Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City, Iowa, is a church with a mission statement of "reaching the world one person at a time." With extensive outreach ministries, the staff at Cornerstone was already plenty busy without adding the extra work of starting a Christian school. For example, one of our more rewarding outreach ministries is our Club Genesis Program that has reached over 7,000 un-churched five- to twelve-year-old children with the gospel message during the last seven years.

Taking an in-depth and prayerful analysis of what our ministry was accomplishing, and how and why we were doing specific things, gave us a realization we had been working so hard to reach the unsaved that we were somewhat neglecting the stewardship of what God had already given us. Realizing what our own church children remaining in the public schools were being subjected to was a sobering thought. By keeping our children in public education for twelve years, we risked them adopting the world's view on the issues they would face in life, or worse yet, we risked our children becoming part of the 85% group who abandon their faith in God.

Parents are responsible for their own children's education; however, there is someone else with a higher personal responsibility to God. That person is a pastor. Learned in biblical doctrine, pastors are responsible to guide all God's church children's education and to teach all church parents God's plan for raising godly children. If parents choose to ignore God's clear plans for raising their children, that's one thing. However, it is an even more serious offense for a pastor to ignore what God's Word indicates we should be doing for our next generation. There are over thirty clear scriptures in the Bible indicating God's desire for Christian church children to receive a biblical and top academic education. With the current state of public education, I believe every pastor and church board should prayerfully consider what God's Word says about His requirements for children's schooling in God's Word. Could it be that God would have you start a school or join forces with other churches in your area to start a Christian school?

Cornerstone World Outreach re-entered the field of Christian Education at the beginning of the 2007-08 school year. Our previous experience in Christian education was a K-8 traditional school with a teacher for each classroom. When the decision was made that it was necessary to restart our school, I was determined to find a way to allow our school to open and continue to grow without being a financial burden to our church. Due to the limited number of students in a new start-up school, it is rare for a school organized in the traditional (one teacher per grade) manner to be financially self-supporting. After finding Alpha Omega Publications' (AOP) Switched-On Schoolhouse program and visiting a school using the program, I was convinced they were the answer for our school. It has been a delight to work with AOP and see our students' progress and achievement with this tremendous program. Whether a child is considered "above average" or has a "learning challenge," this program meets the needs of each child without a child needing to be put into a special group. Each child can progress at his own rate of learning and is not held back by others or pushed ahead too early. AOP gives you all the tools to put together a top-notch Christian school that is not a burden to your church, but is also affordable for your church families. Christian education is an investment in the future of our young people with returns that cannot be measured by dollar bills. It is an investment in the future that will pay mighty dividends.


Pastor Doug Daniels is the administrator and associate pastor of Cornerstone World Outreach, and administrator of PeaceMakers Academy (PreK-12 Christian school), both located in Sioux City, Iowa.