Christians Education

Sue Cross arrived at the Christian Home Educators Convention on Saturday morning with the idea that self-teaching her two daughters meant buying some used textbooks, brushing up on algebra and pulling a few classics off the bookshelf in her den. But the Long Beach woman left the Disneyland Hotel overwhelmed by the hundreds of home teaching products and seminars offered at the convention. "Teaching your own kids is a huge commitment, and I'm still not sure I can make it," Cross said.

Sue Cross arrived at the Christian Home Educators Convention on Saturday morning with the idea that self-teaching her two daughters meant buying some used textbooks, brushing up on algebra and pulling a few classics off the bookshelf in her den. But the Long Beach woman left the Disneyland Hotel overwhelmed by the hundreds of home teaching products and seminars offered at the convention. "Teaching your own kids is a huge commitment, and I'm still not sure I can make it," Cross said.

Fifteen years ago, Susan Beatty struggled to educate her children at home by piecing together teachings from the Bible and various textbooks. The Anaheim mother found that resources for Christian parents like her were limited and tough to find. Now Christian educational materials are big business, from Bible spelling books to CD-ROMS to online services for home schoolers.

Fifteen years ago, Susan Beatty struggled to educate her children at home by piecing together teachings from the Bible and various textbooks. The Anaheim mother found that resources for Christian parents like her were limited and tough to find. Now Christian educational materials are big business, from Bible spelling books to CD-ROMS to online services for home schoolers.

Southern Baptist congregations have been found to outrank the churches of five mainline Protestant denominations in the quality of Christian education, according to a national study. Members of the theologically conservative denomination also score highest in maturity of faith and in church loyalty, the study said. The recently released findings came from a three-year research project conducted by the Search Institute, Minneapolis, and funded by the Lilly Endowment, Indianapolis.

As California's universities debate the end of affirmative action, small evangelical Christian colleges throughout the state and the nation are being criticized from within for never getting much of a start. Although minority students have increased from 11.8% of enrollment at 90 small Christian colleges to 14% over a seven-year period, that is well behind the 25% figure for all colleges nationwide.

The school board unanimously refused Monday night to endorse a Christian education program which takes students from classes 40 minutes a week for instruction in a "Chapel on Wheels." Tustin Unified School District Trustee Jane Bauer said parents would be "abrogating their responsibility" by asking the school to participate in the program.

As in World War II, when all Americans were asked to contribute to the war effort against the evils of Hitler's fascism, we are being asked by those in our Christian community to contribute to this effort. In some ways, I see this effort as, or more important than, the evils we faced in World War II. Our society is unraveling right before our eyes. Unfortunately, we live in a political world. Change can only come through the political process.

There is a lot going on in public schools in the south county that Russell Neal and Judy Williams don't like, but the similarity between them ends right about there. Neal is a fundamentalist Christian, a believer in the seven-day creation, and a man of clear, though hardly modest, objectives. If he had his way, he says, he would prefer to see his own views regarding prayer, sex education, creationism and fixed, traditional values implemented in the public schools.

When Bombay architect Charles Correa designed the modern Roman Catholic church in his home city a few years ago, he said he tried to capture the grandeur of the heavens with a simple, unadorned statement. He chose for the main altar a magnificent slab of rough-hewn granite, illuminated by crossing shafts of sunlight from skylights.

As California's universities debate the end of affirmative action, small evangelical Christian colleges throughout the state and the nation are being criticized from within for never getting much of a start. Although minority students have increased from 11.8% of enrollment at 90 small Christian colleges to 14% over a seven-year period, that is well behind the 25% figure for all colleges nationwide.

The school board unanimously refused Monday night to endorse a Christian education program which takes students from classes 40 minutes a week for instruction in a "Chapel on Wheels." Tustin Unified School District Trustee Jane Bauer said parents would be "abrogating their responsibility" by asking the school to participate in the program.

Southern Baptist congregations have been found to outrank the churches of five mainline Protestant denominations in the quality of Christian education, according to a national study. Members of the theologically conservative denomination also score highest in maturity of faith and in church loyalty, the study said. The recently released findings came from a three-year research project conducted by the Search Institute, Minneapolis, and funded by the Lilly Endowment, Indianapolis.