Philosophy of Education

The principles upon which the philosophy of education at Trinity Christian School are based include the following¹:

  1. That God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit² is glorified in³ and revealed through⁴ all of His creation, most clearly in the infallible Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.⁵

  2. That through the Covenant of Grace,⁶ God has appointed believers, particularly parents,⁷ to be responsible for the training of covenant children to the end that His Glory⁸ and their enjoyment of Him⁹ is seen to be supreme in all of their experiences.¹⁰

  3. That the training of Christian children, under the parent’s supervision in the home and in the church, is to be continued in a school which also carries out these covenant duties.

Trinity Christian School seeks to develop its educational program upon these principles. We do not separate our children’s experience or education into “secular” and “religious”. All creation is under the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ and is to glorify the Triune God.¹¹ Therefore, all creation is to be studied and understood from a Christian perspective, in order that the Triune God may be praised.

Teaching at Trinity Christian School stresses that the world and man are not neutral but created by God¹² and are now in a condition of sin.¹³ Sin has distorted all of creation, and man’s interpretation of it.¹⁴ One result is that education goals, curriculum, and teaching methods are also distorted. Since our minds interpret creation, education is also distorted.¹⁵ Only salvation through Jesus Christ, as the atonement for sin and the Lord of all of life,¹⁶ allows the mind to begin to be open to the truth of the Gospel and its implications in the study of the world;¹⁷ “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”¹⁸ Students should begin to understand their commitment to the Lordship of Christ in every area of life.¹⁹ This should be the basis for education by the family, the church, and the school without which the aims of Christian education cannot be properly accomplished. The covenant relationship is essential to our view of education.²⁰ The children of believing parents are in covenant with God, and they are to be taught this from the beginning of their lives.²¹ In the home, the church, and the school, they are to be taught that they are not their own, but they belong to a faithful Savior²² who died for their sins²³ and therefore their “chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever”.²⁴ We stress the importance of having the home, church, and school in basic agreement concerning the centrality of the Triune God in our lives.²⁵ Through this unified effort, our children will be presented daily with the Gospel of the Covenant.

All students in our school should hear and respond to the claims of Christ Jesus the Lord.²⁶ We desire to see each student be nurtured in his or her Christian faith and develop his or her unique God-given abilities to become a useful and creative citizen of Christ’s Kingdom in the world.²⁷ All school activities, curriculum, and practices are to be based on a Biblical view of humankind and creation. We try to glorify God by providing the best possible education, enabling each student to achieve his or her greatest potential: mentally, physically, emotionally, and socially.

Our Christian staff is essential to the achievement of these goals. Our faculty members are committed to our Lord Jesus Christ and evidence this in their lives. Each of our faculty is to be a member of a local Reformed church, where they are under the oversight of the elders and under the teaching of the truths of the Covenant upon which our philosophy is based. Furthermore, our faculty are well trained in their particular fields and they are to be certified in the state of Pennsylvania, in the state from which they graduated from college, or through CSI.²⁸

In summary, our goal is to be distinctly Christian in our educational philosophy. We seek to work together with the home and the church to nurture our children in the way they should go, so that when they are old they will not depart from it.²⁹


¹ This is a paraphrase of the guiding principles enumerated in Article II of our Constitution.
² Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) 2:3
³ Psalm 19:1-3
⁴ Romans 1:19, 20
⁵ WCF 1:1, 10
⁶ WCF 7:3
⁷ Genesis 17:9, 18:19; Ephesians 6:4
⁸ I Corinthians 10:31
⁹ Psalm 144:15
¹⁰ WCF 25:2, 3; Proverbs 1:8
¹¹ WCF 21:1
¹² WCF 4:1, 2
¹³ WCF 6:2, 3
¹⁴ WCF 6:4
¹⁵ WCF 6:5
¹⁶ WCF 8:8
¹⁷ WCF 10:1
¹⁸ Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10
¹⁹ WCF 21:1
²⁰ WCF 7:1
²¹ Deuteronomy 6:6, 7; Proverbs 1:8; Ephesians 6:4
²² Heidelberg Catechism Q1
²³ WCF 8:4
²⁴ Westminster Shorter Catechism Q1
²⁵ This is one of the challenges confronting children of unbelieving parents who attend our school. Our emphasis on the Lordship of Christ, if not supported by a corresponding teaching at home, may result in tension or confusion.
²⁶ WCF 13:1
²⁷ This is paraphrased from the Faculty Handbook.
²⁸ This paragraph summarizes various policies concerning the faculty of our school.
²⁹ Proverbs 22:6