreme blessing for us. This concept highlights the significance of us understanding that the primary basic assumption for our existence individually and in community is for us to give glory to God and enjoy Him now and forever. The name Pacific Hills Christian School was designed to reflect this truth from the Bible as we believe that being at peace with God is more important than any level of any knowledge that we may attain.

The practice of this understanding will be that we will live in a state of significant contentment, not being phased nor impacted solely by the society in which we live nor the philosophies surrounding us, or the goals and objectives that are the driving forces for the ways in which humans function. Within the world in which we live there is much strife, argument, division, war, hatred, envy, and bitterness. All in all, anything but peace. This is a sad but proper description of the state of humans on planet Earth. This is a result of the Fall and our subsequent falling short of God’s glory.

When we are at peace with God and have God’s peace in our lives, we are right with God and we have the capacity to be right with one another, particularly those of the Christian faith which we have in common. As I have discovered during my life, I can be at peace and feel at home with my Christian brothers and sisters in any part of the world, even though we may speak different languages and live in different cultures. This sense of contentment can only be understood as a gift from God. To God be the glory.

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My Time at Pacific Hills Pt1

Aug 10, 2016 | Teds Thoughts

My time at Pacific Hills Christian School has been a rich blessing in my life. Literally I have enjoyed every day of the 30+ years that I have spent at the School to date, some days more than others. I have been blessed by many people on the Boards of the School in its history, and the staff and the parents and the students. Pacific Hills is primarily a Christian community which operates as a school. The primary purpose of the existence of Pacific Hills is to bring glory to God, being far better and richer than only preparing students for society.

As I reflect on my life at Pacific Hills I constantly remember God’s place in my life. The foundations of the School were set strongly by John and Robin Odell and many others involved in its foundations who sought to understand the Biblical pattern for building a Christian educational community. Many lives have touched my life in special ways from the first Deputy Principal, Terry Ware, and people such as Stephen Hale and Annette Cadwallader, who have both contributed significantly to the life of this community. Another who has contributed greatly to the everyday life of the School is Andrew Waters who has also spent decades at the School.

Through the years our lives at Pacific Hills have been touched deeply by the passing of a number of staff, including Mr Ken Oliver, the School’s first Principal, Mr Don Turner, our Maths Faculty Head, Mrs Pip Bannerman, a much loved Primary School Teacher, and Mrs Susan Watson, Head of Middle School, as well as a number of students who have passed away. We thank God for each of them and the parts that each one of them played in the tapestry of what we call Pacific Hills Christian School.

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