I am very thankful to live in a country where we are free to educate our children according to the dictates of our conscience.  This is especially important because the natural sentiment of parents is genuine love and concern for their children and a hope that they will live a long, satisfying and fruitful life.  All of us who are Christian know that true satisfaction comes from knowing and serving the Lord, and that is why Christian discipleship is the foundation of our mission at Fortis Academy.  From an educational perspective, teaching our children to think and communicate and giving them the tools to learn and master any subject is an important element of discipleship because it develops the image of God in them so that they can be creative in their vocation.  Yet, as believers, we all know that it not only takes excellence of knowledge and skills, but a personal relationship with Jesus to find true contentment in life.

While we cannot guarantee students at Fortis will develop such a personal faith, it is our sincere longing and prayer that they will.  We try to create an environment where spiritual growth is natural.  The first element has to do with the nature of classical Christian education, which emphasizes the integration of faith into every subject.  This does not mean a sprinkling of Christian lingo into the classroom, but a genuine curiosity and wonder into the world that God has created and a desire to learn about God through natural revelation.  Even many ancient philosophers understood that if there is order, it must come from a rational being.  Everything that is true and is in agreement with the created order helps us to see and understand our Creator.  This is especially true, however, in the realm of morals and virtue.  Combined with logic and analytical thinking, it becomes evident that God’s law (or natural law if you will), creates a blessed social order.  The integration of Christian thinking into our classes with an emphasis on writing and speaking hopefully will make true faith natural for our children.

The other key element in trying to create an authentically Christian environment is a community (parents, teachers and administrators) who have a genuine relationship with Christ.  When something is real and valuable in our life, it naturally reproduces life in others.   That is the culture we value and nurture at Fortis Academy and hopefully we will not only see our children well educated, but also develop their own genuine relationship with Christ.