I've now written a few things about various introductory elements of Classical Christian Education. But there's one topic I've failed to explicitly discuss that is the most important thing of all. Not just of all that pertains to education, but of all that pertains to everything.
What does it mean to be Christian? Or, what makes a thing and Christian thing?
I don't know if we really stop and consider this kind of question very often, but we probably should. Have you ever thought: What makes a song a Christian song? What makes a church a Christian church? What makes a book a Christian book? What makes an organization a Christian organization? What makes a school a Christian school? And the most important question of all is: what makes a person a Christian person?
Form and Substance
Things are often described with respect to their form and their substance. Aristotle was well-known for such an approach; he reasoned that all things have a material component (what it's made of) and a formal part (what it looks like). And the concept of a Christian thing (person, work, group, etc.) can generally be thought of in the same way: A Christian thing is Christian in both form and in substance. It is Christian in its composition (i.e. its constituent member persons are Christians) and it is Christian in its form (outwardly it appears as a Christian thing should appear).
There is even Scriptural backing for thinking this way. In texts like Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5, and Titus 3, we read of instances where the local church is to remove from its midst those who aren't being Christian. This means that a Christian church is concerned with having the right substance — ONLY Christians belong in a Christian church.
The majority of Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians and Galatians have to do with how these particular churches were not rightly conforming to what a church was supposed to "look like." For the Corinthians it was bad practice and for the Galatians it was bad doctrine. Even if these churches were composed of all Christians, they were not properly forming Christian doctrine and practice, and so they weren't really Christian (hence the Apostle's scathing rebukes). So we see that Scripture compels a Christian church to be so not just in substance but also in form.
And if a local church must be concerned with making sure it is Christian in form and in substance, then by all means so must a Christian song, book, club, mission, school, etc.
Yet, for Christian things, the requirements for being truly Christian are even higher than merely evidencing Christian substance and Christian form. Christian entities must also be Christian in the effect they have on the world. And it is this facet of true Christian-ness where a lot of Christian organizations would do well to invest a lot of hard introspective glances. This is because of what Scripture indicates is the effect that Christian things have on the world.
And Effect, Too
What is the effect that Christian things should have on the world? We could go with the metaphors of salt and light in Matthew 5. Or with the parables which indicate that small seeds grow into huge things. But I’m going to answer my question using a direct and explicit statement by Jesus that all the synoptic Gospel writers recorded.
Matthew 10:22, Mark 13:3, Luke 21:17 — "You will be hated by all for my name's sake."
Is there any higher way to try to live "for Jesus' name's sake" than by clearly presenting to the world that you are a Christian? We call our churches Christian churches. We call our music Christian music. We call our schools Christian schools. This is to say that we're explicitly indicating to the world around us that we are taking Christ's name with us in all we do. What else would the title Christian mean?
So, if we are advertising to the world that we uphold the name of Christ, then what should be the overall reaction of the world to us and all our things? What should the world think of Christian music? What should the world think of Christian books? What should the world think of Christian movies? What should to world think of Christian churches and Christian mission work and Christian schools?
The world should hate these things because they are Christian.
Oh, the world may recognize the tangible and temporary good that Christian entities bring to the table — respectful young people, improved literacy, orderly society, etc. But overall the world hates what a Christian group stands for, because we stand for a Gospel that tells everyone in the world that they are lost and headed for eternal destruction apart from repentance from sin and faith alone in the atoning death of Jesus of Nazareth on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago. That's an offensive message to the natural man, and so any group that stands for it should be seen as offensive, no matter how nice of people make up the group.
All that to say, not only should a Christian thing be Christian in form and substance, but it should also be Christian in effect. It should invoke hatred by God's enemies.
How Are We Doing?
If we work backwards from effect to substance to form, then we can see why many "Christian" organizations in the world today aren't really Christian.
If the world openly accepts and celebrates without qualification some group that calls itself Christian, then we have to conclude that there's something wrong with the Christian-ness of the group. That's because they aren't being hated for taking Christ's name. And the reason why the world loves a group they should otherwise loathe is because the form of the group is very much like the form of the world. Materialism, utilitarianism, therapeutics, open-mindedness and relativism are some of the cherished secular ideas of the day, and many so-called Christian groups cherish them, too. And if you look like the world in form, it's hard to make the case that you are actually Christian in substance. The reason for this is because Christians are called to not love the world, and so our Godward affections should lead us away from taking upon ourselves the form of the world we reject.
All this being said, there certainly are cases where a so-called Christian group is hated by the world, but not because of its Christian-ness. It's possible to be hated for being unnecessarily provocative or for being pugnacious (Paul says this is wrong in 1 Timothy 3:3). And the point is that the only thing which should draw the world's hatred is our stand for the Truth and Work of Christ alone. It's our Christian-ness that should hated first and foremost, not our anything-else-ness. The world may happen to hate a long sermon, but it's the fact that the long sermon shines forth the beauty of the glory of Christ which really catches the world's enmity.
As it concerns a Christian School, there are a number of angles from which Christian-ness needs to be assessed.
To have the right substance, all its staff should be truly Christians, being held accountable to the Lord of the Church through the means of their faithful and obedient local churches. Easier said than done.
Having the right form is, I think, even trickier. The instructions for organizational behavior in the New Testament are specifically given to the Church, not to the para-church Christian enterprise. So we have to be careful in turning that which is prescriptive for the church into something that's prescriptive for a Christian organization (which lacks the congregational and organizational authority required for implementing a number of biblical prescriptions). We can, however, glean principled applications from Scripture concerning how a Christian School can be Christian. We can employ some of the Christian means of grace (prayer and Scripture reading), we can uphold proper Christian doctrine, and we can administrate normative Christian functions in the world (evangelism). But we have to be careful with spiritual gifts and with spiritual leadership and with corporate worship, as those are elements of Christian practice uniquely given to the local church to oversee and govern. So it's also clear that being Christian in form is also easier said than done.
And then how about being Christian in effect — is this relatively easy to do? Again, not really. There isn't a measurement device out there that gauges how hated by the world a Christian group is, so that we can make sure we don't dip below a certain level. The world's hatred is hard to quantify, and this is because of how fickle and foolish the world is. On the one hand, the world loves the fact that a Christian School generally produces well-behaved citizens. But on the other hand it hates that those citizens love Christ's kingdom more than America. And on the one hand the world loves to see students receive love and care from teachers who are selfless servants, but on the other hand the world hates to see those children being taught to follow Christ no matter the cost. So it's a hard sea to navigate. John the Apostle actually wrote much about this topic in his letters; the opening verses of 1 John 4 being particularly helpful on the theme in case you're interested in his insights (which would be far better than mine 10/10).
If we’re really committed to being Christian in whatever the context, then we’ll be committed to being Christian all the way down, as it were. We’ll want to be distinctively Christian in substance, in form, and in effect. Anyone who’s faithfully served in a Christian organization for any length of time knows that this is no simple task, but that it’s one totally worth devoting our energies to.