Desiring God: Parents, Require Obedience of Your Children, John Piper
John Piper is the founder and teacher of desiringgod.org and is chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for 33 years and is the author of over 50 books.
One of the best things we can do for our parents as a Christian school is to point them to resources from within the Christian church that will help them raise their children, in accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many resources available, from electronic media as well as multiple books by authors which will help parents understand, interpret and apply the principles found in the Christian gospel that provide guidance and expertise when it comes to raising children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord".
The philosophy of education of Midwestern Christian Academy is based on scripture, and it includes recognition of the role of the school engaged in a partnership with parents when it comes to providing necessary educational skills to their children. Most parents do not feel fully equipped to teach their children the wide variety of complex skills across a broad spectrum of subjects in addition to providing them with emotional support and spiritual guidance. Recognizing the impact of education in their children's lives is a first big step in raising them and making sure they get a full and clear understanding of who God is, and how they can be redeemed and live a life according to his purposes, and choosing a Christian school as an educational partner acknowledgement of the importance of knowing God's will for their lives.
We have developed a parent-school covenant which defines the role of the school in providing an education to students from a distinctively Christian perspective. The expectations we lay out as a condition of enrollment include the way that we will support the role of parents by providing instruction that includes respect for, and obedience to the authorities which two of the early church apostles, Peter and Paul, define in general terms for the church. This includes the governing authorities, and all of the ways in which they carry out their responsibility.
For students in our school, at their age and grade level, this includes developing respect for, and obedience to, their own teachers, who are given authority by God over their classrooms and the students in it; respect for law enforcement, like police officers, and other public servants whose responsibility is to keep us safe, like firemen. They learn that those in authority over them are responsible for their safety and protection, as well as responsible for providing them with basic skills and critical thinking necessary for them to become responsible for themselves.
And one of the most important understandings involved in respect for, and obedience to, authority is the recognition that liking or disliking the manner in which someone who has been given authority chooses to exercise it doesn't change the responsibility of the student to be submissive. The early apostles did not distinguish between authorities with whom we agree, and authorities with whom we disagree and did not permit disagreement to change the order of authority. When they were writing about the governing authorities, they were including all forms of that authority, including the Roman government, which had conquered their country and which was ruling over it.
In fact, it was the obedience of Christians to the words spoken by Paul in Romans 13:1-7, and by Peter in I Peter 2:13-17 that led to the growth and strengthening of the first century church. One thing is clear in both passages, and that is that there are no exceptions given. The early church endured some of the worst, most cruel persecution Christians have ever experienced, yet they remained obedient, and as a result of the testimony of faith that gave to the pagans living around them, by the beginning of the third century, the church had overtaken the population of the Roman Empire. So obedience, the opposite of rebelliousness, is one of the most powerful testimonies of a sincere Christian life.
I hope you take the time to read this article from Desiring God by John Piper, and are blessed by the principles that are given.