The Four Best Ways to Stifle Your School
- Categories Motivational
- Date 23/02/2024
The Four Best Ways to Stifle Your School
Morgan Nel | ACSI Assistant Director
Christian schools are a target for the wiles of the devil and quite often face challenges and attacks from unexpected avenues. This is outlined in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
I witnessed this while I worked in the persecuted Church as a missionary for ten years, visiting countries where believers are denied the protection of religious freedom, prevented from converting to Christianity because of legal or social threats, physically attacked or killed because of their faith, forced to leave their job or home because of the threat of violence, or imprisoned and interrogated for refusing to deny their faith.
I had the privilege of meeting believers, looking in their eyes, hearing their testimonies, connecting at a deep spiritual level, and praying with them.
At first, I thought that I was visiting them to teach and train them; however, I soon learned that they had so much more to teach me, as a believer from the Western World. I witnessed raw, vibrant faith-filled believers – unwavering in their passion and willingness to surrender to God.
Persecutors of the Faith have tried many techniques to halt the growth of the Christian faith in these countries, yet there are more followers added daily to the fold.
Where persecutors apply harsh and cruel measures to kerb the expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Church goes underground and grows even stronger. Although what I describe is not currently the method used against us here in South Africa, there are four techniques that have a more dire effect on neutralising the body of believers locally.
Currently, in the Western World we have religious freedom, we have the right to attend church gatherings, establish Christian schools and we are legally protected and guided through thorough policies and procedures. Every loophole is covered as we educate learners towards having a biblical worldview. Yet there is a type of persecution that largely goes unnoticed, gripping us in our society that has adopted the philosophy of secular humanism.
The four subtle areas of attack faced by Western believers in Christian schools are suggested below:
1 – Messing with the Message
As a believer, our whole foundation is built on the Word of God – the Bible. It is the absolute truth. In a world where secular humanism abounds, this view has become offensive to those who do not believe. To be more acceptable to our surroundings and to draw more learners to our schools, we soften the message. However, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Note that Jesus is NOT “a” way, “a” truth nor “a” life. He is essential, not optional, for those wanting to attain eternal life.
Stepping into the watered-down message-trap is easy. The catch word here is tolerance. A huge warning sign for any Christian school is when there is a fatal insertion that has slipped into our conveyance of the message to the Gospel. It becomes a belief or an approach that undermines the absolute Word of God.
How are decisions made at your school? What are the views portrayed at your school? What does your school stand for unashamedly? In attracting and retaining numbers, some schools attempt to be “relevant” towards the societal norms and popular views around them.
Understand why your school exists, remember the vision of your school, and avoid mission shift by messing with the original message.
2 – Promoting Paralysing People
Another sure way of ensuring that your school will be under tremendous strain is to promote paralysing people. When non-believers or extremely incompetent people are appointed in certain positions or positions of leadership, the whole school will suffer.
Some warning signals would be:
- the presence of those who profess the Faith, but do not bear the fruit of a believer. We live in times where entitlement has become part of every consumer in the marketplace.
- On the other hand, some might be resistant to change, and this can stunt the growth and expansion of any well-established school.
- Often a person can have much charisma but display total lack of self-control.
These are sure ingredients for a slow death of a school if not identified and addressed firmly.
Sometimes it is not a paralysing person, but a paralysing habit or programme that makes a school become a stagnant pool, losing its momentum and vision.
Whilst moving away from these practices, what should a school move towards?
Develop a passion for God, along with His calling and mission at your school. School leaders create a space where there is love for one another and true humility, where workers are full of God’s Spirit, rather than themselves. This will not happen accidentally, but though intentional and diligent focusing on the Vision and Mission Statements of the school. Enquire of the Lord regarding all decisions and responses. Refer to the Vision and Mission Statements of your school regularly in general staff/parent and learner gatherings.
3 – Compromising the Community
James 3:16 says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
A staffroom where dissension and disunity are tolerated is the surest way to choke the life out of a school. Gossip and the spreading of lies, rumours and the like, erode the fibre of any Christian school. The spread of disinformation which causes damage to the reputation of someone must be dealt with immediately. A school manager is often the victim of discrediting chatter by rebellious employees but he or she can quite easily also be the culprit, when allowing such talk, or even participating in it.
Carpark-talk is a well-known incubator for this disease amongst parents, further eroding the fibre of a healthy school. A compromised relationship is the trickiest thing to repair. Healthy relationships must be protected at all costs.
As believers we have the Word of God that guides us through disagreements and disappointments. If we fail to lean on the Word for direction and instruction on dealing with this cancer, we compromise the integrity of our school. Unless we are willing to be honest and genuinely care, we will avoid speaking forth truth in kindness and in love. Pretending that everything is okay and ignoring the obvious will cost even more. Self-denial can be detrimental. True unity is possible, but it is costly. It takes every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit though the bond of peace.
4 – Support a Suffocating Structure
Bureaucracy and administrative restrictions usually start off as the intention to have a well-run school. Structure is required and essential. Structure is there to assist the employees and the organisation.
The warning signal would be when serving the structure becomes more important than the person or the relationship that it is supposed to support. The structure must serve the mission of the school, and not the other way around.
Ask yourself: How exhausted, tired, and jaded are the teachers at your school? Are they overcommitted, non-committal or weary? Suffocating structure is often a result of the fear of losing influence or control. Evaluate the structures that have been put in place against their importance, effectivity or need. Reviewing processes in open discussion forums can breathe new life into the operation of a school.
Surrender your school to the Lord as you hand Him the reigns.
Closing thoughts
- As we prepare and plan the roll-out of the 2024 academic year, let us prepare a message of no compromise – a sound message – for the called placed in our care.
- Let us become Spirit-led leaders who empower the Body of Christ from a platform of passion for God and our mission in Him.
- Let us strive toward unity in Christ; let us be real. This will make us attractive to those we aim to serve.
- Let us encourage open, honest and loving conversations where people will have the freedom to express their hearts or opinions, without the fear of rejection or retaliation.
- Let us resource our staff to fulfil their calling.