Gospel Centrality at GCCA: How Christ's Incarnation Helps Us Break the Stereotype

Every now and then I witness a prospective parent’s surprise when I speak of GCCA’s culture of discipline and our Gospel-saturated environment. In many minds, the two goals are incompatible, due partly to the influence of a prevailing stereotype: Christian private schools succeed in discipline and excellence only by making moralists or legalists of their students. The underlying assumption here is that such an emphasis on behavior modification cannot be grace-borne. While a school’s discipline policy can successfully produce a kind of external obedience, we believe grace can mobilize students to comply out of true love and humility, rather than mere behaviorism. In other words, it is actually our culture of grace that empowers students to submit willingly (albeit imperfectly) to a reasonable standard of discipline. Grace informs not only the way in which students acquiesce to our disciplinary standards, it also affects the very spirit with which both teachers and administrators enforce it. Grace makes all the difference between mere behavior modification and Gospel-transformed hearts!

We aim to make Christ’s incarnation the model for both our teachers as they enforce our discipline policy and our students as they adhere to it.  During this season of Advent, we are reminded of Christ’s humiliation, as described in Philippians 2:1-11, which serves as our impetus to cast off all selfishness in pursuit of another’s interests and edification. In the classroom, this means that students are encouraged to conform to a standard of humility and respect out of sheer love for their classmates, teachers, and those who have afforded them their education. Likewise, teachers are required to “empty themselves” (Phil 2:7) by becoming servant leaders to their students, empathizing with every student’s struggles and looking creatively for ways to minister to his or her heart with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If Gospel-induced love and humility truly infuse such a model, it can hardly result in laxity.  

I am thankful to be a part of a community here at GCCA that takes seriously the Gospel and the obedience it stimulates. The Gospel reminds us daily that we are sinners saved by God’s grace alone. It teaches us that God’s love—displayed in reconciling us through Christ—is the same love which we ought to demonstrate toward each other, especially in the event of disagreements, broken relationships, and offense. Therefore, there is absolutely no place for pride, elitism, or pretension. When a school affirms that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, I believe God blesses that school. When a school’s passion is reflected in its mission, vision, statement of faith, discipline policy, classroom culture, curricula, and extracurricular activities, I think God greatly blesses that school. 
 
Dr. Preston Atwood
Headmaster