A Commute That Transforms

As a former Immanuel student (and now a faculty member!), I am quite familiar with the morning commute to school each day. I could do it in my sleep.

In fact, there are a few mornings in particular that I think I did do it in my sleep!

And, if your family is anything like mine, as you drive, ten, twenty, thirty, maybe forty minutes to Immanuel five times a week you may spot ten, twenty, thirty, forty different, closer schools to which you could be sending your kids.

So, why Immanuel Christian School?

My parents sent us to school at Immanuel Christian School (ICS) for two reasons. First, they wanted a community in which to raise us that would affirm what they taught us at home. Being a parent is an overwhelming task. A body of godly teachers and parents to come alongside and encourage not only the kids but also the parents is a gift not to be underestimated. As it says in Romans 12, “for as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” My parents taught us about their faith, but wanted a strong body of believers with different strengths and experiences to pour into our lives as well. ICS does this.

Second, my parents believe that the goal of education is to discover the truth. They wanted us to focus on the Creator, not the creation. They hoped we would read a moving piece of literature, or solve a complex math problem, or learn about the intricacies of nature in science class and see how all of it, every little detail, is an arrow that points directly back to God. I specifically remember the day Mr. Danish came to my eighth grade science class to talk about flagella, a bacterial cell so complex it actually has its own propellers! I thought, if even the tiniest cell could be that complex, how could anyone believe that we are here as a result of some giant coincidence? It is a moment I won’t forget because it sealed my belief in Intelligent Design and taught me that if God could put that much thought into a single cell, how much He must love us! In Romans 1, Paul writes “professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man –and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” In other words, we have the tendency to focus too much on the world around us instead of the One who created it. At ICS, each truth students learn about the world is traced back to our ultimate source of Truth, the Bible.

Looking back, I’m glad my parents committed time and money to send my brothers and me to ICS. I came away from this school with friends I still have, teachers that still mentor me and a foundational education that served me well in high school and beyond. But even more than that, because of Immanuel Christian School, I came away with the groundwork for a faith I still cling to, even a decade later.

I returned to ICS as a faculty member because I firmly believe in its mission to “inspire purposeful lives.” Many of the students I graduated with have gone on to become pastors, teachers, lobbyists, lawyers and missionaries who are making a difference in their fields by the ways they live out their faith. Immanuel Christian School’s legacy is not only producing thoughtful, well-rounded, conscientious graduates, but first and foremost motivating students to use their gifts and abilities to live as Jesus did. I want to be a part of that legacy, to encourage your children to live for Christ as my teachers encouraged me.

As you pray for and consider school options for your children, what are your must-haves? Smaller class sizes, technology integration in the classroom, early introduction to a foreign language, a rigorous upper school math curriculum? Because ICS has all of that—and more. Is it a dedicated, fully accredited faculty, friendly receptionists who know your family and greet you at the door, after-school clubs, music lessons and sports teams? ICS has those, too. Like my parents, do you want a solid Christian community where your children can be nurtured and grow in the Truth, learning to love and seek Christ above all else? At the end of the day, that is what Immanuel Christian School is all about.

What more could a parent want?

By: Erika McKellop, Upper School Librarian