Biblical Worldview: More Important than Ever
One of the many things I love about Yokohama Christian School (YCS) is that we strive to instill a biblical worldview into all our students. In case you aren’t familiar with that term, a worldview is the lens through which we see all aspects of the world and how we make all of our decisions. It’s a person’s core set of beliefs. People build their worldview from various sources such as family, culture, friends, media, and school, to name a few. At YCS, learning about the Bible and worship are important, but a biblical worldview goes beyond that. We want children to see the world through the lens of Jesus and the Bible at all times of the day, not just during certain times on certain days.
Every summer I go to a Christian camp in Michigan that keeps me on fire for Jesus. This year, I listened to a speaker named Jeff Keaton, CEO and founder of Renewanation, an organization that champions a biblical worldview in schools across the world (at YCS, we use ACSI and Purposeful Design curriculum). He gave some eye-opening statistics from George Barna, the most well-known Christian sociologist in the US for the past 40 years. Though the statistics are for the US, I believe they are relevant here in Japan as well:
– The worldview that a child has at the age of 13 is statistically the worldview that child will die with.
– The millennials (ages 23-43) are the most educated generation in American history and the least religious in American history.
– Only 23% of millennials make any profession of faith in Jesus being their Savior.
– Only 4% of millennials have a Biblical worldview.
– Gen Z (ages 10-22) are harming themselves in record numbers.
The need for children to have a biblical worldview cannot be understated. Parents cannot sit back and assume their child will naturally attain a biblical worldview. Too many evils in the world are fighting to take their worldview away from Jesus. It takes the work of the family, the church, and the school together–a three-stranded cord that is not quickly broken–to help ensure children hold fast to this biblical worldview. Now, I cannot guarantee that a child raised by this three-stranded cord will absolutely have a biblical worldview. There are some that will still fall away. But I can guarantee that if that child is not shown a biblical worldview, they will not accidentally attain one somehow.
Grandparents can play an active role in instilling a biblical worldview as well. There are books written to help equip grandparents on how to make a real impact in their grandchild’s faith journey. Here is one book that may be a good gift to give grandparents for Christmas. It is called Grandparenting: Strengthening Your Family and Passing on Your Faith by Dr. Josh Mulvihill.
Here are two other interesting quotes from Mr. Keaton’s message:
– Whoever has the most access to the hearts and minds of our children will be the ones who shape their worldview.
– A child will attend school for 16,000 hours from kindergarten to 12th grade.
My goal is not to try and make you parents do more at home. My goal is to tell you that what you are doing at home is important–maybe more important than ever. I am overjoyed that you are sending your child to YCS so we can partner together to instill a biblical worldview into these precious children so they can stand strong in their faith as they grow up and we can rejoice with them together in heaven someday.
