Dear Parents and Friends of CCS,

May this issue of Parent News find you experiencing the grace and goodness of God!

Last week we began our look at the CCS@50! Vision.

Today we’ll make a fly-over of some of the distinctives of gospel centered education that lie at the heart of that vision. These things are unique to how we carry out our mission here at CCS.

I share these not to boast that we are necessarily superior to other schools, or that we do all of these things perfectly, but simply to suggest that not all educational programs come from the same perspective.

These are a cross-section not of everything we do or hold to be important, but are either not practiced at other schools, or are practiced in a singular and unique way here at CCS.

Distinctive 1 The Three Pillars of CCS: A Biblical Theological Foundation, a Vital Shalom Community, and a Dynamic Resurrection Culture. This is a powerful perspective that defines how we live and work together. We’ve discussed these in previous posts, so you can check out our online Parent News archive to read more.
Distinctive 2 The Leadership Program, where the outdoors becomes a laboratory for learning small team leadership skills through executing real-world mission, and the inner life is nurtured.
Distinctive 3 A deep reliance on the power of intercessory prayer as the engine of the ministry. Many of the issues we deal with on a daily basis are deeply rooted in the struggles people have in dealing with the contemporary world and finding their place in it. We are convinced that word-saturated prayer is the best weapon for succeeding in spite of the activity of the enemy.
Distinctive 4 Application of the word of God to every decision, relationship, operation and program. This is difficult, because living and working in the modern world is complex, our flesh (the sin that still lives in us) is powerful, and the enemy of our souls (Satan) is active in opposition to God's agenda. Yet we are working from victory to victory because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross. From this position of strength we confront and choose not to follow the powerful voices of the world.
Distinctive 5 Living out the gospel in the midst of suffering, the rawness of the real world. The majority of our graduates will not be working in vocational ministry, but will have jobs in a broad cross-section of careers and callings, and will surely endure the normal sufferings of life as well as challenges to their faith. This is why we emphasize learning to stand firm in your faith together (with like-minded people), and, when necessary, to stand alone.
Distinctive 6 The end game of all we do is missions. This guiding principle is based directly on the Great Commission of Jesus. We are to bring the light of the gospel to the places we are called, in our work, in our families, in our service, in a winsome and powerful manner. Ultimately life is not all about us - it’s about God and the furtherance of His Kingdom in joyful expectation of His return. As we await this blessed event, our joy is increased as we live to glorify and magnify Him.
Distinctive 7 The gospel of the Kingdom breeds innovation. “Thinking God’s thoughts after Him” enables us to use our God-given gifts to glorify Him through our creative contributions to a society desperately in need of forgiveness and salvation.
Distinctive 8 Serving intellectually gifted students, those who struggle academically, and those who are in between. This turns out to be a unique vision even for a Christian school. As God moves us forward in this, we hope to increase the number of students who are able to access a CCS education.
Distinctive 9 God’s self-revelation in the inspired, inerrant, reliable, authoritative word of God acts as the “DNA” of the ministry, the bedrock of absolute truth upon which we come to understand and embrace the Gospel of the Kingdom and the final arbitrator in our decision-making and all matters of faith and practice.
Distinctive 10 Pursuing a Biblical view of extra/curricular activities, believing that the ultimate value of the creative arts and athletics is not primarily the good they do for participants (though they do much good), but rather that these mediums are some of the most powerful bridges into contemporary culture that we have at our disposal. In other words, the gospel purpose is primary, and the individual growth purpose is also important, though necessarily secondary.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be unpacking each of these distinctives.

In the end, it is our prayer that sharing the vision that God is currently downloading will be another step toward furthering His agenda for gospel-centered teaching and learning at CCS.

May He receive all of the glory as we move step by step toward becoming a truly extraordinary school.

For CCS and the Kingdom,

Tom