This is the third installment of a 5-part blog series by CHA Head of School Joseph Torgerson, entitled "Christian Schooling: A Ministry Like No Other."
Every fall, we celebrate the start of a new school year with our Back to School Bash on the Saturday before the first day of school. It’s a chance to meet your teachers, reconnect with friends after a long summer, and hang out on the playground. This fall, we decided to change it up a bit and began the event with a time of worship together. It was incredible.
Why was it such a touching time? Because Christian schools are a community like no other.
Christian schools are a unique cross section of the Body of Christ. CHA is composed of families from over 120 churches in the Chicagoland area. These churches are Korean, pentecostal, Romanian, reformed, Coptic, traditional and contemporary, large and small. And we all proclaim the same Lord, the same Faith, and the same Baptism (Eph 4:5), united in our Statement of Faith. Our families typically don’t fret over superficial differences; in fact, we see those differences as a blessing. Our students and families understand both the challenge and the power of Christian unity, and it’s a beautiful thing to behold. It’s the powerful example of Christian unity that we see at Urbana or Passion, but Christian schools like CHA see it every day.
Our students and families understand both the challenge and the power of Christian unity, and it's a beautiful thing to behold.
Christian schools are also united in a core human purpose: raising a family. Remember Focus on the Family in the 1990s? It was a great resource for many Christian families looking for advice and counsel. They had sessions you could watch on VHS and segments on the radio for a quick 30 minutes of advice. But then the segment was over. And then your kid cheated on a test. Or talked back. Or started struggling with anxiety. So what do I do NOW? In THIS situation? When your kids are in a Christian school, you are surrounded by dozens of incredible parents with a kid a few years older than yours, with just the advice you need. You have half a dozen caring teachers who have been lovingly and patiently interacting with and observing your kids for months, ready with insight and observations. You have parenting prayer partners.
Moreover, the message your kids are hearing at home is being reinforced every day by other adults. When your kids are in a Christian school, you and your pastor are not the only voices speaking truth into your kids’ lives. You can drop your kids off at the door with trust, knowing that you’re not going to need to spend the drive back home ‘undoing’ things they’ve heard and learned during the day. And let’s be honest: as our kids get older, they can zone us out. The same message from a teacher or a coach can sometimes have double the impact. Our kids need other adults speaking truth into their lives.
And finally, your people are here. It’s hard to express how fun it is cheering wildly for your kids at a Regional sports final with other parents who know you, know your kids, and care deeply for your family. Or how comforting it is to send your kids to a peer’s house whose parents you know and trust – trust even to lovingly correct your kid if she does something that you would object to. Or to be surrounded by people who know and respect your cultural heritage. Or who will rally the community around your family when you’re battling an illness, praying for you, sending you notes, and even providing lunch for your kids for months on end as you struggle through it. Your people are in your church, too. And they are in your neighborhood. And they are in your family. But there is still something about raising kids together, every day, that builds an unbreakable bond.
If you’re on the fence about Christian schooling for your kids, be aware that it’s not just a decision for your kids – it’s a decision for your family. Consider it.
If your kids go to CHA or went to CHA in the past, take a moment to thank God. We are blessed!
And as you consider which ministries are worth tithing toward this year, consider regular giving to CHA. Christian schooling is a ministry like no other.
—JT
Joe Torgerson (M.Ed., University of Missouri, B.A., Bethel University) serves as Head of School at CHA. Drawing on nine years of high school humanities teaching in addition to nearly a decade of U.S. and international administrative leadership, Joe guides the school with a global perspective rooted in a lifelong commitment to Christian ministry. He is a husband, father of three, and an avid enthusiast of athletics, board games, music, and dim sum.
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