Formation of beliefs, faith, knowledge, dispositions, thinking, actions, language and behaviour takes place in community.
God’s plan is for our formation to begin as part of a family and then various different communities and ultimately know our place in the Body of Christ.
It is clear throughout the Scriptures that the design is for growth, development, identity, purpose and formation to occur in communities. It is the Holy Spirit who will transform young people into the image of Christ.
In our families, and then in other communities, we receive instruction – but, more than that we learn by how that community lives out life on a daily and moment by moment basis. Children in families learn more from the observation of their parents’ actions than they do from direct instruction. How do we express affection, how do we discipline in love, how do we talk about the neighbours, how do we contribute to our local community, how do we spend the family income?
This then becomes the basis of growth, development and formation in a Biblical Christian School. Why does this community exist and what guides its thinking and actions? This is why all of the teachers and staff, no matter whether they have direct contact with students on a daily basis or not, must share a faith in Christ and an understanding of the community’s purpose.
The curriculum content, pedagogical practices, programs will all have influence; but knowing why the community exists and how the community lives will have the most significant influence.
[1] James Smith “educating the Imagination”
