QUESTIONS FROM SUNDAY'S MESSAGE, "SIN, SINNERS AND SAINTS"

On Sunday, we invited attenders both on campus and online to submit any questions they wanted me to answer and I would do so on this blog. I promised to do it on Monday, so let me first apologize for failing to meet my promise.

We had only one question submitted. I am not sure what that means. Either we did a great job communicating, or such a lousy job that noone could think of a question, or, more likely, people just take time to process their thoughts. I am hearing of dozens of great conversations among friends and small groups and families, so for that I am grateful.

Here is the question submitted: "What is the position of our school in hiring professing lgbt staff, and enrolling families of lgbt partners?" (LGBT is "Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender")

First, about employees of our School: The School and Church are one organization. We don't have separate check books or leadership structures. The School is a ministry of the Church and all school employees are employees of the church. We do not ask sexual orientation questions on our employment application. Instead, we require a thorough reading of our employee handbook and a signature that it has been read, understood and adhered to. We also have a statement of Faith document that each employee aligns with. In our Employee Handbook, Biblical moral practice is a requirement and lifestyle behaviors that violate the standards of Biblical morality and ethic are subject to discipline up to termination. So, No, we do not hire people who practice sexual expression outside Biblical guardrails. Biblical boundaries are that sex occurs between a husband and his wife, exclusively.

The second part of the question is "do we enroll families of lgbt partners?"

Evergreen Christian School is a Christian School, not a school of Christians, and we are very intentional about that. The School has a mission to "Love, Partner, Teach, Guide and Inspire" our students with outstanding academics and devotion to Jesus Christ. Our goal is to graduate 8th grade students who are academically exceptional, have a clear grasp of who God is, have bowed their knees to the Lordship of Jesus and are armed with a Biblical world view. We want to produce students who are ready to change the world!

Students and their parents go through an in-depth interview and assessment process to assess student academic strengths, behavioral patterns, and personality types as well as the familie's ability to support and contribute to our mission. Our Principal and their interview teams have authority to grant or deny admission based on the value, alignment, and energy a student and their family bring to our school community. Parents with an agenda of any kind that is contrary to our school mission are not granted admission and we reserve the right to deny enrollment at any time for any reason. 

The School provides pathways of ministry into a variety of homes we would never have access to, and for that we are grateful. At the same time, we protect the climate of our school and it's mission with tenacity. Our school population will always be majority christian to contribute to the powerful environment we need to accomplish our work.