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5. Strategies—for handling controversial issues in a literature class, posing the complex moral question in economics class, making unpopular choices without either excuse or self-righteousness.

To provide these things might mean more one-to-one mentoring, more intergenerational education; more attention to biblical and general literacy; more intellectual sophistication as well as spiritual nourishment (I'm not sure these are entirely separable) in Christian education materials and Sunday-school programs. It certainly means taking the educational function of the church more seriously than many churches do, and defining it more widely.

When Peter admonishes new Christians to be always ready to "account for the hope that is in you," he's teaching what it takes to live by faith in an unsympathetic world. So, too, we need to reckon what it takes to thrive in the world our children inhabit and give them tools (not weapons) that will help them live in it not just self-protectively, but with open hearts, curious minds, respect for others, willingness to enlarge and complicate their understanding of faith, and keeping alive a "love of learning and desire for God." Those appetites, in a culture of burnout and boredom, will shine like beacons on a hill.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia is available at Amazon.com.

Our parent site's Home School Center has helpful hints on deciding what schooling option is best for your children.

More Christianity Today articles on public and private schools are available in our education area.

In May, Christianity Today looked at "Two Schools of Thought | Many parents wonder what's best for their children—Christian or public education. Two Dallas schools suggest an answer."

A 1998 Christianity Today editorial said, "Lack of adult supervision is just one deprivation that plagues our children today. Just as frightening is a lack of moral guidance."

Previous McEntyre columns for Christianity Today include:

Preaching to Preschoolers | A children's sermon is a time to feed their imaginations, not their egos. (August 9, 2001)

Resisting "Relevancy" | The church suffers when pastors confuse anecdotes with parables. (June 28, 2001)

My House, God's House | Hospitality is not merely good manners but a ministry of healing. (May 9, 2001)

Rx for Moral Fussbudgets | Good guilt entails more than repentance for merely personal sins. (Mar. 19, 2001)

Community, Not Commodity | Let us acknowledge, and even mourn, what we lose when worship meets media. (Jan. 16, 2001)

Nice Is Not the Point | Sometimes love is sharp, hard-edged, confusing, and seemingly unfair. (Nov. 29, 2000)

The Fullness of Time | I'd like life to be a series of pauses like a poem, rather than a fast-paced, page-turner airport novel. (Oct. 12, 2000)

'I've Been Through Things' | Meditating on "Honor your father and your mother." (Sept. 6, 2000)

Silence Is to Dwell In | An hour of quiet is a rare gift, hard to come by in an ordinary week, even for those who seek it. (Aug. 10, 2000)

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October 1 2001, Vol. 45, No. 12