From time to time in these newsletter pieces, my focus is on Christian schooling. This is because the Christian faith is foundational to all that we do at the College, and as a leader a key part of my role is to ensure that our Christian faith is evident in practice. Over the past few weeks I have, again, been involved in enrolment interviews and have found myself reflecting on what is “Christian” about our approach to schooling.
In touring the College and reading our promotional information, it is my hope that it is very clear that Heathdale is a Christian school. One important point I often make at an interview concerning our approach to Christian schooling is that our Christian faith may be expressed in classroom devotions and prayer, but this is not the only expression. Rather, the Christian faith is about discipleship. It concerns a life lived, a life of following Jesus and the teachings of the Biblical. Thus, the Christian faith should be evident throughout school life. In reading through our College website, I believe this is made clear. In addition to the Christian faith being lived out in the classroom through the educational staff, our programs are “underpinned by a Biblical perspective” and a “Christian worldview is woven” throughout our curriculum.
Heathdale Christian College aspires to be a community where the Gospel is evident everywhere. Again, from the website, our prayer is that as “students are immersed in our community, they come to understand and believe that they were created to be in relationship with God through Jesus Christ.” In other words, the Christian message may be evident in our documents, including the College’s Strategic Directions documents, but it is also evident in school life. There are times when our faith is more explicit such as in class devotions, or when a Christian message is shared at an assembly, yet Christianity should never be reduced to a particular practice.
Jesus invites people to follow Him. Christian schooling that involves following Jesus, is to be a whole of life experience, a life of loving God and neighbour.