FAITH, PHILOSOPHY AND VALUES

Enrollment is open to Christian families who share the values and biblical priorities of our school community.  Because of the school’s emphasis on character training and spiritual formation, enrollment in grades K-12 is reserved for those students who desire to grow in Christ.  Knowing that the quality and effectiveness of a school’s ministry is directly affected by the character and commitment of its parents and student body, we have identified specific criteria to guide our student admission decisions.

Families:

1. Local church membership.  At least one parent must be a member in good standing of a local Evangelical Christian church and the other parent must be in steadfast support of Christian education. 
2. Consistent values.  Parents and students must be committed to abiding by and demonstrating values that are consistent with those of Covenant Life School.
3. Parents effectively serving in their God-given role as parents.  Because God has given parents, not teachers, primary responsibility for training their children, the parents’ commitment and ability to function properly in their roles is a factor in admission decisions.

Students:

1. A realistic expectation of academic success.  The student’s academic history must show a willingness to work at all classroom assignments, and student performance on entrance exams must demonstrate the basic skills necessary to succeed in the school’s academic program.
2. An evident desire to know and follow Christ.  We are overjoyed when a student responds to the gospel, and we look for growing evidence of faithful obedience to God and his ways.
3. A willingness to receive instruction.  We look for students to respect authority and to receive correction humbly from peers and adults, as the discipline of the Lord.
4. A positive influence on others.  The student’s potential impact on his/her classmates will be a very significant factor.  Our desire to serve each family must be balanced by a passion to preserve the spiritual integrity of each classroom.
5. Participation in Youth Ministry.  Different churches structure the ministry to youth in a variety of ways.  Students of Covenant Life School are expected to willingly embrace and participate in all means of spiritual growth provided by their local church. (Applies to MS and HS students)

The above standards are stated as principles, which will be applied with discretion based on the student’s age.  We expect students to demonstrate increasing maturity and faithfulness to these standards as they grow older.

The Scriptures – The Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error. It is the supreme and final authority for all matters of Christian life and belief.

God is Triune – There is one true and living God, who eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who are equal in every divine perfection and who execute distinct but harmonious offices in all the work of the Godhead.

Man was created by God, both male and female, in His own image, but through his sin incurred physical and spiritual death. As a result, all people are separated from God by their sin and are lost and without hope apart from salvation in Christ.

The Gospel is the good news of God’s saving actions towards sinners through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, took on human nature, lived a sinless life, and died a substitutionary death for sinners.

Salvation is a free gift that comes only by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Anyone who turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus Christ and His death on their behalf receives forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.

Sanctification – The Holy Spirit works progressively to transform genuine believers more and more into the image of Christ. His work is carried on in our hearts through such appointed means as the study of Scripture, prayer, worship, and fellowship with other believers. The Holy Spirit also empowers believers for Christian witness and service and gives gifts for the building up of the body of Christ, the church.

The Church – The universal church, composed of genuine followers of Christ, exists to worship, serve, and glorify God. All members of the universal church are to be vitally committed members of a local church, where they receive pastoral care and the opportunity to employ their God-given gifts in His service.

The Consummation – Jesus Christ will return to the earth, personally and visibly, to establish His kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost—the saved to endless joy, living and reigning with Christ, and the lost to endless punishment away from the benevolent presence of God.

Amazed by the Cross and guided by God’s Word, Covenant Life School seeks to develop…

• Wise students who, through an ever-deepening revelation of God’s holiness and man’s sin, embrace God’s standard for living.
• Passionate students who experience the love of God and respond by loving Him, loving others, and loving truth.
• Clear-minded and articulate students who engage their culture with a biblical worldview and persuasive proclamation of the gospel.
• Fruitful students who faithfully steward their gifts and mature into disciple-makers themselves.

We pursue these goals knowing that our students, although made in God’s image, are sinners in need of a Savior. This salvation is through Jesus Christ, and comes by faith alone. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child (Proverbs 22:15). Yet through regeneration and the sanctifying work of the Spirit, they can put sin to death and bring God great pleasure. That motivates us to be patient with them and encourage them daily. Without minimizing sin, we strive to magnify grace in the gospel.

Under the parents’ delegated authority, a Christian teacher guides students to think and live according to Scripture. This is a high calling. We seek to model a love for God and the local church, as well as a love for learning. It is equally essential that we model Christian character. We view our students as individuals with unique gifts and needs. Without stooping to mere entertainment, we seek to make knowledge attractive through a broad range of age-appropriate teaching methods and resources. We maintain biblical standards for student appearance, conduct, and academic achievement, and we communicate regularly with parents. We aim to instruct, exhort, rebuke, and encourage with all humility and diligence, depending on the Holy Spirit to convict and illumine.

Learning is a hard but wonderful privilege. It is an incremental process. Good teachers link new information to previously-learned information and reinforce new skills through repetition. Students learn most effectively as active participants — by asking and imitating and doing, not simply hearing. The goal of learning is to gain wisdom as biblically defined: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding” (Psalm 111:10).

Whether our graduates continue with formal education or move directly into a vocation, Covenant Life School challenges them to be life-long learners devoted to serving God, the local church, and their community. Our curriculum is anchored in the authoritative truth of Scripture and is saturated with theological instruction. It stresses the rich history, literature, and language of western civilization. It cultivates an awareness and appreciation of music and the arts. It provides thorough training in scientific investigation and mathematical reasoning. It acquaints students with the computer skills necessary to perform in an increasingly technological age. In each subject, each grade, we are teaching students to master the tools of learning, not just the facts, with the goal of producing disciples who love the Lord with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

We believe the Bible teaches the following:

Parents have the responsibility to develop and maintain a godly atmosphere in the home by exercising control over inappropriate influences and by providing an effective Christian role model to children. (Joshua 24:14-15, Ephesians 5:1-21, 6:4, Colossians 3:1-25)

Parents have the responsibility to teach biblical principles and truths to their children and make relevant applications of God’s Word to the family’s circumstances. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Ephesians 6:4)

Parents have the responsibility to demonstrate faith to their children through personal devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and through faithful involvement in a local church. (Acts 2: 46-47, Hebrews 10:25)

Parents have the responsibility to demonstrate a biblical example of marriage and fidelity as noted in the following statement.

MARRIAGE,GENDER AND SEXUALITY

We believe the Bible teaches the following:

God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as a male or female (Psalm 139:13-16). These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of God’s design of the image of God within that person.

Marriage is ordained by God as a covenantal union between one genetic male and one genetic female, established at creation and affirmed by the Lord Jesus and his apostles (Genesis 1:26-28, 2:15-25, Matthew 19:4-6, Colossians 3:18-22, Hebrews 13:4).

Marriage is intended to reflect the union between Christ and the Church. Both men and women are made in the image of God and therefore have equal dignity and worth. It is also true that a husband and a wife have been given different roles within the marriage relationship in order to fulfill God’s design. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church, while a wife is to submit herself to the loving leadership of her husband just as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 11:3-12).

Sexual acts outside of the bounds of marriage, including fornication, adultery, homosexuality, polygamy, and any other sexually immoral practice, are prohibited by God and unprofitable for man. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, Hebrews 13:4)