How does your family think about “success”?
While OCA desires to provide a rigorous academic curriculum, our goal is far greater than intellectual achievement for our students. We seek to partner with families whose greatest desire for their children is that they would know God personally through Christ, that they would desire Him preeminently, and that they would grow to become capable of pursuing people with the message of reconciliation. When our families consider what “success” means for their children, it includes growing academically and spiritually in such a way that they desire to demonstrate God’s goodness and declare His excellencies as they pursue His purposes for their lives. If your family thinks about “success” in a similar way, then we hope you will consider partnering with us in the education of your child.
Is your family committed to an education that engages the mind and shapes the heart?
What your child learns, the content of your child’s education, is extremely important. Who your child becomes because of what they are taught and how it is taught must not be overlooked. A common refrain in classical Christian education is that education is not primarily about vocation, but it is about formation. The classical Christian education to which OCA is committed takes both what your child is taught and how it is shaping his/her heart seriously. If you take the formation of mind and heart seriously, then OCA may be a good fit for your family.
Do you desire an atmosphere where God’s character, concerns, and commands guide the expressions of authority and the direction of influence in your child’s life?
All human authority is ambassadorial in nature. There is no independent, autonomous authority (Parents- Eph. 4:6, Govt.- Rom.13:1, Church- Heb.13:7, 1 Peter 5, etc.). We know that students must learn to live under the God-ordained authorities in their lives. God’s character, concerns, and commands regarding authority direct our expressions of authority at school. We see discipline as part of the discipleship process—correcting, teaching, and encouraging in a spirit of gentleness that aims at reconciliation, restoration and growth in Christlikeness. If you understand that your child and the children that your child will be around at OCA do not just need to have their behavior modified; they need to see the issues of the heart behind their behavior so that they will run to God, then OCA may be a good fit for your family.
Is your family guided by biblical convictions?
The family-like atmosphere OCA seeks to foster is due in great measure to the similarity of biblical convictions and principles taught and lived out in the homes of our families. Our statement of faith (found in the admissions application) details the foundation of beliefs on which OCA is based. They are also the key elements of Protestant Christianity that will be unapologetically taught in various ways through all grade levels. We seek to educate students from a distinctly Christian worldview in which the Bible is recognized as verbally inspired by God, inerrant, fully trustworthy, and of supreme and final authority in all that it says. Since OCA sees itself as partnering with parents in the discipling efforts of their children, it would be outside of our stated mission to partner with families in which what is being taught in the home is not aligned with what is being taught at school in the realm of basic biblical convictions as outlined in our statement of faith. If your family is guided by biblical convictions, then we hope you will consider the opportunity you have at OCA for your child to receive an education that will unashamedly support those convictions.
This content was modeled after content from Evangel Classical Christian School.