Ten Tips for Raising Christian Leaders
Our country needs Christian leaders ready to lead in business, government, entertainment, in the sciences, and in our churches. As a Christian parent, you probably seek to give your child opportunities to learn how to be a helper at home and church, and work to build their confidence and wisdom. Our children also need experiences in leadership outside the home. Raising Christian leaders is a top priority for our generation and an important part of Fredericksburg Christian School’s mission. Our motto is, “Educating Christian Leaders for Life.” Here are some ways that parents and Christian schools can partner in raising Christian Leaders:
Christian leadership is taught and modeled.
Parents teach their children about being leaders through their words, actions, and attitudes. Similarly, Christian schools can teach leadership through the actions of teachers as well as through classroom experiences that emphasize responsibility. In addition, Christian schools can raise Christian leaders through:
1. A curriculum that teaches leadership principles
2. Opportunities, like the Fredericksburg Christian Leadership Institute, that allow students to put those principles into action
3. Practice in leading others in Chapel services, which FCS students do even in the elementary school grades
4. Missions trips and community service projects in which leadership is practiced and learned
5. Teaching the Bible and Biblical truths
6. Reading Christian classics and learning about Christian leaders of the past
As Dorothy Sayers noted in 1947, “The sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.”
Christian education that focuses on helping children to learn and internalize truth and practice living out that truth on a day-to-day basis, allows children to grow as people of integrity.
Christian leadership is put into practice.
Parents and teachers need to give children opportunities to practice leadership. One Christian mother, Amanda White, writes about making a deliberate effort to help her children learn about missions by introducing them to a new Christian ministry every month. Amanda says she started her project to help her children understand the needs of other people but also because,“I want their first response to be, ‘I can do something about that!'”
Christian schools often expand on the opportunities provided by parents, by allowing children to have experiences in missions not only in their own community but around the country or the world. For example, in January 2016, the Pro-Life Club of Fredericksburg Christian School joined the March for Life in Washington D.C. to learn about practicing leadership to save the unborn.
Creativity and confidence are fostered in a christian leader.
Today, many Christians are afraid to stand up for their faith. To raise Christian leaders, parents and teachers need to give their children chances to be creative and confident. They need to encourage their children to think outside the box for ways to glorify God and share their faith. Christian Schools foster creativity and confidence by:
7. Helping children practice talking about their faith in large and small groups
8. Having teachers who love what they are doing bring passion and creativity to lessons
9. Allowing children to write, draw, or read about faith issues without being told they can’t discuss Jesus or Scripture
10. Helping children to discuss how faith intersects with science, politics, history, and other subjects
Christian parents and Christian schools are partners in raising Christian leaders who have the boldness to stand firm for their faith and the ability to guide others to do the same. By working together, Christian parents and schools can help children to recognize their unique abilities, and to sharpen those skills so that they can glorify God with their lives.