The Church Education

The history of education and the church is one of the most remarkable stories in Western civilization. For centuries, the Christian church was not merely a supporter of education; it was one of the principal institutions that preserved knowledge, established schools, founded universities, trained teachers, and promoted literacy.

Many of the world’s oldest universities grew out of the Christian church. And in America, the church helped to build the foundation of colonial education. When Europeans arrived in America, they brought with them the idea that education and Christianity were partners. In fact, in 1647 Massachusetts passed a law known as the “Old Deluder Satan Act”, which required towns to establish schools according to their population, all for the purpose of teaching children to read and understand scripture lest they be led astray by Satan.

America’s oldest colleges were connected to and founded by the church… Harvard 1636 founded by the Puritan/Congregationalist; William & Mary founded in 1693 by the Anglicans; Yale in 1701 was founded by Congregationalist; Princeton in 1746 was founded by Presbyterians; Columbia in 1754 was founded by Anglicans; Brown in 1764 was founded by Baptist; Rutgers in 1766 was founded by the Dutch Reformed, and Dartmouth in 1769 was founded by Congregationalist. That’s just a sampling; the list goes on and on. Further, Harvard was founded for the specific purpose of educating young people for ministry.

The relationship between the Christian church and education continued into the twentieth century but dramatically changed with two Supreme court decisions…
•1962 – Engel v. Vitale: The Supreme Court ruled that government-sponsored prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
•1963 – Abington School District v. Schempp: The Court ruled that school-sponsored Bible readings and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer were unconstitutional.

After these decisions, public education became increasingly separated from formal Christian institutions. And although public education changed, Christian education continued to grow. Churches established and supported more and more… Christian elementary and secondary schools. Christian colleges and universities. Bible colleges and seminaries. Homeschooling organizations. Missionary schools around the world.

It is from this rich history that Ridgecrest felt both the responsibility and burden to join the ranks of equipping the generations to come with the highest academic learning built upon a Biblical foundation. Many years ago we began with RCS, our home school association that now thrives and involves hundreds of students. And then, six years ago we took another step by establishing RCA—our Ridgecrest Christian Academy. God has blessed it beyond our expectations and this past year it was voted as the Best Private School in the Wiregrass. I am proud of the extensions of our ministry through education. And the best is yet to come.

Reach the World… I trust you are praying about your extra gift to help us aid the work of our ministry partners. All of us are needed to reach our goal of $200,000. And remember, God is always trying to take us someplace new. I love being your Pastor!

For God’s Glory Alone,

Pastor Ray

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