Imago Dei: Created in the Image of God

Jesus equates "loving your neighbor as you love yourself" with the greatest commandment, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind," in two different places in the New Testament.  One is in response to a theological test question asked of Jesus by Pharisees, after he had pointed out a theological error made by their counterparts.  The other, in response to a lawyer's question about how he could inherit eternal life.  The lawyer quoted the law, written in scripture, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and, love your neighbor as yourself." [Luke 10:27 NIV] 

Jesus indicated that this was the correct answer.  But for clarification, the lawyer asked Jesus to define the term "neighbor."  So, Jesus did so by using a parable that we know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. 

From this, we get a very comprehensive answer to the question that leaves no room for doubt as to how this, the very core principle of the Christian gospel, is to be applied.  This is a core principle, by the way, that is at the forefront of our entire teaching and preaching ministry at MCA.  We teach our students that the foundation of a Christian testimony rests on how they treat others.  And that comes directly from Jesus' revealing this to us this way.  

The Implications of the Use of The Example of a Samaritan

The Samaritans were the object of ethnic hatred by the Jews.  They were the result of a racial mixing of the few Jewish people left behind after the Babylonian Captivity with the other semitic people who moved into the province in and around Jerusalem.  Their religious beliefs, and cultural practices, which set them apart from the Jewish population, along with political favor they had apparently enjoyed under some of the Babylonian kings, let to the prejudice and hatred they experienced from the Jewish people.  Once back in the province of Judah, and the city of Jerusalem, the Jews treated the Samaritans like pariahs and pagans.  

So the message that Jesus was sending, when he told this parable, was about more than just who lives next door or down the street.  He intentionally used this example to demonstrate the idea of Imago Dei, all human beings are created in the image of God, and therefore the definition of "neighbor," for the purpose of obedience to the greatest commandment, is any human without condition. I've heard, in some interpretations of this parable, that since the Samaritan was travelling between Jerusalem and Jericho, he might have been a proselyte, but Jesus didn't go there at all.  In fact, in this particular parable, Jesus uses two religious leaders as bad examples, in spite of their claimed belief.  In that, I believe he was saying that obedience to the first part of this commandment is pointless without the "love your neighbor" part.   

Noting that this is a parable, meaning that the characters display actions Jesus intended to use as a specific example, he creates the character of the Samaritan to deliberately do the right thing.  His experiences from his past, which all of those who heard this parable would be able to understand and put in context, were set aside to illustrate the full scope of exactly what Jesus intended to say, and that was that the evidence of our obedience to loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is found in the way we treat other people without exception.   

Through all of those barriers, justifications for hatred, and actual experience, the Samaritan, as Jesus characterizes him, sees a fellow human being in need, and takes on the role of a servant.  In unselfishness that reveals Christlikeness, the focus of the moment becomes meeting the needs of a fellow human being created in the  image of God.  And Jesus has revealed, from God the Father, that this is an example which illustrates the first and greatest commandment, leading to eternal life. 

Why This is Important to Us 

As a Christian school that sees its mission and purpose of educating children and youth in an environment where the truth of the Christian gospel is integrated into their school experience as well as their curriculum objectives, we rest on these core principles of that gospel.  This includes recognizing that human beings are all created in the image of God, and that is the intrinsic value of our existence.  The Christian gospel rests on what Jesus said about the greatest commandment, linking the demonstration of our wholehearted love for God with the way we treat others.  

Our ministry is to support and undergird the Christian faith for our students in a way that supports what they are being taught at home and in their local church, alongside teaching basic skills that are an essential part of life in a free society.  We see the two things as being linked.  In order for this to be successful, we need the support of parents who have a clear understanding of where and how the greatest commandment defines our Christian faith.  

I spend a lot of time resolving student conflicts.  Jesus and the Apostles teach us, through the scripture, that humans are created in the image of God, but we are born with a sinful nature that requires redemption.  School aged children may have been exposed to the Christian gospel and its values, and some of them may have experienced the conviction and repentance that leads to redemption, but not all of them have, and even most of those who do are still in the process of figuring out how to listen to spiritual direction and shed their selfish nature.  School becomes a place where multiple experiences with a lot of other children their own age and time out from the direct supervision of their parents produces behavior that is self-centered.  When interests collide, conflict is the result.  

There is an expectation that parents who enroll their children in a Christian school would have an understanding of this direction that the ministry aspect of the school would take, and as a result of that, we would never have to deal with any kind of disruptive behavior or mediate conflicts.  I'm going to be honest here and relate observations that have been true of every Christian school where I have served.  Our students have more exposure to Biblical teaching than they would if they were in a public school, but Christian maturity is a lifelong process, and it starts with salvation.  It shouldn't surprise anyone that about 80% of our students have not experienced conviction, repentance and salvation at this point in their lives.  They may have an intellectual understanding of what is right and wrong behavior based on what they've learned from scripture, but overcoming the selfishness relate to sinful nature takes spiritual maturity.  

School Works With Home and Church

We're designed to support and undergird, and that requires parents being the ones who are primarily responsible for the spiritual development of their children.  And the other side of the equation involves our support for what our students learn and experience in their church.  What that means is that if parents want this to work, and expect this to work, they must be growing in their own spiritual maturity and leading their children, and they must engage them in the worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism and ministry of a local body of believers in Christ, as part of the Ecclesia, the gathered body of Christ.  

Our school has open enrollment, so about 20% of our families tell us, during the application process, that they are not active members of a local church.  We can discern, from what our students tell us, that another 20% are not regular in their worship attendance and are not engaged in ministry in their church.  We hope that our daily Bible study and weekly chapel worship helps students have this kind of experience, but there isn't a substitute for being engaged in the ministry of a local church, not just sitting in a pew on Sunday.

We can't guarantee that your child will become a believer in Christ, and be an active member of a local church just because they've been in Christian school.  But being here certainly increases the odds of that happening.  There is evidence to support the fact that school aged children and youth who are enrolled in a Christian school, and whose families are actively involved in local church ministry, beyond just weekly attendance, are much less likely to leave church behind in their 20's than their counterparts who aren't in Christian school, or whose families aren't committed to a local church.  

It may be hard to believe, but I've had parents at every Christian school where I've served complain that the emphasis we place on church involvement is "too much."  I'd suggest that an hour and a half a couple of times a month is not enough.  It seems that positive results come from two or three hours at church once a week, and five days a week at Christian school.

This Is All Connected

I earned my Master's degree in a theological seminary.  The major in Christian education also required that half of the hours required for graduation be taken in the school of theology.  There's no Bible study quite like that.  There is time to focus attention, for an entire semester, on single books, if you can imagine a class on Second Corinthians, or on First, Second and Third John, and Jude, taking an entire semester.  

The interpretive standard for the New Testament, and indeed for the whole Bible, is the revelation of the gospel given by Jesus, recorded in the four gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Jesus was God, and was able to reveal the full nature and character of God accurately, with both authority and a clarity of thought that makes the ominous sounding course in "systematic theology" flow with ease.  With relatively few words, Jesus gave us the gospel.  And our entire understanding of God's plan to redeem his human creation from sin rests in our interpretation of scripture through the lens of that gospel.  

So when Jesus says that the best demonstration of my Christian testimony is shown in the way that I treat my neighbor, translated into "all other people," I can be sure that's true.  When he says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God," then I need to become a peacemaker.  And when he says, "Go, make disciples, and teach them to observe all things," that becomes the way I conduct my ministry, through this Christian school.  So we start with showing our students how to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength by showing them how to love their neighbor as themselves, and all of our theme verses and chapel worship times are focused on this message. 

We want to reflect the image of God.  

MCA Sets the Example by Keeping Costs for Parents Low

One of the undeniable facts about education is that there is a cost associated with providing it that is fairly constant across the board.  Whether a student is in a private school, a charter school or a public school, or even home school or cyber education, the labor, materials and space required to provide education has a dollar figure attached to it.  

Based on a 9 month calendar, and taking into account that this figure is average, and includes all levels of spending that schools can provide, the average cost per pupil for one year in the state of Illinois is $20,120.00 per year.  That figure includes all costs associated with all schools providing an education, including transportation, infrastructure, materials, salaries for all personnel required to operate a school, everything, in fact that is spent to provide one year's worth of education.  

The biggest difference for most families, especially when it comes to choosing a school as opposed to attending the one assigned by the schoo district is who pays the bill.  The taxpayers cover the costs associated with public education.  Parents, of course, pay tuition or other expenses if they choose an alternative for their child.  

But even in religious-based private schools, including other Christian schools, where tuition is the primary means of financial support, the average tuition bill in Cook County and the City of Chicago is just under $12,000.  We have some families at MCA over the past few years who have an eighth grade student graduate, and immediately make note of the fact that the tuition for a Christian high school is double what they've been paying, and in some cases, more than that.  Even private schools where there is support and subsidy from a denomination or church fellowship, like the Catholic and Lutheran schools, tuition is much higher than at independent, non-denominational MCA.  

Why MCA Provides an Education at Well Below Average Cost

The average cost per student per year at MCA is right around $5,000.  That is less than the highest tuition figure, because it is the average of all tuition paid by families including the discounts for multiple siblings, and the scholarship amounts.  That is significantly lower than the $20,000 per year that is the average cost in Illinois.  It is, in fact, lower than tuition at any other nearby private, religious based school in our part of the city of Chicago and it comes in as one of the lowest annual tuition rates among all private schools in the metro area.  

So how does that happen? 

First of all, a big chunk of the expense of most private and public schools is facility and infrastructure.  MCA occupies a facility constructed specifically for the school's use, with some areas shared by the church's ministry, all debt free.  And while most Christian schools around us pay a lease or rental fee to the church that hosts them in their building, we do not.  We cover our share of the maintenance and utilities.  This in-kind contribution from Midwest Bible Church saves just a little over $2,000 per year, per student in what we would have to charge in tuition, if we had to pay a lease.  

Recognizing that this is a ministry, our teachers and staff make a personal sacrifice when it comes to payroll, in order to keep parent tuition costs low.  Raising our teacher salaries to just the minimum first year salary for a new teacher in the public school system would add another $2,000 to each student's tuition bill.  And adding those things would put our tuition and fees at just under $10,000 a year, which is still less than most of the other Christian schools, and private, religious-based schools in our area charge.  

Donations and gifts are also part of what keeps our costs low.  Over the past eight years, we have benefitted from over $500,000 in cash contributions from Midwest Bible Church.  That averages out to $2,500 per student.  The financial commitment of this church to its school ministry is high, compared to similar church-school relationships.  In most cases, scholarships for church members children are the only actual financial support that some sponsoring churches provide for their schools.  

Other private contributions and donations over the same period total $550,000, which includes the gift for renovating the gym, resurfacing the parking lot and replacing the windows.  The $200 fund raising fee, which each family pays, has generated about $70,000 in funds so far, which includes paying for the playground equipment, renovation of the art room, and of the band and music room.  That's four times more money than we would have raised from selling chocolate.  

Needs That Are Becoming More Pressing

Looking at the manner in which our school meets expected student outcomes, including its academic success and the spiritual life of our campus, we are being good stewards with our tuition dollars.  We have managed a balanced budget each of the past five years.  We cannot carry a lot of short term indebtedness, which means that we have to limit what we can extend to parents who are past due.  There is a cost to carrying overdue tuition accounts, which is why we look at this as a mutual commitment.  It takes away from what we can spend on our students when parents don't pay their bill on time.  

And we are behind the curve in providing our teachers with a fair salary for their education and their work.  Our staff is degreed, certified and several have, or are working toward, advanced degrees as  part of their committment to students.  Our faculty turnover rate over the past eight years has been very low, and we want to increase our ability to attract, and retain, qualified teachers.  We achieved full accreditation in 2020, a recognition of excellence from a commission that accredits for both  ACSI and Cognia, a distinction that we have in common with only about a third of the Christian and private, religious-based schools in our area.  Raising teacher pay is now a priority which will affect the bottom line of tuition.  

We take advantage of every opportunity we have to secure funds for scholarships.  Most of these are need-based, income qualified scholarships.  As other funds become available, including the anticipation of a federal tax credit starting in 2027-28, we try to stay on top of finding ways to access and make this available.  One of the things that we need to keep in mind is that in spite of whatever programs state, local or federal government come up with to promote "school choice," the bottom line is that our Christian schools are independent, autonomous, and unwilling to accept control or oversight which will  compromise our values, which is a requirement of many of the state-sponsored funding mechanisms.  These schools undergird and support the work of the local church, and we are worthy of a lot more financial help from those sources than we get.  

We are extremely grateful for the individuals who have contributed to Christian school education at MCA.  We have over 50 churches represented in our student body, all of whom benefit in some way from having families sacrificing to provide their child's education in a Christian atmosphere.  Perhaps there are individuals in those congregations who are able, and gifted, and led by the Lord to share out of their abundance to help the families in their congregation make this possible.  

Ultimately, our dependence on God's help, and the commitment of those who are part of this ministry, including the vision of Midwest Bible Church for Christian education in Chicago over the past 70 years, are responsible for the school's ministry having a future.  

  

The End of the School Year, ACSI Accreditation and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills

This has been a typical Chicago spring from my perspective.  A few days to tease us and let us think the weather is getting warmer, then rain, and a cool front, and we need the sweaters and jackets again.  

This is the time of year when we see a lot of families of potential new students touring the campus, investigating the possibility of enrolling their children here.  Several former students are in this group, along with many others who are following up on a recommendation from families of current students.  The top reason given by parents of new students for enrolling at Midwestern Christian Academy is the school's distinctively Christian identity, aligning with a foundation based on the Christian gospel and a commitment to instruction which integrates Biblical truth into every subject area.  

The other top reason given by parents looking to enroll their children here is the reputation the school has earned for academic excellence.  We hear this from prospective parents who show up to enroll their children, but we also hear it from administrators and admissions staff of the high schools which recruit the members of our eighth grade class, most of whom come to our campus personally to speak with our graduates and encourage their enrollment.  Our test scores help us see what our students achieve but it's nice to hear from prospective parents and peers, too.  

The Iowa Test of Basic Skills

At the end of every school year, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) is our assessment of expected student outcomes when it comes to our academic program.  While most families seek enrollment for their children here because of the Christian emphasis and atmosphere, there is an expectation that our academic program will operate at a high standard, and that students will demonstrate a high level of proficiency in core subjects like English Language Arts and mathematics.  

There are some things that we can almost always predict when it comes to our test scores.  

The majority of our students, over two thirds of them, score in the top two quartiles in core subjects.  Our average scores fall between the 67th and 73rd percentile.  We have had some entire classes score right at the 90th percentile in one or two subject areas.  With the addition of Purposeful Design mathematics back in 2018, we saw our math scores improve each year.  

The longer a student is at MCA, the better they will score on the ITBS.  We spot check the scores every year, and this has been a reliable prediction over the past eight years.  

The reason for strong academic performance here is easy to discern.  We have a staff of well qualified teachers when it comes to instructional skills.  We use curriculum materials that have a proven track record of success.  And we have designed a curriculum that supports our ability to provide high school level coursework in Algebra 1, Physical Science and English/Language Arts for eighth graders to better prepare them for high school, and provide them with more options. 

Accreditation

"Accredited schools are excellent schools, and excellent schools seek accreditation."  

Accreditation is a mark of excellence.  It is the recognition that a school meets or exceeds a specific set of standards which measure the quality of a school's entire operation, from being faithful to its mission and purpose, to the standards and quality of its educational program, and in Christian schools, the level of commitment to its Christian identity.  

MCA is fully accredited by a commission established in the states of the North Central region of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI).  ACSI accreditation is a recognized commission by all fifty state boards of education, and provides dual accreditation with several other recognized commissions, including Cognia, Middle States, and North Central-CASI.  

Our most recent accreditation has been extended through December of 2027.  

Not all private schools are accredited.  In fact, depending on the school's affiliation and relationship with a private school organization, or a religious denomination, only about a third of the private schools nationally are fully accredited.  We were very pleased by the accreditation team's evaluation of MCA which commended our school for its Christian emphasis and atmosphere, and its academic excellence.  

End of the School Year Activities

The Spring Concert, which will involve all students, is May 21.  

We have 24 eighth grade students who are graduating this spring.  They will be touring Washington, DC at the end of this month, which is always an exciting event.  In the fall, they will be scattering across the city to high schools like the academic academy at Lane Tech, Timothy Christian, Chicago Hope Academy, Walther Christian, Rickover Naval Academy, St. Patricks, DePaul Prep, Instrinsic, Schurz, Taft and I hope I didn't leave one out.  

There are several students who are in the running for Valedictorian and Salutatorian.  One of the unique aspects of eighth grade is that each student has to write a speech, as if they were going to be the valedictorian of the class.  

What Do You Mean There's Bullying in My Christian School?

The issue of bullying, including defining what it is, identifying it and then dealing with it, has become more common than most parents realize.  When most parents use the term "bullying," they are usually identifying certain kinds of behaviors observed in other children directed at their own child, usually physical incidents such has punching, kicking or pushing, accompanied by verbal expression.  While it is possible that this behavior is a sign of bullying, the definition of the term, and the behavior involved, is much more complicated.  

The definition of the term bullying, according to psychologists familiar with the behavior, is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.  It is repeated behavior over time.  It must involve the following elements:  

An imbalance of power:  This can include the use of physical strength, access to embarassing information, popularity, or other means which can be used to control others.  

Repetition:  The behavior must be recurring, happening more than once, to be considered bullying.  

Bullying is Difficult to Detect

Bullying takes on several different forms.  Verbal bullying involves name calling, taunting, threats, and the use of inappropriate comments to get a reaction or response.  Most bullies are aware of supervision and are very careful to avoid making their comments where adults or teachers can hear.  If a victim reports verbal bullying, it becomes a word against word situation that requires evidence to support and resolve.  The imbalance of power usually means that even if there are other students who hear and can support the accusation, they generally won't come forward.  

Social Bullying involves leaving someone out on purpose, telling others not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors, or saying something embarassing about someone in public.  This, too, becomes a word against word situation, though most social bullying goes unreported by the victims.  

Physical Bullying is obvious behavior, but almost never detected behavior.  And while it does involve things like hitting, punching, kicking and pushing, it can also involve rude hand gestures, taking someone's things, or threatening physical harm without actually perpetrating it.  

One of the most difficult aspects of the culture that has developed among school aged children and youth which makes bullying difficult to detect is a social code against reporting bullying incidents.  This makes it extremely difficult for kids to report incidents because that is considered "ratting on your friends."  Parents sometimes have trouble understanding this, but it is a direct result of social pressure that is an understood code among the students.  Our disciplinary files contain multiple examples of incidents caught by teachers, who, in spite of having multiple other responsibilities, are perceptive enough to catch the obvious behavior.  But there are far fewer such examples of bullying incidents reported by the victims.   And almost none reported by other students.  Since most bullying takes place in venues away from where there is supervision, unless the victim comes forward, it generally goes undetected.  

But Why is This Happening in a Christian School?  

When Jesus was asked, "What is the greatest commandment," he laid down one of the core principles of the Christian faith.  He said that the commandment to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind," was the greatest, and then he equated the second commantment with the first, and combined the two by saying, "The second is like the first, love your neighbbor as you love yourself."  So the very essence of Christian practice is evidenced by the love each believer has for God, and is demonstrated by the love they have for their neighbor, a term defined as any other human being.  

So, the expectation exists that all children who are enrolled in a Christian school come from a home or church background where they have understood and applied this practice before they come, and their parents are all mature believers who understand this and expect it to be practiced by their children.  

Unfortunately, that is not the case, here, or in any other Christian school anywhere else.  It's not the case in any church, either, because bullying takes place there, among the adults, too.  Becoming Christian is a matter of having been convicted of one's sinful nature, requiring the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, an understanding of the need for repentance, which is a spiritual discipline requiring spiritual power, and then acknowledging that Jesus is the Christ, and his sacrificial death on the cross is the only means by which our sinful nature can be forgiven and our spirit restored to the relationship with God that he desires.  

No matter how sheltered parents may think their children to be, there are outside inflluences which cause temptation, including the temptation to bully.  Does your child have a cell phone, an I-Pad or a tablet?  Do they spend time watching television or videos or listening to music?  Are they engaged in settings where they interact with other children their age?  Several years ago, the Christian school where I was serving as a middle school principal had a home school cooperative with whom we shared some activities, classes, and chapel once a week.  The biggest issue among the home schooled students was bullying.  Even in that much of a sheltered environment, students were tempted by examples they saw and behavior they observed.  

So How Do We Handle This?  

Most of the bullying incidents that I deal with personally as principal come about as the result of an investigation into some other behavior incident, and not as a result of a direct report.  While we have parents who discuss, among themselves, allegations of bullying, and in some cases we are criticized because their perspective is that we "aren't doing anything about it," the fact of the matter is that we can't do anything about something we don't know about.  Instead of complaining to each other, a direct report would make it a lot easier to handle the problem, and work to stop the bullying.  

So the first step is for parents who believe their child may be a victim of bullying is to report any incident their child may have reported to them, or to encourage their child to report directly to either a teacher or to the principal, any specific incidents with as much detail as they can remember.  All such reports are confidential, every student's confidentiality is protected.  

Parents also need to understand that they are not privileged to know any aspect of the resolution of the problem, including any disciplinary action taken, resulting from a report of bullying.  That is also protected by confidentiality laws.  The assurance we can provide is that we have looked into it, we have confronted it and we have applied what our school policy states are the appropriate consequences.  There is never a circumstance, when a credible report is received, that our response is "not doing anything about it."  

We also try to be proactive, in the direction we take with our instruction in Biblical studies, to address issues from the perspective of the practice of the Christian gospel.  "Loving your neighbor as you love yourself," is a principle that can be demonstrated at school, by letting students known that their classmates and their teacher are their "neighbor."  Being disrespectful to their classmates is not being obedient, and is defined as sin.  And regardless of their level of Christian understanding and maturity, that is a concept they can understand. 

Moving Forward

We've been working for a while now to get an expert in this field to serve as a resource for our teachers and staff, providing some training in this area, and including parents in this opportunity.  The interest in this is quite widespread, and having someone consult with us is difficult to schedule, since we are specifically looking for someone who has a Christian perspective.  But it is still under consideration and in the meantime, we continue to increase our awareness.  If it is a concern of yours as well, please don't keep it to yourself, because unless we are aware of it, there's not much we can do about it.  

Some Reflections on a Career in Christian School Education

My first encounter with Christian school was when I enrolled at Grand Canyon University as a freshman.  I'd been in public school in a small, rural community all my life, and GCU, which was, at the time, a small Baptist affiliated college known mainly for its educational, business and training and development majors, was the first school experience I had where the professors opened class with prayer, and where I actually had to take courses in Biblical studies as a graduation requirement.  So I majored in hisstory and  English to prepare for teaching,  and also earned a minor in Biblical studies.  

I did my student teaching at a large public high school about two miles from the college campus, and when that was finished, I was called to serve on the staff of a small Baptist church in Tucson as their youth pastor.  It was a part time job, so I supplemented my income as a substitute teacher, but wound up getting offered a full time job on the second day of school, when I was called to substitute for a teacher who had resigned on the first day of school.  I worked four years in that school, before the opportunity came to take a cut in pay, move to Texas and teach in a Christian school.  

God has his way of moving things into place to achieve his will.  I went to Broadway Baptist School in Houston because my wife, who was my future wife at the time, was also teaching there and she let me know of the opening that was available.  I ultimately taught there for four years, and we were married in the Broadway Baptist Church auditorium with an audience made up mainly of our students and their parents.  

With the exception of a period of about six years, when I served on the staff of a local church in its education, discipleship and small groups ministry, and a year teaching at an alternative high school in Houston, I've been in Christian schools--three in Texas, one in Pennsylvania, and now MCA.  

And at this point, I get asked more and more frequently to talk about what this has been like and what have been some of the most meaningful experiences I've had during these almost forty years in Christian schools.  A lot of it goes well beyond the expectations of what might happen in a school setting with students.  

I would have to say that among the experiences I consider to be the "best" ones, would be the mission trips I took with students to involve them in some hands on ministry experience that really helped some of them find themselves and their calling.  

When I was a teacher at Fort Bend Baptist Academy in Sugar Land, Texas, our high school had a community service requirement for its students.  They had to get 40 hours of community service over the four years of their high school experience.  A few students were in places where they could do this, but some struggled with it.  The school didn't really offer a lot of help.  We were talking about this in a Bible class one day, what does Christian community service look like, when I recalled some experiences I had working with World Changers, an organization connected to the North American Mission Board that organized short-term construction ministry service for high school and college students in conjunction with community organizations that sponsored the work.  

It was a week of volunteering for hard labor.  Crews of students put up siding, put on composition roofs, painted, built wheelchair ramps and porch steps and roofs, for low income homeowners.  One of the students said, "Why can we put a group together from out school and do this?"  And I thought, "Why not?"  

Not only did my administrator heartily approve, but she made the time to accompany this group on several trips.  It really was a great example for the students to see their principal up on the roof of a house nailing shingles, or wielding a paint roller on an outside wall.  And after our first year, when 12 students signed up, the number grew to where we had to set a maximum.  These were students from an affluent, upper middle class suburb, who had not been exposed to hard work or to the living conditions in places like Savannah, Georgia, Charleston, South Carolina, the Eastern Kentucky Appalachian Mountains or Muskegon, Michigan.  

Many of those students experienced spiritual conviction and transformation, seeing themselves for the first time as servants of the Lord, his hands, showing love to neighbors they'd never met before.  And many of them, after returning home, began to look on their own for people and places they could serve in their own communities.  

When I left Fort Bend, we'd taken more than 250 students on these World Changers construction ministries projects.  In addition to the service, they were also exposed to a diverse group of neighbors.  We made two trips to Savannah, working in some of the poorest black neighborhoods in the city, among some of the most delightful people.  We helped families in the old slave quarters area of Charleston, South Carolina.  We sweltered in the cotton fields of the rural area of the Mississippi delta.  We worked in the hollers of the Appalachian region of Eastern Kentucky, and in the industrial town of Muskegon, Michigan.  And we spent a week among the Cherokee in Eastern Oklahoma.  We learned that faith in Jesus brings us together.  

Those students made friends with the residents they served, and with their family members, and in many cases, they've kept up those relationships.  That kind of learning experience is as valuable as anything we could teach in the classroom.  And from those experiences, many of those students began to seek out opportunities to serve in the same way in their own communities, realizing that there are people who have needs that can be met by someone who desires to "do unto the least of these," as the hands and feet of their savior.  And I still see an occasional social media post about someone who recalls those construction mission experiences and is still inspired and motivated by them. 

The intention behind the community service requirement was a good one, and this is how Christian school works.  We connected the idea to something that helped make it happen and it provided the benefit for students for which we were looking.  Anbd even though Fort Bend hasn't been to a World Changers project for a while now, they have an active community service program that works to provide their students with the opportunity, at least, they did the last time I checked.  

 

Accredited Schools Are Excellent Schools and Excellent Schools Seek Accreditation

The idea behind accreditation is to provide students and parents with an assurance of quality and safety in operation, and to determine whether a school is actually accomplishing what it says it is achieving, and if it is being consistent with its stated mission and purpose.  The process of accreditation , especially among schools in higher eduation, has been around since the mid-1800's.  It mainly involves an evaluation of school performance to ensure that the students are not held back from advancement opportunities and choices which affect their success in life.  This includes making sure that academic standards lead to success, but also that the school's environment is safe, its staff is trained and qualified in the field of education, its extracurricular programs are challenging and beneficial and any special education or advanced programs meet those expectations.  

And for religious-based private schools, accreditation also includes whether they are delivering on providing the spiritual atmosphere and the Biblical education parents expect.  Accreditation is not, and never has been a requirement of the state.  All of the six regional accreditation agencies which perform team visits and evaluations are private, as are those who exclusively grant private school accreditation.  In fact, our accreditation commission, which is affiliated with ACSI, is also able to grant regional accreditation, since most of the standards are the same.  

Why Accreditation is Valuable for Christian Schools

In most states, Illinois included, private education is virtually unregulated.  Aside from laws regarding building occupancy and safety, a private school can be established and operated without any oversight from the state at all, and there is no way to determine whether the students will be prepared for the next level of education when they graduate.  And while most Christian schools understand that being Christian means they must do their best for their constituents, in the eyes of the Lord, the history of the Christian school movement is not always a good one when it comes to the outcomes for students.  

We have seen Christian schools started in order to provide a place for parents and students to avoid public school integration.  These "segregation academies," started in the 60's, mostly in southern states, used church buildings to hold classes, couldn't afford to pay certified, trained teachers, and the academic outcomes were poor.  The whole of the Christian school movement has been tagged with the reputation for poor academics, and for graduating illiterate students because of the existence of these schools.  The one good thing that came out of this era was that most Christian schools now are very self-conscious and meticulous when it comes to academic standards and excellence. 

We've also had churches and parent groups start small Christian schools using a self-paced set of workbooks, providing instruction almost entirely by this method.  The academic outcomes of these schools also contributed to the perception that Christian schools aren't good at academics.  There are still a few of both kinds of these schools left, but for the most part, the emphasis on school accreditation that is a central theme for Christian schools who are affiliated with ACSI has helped not only improve public perception, but has helped parents make good choices when it comes to enrolling their children in a Christian school.  

What Accreditation Says About a School 

I've served on several accreditation teams over the course of the twenty years I have spent in Christian school education.  I've been a member of teams that were providing accreditation for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and for ACSI commissions.  The only difference is that ACSI places a higher emphasis on the school's mission and purpose, as it relates to their identity as a Christian school, and it contains standards which are directly related to the school's spiritual emphasis.  The standards, as far as academics, curriculum objectives, extra-curricular programs, facilities and grounds, and financial integrity, are basically the same.    

What accreditation says is that a school is providing everything parents expect fro enrolling their children based on the school's stated mission and purpose.  It is doing what it says it is doing, and children who are students are progressing at a level that meets or exceeds the standard expectations of any school.  

One of the things accreditation has shown about Midwestern Christian Academy is consistency in both spiritual atmosphere and academics.  We've had some significant disruptions in educatin across the board in recent years, with the Covid pandemic causing an entire year's worth of education to be complletely altered.  Virtually every state in the union has changed its standards and objectives because, as research now shows, e-learning was a massive failure.  We were fortunate that we returned in the fall, and that our students continued with their education.  

We received our initial accreditation in 2022, after the pandemic, and our commendations, for the spiritual atmosphere of our campus, and for our academic progress, say everything we need to say about the excellence of our school.  

Sometimes, it may seem routine.  But we have alumni in high schools all over this part of the city who are at or near the top of their class in their high school experience.  There are improvements we can always make, some of them based on recommendations left behind by our peers on the accreditation team, but our accreditation says that MCA is an excellent school, and we have achieved a milestone that marks our excellence.   

 

Benefits and Blessings at Your Child's Christian School, Midwestern Christian Academy

We are starting the re-enrollment and registration process for the 2026-27 school term, and we already have a growing number of families re-enrolling to hold down their child's spot for the next school year.  We anticipate complete capacity in as many as five different grade levels, and that the new families who enroll in the month of March may be the only ones who get an opening, since about 95% of our currently enrolled students return for the following year.  

For a small, Pre-K to 8th grade Christian school in the urban setting of northwest Chicago, MCA offers a lot of advantages to its students and their parents.  Among private, religious-based schools in this part of the city, our tuition and fees are among the very lowest for a school that offers full accreditation.  Accreditation is a mark of excellence, in both the spiritual atmosphere and the academic curriculum offered at MCA, given by peers who have measured us by a rigorous set of standards, and determined that we are in compliance.  We are fully accredited, and Illinois Recognized, which means that every aspect of our school's program meets or exceeds the expected standards. 

The average tuition and fees for a year at a private, religious-based school in Chicago is now $12,000 per year.  And as some of our graduating eighth grade families are discovering, Christian high school can run as much as $18,000.  

There are two groups of people who make this possible for our parents and students.  The members of Midwest Bible Church, who consider MCA one of their church ministries, owns our school facilities, which are debt-free, and they do not charge us a lease or rent for their use.  This saves each student approximately $1,800 per year in tuition costs.  Our school faculty and staff, who also consider this ministry service, are willing to work at salaries which are much less than their counterparts in public education.  Every teacher here has the required credentials and certifiction to teach where they are, and this discount that they extend to our students is worth more than $2,000 per year in tuition and fees, depending, of course, on the salaries with which we compare our own.  I can point to a couple of Christian schools nearby where the tuition is almost double ours, who pay their teachers about 105 more than we do.   So this is a big savings to our families from those who are teaching their children in the classroom. 

Our Iowa Test scores provide data to support the claim that our academic program is excellent, and exceeds expectations.  Our students consistently score from 12% to 16% higher than their peers, nationally, on this standardized achievement test recognized as one of the top annual assessments of academic progress.  Students who have been enrolled at MCA for most of their elementary years show proficiency levels in core subjects like math and English language skills that far exceed their public and charter school peers.  

But solid academics aren't the only reason parents want their children at MCA.  There is a spiritual dimension to the education we provide, which actually includes biblical studies with a focus on more than just entertaining Bible stories.  Across the United States, we are seeing up to 80% of the youth and children raised in Evangelical churches abandon their convictions and leave the church by the time they graduate from college.  We are committed to teaching a Bible curriculum which includes apologetics, the ability to defend their faith, and the ability to answer the skeptical questions which often defeat those who aren't spiritually or Biblically equipped to answer them.  

One of our ministries is to support and undergird the ministry of the local church by providing a full scope of Christian discipleship to our children, to lead them to understand their ministy as a member of a local church, and to be able to stand up to challenges to their faith with Biblical scholarship.  

Interpreting and applying the principles of scripture goes a long way toward developing a solid faith commitment through the church, the body of Christ.  We are constantly examining our Bible teaching so that our students get more than just a few object lessons from some old stories and some comfort from understanding how God worked in the past.  We want our students to understand and be able to explain why the Bible is the authoritative and written word of a living God who wants to redeem the world with the Christ he sent to save it.  And all of our students can hear that taught every day of the school year.  

So as you look at your calendar, make plans to submit your re-enrollment and be on board for the 2026-27 school term at Midwestern Christian Academy.