« Drew and Melanie's Engagement |
Main
| Sermon Prep »
Gospel Unity Among Educational "Camps"
Last Sunday our church had a Members Meeting. We do these twice a year. They're a chance for the pastors to update the church on new initiatives, welcome new members and in some cases bring issues of church discipline before the congregation.
They're also a chance to address areas in which our church family needs to grow. For us, one of those areas is being united in the gospel even when we choose different forms of education for our kids. The following video clip is the portion from the meeting where I talked about the pastoral team's concern about division that can exist between public school, private school and home school families.
The members of our church were very responsive and I think glad for this issue to be addressed. I feature it here for the sake of Covenant Life members who couldn't make the meeting as well as for the encouragement of other churches who might identify with the challenges we're seeking to address.
Featured Sermons
- The Heart of the Problem
This message, the third of our Jeremiah series, considers the root of our sinful actions, and the only true cure. - This week at Covenant Life
Psalms, Part 6: A Mother's Day Message
Nanoblog
What I'm Listening To: I just bought The Weepies new album Hideaway
. Shannon and I are in my office. She's reading and I'm filing and paying bills. I like this album. Great melodies. Good working, studying, chillin' out music.
Bad Guy Caught With a Mac: This is a great story. A girl's Apple laptop gets stolen but she uses a remote access program to control it and takes a picture of the thief as the doofus sits in front of the stolen computer. "Smile! You're getting your mug shot taken!" Using the picture, the police nab the bad guy. Moral of the story? Don't mess with a high-tech girl's Mac.
New Word Alive's Top 10: The recent New Word Alive conference showed a video top-ten list of books for students. My book Sex is Not the Problem made the list. It's pretty funny. I just wish mine could have made it in the wok.
Search joshharris.com:
Favorite Posts
Blogs
- Al Mohler
- Between 2 Worlds
- Church Matters
- CJ Mahaney
- Girl Talk
- New Attitude
- Of First Importance
- Pure Church
- Reformation 21
- Solo Femininity
- The Blazing Center
- The Shepherd's Scrapbook
- Tim Challies
- Together for the Gospel
- Trusting God with a Migraine
- Worship Matters
Sites
Church?
"I am reading Joshua Harris book Stop Dating the Church...love it. He talks about the people who believe they can be Christians and never go to church. I have heard this argument many times. They don't believe you have to fellowship..." (Read full post here.)
Jargon Meets Advice
"Boy Meets Girl: I read part of this back when I bought it 7-ish years ago. If you get past the jargon-y parts it has some solid advice." (Read full post here.)
A Brief Review
"I think this book [Sex is Not the Problem (Lust Is)] would appeal to both teenagers and parents, although I would give the parents the book first to read. This is not explicit in its language but it does tackle the difficult questions." (Read full post here.)

Comments (11)
josh, what an awesome way to approach a sensitive area of parenting - education. i especially enjoy "the one camp" part.
Posted by Joe Lee | May 3, 2008 3:44 PM
Good stuff!!! Phew..this is a huge issue in the body of Christ!
Posted by Heather (Paulsen) Patenaude | May 3, 2008 4:11 PM
Great post, Josh. This is an issue that probably doesn't get as much attention as it deserves, and I appreciate your thoughts on it.
Posted by Ryan Winger | May 4, 2008 12:07 AM
grrrrrr... crazy home schoolers...
just jokes!
seriously - that is a fantastic word!
hoping that cov life keep growing in their saved-by-grace-one-campness
Posted by Dave Miers | May 4, 2008 7:30 AM
thank you, josh. thank you! thank you!
Posted by jean | May 5, 2008 7:25 AM
Amen.
This can be such a divisive issue in churches, with quite an "us" vs. "them" mentality.
Posted by GUNNY HARTMAN | May 5, 2008 2:03 PM
speaking of the members meeting...do you have an exact date that the new church website comes out?
Posted by jecholia | May 5, 2008 3:23 PM
Excellent!!!
Posted by Lisa Nunley | May 6, 2008 8:10 AM
Yes and Amen. Thank you, Josh.
Posted by Timothy Bridges | May 7, 2008 5:00 PM
josh,
thank you for your firm and gracious pastoral exhortation. thank you for bearing this burden so faithfully for the glory of God. and thank you for keeping the GOSPEL central. my wife and i both attended public schools, and have no children yet. we've been attending a sovereign grace church just shy of two years and were quick to observe that most, if not all, of the families home school their children. naturally this led to several ongoing discussions regarding homeschooling. in light of the fact that we are still pursuing the question of home schooling, in a church that largely home schools, your words have once again served us in a necessary and wonderful way! mahalo!=)
Posted by a.uchida | May 10, 2008 12:10 PM
Hey Josh,
Thank you for a gentle, non-judgmental message encouraging unity within the body over educational choices. You are correct when you say these choices are decidedly personal ones that should be made by parents for their particular children.
May I encourage you to continue down this path, though? While the choice certainly is personal, as the shepherd of this flock, you would do them all great service by exegeting Scripture for the principles by which a parents' educational choice for their children should be made. I have to seriously wonder how often cultural pressures or cultural norms come into play instead of solid Biblical research followed by obedience, regardless of the culture....
Does the Scripture say, "Thou shalt homeschool!"...of course not. But does God give principles throughout Scripture on parental responsibility during childrearing? Absolutely! Does Scripture give principles on discipling/educating of one's children? Absolutely!
These are the sorts of things that you would do well to bring to the pulpit, and then let the "chips fall where they may," so to speak. You might even consider addressing in light of Scripture some of the common reasons parents use for their different choices. Might there be some ruffled feathers? Probably...but God's truth tends to do that when we aren't walking fully in it.
Christos Kurios!
Charley
(and yes, you can see by the name of my blog that I do have a particular point-of-view here....)
HomeDiscipling Dad Blog
Posted by Charley | May 12, 2008 9:17 PM