The following article by John Roukema (retired teacher and principal) appeared in Clarion Jan 16, 2026. I think it’s a beautiful article, focussing, as it does, on passing on the rich promises and obligations we and our children share in the covenant which God has so graciously granted believers and their children through Christ our Saviour. As Rev Holtvluwer said in the Clarion editorial: “Educating ourselves and our children about our covenant God and His ways is vital for both preserving the faith and flourishing in faithfulness”. Although Br Roukema begins by alluding to a celebratory event, it is, of course, not only when we commemorate a school milestone, or even a new school year, that we contemplate the rich significance of reformed covenantal education and remain passionate about it. And since reformed education is to take place not only at school but also in church and home, Br Roukema’s message is relevant to us all.
JN
Pass the Promise: A Passion for Reformed Education
Over the course of the 2025-2026 school year, Canadian Reformed School societies of the Lower Fraser Valley are celebrating seventy years of Reformed education. This is being done by means of brief articles, video clips, pictures of years gone by, and assemblies held at the schools. These various modes of celebration are collectively entitled “Pass the Promise”, referring to the promise made at the baptism of our children “to have them instructed in the doctrine” of our churches (Book of Praise, Form for the Baptism of Infants, 598).
We live in covenant with God who has signified in baptism that we are his children and heirs of the promise of salvation and eternal life. In this covenant, we are also “obliged to a new obedience” – that is, motivated by gratitude to God, we want to serve him in holy obedience to his Word. And so, our schools are primarily focused on the nurture of children who have been consecrated by God. The Reformed Christian school complements and extends what is already taking place in the Christian home. And it’s not just the Christian home; the entire covenanting community bears responsibility for the Christian nurture of God’s children, not just the parents.
Covenant Education
We talk much about our children receiving covenant education. For us, that has very significant implications. As S.G. de Graaf (1889-1955), a well-known Dutch preacher and teacher, explained,
“Without covenant there is no religion, no conscious fellowship between man and God, no exchange of love and faithfulness. Without covenant, man would be just an instrument in God’s hand. When God created man, He had more than just an instrument in mind: He made a creature that could respond to him. Only if man was capable of responding would he be able to assume his position as partner in a covenant. Without a covenant, God would have only claims and man only obligations. But as soon as God gave man a promise, man also had a claim on God, namely, to hold God to that promise. And God then had an obligation toward man, namely, to fulfill that promise, for a covenant, after all, is an agreement between two parties in which the claims and obligations are spelled out.”
The translator of this book, H. Evan Runner, explains further:
“We live before the face of God (Coram Deo). We are called into being by the life-giving Word of God and are sustained in life from moment to moment by that Word. We are dependent creatures…(a)s servants of God, we are called to task, namely, to work in creation. In Scripture, religion means covenant. By his Word, God called into being an order of creation culminating in man. By that Word he also gave man his favour and brought him into a life of conscious fellowship with himself…God’s covenant is the underlying unity that embraces all human acts and all societal relationships” (emphasis added).
Covenant Obedience
Since the covenant obliges us to a new obedience, teachers helping parents nurture their children in Christ must establish and maintain scriptural expectations. This should be reflected in the norms and standards for subject matter and for student learning and behaviour, keeping in mind the revelation of covenantal religion as the fundamental structure of life.
Covenantal education is affirmational; that is, it affirms the lordship of Jesus Christ over all education. To be affirmational is to recognize and acknowledge that God is in control, and that his written Word is our guide for discipleship in any human endeavour, including education. As we study God’s dealings with the world and his plan for restoration, we need to expose Satan’s empire for what it is (that is, we acknowledge the antithesis). But that is not our starting point: we need to first proclaim the Light. While proactively exposing Satan’s kingdom, we do not write off aspects of human culture as if Christ wants nothing to do with them. Nor should we accept any aspects of human culture at face value. Rather, proclaiming the Light means that we must bring every aspect of life under the lordship of Christ who has redeemed that which was at first laid down in the beginning (Genesis 1 and John 1).
Living a covenantal life implies that we “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1) in education as well as in every other sphere of life. When we test the spirits, we do so on the basis of our affirmation, our confession, that Christ Jesus is Lord of all. Our educating work is an acknowledgement that all things are God’s.
The reason for having “our schools” should not be a negative one, that is, we do not have our own Reformed schools because of all the bad stuff happening out there in the public schools. Rather, primary reason for our schools is our response to God’s call to obedience to his will, according to his plan. It is through our response that the world may know that our religion – our way of life in covenant with God – directs all our actions. God’s call on our lives directs our cultural mandate; it is our basis for Christian covenantal living. Our Reformed Christian schools are not primarily establishments that oppose secularism (although they can and should do that), but they are first of all declaration that God exists and controls all things.
Kingdom Vision
Today, too, we have a kingdom vision that extends over all of culture. Covenant and kingdom are like two sides of the same coin. They are two ways of viewing the all-embracing reality of God’s way with his world. What the Bible teaches us about covenant in the Old Testament the New Testament takes over as the “coming of the kingdom”. In our Reformed worldview, that implies that we need to educate the businessman, the carpenter, the doctor, etc., because all these have a calling in God’s kingdom. The kingdom vision is to take every thought captive for Christ, to renew our minds, so as to exert a positive influence on our culture, under the redeeming lordship of Jesus Christ.
This kingdom perspective is (or should be) the driving impulse of our schools. Our students are to be taught to be willing and able to use their God-given talents to develop skills and knowledge in all areas of life, to be able to think critically, and to test the spirits of this age.
Modern-day educators teach a relativism which closes the minds of students to moral truths and absolutes. Students are taught to have an open mind and be tolerant to such an extent that they will not accept anything as truthful or virtuous. In the typical pragmatic way of life, truth will be clarified so that it can be socially useful. Social consensus, not norms or absolutes, dictates the solution of value-related problems. Such is the outcome of a so-called “neutral” education. It is this type of thinking that has been one of the primary reasons for the establishment of parent-controlled Christian schools.
Our children, too, are liable to pick up and adopt the philosophy of relativism without knowing it. The Reformed, Christian school helps to harness against this. It is imperative that our children be instructed in such a way as to develop a desire for truth, an attitude of striving to obtain and live by moral values. Christian school supporters believe that children must be presented with life-giving perspectives which will give them a framework in which to grow, develop, and mature to the praise of God’s glory. They believe that the Bible gives the norm and guide for living in society. Lacking a vision, a direction, will result in a lack of commitment, and, therefore, a lack of meaning in life.
Never Neutral
Secular philosophy does not only close minds but also hearts. Public education strips away important truths, leaving many students functionally and culturally illiterate. There is a sinister danger that secular and humanistic agendas are succeeding in cutting traditional moral and religious values from what our students learn while cleverly making it appear that the substitute (which is really a different religion) is a neutral alternative.
A car in neutral won’t go anywhere. Likewise with education. Christian parents know that there can be no such thing as a neutral education. An education that ignores moral standards and religious values cannot qualify as a good education. The kind of education we want to see in our students is that they begin to understand that what they learn is not “value-free”, and that they begin to apply Christian values in every area of life. Christian education is designed to be in gear, to move students forward to take their place in the kingdom.
So, are we still vigilant in maintaining our reason for being? Can the following be answered in the affirmative?
- Do we still have conviction and passion for Reformed education?
- Does the Bible still serve as the interpretive “bottom-line” for the curriculum?
- Does a study of creation always point the student toward God?
- Does the revelation of God call for an active response, that is, applying authentic assessment based on real-life application (rather than using only lower-level factual knowledge)?
- Creation norms (God’s original intent or desire) exist for each area of creation and thus for each area of study. Do unit plans include creation norms for each topic being studied? In which way has sin affected this area of study? Can this area of study be reclaimed or redeemed for the advancement of God’s Kingdom and his glory?
- Christians are “in the world but not of it”. Can this be shown in the curriculum as the struggle between the Kingdom of Darkness and the Kingdom of Light (the antithesis)?
- Are the students developing a deeper understanding of, experience in, and commitment to a Christian way of life (rather than embracing, escaping from, or writing off the culture in which they live)?
It is not easy to always demonstrate this God-connectedness in every subject, unit, and lesson. Nonetheless, God must be our starting point or our teaching will succumb to either syncretism (adding religious frosting to a secular cake), or dualism (stating that some things are secular and some are sacred). Reformed schools acknowledge that God transforms learning; he is more that an add-on. He is sovereign Lord of all. But this is (viciously) denied in secular schools. Therefore, maintain the passion to pass on the promise to educate our children in the fear of the Lord.
John A. Roukema (Retired teacher and principal, Aldergrove, BC, Canada. This article previously featured in Clarion Jan. 16, 2026.)