|
“The main failure of education is that it has not prepared people to comprehend matters concerning human destiny. The requisite is that education addresses the meaning and purpose of life.”
Tim Keller
We believe that simply acquiring knowledge of facts and figures is barren of purpose and meaning unless it is aligned with truth. At OCS, we believe that the Gospel of Christ is the foundation of ultimate Truth. Because all truth is God’s Truth, it is through the lens of Christ that all learning is rightly ordered to reveal meaning and purpose. Thus, Biblical integration is the process of illuminating Christ in all aspects of learning and living.
Biblical integration is not about securing one “right textbook” or one “right curriculum”. Rather, it is about cultivating the right response to Truth. This right response must be taught, modeled, and encouraged for true integration to occur.
How does Biblical integration occur?
-
Life on Life: The teachers themselves are a living, breathing curriculum. A Christ-centered curriculum is the teacher who stops at the threshold of his or her classroom and there confesses that it is only by the grace of God that illumination can occur.
-
Asking Life Questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? The response to these and other life questions are pursued in the context of Christ and His Kingdom.
-
Lifestyle Learning: C.S. Lewis writes that “we make men without chests” when we teach knowledge apart from virtue. At OCS we strive to build an entire community that models and reinforces virtues such as honor, integrity, respect, and kindness.
-
Making a Life: At OCS, we believe that student development means much more than educating students simply so they can make a living. We are partnering with families to help our students build a life that is Christ-centered and filled with purpose.
-
Changing Lives: Because the Word of God is living and active, its presence in the life of a school should be constantly transforming the individuals and the community. The OCS faculty and staff take seriously the mandate to love God with their whole heart, mind and strength and to love one another as themselves. Where the love of God is present, lives are affected.
At OCS, we believe that the heart of education is the education of the heart. Knowledge of facts is important, and we take seriously our call to be good stewards of scholastic rigor and academic discipline. It is because of this call to stewardship that we strive to constantly integrate faith and learning in the classroom and the community.
| 
