Second Sight
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1 Second Sight Renewing the Vision of Bellevue Christian School for the New Century by Lowell Hagan 1 Prologue A century ago, people who could accurately predict coming events were said to have “second sight.” We cannot know the future of Bellevue Christian School, but like a runner who reaches the point of fatigue and then gets a new burst of energy, a second wind, we can get a new grasp of the vision and direction of the school, a second sight, and move with renewed confidence into the new century. When brothers Albert and Joseph Greene set out to create a Christian school in Bellevue, Washington, they knew little more than that they wanted a Christian envi- ronment in which learning could take place. This would mean taking the best of what the public schools had to offer and adding biblical studies, prayer, and a Christian standard of conduct and dress. So when Eastside (soon renamed Bellevue) Christian School opened its doors 1950, it was little different from scores of other small, strug- gling Christian schools. It separated Christian students from the influence of the sur- rounding world, its pedagogy was highly traditional, and its behavior standards were rigidly enforced. Dewey Fredricks, one of the stalwarts of the faculty in its early years, later remarked, “We weren’t under grace in those days; we were under law.” The Greene brothers early on found their respective leadership roles in the School. Joe led in the development of the physical plant, the transportation department, and business operations. Al led and guided the development of the educational philosophy. The school could not have survived without the abilities and dedication each of the brothers possessed, but because this book is concerned with philosophy, Al Greene will receive greater attention. In the first 25 years of the school’s existence a unique educational vision took shape in the crucible of experience. Many people influenced that development. Al Greene was a voracious reader, and set the example that to be a teacher, one must also be a learner. In the meantime, Al was hiring an unusually well qualified faculty, several of whom had earned advanced degrees in their fields of specialization. They were be- ginning to rethink their own disciplines from within a Christian philosophical frame of reference. Parents who caught the vision were becoming involved in ongoing discus- sions. Eventually in 1986 a committee of parents and faculty members produced the Educational Confession, one of the foundational statements of the school’s philosoph- ical basis (Appendix B). The major actors in those formative years are now retired or have already gone Home. Bellevue Christian School has entered a new era, one in which the voices of those who helped to shape the vision of the school are fading. Teachers who labored to blaze a trail of Christian scholarship and teaching left few markers behind. Each new generation of BCS teachers will have to create new paths. This expanded statement of the mission of Bellevue Christian School is written in the hope that the educational vision will outlive those who shaped it. It continually refers back to the Educational Confession and seeks to re-examine its statements and reaffirm their meaning for the new era. The first chapter, Forming a Vision, provides some historical background to the development of the BCS philosophy. Chapter 2, An Educational Philosophy, is an 2 effort to expand many of the statements made in the Educational Confession, and to show the basic philosophical stance of the school. Chapter 3, An Educational Philoso- phy At Work, puts legs on these statements, showing how the school has defined its sense of mission. Chapter 4, Striving Toward the Goal, asks how the outcomes of Chris- tian schooling should be measured, looking particularly at the idea of excellence. Chap- ter 5, Transforming the Culture, then looks to the future, and seeks to set a course into the 21st century. A short epilog, Flags of the Kingdom, reflects briefly on the possible future course of the school. Each chapter, however, is designed to be self-contained. While this makes it possible for the reader to begin with the section of greatest interest, it also means that there is some duplication of content – though we have tried to avoid mere repetition. Following these chapters is Appendix A, Frequently Asked Questions, which bor- rows an idea from internet information sites and takes up some issues that did not fit into the structural outline of the principal chapters. Appendix B contains the full text of the BCS Educational Confession. One somewhat technical issue needs explanation. The English language does not have a gender-neutral word to refer to all of humanity. Here it echoes Hebrew, where the one word Adam can be either a word for all of humanity, or the name of the first man. For reasons of simplicity I have adopted the policy of using the capitalized word Man to mean all human beings regardless of gender, and the lower-case words man and men to refer to male persons only. And to avoid overuse of the awkward he/she I have chosen to alternate the words he and she when the reference is not gender specific. While this usage may be unfamiliar, it is only fair. Finally, unless otherwise specified, all Scripture quotations are from the New In- ternational Version. I have also followed the NIV by using lower case letters in pro- nouns that refer to God and in expressions such as “the word of God.” The Educational Confession in Appendix B does not follow these conventions but retains the capitali- zation and punctuation of the original document. Lowell Hagan Bellevue, Washington April 2020 3 Chapter 1: Forming a Vision A Slow Boat from China When the Reverend Albert E. Greene, Jr. and his wife, Thelma, returned from China in 1949, they could not have dreamed that they would spend the rest of their lives as part of a place called Bellevue Christian School. Al’s brother Joe had helped to found a Christian school in Seattle, but his children were traveling 25 miles each way to attend it. He wanted a school closer to his home in Medina, which at that time was a sleepy semi-rural community. Al had agreed to help Joe organize a Christian school on the eastern shore of Lake Washington. On the long boat ride back to the States, Al met Rev. Peter DeJong, the incoming pastor of Seattle’s First Christian Reformed Church. When Rev. DeJong heard about the plans for a new school, he jumped in with both feet. His denomination had a long tradition of Christian schools, brought to America by Dutch immigrants almost 70 years earlier. There was even an existing association of these schools, the National Union of Christian Schools (later renamed Christian Schools International), and Peter made sure that Al knew how to contact them. Almost every day the two pastors met to talk about the biblical basis for Christian schooling. Peter’s theology, derived from the tradition of the Protestant Reformation in the Netherlands, was close to Al’s own convictions. Two ideas seemed paramount. The first was that since God is the sovereign Lord of all creation, he is Lord also of educa- tion and schools should be formed in obedience to him. The second was that since human beings are made in the image of God, their service to God should extend to the whole of life, and not be limited to a special category of “spiritual” things. By the time the boat landed, Al had begun a contemplation of the idea of Christian schooling that he would pursue for the rest of his life. “The Greene School” Al became pastor of the church in which he had grown up and joined the boards of both the existing Seattle school and the newly organized Eastside Christian School (soon renamed Bellevue Christian School). But God was bringing events together in a way that would move Al into a new role. During Al’s first year back in the States the Greene brothers’ connection with the Seattle school came to an end. Geographical distance was not the only problem; a the- ological distance was also developing. At this time in American history there was a theological movement in many churches that radically separated the sacred and the secular. In this view, Christians were only to be concerned with the “spiritual” side of life. The present world rejected Jesus, went the argument, and he in turn rejected it, so it was headed only for destruction. The Christian’s task was to try to save people out of this world. Outside of personal morality, devotional life and evangelism, everything was in the realm of the “secular.” When the Seattle school was taken in this otherworldly direction by a majority vote in the parent society, the Greenes could not in good conscience follow. They were 4 convinced that “Thy kingdom come” is a prayer of Christians, who should be seeking the reign of God in all areas of life. A similar change of direction was occurring in Al’s home church, and he felt he could not stay on as pastor. So by the summer of 1950 Al was looking for the Lord to lead him in a new direction. God’s call came through an event that could have crippled the fledgling Bellevue Christian School. In late August the man hired to be the first administrator and to teach the first four grades abruptly resigned. On one week’s notice, Al became both principal and teacher.