Public schooling in Canada began under the leadership of Egerton Ryerson, a circuit riding Methodist minister, who in 1844 was made Superintendent of Education in what is now known as Ontario. He represented a strong Protestant population that was dominant in the region at the time. He declared that the education system had to be Christian, universal, free and compulsory. He insisted that the school was to be non sectarian but was equally insistent that it be a vehicle for the disseminating of Christian principles. This for the most part set the pattern for schooling in Canada.

Schools reflect the dominant views of the society of which they are a part but today they reflect different views from that of the past and are no longer seen as a vehicle for disseminating Christian principles. Those who are in control of the social agenda have a different value system. The Christian value system of the past has now given way to humanistic naturalism. While the value system in schools may change over a long period of time there is one thing that does not change and that is schools continue to reflect the society that has control over them.

This has great significance for Christian people today who need to see the importance of the school in reflecting who they are, where they are going, and what needs to be transmitted to the next generation.

There are two ways of thinking that produce two different ways of seeing the world. One way is the thinking that belongs to the Kingdom of Grace, which gives a Christian perspective, and the other belongs to the Kingdom of Nature, which gives the perspective of humanistic naturalism. The Kingdom of Grace is defined in Scripture as made up of people who have been “rescued…from the dominion of darkness and brought …into the Kingdom of the Son he loves… (Colossians 1:13). The Kingdom of Nature is defined as made up of all who are fallen in sin who are “by nature objects of wrath” (Ephesians2:3) and …separated from the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18). This includes all of us for it is a condition into which we are all born but through what the Bible calls being “born again” (John 3:7) we have the great blessing of entering the Kingdom of Grace”. It is grace because it is neither deserved or earned but is a free gift of God made possible through the work of Christ on the cross who settled our accounts with God. All this is to result in being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

Schools are powerful instruments in promoting and perpetuating the viewpoint, values and interests of either the Kingdom of Grace or the Kingdom of Nature. The Kingdom of Nature vigorously promotes all that it is and regards the school as one of its most effective instruments for shaping the minds of all under its influence. The Kingdom of Grace must likewise use the school to promote all that it is. Schools will either reflect a man centered view of life without recognition of that which is beyond the realm of time and sense or they will reflect a God centered view of life where children are taught to “ love the Lord your God with…all your mind”. The issue in schooling is one of authority. In the Kingdom of Nature it is man as the authority. In the Kingdom of Grace it is God as the Authority.

Since the school is such a powerful instrument for the shaping of the mind the Kingdom of Grace must use the school as an instrument that will contribute to the recapturing of the Christian mind. In his book The Christian Mind, (Vine Books 1997) Henry Blamiers has declared the following:

"There is no longer a Christian mind …the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion—its morality, its worship, its spiritual culture; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view that sets all earthly issues in the context of the eternal, the view that relates all human problems—social, political, cultural—to the doctrinal foundations of the Christian faith, the view that sees all things here below in terms of God’s supremacy and earth’s transitoriness, in terms of heaven and hell."

The book is designed to inform, inspire, and challenge Christian parents living in a secular society. It encourages all to see schooling as a great reflector of either the Divine or the human, the spiritual or the natural, the heavenly or the earthly, the eternal or the temporal, the light or the darkness, the Kingdom of Grace or the Kingdom of Nature. For Christians the school is to reflect who they are, why they are here and where they are going.

Please call the school to have your free copy of The Christian School in Secular Society sent to you.