MHA Foundational Documents
History and Philosophy of the Foundational Documents
In June of 2001, the
School Board formed an ad hoc committee called “Foundational
Documents Committee” with the express purpose of doing the following:
“To identify, establish, refine and coordinate the defining vision, philosophy,
assumptions (both theological and cultural) of MHA. A subordinate purpose
of the committee is to ensure the effective communication of the above values
and priorities to the MHA parent community.”
Families that are considering Mars Hill Academy for their children should
carefully read this document in order to understand the basis for the covenantal
education we offer. When reading, please begin with the Mission Statement
and end with the World & Life Assumptions, the latter being most important
in defining MHA as a Christian school. Also, it would be helpful to remember
that these four “statements” should be read in light of one
another, which allows for each document to help interpret and illuminate
the others.
- The MHA Mission Statement is a brief statement of what our most central purpose is as a school. It is intentionally brief, suitable for parents to easily pass on to others and for use in situations where a lengthier statement (or discussion) would not be appropriate.
- The MHA Vision Statement is intended to provide a “snapshot,” if you will, of the most important parties in the school – students, staff, and parents – and what our vision is for them. It is more manageable in scope, but still remains sufficiently broad.
- The MHA Educational Foundations are the convictions, ideas, and beliefs that we have about education in general, and MHA in particular, which are rooted in our World & Life Assumptions and provide the foundation for many of the specific ideas, values, and emphases that will make MHA a unique place to go to school. Again, these are not intended to be exhaustive, but sufficient and representative.
- The MHA World & Life Assumptions are just what they say they are: ideas, opinions, and judgments that we assume to be true about the most basic and fundamental issues. They are necessarily non MHA-specific and non-exhaustive. Everyone, including the unbeliever, makes assumptions; Christians should be conscious and intentional to ensure that we know what our assumptions are and how they affect how we look at the world.
MHA Mission Statement
Mars Hill Academy exists to assist parents in the duty
of covenantal training of their children by offering academic instruction
from a consistent, integrated Christian perspective, by equipping our
students to learn for themselves using the proven classical method, and
by providing them with an orderly and engaging atmosphere conducive to
the attainment of our goals.
MHA Vision Statement
We aim to graduate young men and women who think clearly
and listen carefully with discernment and understanding, who reason persuasively
and speak precisely, who are capable of evaluating all human knowledge
and experience in the light of the Scriptures, and who do so with eagerness
in joyful submission to God. We desire them to recognize cultural influences
as distinct from biblical, and to be unswayed toward evil by the former.
We aim to find them well prepared in all situations, possessing both knowledge
and the wisdom to know how to use it. We desire they be socially graceful
and spiritually gracious; equipped with and understanding the tools of
learning; desiring to grow in understanding, yet fully realizing the limitations
and foolishness of the wisdom of this world. We desire they have a heart
for the lost and the courage to seek to dissuade those who are stumbling
towards destruction, that they distinguish real religion from religion
in form only, and that they possess the former, knowing and loving the
Lord Jesus Christ. And all these we desire them to possess with humility
and gratitude to God.
We likewise aim to cultivate these same qualities in our staff and to see
them well paid so that they may make a career at Mars Hill. We desire them
to be professional and diligent in their work, gifted in teaching, loving
their students and their subjects. We desire they clearly understand classical
education, how it works in their classroom and how their work fits into
the whole; that they possess a lifelong hunger to learn and grow and that
they have opportunity to be refreshed and renewed. We desire to see them
coach and nurture new staff and to serve as academic mentors to students.
We look to see them mature in Christ, growing in the knowledge of God, their
own children walking with the Lord.
We aim to cultivate in our parents a sense of responsibility for the school;
to see them well informed about the goals of our classical and Christ-centered
approach. We desire them to grow with the school, involved in and excited
about the journey. We aim to help them to follow biblical principles in
addressing concerns, to be inclined to hearing both sides of a story before
rendering a verdict, and to embrace the Scripture’s injunctions to
encourage and stir one another up to love and good works.
Finally, in our relationship with our community, we aim to be above reproach
in our business dealings and supportive of the local business community.
We further seek to exemplify the unity of the body of Christ, to develop
greater fellowship and understanding with churches, and to bring honor to
our Lord in all our endeavors.
MHA Educational Foundations
Education Defined
Learning takes place each time a person experiences something
new. Education, however, is more than the sum total of facts, people, processes,
skills, and experiences imparted in the classroom. Fundamentally, education
involves the transmission of a manner of thinking about the most important
and inescapable ideas that would result in changed behavior. Historically
speaking, one distinguished the education that took place through the study
of the Liberal Arts (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Astronomy, Arithmetic, Music,
and Geometry) from the varied vocational training programs that taught a
student a skill or task in order to be a productive member of society. The
ancient Greeks would have reasoned that the former was the only suitable
form of education for a free man (hence, the derivation of “liberal” education),
while the latter was appropriate for the slave, who didn’t have to
think, but merely obey and execute. We wish to maintain this important distinction
between education and vocational training at MHA, believing that we are
called, as a classical and Christian school, to do the former. It is important
to note that while a well-educated man could easily learn the skills of
the slave, it is unreasonable to believe that the slave could do the reverse.
Historically, a school like MHA (and most certainly the universities and
colleges) dealt in education, not in vocational training, which was best
suited for apprenticeships and trade schools. The fact that many (if not
most) have abandoned a liberal education for a vocational one provides an
even greater impetus and rationale for the existence of genuinely classical
and Christian secondary schools and colleges.
Classical and Christian Methods
While no pedagogy is inspired, the method
of educating children initiated in classical Greece, developed in Rome,
and brought to its fullest and brightest expression in the Middle Ages – the Trivium - is the best human system
for developing the intellectual capabilities of children and young adults.
Our Grammar School will teach students to memorize and observe, in addition
to providing each student with basic proficiency in writing, reading, and
arithmetic. Our younger Rhetoric School students will be taught dialectic – or
logic – and how to reason from a logical and explicitly Christian
perspective. The ordered relationships between ideas, events, and data will
form the backbone of their study. Finally, our older Rhetoric School students
will be given ample opportunity for self-expression, creativity, and the
evaluation of seminal ideas in man’s dealings with God and His creation.
A multi-year study of classical rhetoric will provide the students with
the necessary tools to do this well. The MHA Board, Administration, and
Faculty are whole-heartedly committed to this model of education, which
aims to teach students to think and learn for themselves. We will strive
to grow in our understanding and implementation of what a classical education
involved in the past and what it will look like at MHA for future generations
seeking to “recover the lost tools of learning.” Dorothy Sayers’ lecture, “The
Lost Tools of Learning” and John Milton Gregory’s book, The
Seven Laws of Teaching will be the primary instruments we use to judge whether
we are successful in doing this.
Classical and Christian Content
The philosophical, literary, scientific,
and theological heritage of the Christian West is a rich one. It is our
intention to make the students very familiar with it. We do this for two
reasons: First, in order to know where one should go in the future, it is
imperative that one understands where he has been. We must have context.
The content of our students’ study
at MHA is designed to equip them to know, understand and critically evaluate
their heritage that forms the foundation for nearly everything they see
around them. Second, we believe that because Christianity has seen its deepest
roots in the West, its cultural “artifacts” are the most deeply
Christian (with important counter-examples noted) and, therefore, most lovely.
Since the Scripture commands us to meditate on these things, we do so without
apology.
Classical and Christian Results
Mars Hill Academy students will gain the
ability to learn independently from teachers. They will be well equipped
to learn a new language, read and understand primary source documents, reason
inductively and deductively as the situation demands, and they will, by
God’s grace, find biblical
principles at their disposal as they consider the important issues of the
day. They will also be avid readers and interdisciplinary thinkers. They
will be poised and persuasive when speaking publicly. Their writing will
be elegant and forceful; creative and purposeful. In short, they will have
been prepared with the tools of learning. College professors, employers,
and friends will find MHA graduates to think from principle, write and speak
in measured and well-reasoned thoughts, and be diligent in seeing a job
or task through to its completion. They will also find them unapologetically
Christian in their convictions and desires.
Students
Students come to Mars Hill Academy ready to work for a time and
at a level commensurate with their physical and mental abilities. MHA is
a student’s
workplace. The social interaction and spiritual training that takes place
during school hours are subordinate goals for a school. They are better
taught in the context of church and home. Work is a gift from God, given
before the Fall, which should be relished and enjoyed, not despised. Thus,
a sense of responsibility and diligence, not to mention joy, should characterize
MHA classrooms. Students in the School of Rhetoric will evidence an increasing
social maturity, intellectual curiosity and independence, and Spirit-given
fruit that will cause them to love the true things, the good things, and
the beautiful things. In general, MHA students will perform at a level equal
to or higher than most of their peers. Finally, we also desire to see appropriate
expressions of God-given masculinity and femininity throughout the life
of the school. Our social interaction, dress, speech, and programming will
all attempt to adorn, rather than destroy, the fact that God created two
beautiful and complementary persons when he made man “male and female.”
Teachers
MHA teachers will be bright, highly motivated, industrious, and
humble. They will love each student in their classroom, viewing each child
as a gift from God and teaching as an opportunity to sow seeds of grace
and truth deep within the students’ hearts. They will also evidence a strong
desire to grow intellectually and spiritually throughout their lives and
be eager to discover and implement classical teaching methods, knowing that
recovering the lost tools of learning begins with them. Most importantly,
they will possess a radically God-centered worldview that informs all they
set their hands to do. They will not be perfect, but competent and teachable.
They will not assume to know their students better than the children’s
parents, but offer encouragement and helpful criticism as appropriate.
School Board
Our School Board consists of Christians who have demonstrated
themselves to be spiritually mature and gifted for school leadership. Board
members possess a love for and a commitment to classical education, never
believing they fully understand all that it encompasses but always seeking
to grow and learn. They will provide institutional vision, leadership, and
serve as spiritual examples to the school community, resisting the influences
and biases of the prevailing culture, where appropriate, to boldly direct
the school in pursuit of its mission, vision, and goals.
School
MHA aims to assist parents in fulfilling their God-ordained duties
to “bring
up a child in the fear and nurture of the LORD.” As such, MHA operates
as a servant to its parent constituency. We have obviously chosen a particular
means of doing this: classical and Christian education. Parents may, or
may not, agree with MHA’s approach to the training and education of
children and yet, choosing to join the MHA community, signal their intention
to joyfully submit to the school’s stated philosophies, policies,
programs, etc. While believing very strongly in the uniqueness and efficacy
of the classical method, we wish to affirm the legitimacy of other approaches
to education, provided they are intentionally Christian.
Life Together
We desire that MHA would support both the family and the church
in their respective missions under God’s providential hand, neither assuming
too much nor doing too little for either. Parents will be encouraged to
remain vitally engaged in their child’s education. In addition, we
pray that God would grant us an atmosphere of love, forbearance, hard work,
joy, and intellectual curiosity that would inspire and edify us while honoring
Him. We will resist the temptation to gossip, think ill of one another,
or to presume the worst, making sure to obey God’s word with regards
to our personal relationships. Parents, not teachers, will bear the primary
responsibility for remaining informed about their child’s progress
at MHA. The staff will attempt to help parents in this endeavor through
regular and helpful communication. Our school culture, academic and co-curricular
programs, and personal relationships should imitate, as God gives us grace,
the examples and teaching laid down in Holy Scripture and in the most truthful,
good, and beautiful traditions of the Christian West.
MHA World and Life Assumptions
The Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger
Catechism and Shorter Catechism define the scope and elements of Christian
truth that Board Members, Administrators, and Teachers must affirm and
adopt to be considered for positions at Mars Hill Academy. While we see
no need to add a second doctrinal definition, as we believe the Confession
to be sufficient, we do want to emphasize certain theological truths as
they relate to education. The Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger
Catechism and Shorter Catechism should be considered part of the World & Life
Assumptions that support and animate the MHA Educational Foundations,
Vision Statement, and Mission Statement.
Sovereignty
God alone is sovereign and non-contingent. He possesses absolute
authority over all things. He has created all things, sustains all things,
and governs all things. He is the fountain of all being and truth. He works
all things together for His own glory, which is the ground and the goal
of all creation, providence, and redemption.
Holy Scripture
The LORD has revealed Himself to us authoritatively, perfectly,
and therefore sufficiently, although not exhaustively, in His Son, Jesus
Christ, and in His written expression of his wisdom, the Bible. It is the
only infallible rule of faith and life for the Church and as such, should
be treasured, studied, believed, and humbly acted upon by all who call themselves
Christian. As one theologian put it, “The Scriptures speak authoritatively in
all that they address and they address everything.” We would agree,
with the caveat that they do not address everything in the same manner,
or with the same degree of specificity. We reject any attempt to pit a thoughtful,
contextually sensitive, and theologically astute reading of Scripture against
a warm, heartfelt, devotional reading. We must not leave “interpretation” to
the scholars and “application” to the pastors. Every Christian
should do both. As Christians, we confess our need to study, meditate, pray,
and obey more than we commonly do, believing that in the Scriptures we will
find real life.
Creation
The Scriptures tells us unequivocally that God created everything
and it was good. The author of Hebrews tells us that we understand this
truth “by
faith.” We repudiate, therefore, the modern tendency to accommodate
the Creation account (Genesis 1 and 2) to modern scientific discoveries
and theories, believing that the goal of Christian scientists is to teach
a humble science – one that is ultimately governed by the truths
of the Scriptures. Because the origin of all created matter has intrinsic
unity, the Christian scientist finds meaning and purpose in scientific inquiry,
seeing it as an essential component of the command to have dominion over
the physical creation. The fruit of man’s labors, provided it proceeds
from a heart of faith and not sin or selfish ambition, is good, as well.
We rejoice that God was pleased to create flesh, not merely spirits, and
assume that God desires us to use our bodies and the entire earthly and
heavenly creation around us for His glory. Man was created male and female,
that is, he created man differently. We reject the modern notion that we
should, for all practical purposes, ignore this distinction and treat men
and women (and boys and girls) the same.
Antithesis
Because of man’s fall in Adam, Christians find themselves surrounded
by ideas and actions that are squarely opposed to the way of thinking and
living revealed in Holy Scripture. This notion is perhaps best captured
by the word antithesis. Some of these ideas and actions are easily recognizable
as pagan in origin, while others are extremely subtle, and as a consequence,
require tremendous discernment. It is very likely that in order to provide
a truly God-centered and Christian education (not to mention classical),
it will be necessary to break completely free from the educational philosophy
and policy around us. As Christians living in a fallen culture, we must
be careful not to make unbiblical assumptions about any area of life, but
commit ourselves to a diligent study of Holy Scripture and pray that God
would give true discernment as we live in the midst of an unbelieving world
seeking to take “every thought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ.”
Worldview
Christianity is more than a set of propositions supported by proof
texts. It is rather an entire system of thought. A worldview shapes our
perspective and interpretation of everything else in the world. Christianity
must be viewed as a whole and not just as a collection of discrete elements.
As the Dutch theologian, journalist, and statesman Abraham Kuyper said, “There
is not a single square inch of creation over which Jesus Christ does not
shout, ‘Mine!’” The Christian’s worldview is the “lens” through
which we see, understand, and teach all things. It is antithetical to all
other worldviews and thus, requires that we present all ideas and concepts
as part of a larger whole defined by Christian truth.
Christian Aesthetic
Perhaps nowhere is the absence of genuinely Christian
thinking more evident than in the realm of aesthetics. Ethics and epistemology
(the science of knowledge) have received ample evangelical attention, but
not aesthetics. We are the worse for it. We believe that the infallible
rule of Scripture and the historic witness of the Church call Christians
to make judgments of “good-better-best” and “bad-worse-worst” in
every area of life. Paul’s aesthetic manifesto is quickly summarized
in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are
pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on
these things.” God has called us to embrace a life of moral and aesthetic
virtue, preferring cultural icons and artifacts that have enduring, classical
power and grace.
History
Paul tells the Corinthians that the Israelites’ experience in the
Wilderness was recorded “for their instruction.” MHA affirms
the legitimacy and necessity of cultivating a historically informed mind,
so that we might follow our ancestors in their faithfulness and repudiate
their sin. Every generation, every culture, and every age demonstrates the
fallen character of man’s heart in unique and often subtle ways. To
think that our own contemporary age is exempt from sin would be naïve.
C.S. Lewis labeled this perspective “chronological snobbery.” We
need our brothers and sisters from past decades, centuries, and millennia
- a council affectionately known as the “democracy of the dead” – as
well as contemporary voices to help us see the emptiness of our current
perspective and situation. Even pagans know that those ignorant of the past
are doomed to repeat it. Therefore, Christians individually and collectively
should acknowledge our dependence on and need for an historical perspective.
The LORD exhorts the people of God living in physical, moral, and spiritual
exile to "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls…” Christians
should relinquish the modern evolutionary assumption that only what is “new” is
worthwhile, preferring instead to walk on the ancient path of Christian
faithfulness and mercy that stretches back to the garden of Eden.
Children
Children, like all men and women, have been uniquely “knit together” by
God in their mother’s womb and bear the image of God in their entire
person, which means their lives have a dignity and significance that is
unparalleled in the created world. At the same time, because of the Fall,
children are now, by nature and experience, sinful, self-centered, and stand
under God’s holy wrath, apart from the saving work of Christ. Even
assuming God’s supernatural work in a child’s life, they remain,
by definition, immature and need the loving training of parents, grandparents,
pastors, teachers, and other adults to bring them to a mature status in
Christ. Parents are fully responsible for this training, even when they
have delegated a portion of it to another.
Family
The family is the most central of divinely appointed, human societies,
as it is the “training ground” for godly living in all others.
Our homes are “little churches” and “little states.” Without
biblically virtuous homes, the Church and the State are hopelessly lost.
We believe God has called Christian parents into a personal and corporate
covenant with Himself – through His body, the Church – and that
when God blesses a man and woman with children, those children are holy
because they are children of the covenant. These “covenant households” are
led by covenant heads (fathers), to study, pray, worship, and live together
in a spirit of love, respect, and peace that comes from the LORD. Fathers
should set biblical priorities for themselves and their children and reject
the unbiblical priorities of the culture around them. Mothers should assist
the father in the training of covenant children, as the Scriptures indicate
the inestimable role that mothers have in shaping the character and piety
(and worldview) of their children. Family life should be shaped by a joyful,
Word-centered intentionality. Families led by godly fathers should be deeply
committed to Christian education as a duty and privilege, and desirous of
growing in their understanding of what constitutes a classical and Christian
education, taking advantage of all available opportunities (books, tapes,
conferences, spending time at the school) to do so.
Personal Holiness
The Scriptures command and empower the Christian to be
holy because God is holy. For this reason, we must strive to live lives
that are above reproach, refusing to allow temptation and sin to rule our
bodies, hearts, and minds. Stated positively, we are to “love the LORD our God with all of our
heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves.” In
doing this, we fulfill the Law of Christ and give evidence of the Spirit’s
fruitful work within us. Christians must resist the inclinations of their
own hearts and the deceptive activity of Satan. When Christians do sin,
we should be quick to repent, ask forgiveness from God and any offended
party, and offer restitution. Adult Christians should model these ideals
to their children, in addition to teaching them “as they go along
the way.”
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