World Class: Dangerous or Desirable? Part 2

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

March 15, 2015

In part one I defined Kingdom-class as follows:

A Kingdom-class Christian school is one that is among the best in the world because of the quality and impact of its educational program. It sets a standard of educational quality and innovation worthy of emulation by both Christian and non-Christian educators throughout the world.

Its students are prepared for college and career in a globalized, connected, and competitive world. They are also prepared to use their God-given gifts in fulfilling both the Creation Mandate and the Great Commission. Their lives are transformed, others are served, and God is glorified.

A Kingdom-class education includes the quality measures that constitute a world-class program but expands and deepens them to include a biblical worldview. It educates both the mind and the soul and seeks to glorify God rather than man, in obedience to Jesus’s command:

Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

Defining an objective does not mean that it ought to be pursued. The fundamental question is: “Should we strive to be world-class — or more accurately, Kingdom-class?” For some the answer may appear self-evident; for others it is less obvious. How we answer this question strikes at the core of our mission as Christian educational institutions. It is right, and it is imperative, that we examine the assertion carefully. There is much at stake.

I believe we should strive to be Kingdom-class. I share my reasons below to strengthen the resolve of those already convinced, to persuade those who harbor honest doubts and questions, and to invite thoughtful dialogue among all.

For God’s Glory

Glorifying God in everything we do is not restricted to our motives, nor is it adequate to merely give God glory through our words. Glorifying God is an act — it includes the measurable quality of our work. Jesus said: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). It is our works that give glory to God — not merely our words or intentions.

The Apostle Paul tells us that every activity of life — including the most routine — is to glorify God. His example is not of our words, though speech is clearly included, but of concrete, basic biological activities:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Paul also writes:

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23–24).

In the Greek, heartily means exceedingly, abundantly, very highly, or vehemently. We are to work this way because we serve the Lord Christ.

Both the motives and the quality of our work are to glorify God. Half-hearted, lukewarm, good-enough approaches to our spiritual and professional lives — or to the quality of our schools — do not glorify God. They are unworthy of our Creator and our Lord.

Stewardship of Our Students’ God-Given Gifts and Callings

We have been entrusted with the education and discipleship of eternal souls. The education of eternal souls carries eternal consequences and therefore requires nothing less than our absolute best — all of the time.

Each of our students has been created, gifted, and called by God to a specific vocation. A vocation — from the Latin vocātiō, meaning “a call, summons” — is an occupation to which a person is specifically drawn or for which he or she is suited, gifted, trained, or qualified. The meaning of the term originated in biblical Christianity.

Our responsibility is to help our students identify their God-given natural and spiritual gifts and passions, and to equip them for their future vocations as servants of God. Some students are gifted and called for rigorous advanced education and demanding vocations; our schools must be able to prepare them academically and theologically for the most demanding universities in the world. Other students are gifted and called for different vocations; they too must be prepared academically and theologically for God’s call upon their lives.

Preparing our students for the full range of possible callings requires a Kingdom-class education for all students — regardless of their gifts or ultimate vocations.

Loving Our Neighbor

Jesus said the second greatest commandment is “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). There are many ways to interpret and apply this command, but two are particularly germane to this discussion.

Our students are our neighbors — and if they know Christ, they are also our spiritual brothers and sisters. Think back upon your own education. How do you wish every teacher and every coach had treated and prepared you academically, spiritually, and professionally? Could they have done better? We are obligated to teach, discipline, and love our students just as we would wish for ourselves. Nothing less fulfills the second greatest commandment.

The second application is more indirect. Our students will graduate and enter many different vocations. Regardless of whether they become carpenters or cardiologists, they will serve others through their work. The quality of their preparation will directly affect the quality of that service. The student prepared both academically and spiritually to be a Kingdom-class cardiologist will more effectively serve and heal his or her patients — an act of love. Shoddy preparation leads to shoddy work, and shoddy work is not loving to anyone it touches, whether the home buyer or the heart patient.

Ameliorating the Curse

We and our students are called to use our God-given natural and spiritual gifts to ameliorate the effects of the curse — be they spiritual, intellectual, physical, mental, emotional, social, or cultural. A Kingdom-class education prepares students to live lives of redemption and restoration through their vocations and life activities. In his book Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, Andy Crouch offers a compelling picture of what this looks like in practice:

We are marvelously different enough from one another that the simple quest for each one’s intersection of grace and cross will take us to every nook and cranny of culture. For my friend Elizabeth the intersection of grace and cross is found in raising three children who sometimes tax her to the very limit, creating a family culture of forgiveness, play and prayer. For my friend Megan the intersection is indeed in Africa, far from her upbringing among privilege, connecting the worlds of American wealth with African orphans, and also connecting African hope with American emptiness. For Karl the intersection is found as an executive in a technology firm that creates new horizons of the possible, while also wrestling with the ways corporate life can constrain one’s hopes, dreams and fears. For my wife, Catherine, the intersection is found in teaching not just supremely gifted students but also students whose cultural backgrounds still bear the marks of an oppressive past, who began at a starting line far behind the children of privilege. For me, the intersection is found in finding ways to tell stories no one would otherwise hear from the margins of our world and contemporary Christianity, and in daily sitting down to the hardest job I have ever tried to do, risking words for things far too deep for words.¹

Frederick Buechner writes that your calling is found “where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Blessing Our Parents

Like our students, our parents are our neighbors — and if they know Christ, they are our brothers and sisters. We are to love them as ourselves. As a parent or grandparent, what is the ideal education I desire for my children and grandchildren? Is it not a Kingdom-class education as defined above? That is the ideal we should strive with every fiber of our souls to provide. In doing so we love and bless our parents, and we obey and glorify Christ.

Strengthening and Sustaining Our Schools

Happy parents make healthier schools. The better our programs, the more satisfied our parents will be, and the more they will support and promote our schools. It is a virtuous cycle.

Moreover, the better our schools, the greater the marginal value we provide to our families. Marginal value is the benefit perceived from purchasing an additional unit of a product or service relative to other available options. In an educational market characterized by increasing disruption and expanding choice — public schools, private schools, other Christian schools, online schools, charter schools, and homeschooling — our schools must stand out as offering high and increasing levels of value.

We increase marginal value when we improve the quality, depth, and breadth of our programs faster than we increase tuition. Striving to be Kingdom-class while remaining sensitive to cost substantially increases marginal value, improves student retention, grows enrollment, and encourages financial support beyond tuition — creating a virtuous and healthy cycle.

People Enjoy Working for an Organization Striving to Be Kingdom-Class

A school is only as good as its teachers and other staff. Top-notch people want to work for top-notch organizations. The better our schools, the easier it is to attract and retain excellent faculty and staff. The better the people we employ, the more effective our programs. The more effective our programs, the greater the value to our families — and the healthier the school.

There Is No Good Reason to Aim Lower

I cannot think of a sound reason to strive for anything less than Kingdom-class. We cannot all be Kingdom-class in everything, but we can all strive toward it.

As I stated in part one, excellence is as much a journey as a destination. It seems presumptuous to claim that any of our schools have become genuinely world-class or Kingdom-class. But the length of the journey is no excuse for refusing to travel — even if we arrive only in certain areas. No matter where we are, we can begin where we are and relentlessly pursue the goal: for God’s glory, for the sake of our students and parents, and for the health of our schools.