School is starting around the country again, and the Christian School movement is growing again significantly. I wanted to take a moment to remind all that literacy education, even from Bible times, has been seen by godly people as an essential aspect of reaching people and truly discipling people for the Kingdom of God. General education from a biblical perspective is God’s work.

The Hawaii Example

The first gospel-preaching missionaries arrived in Hawaii in 1820. They were Congregationalists sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)—the same board that had commissioned Adoniram Judson to Burma eight years earlier. As with Carey and Judson, the initial work of the missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands focused on language.

Learning the native language was essential for communicating gospel truth. These early missionaries believed that reading the Bible was vital to the growth of true Christianity within the soul. The independent study of Scripture had sparked the Reformation, and personal possession of the Bible for private study was once a capital offense under the Inquisition.

Putting the Bible into the hands of the people had profound effects. It enabled personal conviction through the power of the Holy Spirit and removed theological control from a select few. Influenced by the First and Second Great Awakenings, these missionaries understood that true Christianity involved the transformation of the soul, not mere outward conformity to religious norms. Inward faith is nurtured through private worship. …

Read the whole post here: Teaching Children (and Adults) to Read is God’s Work – Proclaim & Defend (or just listen to the podcast).

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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