Praying for you...

Praying for you...

The end of the month is in sight and we can recount God’s blessings this past month. We are thankful at the school for the families that have committed to our school. Each Monday the staff meets for devotions to start the week together devoting the day and week to God. During our prayer time we pray for three specific families and their children. We have found this to be a blessing to our staff and we wanted you to feel blessed as well knowing that you are upheld in our prayers. I recently heard a sermon on prayer as one of the spiritual disciplines that helps prepare us for living lives as imitators of Jesus Christ. We will continue to pray for this school, the families that support it and the work of the Spirit to stir us to be imitators and image bearers. We also ask that you keep the staff, the Board and the various committees in your prayers as we seek to fulfil our mission in this corner of God’s kingdom. ~ Mr. Bouwers

Open House

I was reading through a colleagues’ writings on Christian education and came across some intriguing items.  As you see in the Connects there is an Open House scheduled for January 30^th. Please share with family and friends the blessing that Christian education is to you and our community and invite them for a personalized walk-through. If they’re not available to come that day, encourage them to call the school and set up an appointment for another time.  

If you’re trying to convince your church friends that Christian education is a blessing, check out

 www.whychristianschools.ca

for some helpful words to say.  You could even share this website with your friends. Under the tabs: purpose of education, role of parents, influence of teachers, salt and light, and counting the cost, the site offers parents things to consider when choosing a school for their children.

At DCCS we also have small booklets in the front office called, For the Love of the Child which outlines a case for Christian education. A strong support to that is an online book called Families Living in the Fabric of Faithfulness.  In the very first chapter it discusses world and life view and how that is worked out in our lives.  As part of our mission we want to prepare our students for a life of Christian service and that has a lot to do with showing what we believe in the way that live.  You can read more at 

www.whitworth.edu/fabricoffaithfulness. 

Let us share the joy of Christian education with others. ~Mr. Bouwers

Meek and Gentle January 14, 2013

Throughout the school year we have been looking at the different characteristics we are called to put on in Colossians 3:12-14 and we have called them the Clothes of Christ.  So far we have taken a look at compassion, kindness, and humility, and it is time to turn our attention towards putting on gentleness or meekness.  Sometime ago I went to a Promise Keeper’s rally where I was challenged by the speaker to reflect on the image of being meek and gentle.  The speaker urged us to not see meekness as weakness.  Using gentleness towards others should not be seen as wimpy.  He went on to say that the word in the original Greek was used to describe a trained war horse.  If you’ve seen the movie War Horse you might agree that it is not a picture of weakness that is portrayed.  The trained war horse has to bend its will to that of the rider during the most frantic and dangerous times.  I believe that in this passage we are called to rein in our natural desire to rebel, fight to get our own way and push ourselves forward, and submit ourselves to obedience to God’s will for our lives.   This may take great courage and strength to bend in this way.  In the words of that speaker, meekness should be viewed as strength under control.  So as we go about living our lives in community it is a great reminder that we are called to suppress our knee-jerk reactions and our tendency to lash out and allow God to use our gifts for His glory.  Jesus Christ is our best example of this as we put on the clothes of Christ and seek to be imitators of God’s one and only Son.  May the Holy Spirit work powerfully in the hearts of our staff, students, and parents as we respond to this call.  ~Mr. Bouwers   

I resolve to...

I resolve to….

As we look at the calendar year ahead it is some individual`s common practice to make resolutions. I thought it might be interesting if we made a communal resolution to inform ourselves and others about the long-term benefits of Christian education. Cardus has recently put out a study that compares the religious graduates from government funded and non-government funded religious schools in Canada. Some of the key highlights that we should be aware of are:

Stronger families

· More engaged in community groups

· More generous

· More focused on neighbourhood

· Express their identity through their work

· Produce civically engaged graduates

I think these results, seen through the filter of the mission and vision of the school, provide an excellent basis to have conversations with our friends and neighbours about the benefits of Christian education. If you would like to view the whole report and study you can visit their website for more information, https://www.cardus.ca/store/3564 .

~Mr. Bouwers