COMMON PERSPECTIVES BETWEEN ALC AND FAMILIES
For ALC to best serve your family, it is essential that there be a unity of perspective regarding some key elements of the parenting process. These elements are listed below. By signing the appropriate place on the application or registration form, you are indicating that you share these same perspectives.
The Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. The Bible is the exclusive and ultimate source of authority regarding life - both temporal and eternal.
Parents’ highest priority in Christian ministry is nurturing their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). Parents should not allow outside interests, employment, or ministry to take the place of their primary role of parenting their children.
The ultimate purpose of the nurturing process is that our children would come to know, love and serve God. The entire nurturing process must take place from a God-centered perspective. Academic achievement or extracurricular pursuits should not overshadow the moral development of the heart.
Biblical discipline is foundational to the nurturing process. Biblical discipline consists of both instruction and correction. God has revealed the purpose, manner and means of both aspects of discipline in the Bible.
Children can be taught to obey. Unconditional obedience to the will of the parent is to be the norm in the Christian home. ALC expects that parents are teaching their children basic elements of respect, obedience, manners, and courtesy.
God’s Word establishes the norms for personal relationships. These norms often stand in contrast to the cultural “norms” established by secular psychology, television, movies, popular music, etc. In particular, parents must be wise regarding the cultural norms that promote boy/girl relationships in a spiritually unhealthy manner and promote “trash talking” (i.e. demeaning name calling, etc.) that undermine the dignity of being created in the image of God.
The spiritual, emotional and physical climate of the Christian home should be marked by warmth, closeness, acceptance and goodwill. These qualities should characterize the relationship between husband/wife, parent/child, and child/child. So-called “stages” that children are thought to pass through (e.g. “terrible twos,” teenagers, etc.) should not be used as excuses for the absence of these qualities between all members of the family. ALC expects its families to promote this type of Godly climate in their homes so that these qualities naturally flow into the ALC community.
Christian parents should be extremely jealous for the minds of their children. Not all expressions of our culture through writing, music, videos, television, etc. are conducive to developing Godly character. In particular, the obsessions with sex, death and violence are detrimental to our children’s well-being.
Personal responsibility should be fostered in the nurturing process. Christian parents should invoke a sense of personal responsibility in their children with appropriate consequences for irresponsibility.
ALC reserves the right to reconsider a family’s participation in ALC should we believe that the parents’ follow-through regarding the above perspectives is not commensurate with their intentions and/or the Christian testimony of the parent(s) is called into question. This reconsideration would come after a process of addressing the matter with the parents and finding the matter irreconcilable.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN STUDENTS AND ALC
Before coming to ALC, I realize that the responsibility of my education rests upon me. I also realize that I must bear this responsibility if ALC is to be a benefit to my educational endeavors.
My desire is the come to ALC and, as a student at ALC, I agree to…
…actively support and submit to the authority and decisions of my teachers;
…take disagreements/problems with my teachers to my teachers in a proper manner, and not to my fellow-students;
…actively participate in each class’s activities;
…be responsible and diligent in completing assignments on time;
…actively promote an atmosphere of warmth, acceptance and goodwill among my fellow-students;
…conduct myself among my fellow-students in a manner that is acceptable to God, my parents and my teachers at ALC;
…use words of encouragement and edification in my conversations with my fellow-students, and refrain from talking to my fellow-students in a demeaning manner;
…discuss and converse with my fellow-students about matters that are acceptable to God, my parents and my teachers at ALC;
…express myself in writing, art, music, etc. in ways that are acceptable to God, my
parents and my teachers at ALC;
…pray for my parents, teachers and fellow-students.
For ALC to best serve your family, it is essential that there be a unity of perspective regarding some key elements of the parenting process. These elements are listed below. By signing the appropriate place on the application or registration form, you are indicating that you share these same perspectives.
The Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. The Bible is the exclusive and ultimate source of authority regarding life - both temporal and eternal.
Parents’ highest priority in Christian ministry is nurturing their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). Parents should not allow outside interests, employment, or ministry to take the place of their primary role of parenting their children.
The ultimate purpose of the nurturing process is that our children would come to know, love and serve God. The entire nurturing process must take place from a God-centered perspective. Academic achievement or extracurricular pursuits should not overshadow the moral development of the heart.
Biblical discipline is foundational to the nurturing process. Biblical discipline consists of both instruction and correction. God has revealed the purpose, manner and means of both aspects of discipline in the Bible.
Children can be taught to obey. Unconditional obedience to the will of the parent is to be the norm in the Christian home. ALC expects that parents are teaching their children basic elements of respect, obedience, manners, and courtesy.
God’s Word establishes the norms for personal relationships. These norms often stand in contrast to the cultural “norms” established by secular psychology, television, movies, popular music, etc. In particular, parents must be wise regarding the cultural norms that promote boy/girl relationships in a spiritually unhealthy manner and promote “trash talking” (i.e. demeaning name calling, etc.) that undermine the dignity of being created in the image of God.
The spiritual, emotional and physical climate of the Christian home should be marked by warmth, closeness, acceptance and goodwill. These qualities should characterize the relationship between husband/wife, parent/child, and child/child. So-called “stages” that children are thought to pass through (e.g. “terrible twos,” teenagers, etc.) should not be used as excuses for the absence of these qualities between all members of the family. ALC expects its families to promote this type of Godly climate in their homes so that these qualities naturally flow into the ALC community.
Christian parents should be extremely jealous for the minds of their children. Not all expressions of our culture through writing, music, videos, television, etc. are conducive to developing Godly character. In particular, the obsessions with sex, death and violence are detrimental to our children’s well-being.
Personal responsibility should be fostered in the nurturing process. Christian parents should invoke a sense of personal responsibility in their children with appropriate consequences for irresponsibility.
ALC reserves the right to reconsider a family’s participation in ALC should we believe that the parents’ follow-through regarding the above perspectives is not commensurate with their intentions and/or the Christian testimony of the parent(s) is called into question. This reconsideration would come after a process of addressing the matter with the parents and finding the matter irreconcilable.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN STUDENTS AND ALC
Before coming to ALC, I realize that the responsibility of my education rests upon me. I also realize that I must bear this responsibility if ALC is to be a benefit to my educational endeavors.
My desire is the come to ALC and, as a student at ALC, I agree to…
…actively support and submit to the authority and decisions of my teachers;
…take disagreements/problems with my teachers to my teachers in a proper manner, and not to my fellow-students;
…actively participate in each class’s activities;
…be responsible and diligent in completing assignments on time;
…actively promote an atmosphere of warmth, acceptance and goodwill among my fellow-students;
…conduct myself among my fellow-students in a manner that is acceptable to God, my parents and my teachers at ALC;
…use words of encouragement and edification in my conversations with my fellow-students, and refrain from talking to my fellow-students in a demeaning manner;
…discuss and converse with my fellow-students about matters that are acceptable to God, my parents and my teachers at ALC;
…express myself in writing, art, music, etc. in ways that are acceptable to God, my
parents and my teachers at ALC;
…pray for my parents, teachers and fellow-students.