Why More Churches Are Stepping Into Education

As cultural challenges and questions regarding education abound, churches are rediscovering discipleship doesn’t stop at the church door.

By Tobin Perry

Fellowship Church of Greenwood, Missouri, didn’t set out with a grand plan to start a Christian school. The congregation began in 2011 as a campus of Lenexa Baptist Church in nearby Lenexa, Missouri, and became an autonomous church just a few years before the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted everything.

When the pandemic pushed public schools online, many families in the church found themselves needing another option. So, the church stepped up and started a hybrid homeschool academy. They were hoping maybe 50 kids would show up that first day. Instead, more than 100 walked through the doors.

Today, 300 students are part of the school, and it has become a critical part of the church’s discipleship plan.

“This isn’t just about education. It’s about discipleship,” said Chris Williams, pastor of Fellowship Church. “If we only focus on Sundays, we’re missing five days of opportunities to shape the next generation.”

“If we only focus on Sundays [and not weekdays], we’re missing five days of opportunities to shape the next generation.” — Chris Williams Share on X

Fellowship’s story is just one example of a growing movement. As cultural challenges mount and more families seek biblically grounded alternatives to public education, churches are rediscovering an old truth: discipleship doesn’t stop at the church door. From launching schools to supporting home-schooling families, many congregations are asking, “What more can we do to help kids in our church follow Jesus every day of the week?”

Growth in Christian education

As of the 2021–22 school year, nearly 12% of private schools in the U.S. were affiliated with conservative Christian churches. Enrollment in these schools grew by 15% over the previous two years.

Of course, some of that growth in private evangelical schools relates to the unique situation surrounding COVID-19, but broader cultural shifts have contributed as well. In their Send Network book, The Education Reformation: Why Your Church Should Start a Christian School, Trevin Wax and Jimmy Scroggins noted a growing urgency among conservative Christians to counter a cultural shift away from traditional Judeo-Christian values.

According to a tracker on the Education Week website, 29 states and the District of Columbia now have some kind of state-funded program that helps parents pay for private education, making Christian schools more affordable than ever.

“We want every evangelical church in America to consider starting a Christian school,” Scroggins writes in the free ebook. “If you have a building—any kind of physical facility—we want you to look into hosting some kind of weekday school that is linked to, and in partnership with, your neighborhood church.”

Wax and Scroggins note Christians have historically led the way in education—a development that’s been good for churches and education.

“Education has long been an outworking of the mission of God’s people, especially as the church has found itself on the margins, outside the dominant culture,” Wax writes in the book. In an interview with Lifeway Research, Wax says the schools will ideally extend the church’s ministry in the community throughout the week.

“[Church-based schools] can become a neighborhood hub,” Wax said. “When they’re affordable, they can provide educational options to parents who have longed for this but haven’t been able to afford it. Many feel like their kids have been stuck in underperforming schools. So, a school makes another option available—especially for families who aren’t geared for homeschooling.”

“Education has long been an outworking of the mission of God’s people, especially as the church has found itself on the margins, outside the dominant culture.” — @TrevinWax Share on X

Christian education and church discipleship

Cliff Marion, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Covington, Tennessee, came to the church as the youth minister in 2009, a year after they started Tipton Christian Academy (TCA). He says the school has become a “portal” for many first-time visitors to the church.

“We’ve had many families come and join our church and meet with me, and their first contact with our church was directly because of the school,” Marion said. “They’ll say, ‘Well, we moved into the area, found TCA, enrolled our kid in the school, and figured it was time to start visiting churches. So we just started here.”

Marion notes the school is unapologetically discipleship focused. Every student must have at least one family member who is a Christian. The primary goal, he adds, is to prepare children in a Christian environment so they can be “salt and light” in darker cultural settings. The curriculum puts Jesus at the center of every subject, whether Bible, English, math, or science.

Tipton Christian Academy currently has 480 students, and they expect to have 500 next year.

Like Marion, Williams describes the homeschool academy as an extension of the Fellowship Church’s discipleship ministry. The homeschool academy has become far more than a temporary response to the pandemic. It’s helping the church grow, leading directly to 12 to 20 new families each year.

“We’ve probably added 100 member families in the last five years because of the homeschool academy,” Williams said. “They come to an event, see how well it’s run, and before long, they’re saying, ‘Most of our kid’s friends go here. We just love it here. We want to be part of this.’”
 
The homeschool academy uses a hybrid approach. Students attend classes at the church two days per week and complete assignments at home the other three, guided by their parents. Williams says this format allows them to keep tuition much lower than full-time private schools—just $2,500 per student each year.

Churches supporting public schools

Both Marion and Williams say their churches haven’t abandoned local public schools as they’ve built Christian schools. Williams notes that the church has volunteers serving in a variety of public school roles and participates in the “BackSnack” program, which fills backpacks with food for public school children in the Kansas City area.

Likewise, Marion’s church has a strong commitment to be an effective partner with local public schools.

“You better be intentional,” Marion said. “If a church wants to do this, they have to be intentional about being a champion at the local schools. I’m grateful we’re able to provide a Christian school option for families who want it. But please hear me: I love our public school teachers. I love the work they do. I believe in our public schools. I’m friends with our school superintendent, and I believe in him. And the schools know if they ever need anything, they call on us.”

Churches like Fellowship and FBC Covington are showing school engagement doesn’t need to be an either/or proposition. Instead of abandoning public schools, many churches are starting new schools while deepening their relationships with local public schools—volunteering, serving, and supporting families on both fronts.

“Instead of abandoning public schools, many churches are starting new schools while deepening their relationships with local public schools—volunteering, serving, and supporting families on both fronts.” — @TobinPerry Share on X

As the number of conservative evangelical churches starting schools continues to grow, Wax sees both a challenge and an invitation. “We should go ahead and begin starting now the institutions that 10 or 15 years from now are going to be bearing a lot of fruit for kids,” he said.
 
The need is real. The opportunity is here. And for many churches, Monday through Friday might be the next frontier of faithful next generation discipleship.

For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.