What's A "Micro School?"

Since the Coronavirus outbreak, Renewanation has seen an increasingly strong interest from churches desiring to launch Christian schools. It isn’t just the Coronavirus, however, that is driving this interest.

In response, Renewanation is currently working on a “Micro School Start-up Program" that will help hundreds of churches (hopefully thousands of them) to get God-honoring micro schools up and running quickly and efficiently for their communities. It's Renewanation's own "operation warp-speed."

What’s a “micro school?”

Micro schools are not a new concept. Bill Gates has been involved in launching them around the world, and many see this approach as the “wave of the future” for education. Micro schools have been described as a “reinvention of the one-room school house.” Class sizes are typically under 10-15 students. The term “Pandemic Pod” has also been used to describe this phenomenon. One is reminded of that old saying, “necessity is the mother of invention.”

Renewanation strongly believes the micro school format provides a legitimate and effective means for churches of all sizes to get involved in educating children with relatively little financial outlay. The current plan is for Renewanation’s Micro School Start-Up Program to work hand in hand with the new virtual school Renewanation launched last September, called, iLumenEd Academy.

Renewanation has a vision for thousands (hopefully hundreds of thousands) of children to receive a True education through Christ-centered micro schools offered via churches across the country over the coming decade. 

Renewanation sees micro schools in which math, science, history and literature are all viewed in the context of something much bigger than math, science, history and literature: the context of the Bigger Picture of True Reality called a "Biblical Worldview." Our nation must get back to this kind of education.  

To assist in getting the Micro School Start-up Program going, Renewanation brought a veteran school startup specialist onto their development team to help put together a package which will allow any church, large of small, from A-Z, to start a micro school as easily and effectively as possible.

For this vision, Renewanation has launched a $100,000 fund-raising effort to get things off the launching pad. It is the hope and goal of Renewanation to provide this service and package to churches at almost no cost.

To direct a financial gift to the Renewanation Micro School project, contact Chuck Robb, Director of Ministry Partnerships, at crobb@renewanation.org.

This blog is a service of  RenewaNation www.renewanation.org 

Why Christian Education?

 

This week, let's focus on the question, "Why Christian education?"

Few issues are more important today for parents who have sons or daughters in K-12 education.  

Some 85%-90% of Christian parents do not provide a biblio-centric education for their children. The reasons are varied.

Many pastors are silent on the issue. Some may feel it is best for children from Christian homes to attend the public schools to be "lights in the world," rather than separate themselves from "the mainstream of culture." 

But do we really want our children to be swimming in the mainstream of today's culture? They'll get plenty of this without subjecting them to more during 6 prime hours of the day. If it is evangelism that's the idea, invite the neighbors over.

Please read, "Debunking the 8 Most Popular Myths about Christian Education." Click here. 

Then watch a short (1:40 minute) video, here:

If this video does not play, click here: https://youtu.be/MNaMJFjdpGE

Many brick-and-mortar Christian schools are offering at-home services due to Coved-19 issues. Check this out with your local Christian school, or consider an on-line Christian school. More on this next week.  

This blog is a service of  RenewaNation www.renewanation.org 

Perhaps You Missed All The Fanfare

Last Wednesday, November 11, was the 400^th anniversary of something truly unique and amazing in all of history. It was a remarkable occasion that has greatly affected all Americans, even to the present hour.

Perhaps you missed all the fanfare in the media.

The occasion that occurred 400 years ago this week set into motion an extraordinary approach to human governance based upon the idea that a group of people could actually be self-governed under God through the rule of law with the consent of the governed.

Wednesday marked the 400^th anniversary of the signing of the Mayflower Compact. 

The Mayflower Compact was created by the Pilgrim Fathers, signed aboard the ship that carried 102 Pilgrims (in families with children, including three pregnant women), to the New World in 1620. Within 3 months, half of this group was dead.

The Mayflower Compact established a remarkable form of human government. It got the ball rolling toward the establishment of a new nation’s way of governance, whereby the players in governmental roles would be held in check by the rule of law with the consent of the governed, and no human King on hand to direct and control things. 

But the Pilgrims clearly had a King in mind. 

Self-governance under God through the rule of law with the consent of the governed was a radical idea in 1620, and it is still a radical idea today. 

It is clearly an idea we need to recover.

 This blog is a service of  RenewaNation www.renewanation.org 

Soft Totalitarianism

 

A friend of Renewanation, who is alerting his community to the prejudicial effects of CRT [Critical Race Theory] in public schools, informed us he was “doxed,” and had received threatening phone calls to his home.

“When you fight back against equity/CRT, it gets ugly,” he wrote. “There are groups out there who target people who speak out against CRT. One such group sent a letter to the employer of an individual who worked with me, telling this man’s employer about his 'anti-equity rhetoric,' and claiming he was 'attacking' a community group 'that was supporting racial diversity and inclusion.'"

In that letter, this man’s adversaries wrote: “We share this with you because we are concerned that Mr. ________ might also be bringing a biased attitude—implicitly or explicitly—into his work for your company…We felt that you should know.”

Our friend continued: “These are the tactics they use. They try to get people fired, and ruin their name and life. It is dirty. Other people self-censor because they fear these attacks.”

This is what Rod Dreher calls “soft totalitarianism.”

In his book, Live Not by Lies, Dreher helps Followers of Christ to not be surprised when “soft totalitarianism” reveals its ugly face. It has been increasing in recent years, with cake decorators being sued for not making cakes for same-sex weddings, and the like.

“Hard totalitarianism” took place in Russia following the Bolshevik revolution. Freedom of speech disappeared, and people were afraid to express their thoughts, lest they be reported by a neighbor and disciplined by the State. Freedom of religious expression (other than State-approved expression), disappeared. Prison time resulted for some. Many Christ-Followers gathered in secret. 

Dreher traveled to former "Eastern Block" countries of the now-defunct Soviet Union to interview Christ-Followers who lived through the totalitarianism of “the Soviet days.” He wanted to learn how these people navigated those rough waters, so he could help Christ-Followers in America to deal with the increasing “soft totalitarianism” of today’s 'cancel culture.'

You, too, may become a target. Perhaps you've already been one.

You don't have to write a letter to the editor to become a target. All you have to do is not wear a rainbow pin on your collar when the rest of your co-workers do. 

The State will not send you to prison, but many “Social Justice Warriors” will see to it that you pay—one way or another. 

This book may be the survival guide you never thought you'd need in the United States.  

To order, click here.

 This blog is a service of  RenewaNation www.renewanation.org