The KJA Promise

I love sharing Jesus every day with my students. We pray together every day, thanking Jesus for all He has done for us and for allowing us to be part of each other’s stories and journeys. We share our worries and prayer requests for ourselves, our families, our friends, and our world. If one student is absent, the others will often share the prayer request their friend would have asked for, just so we don’t forget to pray for them.

We spend time digging into our Bibles, experiencing the transformation that takes place when we get to know the God of the Old and New Testaments. We connect the Bible stories we know with historical facts from textbooks that show the Bible to be true and relevant today. We learn that the prophets, leaders, and apostles were people not so different from us, and that God used them in mighty ways.

We celebrate our differences. We teach our children to be proud of where they come from; their heritage, country, and culture. We are learning from each other how to be better, not just better Christians, but better people. We are learning that as strong Christians, we don’t walk through life alone.

In school, we are learning to let our friends, classmates, and teachers pray not just for each other, but with each other. When life is going great, we share in praising God together. We are learning together that our burdens aren’t so heavy when we let those around us help carry them. We are also learning that our successes are sweeter when we can rejoice together.

We spend time figuring out how to manage this world while preparing to spend eternity with Jesus and learning how to share that hope with our community.

We teach the academics: Math, Reading, Writing, Social Studies, Science, Physical Education, Music, Keyboarding, Art, Religion, and more. We have extracurricular activities such as ski club, soccer club, student council, and chess and checkers club. We offer peer tutoring, where students help each other learn. We are even talking about adding a ministry club to share Jesus with our community and sister churches through music, drama, and speaking.

Though we offer all these things, I still hear how much more a child will get in public school, and all for free. The public school district in which our school is located has a “promise” that if you send a child there for all their schooling, they will receive a free college education at almost any college in Michigan, including Andrews University. I kept thinking about how Adventist schools cannot compete with free breakfast, free lunch, competitive sports, the latest STEM and technology programs, and free college tuition. This has been a huge frustration for me.

Recently, I was sharing my frustration with my superintendent, and he said, “You don’t have their Promise. You have something better! You have the KJA Promise.”

I thought about this for a while. I have taken the time to really think about what that promise is, and this is what I’ve come up with.

The KJA Promise is that our school is doing all it can to not just prepare children academically for what comes next in this world. They are learning the character of Christ. We help them learn to hunger for the Word of God and how to use that hunger to prepare for salvation and eternity with Jesus. That is something that cannot be taught in any public school.

We have children who are learning not only academics, but also how to have a personal relationship with their Creator, how to be leaders in their local churches, and how to share that faith with others. They are making lifelong friendships that will last through eternity.

Our students have teachers, classmates, and church members who are praying for them daily. Their teachers show up for them outside of school to celebrate their wins and successes and to love them when life is hard. Their teachers genuinely love them even when they are being difficult and seek to reconnect them with the true Source of hope and love.

Our goal is eternity with our Creator.

I am convinced that when parents remain faithful to keeping their children in Adventist schools, even though it may be a financial sacrifice, and when we give those children our best academically and spiritually, then when the time for college comes, God will provide the funds and opportunities for our children to attend wherever He wants them to be. After all, He loves them far more than we do.

Adventist schools can’t compete with what public or other private schools have to offer, and we don’t have to, because we aren’t trying to prepare students just for this world, but also for the eternal world to come. That’s the Promise of Adventist education!

Tami Draves serves as the Teaching Principal at Kalamazoo Junior Academy.