Running head: EDUCATION AS GOD’S PLAN
Text Critique of
Glen Schultz
Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations
Deborah Davis
Liberty University Online
EDUC 741: Theories of Educational Leadership
Professor E. Black
December 16-21, 2013
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EDUCATION AS GOD’S PLAN
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Abstract
This document will provide a brief overview/summary of the text authors’ key points. That
information will be followed by a response from this author. The personal response will be
followed with application as an educational leader.
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Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations
A Brief Summary
The passing of knowledge is a God-given assignment from the beginning of time.
Christian parents should be following the example of their Jewish counterparts and forebears
ensuring “the young child will grow and remain faithful to their religion” (Schultz, 1998, p. 11).
Schultz presents the desire for wisdom as both a positive and a negative. The positive is
less transparent as it is less natural. The sin nature of man allows the negative of desiring
wisdom to be a tasty temptation. The ability to capture the positive desire for wisdom and
engage the mind of the child is, however, the critical factor in bringing that child to Christ. That,
above all, is the goal of a Christian parent.
The restriction of Christian education vice kingdom education eliminates two-thirds of
the power of the trinity. “God’s kingdom is a present reality. It is not a physical kingdom but a
spiritual one” (Schultz, 1998, p. 22). As such, it is not a momentary thing, but a thing that
encompasses all eternity and in doing so, the simple and short lifespans of mere humans. Our
short timeframe makes the educating of the next generation even more essential.
Regardless of method or schooling, by the time a child enters adulthood, the philosophy
of life, or world-view, will have been formed (Schultz, 1998, p. 35). In that common knowledge
exposes that being in a garage does not make one a car, so too, people need reminding that being
in church does not make them Christian. The world will only see the actions of the individual,
the values and beliefs on which those actions are based are a product of worldview. Teachers
need to understand their influence on the worldview of their charges.
Schultz (1998) places the responsibility of educational decisions on the parents. He
presents the importance of education as a quandary from Christian pre-school through secular
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schooling to Christian colleges. He does not, however, address the financial constraints that may
way upon these parental decisions. Schultz (1998) presents that all parents are home-schoolers
to some degree in that all parents teach their children some things (p. 71). However, he points
out the need to carefully and prayerfully seek help in the process.
Schools and churches can be valuable assets, or powerful enemies in the battle of
kingdom education. The secularization of schools in America has pulled many children away
from home, and away from God, believing instead in the value of education and worldly
knowledge for their salvation. Churches need to stand up for families and aid them in taking
their children back from the world.
In the battle for the hearts and minds of our children, Shultz (1998) expresses details of
the tools of spiritual warfare (p. 121-122). The most powerful tool is the mind. Engaging it in
kingdom education is critical to the future destiny of our offspring.
A Personal Response
My son was home-schooled from fourth grade through high school. So, my personal
experience in teaching my child is different from the one I had as a child. I remember the day
the Bibles were taken from the classroom and we were no longer to recite the Lord’s Prayer
every day in school. As a public school student in California, I watched the decline of morals
over the years.
As a parent, I see Schultz’s point about the importance of encapsulating our children in a
world of Godliness before they set out on their own paths. As a person who has worked with
parents and children in many venues, I think Schultz’s (1998) construct that “every Christian
family could afford to send their children to a school that would value and reinforce the family
spiritual beliefs” (p. 129), must hail from a sheltered view of fiscal accountability. The fact that
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the book dates before the turn of the millennia may be part of the issue, but I suspect that Schultz
would still present the same ideology.
Application to Educational Leadership
Any adult who interacts with a child has been and is in a position of educational
leadership. For those of us who have pursued the educational goal of learning and serving in
leadership, there is recognition of responsibility that goes much deeper than the casual observer.
Schultz has been there, and knows the responsibility of this kind of leadership. However, the
outline of Schultz’s (1998) his leadership responsibilities does not indicate secular or sacred
schooling for his profession (p. 72). For those who wage the battle for the hearts and minds of
the children of America in the war zone known as public school, the challenges are magnified.
Most difficult are the very points made about the drifting away from Christianity and Protestant
ethos into an agnostic and atheistic perspective.
Without the foundation of Christian ethos, these children do not see themselves as the
children of a Holy God, created in His image. Instead, they fight tooth and nail for daily
recognition on a much shallower plane. This plane of daily society is one that is sprayed upon
by gangs, and spewed upon by the mass media, and seldom stifled by the overburdened parents
struggling to survive a climate of fiscal chills. The warm truth of God’s love is the only thing
that can save our children, and for those of us in educational leadership, we must preach it in
everything we do.
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References
Schultz, G. (1998). Kingdom education: God’s plan for educating future generations. (1st ed.).
Nashville, TN: LifeWay Press