Southern Baptist Schools Leader Presents Ideas in Support of Christian Schools

ORLANDO, Fla. —While the Southern Baptists are still engaged in the debate over whether or not to remove their children from public schools, Ed Gamble, executive director of the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools, suggested some ideas hoping to influence the decision which will be made by the Southern Baptists Convention later this month in support of the efforts of grassroots Southern Baptists are engaged in Christian schools.

Gamble first urged the denomination to adopt ‘Kingdom education’ and get a copy of “Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Education Future Generations,” which is written by Glen Schultz, who is director of LifeWay Christian School Resources. He said:

“First, the denomination should adopt ‘Kingdom education’ as the official philosophy of education for Southern Baptist churches and provide the funds for every pastor and leader to get a copy of Glen Schultz’s book.Glen Schultz should be invited to address the pastors at local, state and national pastors meetings and conventions to advance the concept of Kingdom education.”

Secondly, he suggested the Southern Baptist Convention and all its entities to recognize the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools as the official organizational entity in Southern Baptist life for Christian schools.

“That would involve some financial assistance with advancing our goals as well as inviting SBACS to the table to be part of the SBC in some way, perhaps as an auxiliary or entity within the convention,” he added.

He also encouraged churches and individuals to support the idea of Christians schools emphasizing that it helps churches grow. He said:

“Churches, conventions, associations and individuals should be encouraged to begin providing the ‘liberal support’ for this cause that the Baptist Faith and Message mandates and which is provided for colleges and seminaries but which has never been provided for K-12 schooling.

“The convention, working with LifeWay and SBACS, should begin promoting the idea of Christian schools as a positive feature of our denomination that can and does help churches grow. To do this quantitatively would mean funding some serious research into the effectiveness of Christian schooling as it relates to building up churches and Christian homes.”

Lastly Gamble mentioned that by having Christian schools in communities where it’s difficult to establish a church, it would become possible to hold church in those schools.

“Look seriously at the possibility of starting schools in neighborhoods in which it would be difficult to start churches, particularly in inner city communities. Then hold church in these schools on Sunday. This is exactly what Lottie Moon did in China,” said Gamble.