For parents who want their children to have a childhood, a time when innocence should be protected from the worldly influences and information onslaught that adults know all too well, the choice of education is crucial. And when they desire to lead their household in biblical truth, it is paramount to find an alternative educational environment that prepares the next generation to stand boldly for Christ in an increasingly hostile culture.
Many Christian parents believe biblical truth is increasingly marginalized within public education and that their children’s worldview is being shaped by values different from those taught at home and church. Parents can do what they can in the home to reinforce God’s truth and protect the hearts and minds of their child, and churches can welcome them to hear more and be in Christian community. But with the outside influences mounting, many parents have been led to at least consider—if not make the switch—to homeschool or private Christian education.
In a 2025 Pew Research Center analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data, 83 percent of parents of homeschooled children cited concerns about the school environment, including safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure as a reason for homeschooling. About half (53 percent) of parents of homeschool students said they decided to homeschool because they wanted to provide religious instruction. According to the National Center for Education Statistics’ Private School Universe Survey, conservative Christian schools accounted for nearly 12 percent (3,549) of the country’s K–12 private options during the 2021–2022 academic year.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic increase in both options. Liberty University Online Academy, a K–12 program, saw a 240 percent increase in applications during and after the pandemic as more families sought online alternatives to traditional schools. Liberty’s Online Academy surpassed 20,000 students this spring, enrolled from all 50 states and 100 countries.
In some of our country’s earliest towns, the church was the epicenter of the community. The building often doubled as a school not only out of necessity but also because faith was so entwined with the way of life that the two could not be imagined separate. Children learned reading, writing, and arithmetic where they worshipped and were discipled.
While many local churches operate their own schools, online education is making it possible for more churches to set up spaces for learning in their existing facilities without expensive overhead. Most Sunday School classrooms and other children’s areas on church grounds sit dormant and empty Monday through Friday; the chairs and tables where young souls are being taught are left unused save for an hour or two a week. By partnering with cooperatives like the Liberty University Affiliate Program, churches across the country are providing fully accredited K–12 Christian school education—without a massive budget, new construction, or hiring teachers.
Transforming classrooms, fellowship halls, and gyms into supervised learning spaces can breathe new life and purpose into a building while generating supplemental income through modest facility fees or tuition sharing.
For some churches, the desire to invest in the next generation is strong, but the challenges of hiring staff, developing curriculum, and handling academic records can seem overwhelming. In an affiliate program, a church only needs to provide the space, on-site facilitators, and internet connection.
The affiliate program offers many benefits as it combines the flexibility of online education with the relational benefits of in-person learning. Children are taught by certified teachers and receive an accredited, comprehensive education that includes core subjects, Bible courses, electives, foreign languages, business, technology, and more. They have daily interaction with classmates and mentorship, discipleship, and community engagement opportunities. Working parents can rest assured knowing their children are in a safe place while they complete coursework.
In the effort to provide children a high-caliber education without harmful influences, and a place where they can grow their faith, the church can once again become a beacon of hope.
Proverbs 22:6 delivers the well-known instruction to believers to train up a child in the way he should go so that they will not depart from it in adulthood. As a church, as a congregation, and as a local Christian community, think of how an established space for Christian education, based within the church walls themselves, could make that child feel that much more connected to their sphere of believers and be inclined to connect faith with education. Their families can become more deeply connected to the life of the church, and church facilities can become centers of ongoing Kingdom impact beyond Sunday worship services alone.
God’s commands can ring true for families today just as they did for Moses when he shared the Ten Commandments with the Israelites for the first time: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut. 6:6-7). In facilitating an alternative approach to education that teaches through the lens of Scripture, churches can live out those words daily.
Establishing a school that shepherds K–12 students throughout the week where a congregation gathers on Sunday can be transformative for families and communities. Churches have an opportunity to fill empty classrooms with biblical truth and disciple the next generation of Christian leaders who will impact the world for Christ.