Courage

Decades ago, the principal of the Christian school where I taught complained that a student was cheating in most of her classes and the teachers wouldn't do anything about it. That afternoon, I caught her with the textbook open during a test.

In the nightmare that followed, the church leadership united in blaming me. Why? The student's father announced that he was going to sue, and I watched in amazement as the entire leadership quickly turned against me.

I have heard enough similar stories from former Christian school teachers that I feel safe in saying that the great decline in Christian schools is largely due to the failure of leadership to stand up to parents. In fact, the failure of many Christian churches to grow is the result of leadership failing to stand up to church bullies.

I'll be posting a couple times a week from a Bible study on "courage," and comments are welcome.