Cutting Back on Expenses: Your Child’s Christian Education Should Not be the First Thing to Go

Unemployment has crossed the 8% mark in most places in the US, family income has been in decline for the past six or seven years, and all the signs point to the fact that this country is in an economic recession.  When the price of gasoline soared, decisions had to be made in our family with regard to what things we would have to cut back on purchasing, or having, in order to meet the additional expense we had to operate our vehicles.  We had the “non-negotiables,” perhaps too many of those, but when it came to deciding what was a luxury, and what we could do without, it wasn’t as hard as we thought it would be.  In fact, since practicing that kind of discipline, as well as the discipline of trying to do less driving and use less gas, we’ve found that continuing the same kind of pattern isn’t all that difficult, either.  Our bank statement, on line these days, breaks down our spending for us, and we’ve sort of made it a game to see how low certain categories can go and the result of all of that, we saved almost $9,000 in expenses last year.  We really didn’t miss anything all that much, either.

Of course, just because it happened for us doesn’t mean it will happen for you and it would be naive of me to assume that.  But let me point a few things out for you regarding the Christian education your child might now be receiving, and see if it might not be worth it to you to avoid considering Christian school as a luxury rather than an essential, when you are looking at your budget. 

If you are in a good Christian school, it might not be something you want to give up.  The fact that they integrate the principles of scripture into the curriculum, the environment in which your child is learning, and the whole perspective of being in a place where people who know the Lord are teaching and working with your child is doing more than just sheltering from the world.  If it is meeting its objective, it is discipling citizens of the Kingdom.  It would be hard to find another substitute for that, unless you were prepared to provide most of the education yourself.  Discipleship is not a luxury.

Your child is likely getting a very strong academic education as well.  In the hands of trained professionals, your child is learning in an effective way, the proof of which is in the product.  If you have done your homework well, your child will graduate from a Christian school having been trained in critical thinking skills, and under the banner of academic excellence, and will have skills and abilities learned in the school environment that his counterparts in public education will not develop through their educational experience.  Any compromise of that would be a setback, particularly for your child who will lose ground and not leave school with everything that he could potentially have.

There have been times when we have made sacrifices in order to give to someone else something that we felt it was important to give.  Sacrifice is different than merely giving up luxuries.  Sacrifice requires deeper discipline, and a clear conviction about the value of whatever it is you are sacrificing in order to do.  It is not merely going without, it is setting down priorities and sticking to them no matter what.  In light of that, Christian school administrators need to give very deep thought and consideration to every expense they ask parents to bear through the tuition and fees they charge at their school, and they also need to give consideration to finding as many ways to whack the fat off the budget as they possibly can afford to do in order to lower the cost of the education and meet the parents at least halfway.  That is not only fair, it is the Christian way to do things. 

If you do find yourself in a position where you can no longer send your child to a Christian school, then you need to carefully look at your home and church environment, and make certain that you are doing the kind of discipleship necessary to help maintain a healthy Christian faith.  There might be some places where you need to step up in order for the same experience and influence to be present in his life. 

We can get through just about everything with prayer, and with God’s help.  Let’s test those Biblical principles, O.K.?