Should non members teach in your Christian schools?

Our current policy is:

Anywhere there is a need, and the door is open we feel privileged to have the opportunity to meet that need. We strive to take care of one another so that we are equipped and have strength to minister to others who may not be "with us".

Dave.

 

Non-members may attend our Christian School, but only members are allowed to teach.

Our Christian School is a ministry of our church, we do not allow non-members to teach in it anymore than we would allow non-members to teach in our Sunday School.

 

Our school is for members only and taught by members only. It works.

 

The problem with only allowing members to teach is that there may not be an adequate number of degreed members with teaching credentials.

My daughter's school is fully accredited and preferrs, but does not require, its teachers to be members of the church. I believe the teaching staff numbers about 16.

Additionally, the school is open to both Baptists and non-Baptists, and the school does not give a discount to non-members.

 

The problem of opening up church schools to the public is that you must accept all their baggage, too.

Eph 4:14 That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

 

Not at all. All parents sign a form saying the understand that the school's operations and teachings are consistent with Baptist doctrine (distinctives), and that children enrolled in the school are required to adhere to such teachings to be considered for enrollment.

Additionally, since the school is part of a church's ministry, reaching out to the community is an essential part of the future of the Baptist movement and the Christian church. Additionally, were we to limit enrollment to our own church members, there would not be sufficient numbers of students to justify the existence of the school. Lastly, a look at many Baptist colleges shows that, while some require the students to be Baptist, most do not require college students to be members of a specific congregation.

 

As long as they agree on doctrine I'd say no problem. In fact it may even be better to not have their lives completely tied up in one tiny section of the church. I consider the needs of the church next door just as much my duty as the needs of my own church. One faith, one church.
Gina

 

Not at all. [/QB][/QUOTE]


Some churches and schools are nothing but baggage.

Thanks -------Bart

 

Technically and legally speaking, if you are a C (3) organization (Business), you must be an Equal Opportunity Organization. You must abide by public policy. You must not, I repeat, you must not refuse a sodomite who applies for a job teaching in your school. (You might hide behind another circumstance ie. lie, and not hire) You cannot refuse a position based upon a person's personal behavior or lack thereof. For those of you who say you can do what you want to do, you are dishonest if you sign the paperwork (vow) and then do what you want. For those of you who sign and then hope you don't have problems, the hammer is coming. Definition: Hammer, A lawsuit.
Then you can call the fair haired lawyers that deal with these "cases" and have your church name printed and sent out all over the nation as a church defending the faith. What a lie. The "Missionary" lawyer is a farce and these churches are paying for making a league with Gibeah. So...you better think about that paper you all sign.

Thanks ------Bart "The dueling society was a polite society".

 

That's not the case. A school run by the KKK can refuse to hire a black person. A Baptist-run school can refuse to hire a Muslim. Recently, a woman sued a local Christian college for hiring discrimination. She alleged they refused to hire her because she was a woman (in reality, they did not hire her because she was less qualified). She lost: the judge ruled that, since her allegation was sexual disctimination, she has no case, because the religious school has the right to discriminate based on gender.

 

Johnv
Please advise of any recent court rulings. I need the citation if you don't mind, so I can update my files and education. Were they lower court rulings, State Sup or US Sup Ct?

Thanks ----Bart "The dueling society is a polite society"

 

I don't remember the exact details, but I will do some digging. It involved a professor at Chapman University (which, to be technical, was founded as a Christian School, but is no longer Christian school per se by our standards, though still considered a religious based institution by legal standards). The case was about 2 years ago now, and I believe was head in the Orange County Superior Court of California.

 

When I was in a Christian school, we had several teachers that were from other Bible-believing churches in our area (several teachers went to my home church). Actually, two of the teachers were Pastors' wives, but their churches were smaller and did not have the resources to start their own schools.

A point worth making here is that all of these churches were IFB and very closely linked, and like-minded with regard to Scriptural beliefs. Because of this, there really was no concern with respect to theological differences.

 

I have been in schools with both situations. They all work as well as they are led.
I was involved in a ministry in which there were people hired who did not fit doctrinally. That was a problem. Mixing Charismatics with non-Charismatics always creates some friction.
Keep the staff to the same Faith and Practice and this minimizes the friction and builds christian fellowship between the churches.
I was also involved in a ministry that had only its' own membership involved. It was like an island unto itself. In that vacuum, the ministry became very critical of other ministries without any reasonable cause. They developed a very self righteous attitude of "we are better than everyone else", and in truth they were far from it.

 

Just curious:

Of those whose churches have elementary schools, is your school accredited? Also, do you require your teachers to be have teaching credentials/degrees?

All of the teachers in my church's elementary school are degreed and credentialed, and the school is accredited.

 

That was precisely the reason the school I attended had non-members teaching. They all had degrees in education, and were accredited.

 

Just coming out of lurkdom to answer this one as it hit's quite close to home right now.

Our churches school (K-12) is not accredited, nor are the teachers credentialed (most of them, that is).

I am just now learning what a big deal this can be for the kids that attend non-accredited schools, especially during their high school years. Just this year we transferred our son to a very good public high school and they informed us just last week that they will not transfer his credits from the church school because they are not accredited. They say he must start high school all over again from the 9th grade!

My son is devastated, and I am angry at myself for ever getting him into such a situation.

We are still trying to get the public school to accept the credits, because their district policy does not state that they won't accept credit from non-accredited schools, but seeing as how my son isn't the first kid they have done this to, we may have quite a fight on our hands.

Parents, beware. If the school isn't accredited, your child may face difficulties in transferring to public school, college admissions, or even joining the military. It seems that non-accredited school diplomas, in many instances, are not worth the paper they're printed on.

 

Accreditation becomes especially important in high school. Colleges will generally not accept coursework from unaccredited high schools. Since the cost of private school in my area is $4000 for elementary and $6000 for high school per year, the least the schools can do is go through the accreditation process.