Uncategorized

Celebrating the Past & Shaping the Future

Wednesday, 11 August 2010 10:24

ECES Principal Sandy Bottge, ECMS Principal Dick Van Yperen and I attended the Christian Schools International (CSI) Leadership Conference on the campus of Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, IL last week. The conference was a great opportunity to meet with colleagues from other Christian schools across the US and Canada for professional development workshops, keynote speeches on topics related to the past and future of Christian education in North America, and informal sharing of the experiences, joys and challenges being faced by CSI schools all around the continent.

The conference, organized around the theme of "Celebrating the Past & Shaping the Future," was kicked off by noted author, story-teller and Dordt College professor, Dr. James Schaap, with a look at the history of Christian education in North America, from its roots in Western Europe to its more recent past. Jim included a number of stories regarding Eastern Christian, one of the oldest CSI schools in the nation, in his talk, including the story of our formation 118 years ago this month.

Noted author and futurist, Rex Miller, challenged us to think about the ways in which the world of education has been changed by technological and social developments and helped us to contemplate the changes that our schools would face in the years to come.

Dr. Mary Hulst, Dean of the Chapel at Calvin College, closed the conference with an inspiring and thought provoking talk on the one thing that truly separates Christian schools from all other schools – our responsibility to nurture the faith of our students and our freedom to name the name of Jesus!

Between these challenging and fascinating talks, Christian school leaders facilitated workshops on the most recent developments in curriculum, professional development, strategic planning, marketing and a host of other topics of interest to Christian educators. And before each day's session began, we had the opportunity to share in worship, led by our professional colleagues from our sister schools in the Chicago area.

The conference was a great opportunity for professional learning and spiritual and intellectual refreshment. Congratulations to the CSI staff on staging a great learning experience and thanks to our colleagues from across North America for sharing their expertise and experience with us!