About Reformation Classical Academy

Mission Statement

Reformation Classical Academy exists to assist parents in the godly training of their children by offering academic instruction from a thoroughly biblical perspective, by equipping our students to learn for themselves using the proven classical method, and by providing them with an orderly and engaging work environment.

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Vision Statement

We aim to graduate young men and women who think clearly and listen carefully with discernment and understanding; who speak precisely, reason persuasively, and conduct themselves graciously; who are capable of evaluating all knowledge and human experience in the light of the Scriptures; who do so with humility and gratitude in joyful submission to God; and who serve faithfully in Christ’s church and work diligently to advance his kingdom.

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Foundations - Historical & Theological

The Protestant Reformers were strong proponents of education—and of distinctively Christian education in particular. Hundreds of new schools helped ground subsequent generations in Reformation thought and life, in the process shaping society in profound ways.  

 

Like those schools, reformational education today identifies with the “one holy catholic church” through the ages, going all the way back to the early church and creeds.

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But reformational education also emphasizes the advances made in the Reformation: 

• The authority of Scripture as definitive for all doctrine and all of life

• The absolute sovereignty of God

• The goodness and reflective glory of creation

• The unique nature, dignity, and role of man

• The devastating consequences of the Fall, corrupting every faculty of man

• Man’s utter dependence on God’s Spirit and His Word to enlighten and enliven

• The very real power, sufficiency, and efficacy of the Spirit and the Word

• The lordship and supremacy of Christ 

• The glory of God as the goal of all things

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The educational model espoused by the Protestant Reformers had deep roots, having developed throughout the Middle Ages as an outworking of classical Greco-Roman thought and Christianity.  It continued to be refined and to flourish during the Protestant Reformation and for several centuries thereafter. 

 

Such schools equipped students with the classical tools of learning (grammar, logic, rhetoric), and sought to shape their reasoning and their affections in accordance with God’s revelation—“enculturating” young people with the goal that they become faithful and fruitful members of the church and of society.  This is the heritage of Reformation Classical Academy.

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Implications for Education

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• The centrality of God 
  Our children are to be taught the things of God, not as an add-on, not haphazardly, and not only in “devotional” moments, but rather in an all-encompassing, life-permeating, reality-defining way (Deut. 6:4–9).
   

• Knowing God, and giving glory.
  To study the physical world is to glimpse the mind of God; math likewise reveals the mind of God, as does history or music or language. As students grow in true knowledge and understanding, they are “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” God-purged schooling is thus grievously flawed, for education’s ultimate purpose is this: to know and love God better, acknowledging Him, glorifying Him, and enjoying Him in all His works.
   

• A unified worldview.
  All learning is related, forming a cohesive whole. Rather than generating a chaotic set of disconnected facts and ideas, classes and subjects are inextricably linked; for behind and through each of them are the being and character of God and His purposes.
   

• Scripture.
  We subordinate our minds to the Word of God. We take captive every thought—in every subject—to make it obedient to Christ. Scripture always has the first and the final word.
   

• The life of the mind. 
  The life of the mind is itself a high calling. We are called to love God with our mind, as with all the rest of our being. The Scriptures themselves reflect this, and reformational education will take ‘serious delight’ in it as well.
   

• Vocation.
  Our work and roles are callings given us by God, to be done as unto the Lord and in service to others. A young person’s vocation is that of a student; school is his workplace. Thus excellence is called for—but an excellence defined by diligence, faithfulness, and stewardship, exercised with humility and gratitude.
   

• The good life.
  Education is the path to the good life, where “good” is defined by Christian virtue. Virtue is taught, reinforced, practiced, and enjoyed as students and teachers experience life together. Such education also cultivates a vision for how it can be used on behalf of others and for Christ’s kingdom.
   

• Aesthetics and decorum.
  Beauty manifests and enhances truth and goodness. The fine arts play an important role. But more significantly, how we order, arrange, and adorn ourselves, our surroundings, our routines, and our work reflects our affections—and shapes them.
   

• Teachers transfer a way of life. 
  A well-trained disciple will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40). Reformational teachers incarnate what they teach. They love it, and live it. “Education is not a subject, and it does not deal in subjects. It is instead the transfer of a way of life” (G.K. Chesterton).

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We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (II COR. 10:5)