Welcome to podcast #7. I have been greatly blessed by some of the stories and encouragement you have shared with me via email in how this program has been a blessing to you. While supplies last we will continue to send out a free copy of my book, Discipling the Generation for a Digital World, to those that write in. I will have the details at the end of the podcast. 

Last week we talked about the power and perspective that well defined and God directed goals can give to your home and school. I introduced the first step towards involving the Holy Spirit in this process which was praying the Apostolic prayers from Ephesians 1:17-20, Colossians 1:9-12 and Philippians 1:9-11. Of course, there are many other ways to pray and many other Biblical prayers. For example I didn’t mention another very important prayer in Ephesians 3:16-20 or the Lord’s prayer. I chose these three because they specifically lead us into the knowledge and discernment necessary for establishing Godly vision and goals. 

Any educator will know that the learning process is always about goals. We want to bring our student from point A in their understanding or skill base to point B. Point B is the goal. Our goals or outcomes, as we call them here in BC, are the map that we, the teacher guide, use to help point the way towards the final destination. 

I mentioned last week that, years ago, our school staff at Heritage began the process of defining exactly what those outcomes were for our students. We asked the question what do we want an HCS student to know, experience and possess when he or she left our school.  We worked together with our school committee (the equivalent to a school board), our administration, and our teaching staff. I would distribute a general outline of the goals and in some cases a first draft. In these weekly and monthly meetings throughout the year we hammered out the different ways we could state the outcomes. Out of this emerged a vision for our school as a center for discipleship based Christian education. When we started our online school  program the board was very clear in giving us the mandate that we are to build the Online School with the same vision and values that we had hammered out in our campus program. We have worked hard to this. 

If you are an administrator, teacher or parent from another school it will be important for you to work through this process within your own community. Use our Student Outcomes as an example and guide but keep in mind that the journey of creating this vision for our schools was almost as important as the vision itself. These are the Heritage Christian Student Outcomes that grow out of our own local and online community. 

You can find this document at TheChristianEducator.org website under the link for articles. Here is our opening statement: 

The following stated outcomes outline for our school society, administration, teachers, parents and students the goals we are working to achieve with each student. These outcomes provide for us the "map" we are following for every student. These outcomes should help in understanding what makes us distinct as a Christian School and similar as a school in partnership with the BC Ministry of Education.

If you have been listening to our previous podcast you will know that we believe it is very important to differentiate the stated outcomes of a Christian school from those of public education. It is even more important here in Western Canada where we have a close partnership with our Provincial government. These outcomes are the line, so to speak, that we will not cross in any relationship or partnership. 

We have divided the goals into Five Headings: Spiritual Learning Outcomes, Intellectual and Academic Learning Outcomes, Physical Fitness Learning Outcomes, Social and Relational Learning Outcomes and Vocational Preparedness Learning Outcomes. These divisions are for the sake of direction only. It is a mistake to think that these areas of education are not interdependent. Spirituality and Academics go hand and hand. It is the spiritual task of every student to study the world that God has given them. Our social and physical life will have a direct bearing on our vocational life and visa-versa. The nature of goal setting has to break out the specifics so that we can measure the success of the whole. As you will see, as we go through these goals they will give us specific measuring points.

Here are our Spiritual Learning Outcomes with my commentary mixed in:

• It is our goal, expectation and purpose that every student of Heritage Christian School experiences relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ resulting in their becoming born-again disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

There are verses in the Bible that tend to haunt me at times. To be honest, I don’t always like those particular passages. When I read this first outcome this verse comes to mind, Matt. 16:24-26 (New International version): 

 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

The most important thing we can do with our children as parents and educators is to help them ensure that their eternal destiny is secure. We have a saying at our Church, “God has no Grandchildren.” Every person on this planet has to personally enter into a relationship with God. Jesus introduced the phrase that we must be “born again” in John chapter 3. Because of our fallen-ness and sinful lives we have been separated from God spiritually. We must be spiritually born anew to enter the kingdom of God. It is hard to say when this can happen in a child. We use the phrase, “the age of accountability” to establish when a child’s conscious begins to awaken. As evangelicals we want that one moment when we came to Christ but I don’t know if you can nail it down for our children. That’s why it is always important to let your child pray and “accept” Jesus into their lives as often as they feel they need to.

In our next set of Outcomes we divide up the phases of spiritual development so that they can fit within each developmental phase of the child’s life.  

·          It is our goal, expectation and purpose that students will understand and encounter Jesus Christ in the following ways as presented by our staff, curriculum and spiritual program:

o   Primary Emphasis (Gr. K-3): Jesus is our Loving God - focusing on the unique relationship between God and Creation particularly revealing His love for each and every one of us. (Introducing Him through the stories of the Bible.)

The primary student’s needs are specific to discovering God’s love for them. Children at this age can’t comprehend the finer details of theology. Most kids this age don’t have a consciousness of sin but they do have a need for the security and safety that the loving arms of Jesus bring. They are also very open and sensitive to the spiritual realm. To the primary student Jesus is an invisible friend to whom they can talk to and express their fears and concerns to.

When my wife’s nephew was about four or five year’s old he spent a week with her. His mother was an atheist at the time and was very explicit in her desire to avoid and proselytizing with her son. But one day, out of the blue, when he was alone with Christine in her room he said, “You know what? I know God, I probably know Him better than you.” She asked him to explain. “I talk to him all the time, He’s white like that wall.” Here was a boy who had no teaching or coaching about God whatsoever, yet, He could understand and experience God personally.

o   Intermediate Emphasis (Gr. 4-6): Jesus is our Saviour - focusing on the nature of sin, the redemptive work of Christ, the forgiveness of our sins and a personal acceptance of His mercy and restoration while learning to make choices in obedience to God's Word.

One of the most important moments in my son, Josiah’s life was the crisis he was having with the duplicity of his actions and his relationship with God. He was struggling in making the connection with Jesus as his substitute for his sins. We were having a tough time with him receiving forgiveness. When we would discipline him he would become very sin conscious and became very self loathing. I can’t remember what it was but he did something was going to result in a spanking. I sent him to the bathroom and the self deprecation was already coming out before I even could speak to him. I knew that he had to connect to the cross somehow. I called his older brother in and asked him to obey me no matter what. I then scolded Josiah and told him that this was going to be a very serious spanking and he withdrew even more. I then handed our little paddle (a very light, thin piece of wood) to his older brother and asked him to spank me for Josiah’s disobedience. He reluctantly obeyed and I received about four or five stinging shots to the rear. Josiah was both sorry and concerned that I did this for him. I sent Richard away and I held Josiah for the nest ten minutes and comforted him. We prayed together and for the first time in his life he saw that Jesus had taken his punishment. Today Josiah is on the mission field and is teaching others to find the forgiveness for their sins.  

o   Middle School Emphasis (Gr. 7-9): Jesus is our Lord - focusing on the confession of and commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ resulting in the personal choice and commitment to apply His reign in every decision or our lives.

Have you ever noticed with kids this age that they are always pushing the boundaries. This is a key decision time for these independence seeking youth. They are carefully testing every command, value and belief to see if they are real. It is the time when they are questioning everything and nothing is sacred. It is when they begin to take an outward focus in their lives, friends seem to be more important than family. Students for the first time in their life feel a disconnection from their parents, thus the overwhelming need to question all their family values, morals and traditions.

This is why the Lordship question is so pertinent. They must establish the reign of Jesus over every area of their life. They want a deeper theology yet only as it directly pertains to their own quest for answers.

o   High School Emphasis (Gr. 10-12): Jesus is our Master - focusing on personal discipleship and spiritual understanding of Christ's Kingdom and how it relates to this world preparing our students to leave Heritage with a firm foundation to continue as strong disciples and ambassadors of the Kingdom of God.

I love this stage of development for our kids. This is the discovery phase of their growth in Christ. They are asking more specific question towards a larger purpose. They are willing to consider some of the more philosophical aspects of their faith, they are able to go beyond their limited environment of home and school. Our approach must take a fundamental shift from immediate personal application to one of preparation. Though we may find ourselves challenging the odd student towards Lordship, our efforts must be spent primarily on the development of their intellectual abilities in the faith. We have to use this opportunity to prepare them for the deliberate attack that will come against their faith when they enter the academic or working world. We have to train and exercise the muscles of their cognitive and critical thinking skills, exposing them to other worldviews. They must know what they believe and why they believe it and be able to defend their beliefs.

The next two outcomes could be contrasted as the cognitive and experiential goals of faith, the mind and the spirit: 

• It is our goal, expectation and purpose that our students will see and understand our world through a Christian Worldview growing in every discipline, subject, skill, science and social interaction with biblical thinking and living.
• It is our goal, expectation and purpose that our students be introduced to and value experiences in and with the Holy Spirit and His gifts.  

The integration of our faith into every discipline is the heart of discipleship based Christian education. To understand the world through the lens of Scripture and Christian worldview is to give our children the greatest gift as Christian educators. It will shape every perception and perspective they take for the rest of their lives. In addition to this we have to constantly be facilitating opportunities for God experiences for our kids. Through times of prayer and worship we must bring a real encounter of the presence of God to our homes and schools. This is not something that should be left to Church experiences. God’s presence should permeate every activity. We pray at every basketball game we play and commit our time on the court as an act of worship. We need to look for every opportunity to experience the presence of God with our kids. It could be at the completion of a science project when you and the student have a significant revelation of God’s glory. It may be playing worship music in the classroom and getting caught up with a time of praise. It may be when they have skinned their knee on the playground and the first thing you do is to lay your hands on the knee and ask for God’s healing. To know Him, not just in our thinking but also in our everyday experiences is this great quest of discipleship. 

Next week we will dive into the next two categories of outcomes. If you would like us to mail you a free copy of my book simply send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what type of an educator you are, home schooler, classroom teacher, school administrator, or interested parent. Please let us know how you heard about the podcast and, of course, please include your mailing address. Thank you for listening and for your commitment to discipleship-based Christian education.