Why Won’t Churches Speak About Public School Education?

It’s too political!

Before we address this touchy subject, let’s first consider why topics like public education, same-sex marriage, gender issues, climate change, etc., have become “untouchable” in most churches. The obvious answer is that today each is deemed “political.” Does this mean that the Bible doesn’t address such issues or care about how men think and behave regarding each? Of course not. Then why are they off the table for discussion from the pulpit?                    

We suggest that they were never considered inviolable until the government began taking control over each subject one-by-one beginning in 1979 with the creation of the federal Department of Education.

Priorities Matter: The Early Church Fathers Focused on Biblical Education

Within the first century of Christ’s defeat of Satan on the Cross and the coming into His kingdom, discipleship and education became the dominant methods of spreading the Gospel. In less than 70 years of Christ’s ascension, the entire New Testament was written, and many thousands of quotes and copies of portions of those books penned over the next 200 years have been preserved. Words matter, and the sheer volume of these fragments reveals how deeply God’s words were revered and how essential they were to the effective spread of the Gospel message. Thus, early Church Fathers exhorted their people to instruct the children from the earliest ages.

In 96 A.D., Clement I of Rome wrote to the church in Corinth:

“Let us instruct our young men in the lesson of the fear of God…. Let our children be partakers of the instruction which is in Christ: let them learn how lowliness of mind prevails with God, what power chaste love (pure love) hath with God, how the fear of Him is good and great and saves all them that walk therein in a pure mind with holiness.”  

Justin Martyr stated in 150 A.D.,—who is called the first great scholar of the Christian church—established catechism schools in Ephesus and Rome. In most cases, these schools taught not only theology, but also literary arts, mathematics, and medicine. Students learned both to read and to write the Scriptures.

The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) states, “As a result of this emphasis on Christian education, Christianity became the major influence in the Roman Empire. Early church Christians used the Christian school to impact the pagan culture around them. The New Testament churches made the school the connecting link between herself the apostle’s teaching and the real world.”  In other words, the Christian school was a major tool of evangelism used by our spiritual ancestors, those early church believers who “turned the world upside down.” (Acts 17:6)

Christianity spread like wildfire. Second-century church leader Tertullian chided Roman authorities with these words: “We have filled all you have—cities, islands, forts, towns, assembly halls, even military camps, tribes, town councils, the palace, senate, and forum. We have left you nothing but your [pagan] temples.”  

ACSI adds, “Education in those early days was focused on the principle that the most essential element of learning was virtue. The early church fathers warned Christians of the poisoning effect of the cultural norms and practices of the Greco-Roman society of the day. They warned passionately against the church allowing herself to be drawn away from virtue and toward the pagan arts and pastimes found in contemporary theater and stadiums.  

Two Steps Forward and One Step Back

Pastor/Educator Dave Scarbrough wrote in his 2006 article, “EDUCATING CHILDREN—Education in the Early Church”: But just like any other freedom, there always comes abuses. It was during this time that the Roman Catholic Church began to emerge. Although Christians had been around since the death of Christ, this formal organization known as the Roman Catholic Church had not. It was not until the year 438 that Emperor Theodosius II established the name “Catholic Christians”, which simply meant Christians that were part of the universal church. Prior to that, they were simply known as Christians, or people of the Way, and their Christian leaders were primarily concerned with doctrine… But as this new church age began to form, many of the church “leaders” started to have a different focus, and by 590 AD, the Roman Catholic Church began to take more control over the state government.”  

This unfortunately led to the federalization of the church, creating a huge, centralized bureaucracy that took control over nearly all of life. The teaching of Scripture was confined to the Latin dialect which was understood by relatively few throughout the immense Roman Empire. Eventually the Church specifically forbade the translation of Scripture into any common language, believing that only Roman Catholic Church scholars were capable of correctly translating the Bible. This is diametrically opposed to the instructions given by the Apostle Paul in several of his epistles to make sure those letters were read and passed around among other churches. Thus, the result of the Church keeping the Scriptures hidden from the commoners  effectively promoted biblical illiteracy, enabling the introduction of many false doctrines.

A thousand years later, the Reformation appeared, built upon the persecuted backs of those who translated the Bible into common language. America became the most literate nation the world had ever known by 1795, led by the churches that placed biblically-based education and discipleship at the top of their priorities.

Where are those churches today when we need them so desperately?

This series is extracted from our new book,“In Vain Do They Worship Me, Teaching as Doctrine the Commandments of Men—Ten Grave Errors Tossing the Church To and Fro.”

Available at GTI min.com and Amazon.