VCS Philosophy of Christian Education

VA LLEY CHRIS TIAN SCHOOLS’

VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS’

Philosophy of Christian Education

Philosophy of Christian Education

THE FOUNDING PURPOSE OF VALLEY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

Our purpose is that the students might know that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that whatsoever they do in word or in deed will be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him (Colossians 2:3; 3:17).

The Founding Purpose of Valley Christian Schools is that the students might know that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that whatsoever they do in word or in deed will be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him (Colossians 2:3; 3:17).

Authored by Cli ord Daugherty, Ed D

Authored by Clifford Daugherty, EdD

What

“What Is Truth?”

Valley Christian Schools (VCS) is grounded in a philosophy of education rooted in biblical truth and reflected in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Teachers are expected to challenge students to think deeply about complex, timeless, and contemporary issues. Students are expected to probe the nature of truth and apply truth to their everyday lives. In this way, teachers and students sharpen one another as they challenge ideas, concepts, and theories to better understand matters of truth.

Jesus said to Pilate, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate responded with the timeless question, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38).

Earlier, Thomas asked, “How can we know the way?” and “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’” (John 14:5-6).

All truth is God’s truth. Ultimate truth is unchanging. As God, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 13:8).

“Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.”

(Jesus’ Prayer—John 17:17)

the Excellence Brings Influence Strategy Who We Are

ADMISSIONS

VCS fulfills Christ’s commission to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), by challenging students who are not yet Christians to accept Christ as their Savior, and by helping students who have accepted Christ to grow in their Christian faith. VCS instructs students under the delegated authority of their parents and in harmony with their local church. VCS seeks to only admit students whose parents support learning how to initiate, grow, and internalize Christian faith. Although parents and students need not be Christian to attend VCS, parents must agree to support the school’s Philosophy of Christian Education and must allow their children to personally accept the Christian faith.1

Valley Christian Schools accepts students who meet behavioral and academic standards and desire to grow in their Christian faith, or are willing to give the Lord Jesus a fair hearing with the support of their parents. VCS encourages all students to be certain of their choice to accept and serve Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to be prepared to effectively inspire others as they share their faith.

The most excellent professionals naturally shape the cultural conscience of society through their powerful spheres of influence. VCS prepares students to serve as excellent professionals in the areas of education, entertainment, finance, law, government, media, and science. From these spheres of influence,

our students can powerfully and positively reshape the moral values of our culture.

To this end, our students are prepared for admission to the most preeminent universities. VCS does not shelter students from the world, but rather prepares them to transform society through service

THE ULTIMATE OUTCOME OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Valley Christian Schools strives to provide an education that teaches students to do all that they accomplish “as to the Lord” (Colossians 3:17). Accordingly, the ultimate outcome of Christian education is that students learn to:

• “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

• “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19).

• “Know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

• Grow like Jesus grew “in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).

• Reach others around the world, “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Jesus to Paul, Acts 26:18).

• Serve as good citizens by honoring those in authority and by loving all people in their communities, their nation, and all people of the world regardless of their national or ethnic origin (Romans 13:1-8).

• Honor the teaching of Jesus to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17).

• “Walk humbly with God,” to promote justice, and to resist tyranny and injustice. Given a conflict of values between God and the law of the land, they ought to “obey God rather than men” (Micah 6:8; Job 6:29; Acts 5:29).

The passion “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19), is reflected in Valley Christian Schools’ Quest for Excellence™ to do all things “heartily as to the Lord” (Colossians 3:23).

THE QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE AND THEME VERSE

The standard for excellence is ultimately defined as the nature, character, and works of God, the Creator of “the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). God’s excellence is revealed in Jesus Christ. Regarding Jesus’ divine creative works, John the Apostle declared, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3). God came to earth through his son Jesus Christ to declare His glory, grace, truth, and light to all humankind. John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). He was, in the beginning, with God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:4). The Quest for Excellence is a lifelong journey, and includes a personal, God-given passion to become like Jesus and to do everything to the highest standard, “heartily as to the Lord,” (Colossians 3:23).

to God, their families, their communities, and the world. This strategy of Excellence Brings Influence helps renew credibility for the cause of Christ in the marketplace of ideas through the lifelong personal Quest for Excellence of every VCS graduate.

Shortly after VCS adopted Quest for Excellence as the school’s theme in 1992, Colossians 3:23 was chosen as the accompanying theme verse. The possibility of misunderstanding the Quest for Excellence and becoming prideful of our “excellent school” was perceived as a serious threat. We determined that the Quest for Excellence logo should always include the verse, “Do it heartily as to the Lord” to safeguard and communicate the proper motive for the Quest for Excellence

The Que st Institute for Quality Education (QI)

Valley Christian Schools is pleased to further its mission by extending many of its incubated, extraordinary educational programs to public, charter, and private school students from diverse socioeconomic circumstances. The Quest Institute for Quality Education is a tax exempt, not-for-profit corporation. The QI affirms self-evident truths as described in the Declaration of Independence. These truths serve as Common Virtues™, fostering Light, Life, and Learning™ through Academic Achievement, Artistic Beauty, and Athletic Distinction. Industry professionals serve as mentors, providing unique opportunities in STEM, business, and entrepreneurship to help inspire students to pursue their personal Quest for Excellence

The QI is a conduit through which VCS achieves its mission for students to positively impact their communities and the world.

Believe What We

THE FAMILY AND THE CHURCH AS LIFE-TRAINING INSTITUTIONS

Only the family and the Church have God-given authority to train children from a biblical perspective. Valley Christian Schools receives delegated authority from parents to teach their children. As a Christian school, VCS only hires teachers who give written and verbal testimony of their personal faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and who agree with VCS’ Philosophy of Christian Education. We seek to hire those who are called by God and gifted by the Holy Spirit as teachers.

“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And God has appointed these in the Church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers” (1 Corinthians 12:4, 5, 28).

Marriage is ordained by God as the foundation of the Christian family for the procreation and training of children, and only marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God, that “they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). This unchanging truth is affirmed by Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul (Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7; Ephesians 5:31). Whether a person is “male” or “female” is determined by one’s natural born biological gender (Matthew 19:4-6). Christian marriage is a picture of Christ and His relationship with the Church; “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the Church; and He is the Savior of the body” (Ephesians 5:23).

Consistent with the school’s Christian faith and conscience, sexual intimacy is only appropriate within the context of a committed, faithful, biblical marriage.

Accordingly, Valley Christian Schools understands inappropriate expressions of affection to include

1) sexual intimacy outside of marriage between a man and a woman; 2) expressions of romantic affections between persons of the same gender.

While not exhaustive, important scriptural teachings regarding appropriate and inappropriate expressions of affection include the following passages: Genesis

2:18-25 (NASB), Leviticus 20:22 (NLT); Leviticus 18:22 (NLT); Leviticus 20:13 (NLT); Mark 10:7-8 (NASV); Romans 1:26-28 (NASB); I Corinthians 6:9; 7:2 (NASB); Ephesians 5:21-28 (NASB); 1 Timothy 1:10 (NASB).

God admonished parents to teach their children to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7).

These commands, recorded in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, recognize parents as the primary educators of their children under God. Only parents have the ultimate God-given privilege and duty to “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

Valley Christian Schools exists to assist parents in fulfilling this God-given responsibility to properly train and formally educate their children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

THE SACRED VALUE OF EACH PERSON

The responsibility to properly train all children “in the way” that they “should go” and to “love the Lord” is critical because of the infinite value that God places on each person’s life. Value is best determined by the price a buyer is willing to pay. Based on this principle, God, the Creator and Ultimate Assessor of the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1), put an infinite value on every human life. He paid for the salvation of every person by giving His life as payment in the person of Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

God saw each person when he/she was “made in secret… being yet unformed.” Each person’s substance is written in the Bible: “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Psalm 139:13-16).

Because of the value of each human life, our loving God demands, “do not kill the innocent and righteous” (Exodus 23:7).

Based on these passages, God certainly views life as beginning with His individual plan for each person even before conception, and each human life is of infinite value from God’s perspective.

How We

Educate

DEFINING QUALITY EDUCATION

The Christian educator must define quality education as it relates to communicating truth. Critical elements involved in offering quality Christian education include the following:

• Accepting students as God created them with varied gifts and abilities;

• Providing opportunities for students to learn at their level of understanding and at their individual pace;

• Offering a wide range of instructional strategies and learning opportunities to allow for the varied gifts and abilities of students.

FOUR DIVINE MANDATES FOR EDUCATING CHILDREN

The Bible offers clear direction as to how parents and all teachers should train children to grow as Jesus grew, “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). God clearly outlines a comprehensive educational framework, encompassing an ultimate instructional goal, teacher qualifications, a daily instructional schedule, and an overall instructional strategy through which to train children.

Ultimate Instructional Goal

The divinely-mandated ultimate instructional goal of all Christian teachers is to teach students to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

Teacher Qualifications

Teachers must first follow the command, “Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” God’s Word and commands must be “in” their hearts (Deuteronomy 6:5-6).

Daily Instructional Schedule

Educators must teach biblical truths daily: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

Instructional Strategy

These four mandates include the following: 1 2 3 4

VCS immerses and integrates truth: “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:8-9). 5

Statement Faith of 1

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative, inerrant Word of God (II Timothy 3:15; II Peter 1:21).

We believe that there is one God, Creator of the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1), eternally existent in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1; Matthew 28:19; John 10:30).

4 2 3 5

We believe in the deity of Christ (Isaiah 9:6, John 1:1-14, John 10:33, John 14:9); His virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:35); His sinless life (Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26); His miracles (John 2:11); His vicarious and atoning death (I Corinthians 15:3; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 2:9); His resurrection (John 11:25; I Corinthians 15:4; Peter 1:3-4; Revelation 1:18)

His Ascension to the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19); and His personal return in power and glory (Acts 1:11; Revelation 19:11).

We believe that “God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness... So God created man in His own image... male and female He created them.” Every human life is designed by God before conception, “being yet unformed” (Genesis 1:26-27, Psalm 139:16).

We believe that life begins at conception as every person is “made in secret,” with sacred infinite value, being “fearfully and wonderfully made” by our Creator. Because of the sacred value of each human life, our loving God demands, “... do not kill the innocent and righteous” (Genesis 1:26-27; Exodus 20:13; Exodus 23:7; Psalm 139:13-16).

We believe that it is not the divinely intended prerogative of people who are created by God to redefine His creation of humankind as being other than male and female. Regarding God’s creation of male and female, Jesus said, “Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Redefinition of genders is contrary to God’s will as expressed in the Bible, given that men and women are both intended by God to reflect His image and nature. Marriage involving both genders is also a biblical type of Christ as the groom and the Church as His pure bride (Matthew 19:4-6; Matthew 25:1- 13; Revelation 22:17).

6 8 7

We believe in the absolute necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit for salvation because of the exceeding sinfulness of human nature; and that people are justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood of Christ; and that only by God’s grace and through faith alone are we saved; and that “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” other than the name of Jesus Christ (John 3:16-19; John 5:24; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:8-9; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5; 1 John 1:9; Revelation 3:20).

We believe that every person should “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength... and your neighbor as yourself.” Accordingly, Christians are to afford every person love, compassion, kindness, respect, and dignity regardless of differences involving beliefs, cultures, or status (Matthew 22:31; Mark 12:12-28; Luke 10:27; John 3:17; Galatians 5:22-23; Philippians 2:3; James 2:1-13).

9 10

We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life and that the spiritual unity of all believers exists as one in our Father God and our Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:20-23; Romans 8:9; Romans 8:13-14; I Corinthians 3:16; I Corinthians 6:19-20; I Corinthians 12:12-13; Galatians 3:26-28; Ephesians 2:8-9; Ephesians 4:30; Ephesians 5:18).

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life; and they that are lost unto the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:12-15).

Our mission is accomplished through five core educational values:

1. Parents are the primary educators of their children under God.

2. All students are uniquely gifted with God-given talents.

3. School leaders innovate comprehensive programs for students to discover and develop their giftings.

4. Christian educators serve as role models to guide students through positive relationships.

5. Teachers inspire and challenge students to discover their Godintended purposes through accelerated programs and academic achievement.

GUIDELINES FOR KEEPING INTERDENOMINATIONAL INTEGRITY

VCS’ interdenominational integrity guidelines are intended to keep “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). The guidelines honor Jesus’ prayer when he prayed, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20-21).

1. Employees should encourage students to be faithful in attendance to the Christian church that their family attends and to seek their parents’ guidance, should they desire to attend another church.

2. Employees should not promote or teach denominational distinctives. Examples include methods of baptism, charismatic or non-charismatic doctrine, Calvinistic or Arminian doctrine, and forms of worship that are unique to various churches.

3. VCS employees must relate to one another as Christians in recognition of the spiritual unity of all believers.

4. All teaching, preaching, and instruction involving Christian faith at VCS must be consistent with the sixty-six books of the Bible. VCS employees and guest speakers are not to promote or denigrate various traditions, doctrines, catechisms, or teachings of Christian churches. Christian churches are understood to be Christian when they adhere to the historically-held essential doctrines of the Christian faith. VCS’ Statement of Faith is viewed as the essential indisputable beliefs that have historically been held by Bible-believing Christians since Christ established the Christian Church. As such, VCS views these truths as unchanging and non-negotiable.

5. When issues regarding doctrinal differences of various churches arise, the teacher, administrator, or guest speaker should encourage students to look to the Bible in consultation with their parents and their pastors.

Christian? What Makes a Christian School

The Standard to Which We Aspire

1

All VCS Board members and employees profess Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and subscribe to VCS’ Statement of Faith, Core Educational Values, Interdenominational Integrity Statement, and Philosophy of Christian Education.3

2

All VCS employees serve as Christian role models for students and the broader community. They positively reflect the fruit of the Holy Spirit, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23), and are examples of Christian values and conduct, both in and out of the classroom.

3

All employees agree to attend a Bible-believing church regularly and agree to make the Bible their intellectual home. Lifestyles on and off campus are to remain consistent with Christian values.4

4

All employees pray for one another and for VCS students “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17; 1 Timothy 2:1).

5

All VCS employees are committed to frequent and regular Bible reading and meditation on God’s Word (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2-3).

6

All VCS employees are “ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”(1 Peter 3:15).

7

All VCS employees are willing and prepared to lead students in prayer to receive Christ as their personal Savior.

8

Educators serve as gatekeepers to ensure that VCS’ curriculum and instruction is consistent with a Christian worldview. All instruction and learning—including academic, artistic, athletic, and social activities—incorporate a Christian worldview, as found in the Bible and reflected in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. VCS has adopted the most robust curriculum standards for instruction and selects textbooks that best reflect those standards, whether or not the publishers represent themselves as Christian publishers.

9

All students regularly attend chapel, study the Bible weekly, and learn to explain the Christian faith to others. Students study the Bible as an academic course while enrolled at VCS. Encouraging students’ choices about matters of faith helps ensure that VCS is a safe place to express their beliefs and doubts about God and other issues. Students are encouraged to internalize their Christian faith through personal choice and not through indoctrination that inculcates religious instruction.

10

All students are challenged to repent of their sins, receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, and pursue their personal Quest for Excellence, as they “do it heartily, as to the Lord” (Colossians 3:23).

Biblical Unity

PRINCIPLES

The only means of achieving biblical diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Valley Christian Schools (VCS), a kindergarten through the 12th-grade educational institution, represents a culturally diverse community of students, families, faculty, staff, and Board of many nations, ethnicities, cultures, and languages. Such an enriched tapestry of God’s children provides an enhanced and remarkable view of God’s beauty. VCS strives to teach and model Biblical Unity (BU) in all instruction and activities. The redemptive work of Jesus Christ and the Bible’s teachings are the only means of achieving biblical diversity,ii equity,iii and inclusion.iv

God does not show partiality toward anyone.v He created all people, fearfully and wonderfully, in His image,vi and everyone must treat others as worthy of human dignity, honor, and respect.vii To achieve this goal, everyone at VCS should obey Jesus’s command to love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.viii

The teaching of Jesus and the Bible set the standards for VCS Board members, employees, and students regarding their attitudes and conduct toward all persons representing the many ethnicities, cultures, disabilities, religious affiliations, and beliefs in the VCS community. All communications shall harmonize with the school’s Philosophy of Christian Education, ix Statement of Faith,x and other governing documents.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit enable all who receive and follow Jesus to have hearts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.xi As image-bearers of God, our distinctive characteristics of ethnicity, national culture, gender, tribes, and languages are reasons for celebration. As VCS Warriors,xii we must work, play, laugh, study, worship, pray, and compete together “to the glory of God.” xiii Through love, we form the “perfect bond of unity.” “Let us love one another, for love is from God…God is Love.” xiv

Adopted By The VCS Board Of Directors, June 24, 2021

i “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is, for brothers to dwell together in unity” (Psalms 133:1 NASB)!

“I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (John 17:23 NASB).

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3 NASB).

“And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13 NASB).

“In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Colossians 3:14 NASB).

ii “I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Revelation 7:9-10 NASB).

iii “The Lord promotes equity and justice; the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth” (Psalms 33:5 NET).

“Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne. Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule” (Psalms 89:14 NET).

“…Receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness, justice, judgement, and equity” (Proverbs 1:3 NKJV).

iv “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13 NASB).

v “God is not one to show partiality…” (Acts 10:34 NASB).

“God does not see you as a Jew or as a Greek. He does not see you as a servant or as a person free to work. He does not see you as a man or as a woman. You are all one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28 NLV).

vi “So God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27 NKJV).

vii “…God does not respect one person more than another” (Acts 10:34 NLV).

“But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators” (James 2:9 NASB).

viii “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39 NASB).

ix https://issuu.com/valleychristian/docs/vcs_philosophy?e=1662287/8693858

x https://www.vcs.net/about

xi “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:22-24 NASB).

“…Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also” (Colossians 3:12-13 NASB).

xii “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints…” (Ephesians 6:13-18 NASB).

xiii “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God”

(1 Corinthians 10:31 NASB).

xiv “Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love”

(1 John 4:7-8 NASB).

“In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Colossians 3:14 NASB).

Conclusion

This document officially represents Valley Christian Schools’ Philosophy of Christian Education.

As the VCS community celebrates God’s faithfulness, we also celebrate that, with few exceptions, VCS’ Board, faculty, and staff remain faithful to the Lord and to His Word.

This Philosophy of Christian Education is written to encourage those who serve at VCS to remain forever faithful to God and to the founding purpose of Valley Christian Schools. It also discloses the school’s philosophy of education to help prospective employees, parents, and students determine whether they will make application to VCS.

Dr. Paul Kienel, founder of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) said, “Valley Christian Schools’ Philosophy of Christian Education is outstanding. It should give great comfort to Christian parents in your school that seek an authentic Christian education for their children.”

VCS’ Founder David Wallace commented, “Your statement of the school’s Philosophy of Christian Education gives me great comfort because it remains faithful to the truth of God’s Word that led us to found Valley Christian Schools. I pray that the school will forever remain faithful to God and to this Philosophy of Christian Education.”

We who have served at Valley Christian Schools during its first more than half a century look forward to rejoicing from heaven’s portals as the Quest for Excellence continues through the faithfulness of future Christian educators.

To the students of Valley Christian Schools: “After those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33).

God’s promise to those who serve faithfully at Valley Christian Schools: He will “make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations” (Isaiah 60:15).

1 The Truth is so compelling that anonymous senior surveys indicate approximately eighty percent of seniors profess to be Christians regardless of their parents’ beliefs.

2 Adopted from ACSI’s Statement of Faith—VCS’ Statement of Faith is viewed as the strongly held indisputable beliefs that have historically been held by Bible-believing Christians since Christ established the Christian church. As such VCS does not view these statements of faith as negotiable.

3 VCS has a strong commitment to the truth as recorded in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” VCS employees provide a written personal testimony of their faith in Christ and an annual Self-Reflection Questionnaire to affirm their Christian faith and their commitment to serve as a Christian role model before receipt of an annual contract.

4 A condition of hiring and continued employment for VCS employees involves a commitment to serve as a Christian role model in accordance with biblical New Testament standards at all times in and out of the school.

5 Originally written by Dr. Clifford Daugherty during the 2008-09 school year and published in May, 2009.

To support VCS, please call the Extend the Gift Advancement Office at 408-362-7642.

MISSION STATEMENT

Valley Christian Schools’ mission is to provide a nurturing environment o ering quality education supported by a strong foundation of Christian values in partnership with parents, equipping students to become leaders to serve God, to serve their families, and to positively impact their communities and the world.

VISION STATEMENT

A world where every student pursues their personal Quest for Excellence™

FOUNDING STATEMENT

Valley Christian Schools supports the homes and churches of students in providing an education that is grounded in the Judeo-Christian values of the Bible, as reflected in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Valley Christian Schools is committed to a Quest for Excellence™ in all of its educational programs, and provides a comprehensive kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum with a rigorous college preparatory program. Firmly founded on Christian values, Valley Christian Schools challenges youth to aspire toward lives of character, service and influence while pursuing their individual Quests for Excellence

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To support VCS, please call the Extend the Gift Advancement O ce at (408) 362-7644.