According to the Bible, Christian parents have a duty to provide their children with a Christian education.  This was codified in the earliest instructions to God's people before they entered the Promised Land.

These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  (Deut. 6:6-7).

Some significant factors stand out in God's instruction to parents:

1)  the command was not given to people of the world, but to God's own people, those who called Him by name and those whom God claimed as His own  (Duet. 6:1-2).

2)  The training was not to be compartmentalized, limited to Sundays or to special religious services, but was to be incorporated into every  aspect of daily life:  "...when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

3)  The responsibility to train children is primarily that of the parents, not the state or government. Scriptures never mentioned a government-run, secular education system where children go to secular school houses 7 hours a day, 180 days per year. (Deut. 6:7; Ephesians 6:4) 

In a recent resolution to be presented to the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Morris H. Chapman calls for the exodus of Christian children from government-run ("public") schools.  Dr. Bruce Short observes:  "The spiritual, moral, and intellectual pathologies of the government school system are now obvious even to casual observers.  Christian parents and pastors need to ask themselves just how much longer they intend to render our children to Caesar's spiritually dark, morally decaying, and physically dangerous government schools."  (Baptist Messenger, May, 2009)

E. Ray Moore of the Exodus Mandate agrees.  "...Families are crying out for assistance with their children and churches are losing the next generation of youth to worldliness, humanism and post modernism due to public schooling."

Southern Baptists who call for the exodus of Christians from government run schools see two viable alternatives for quality Christian eduation:  homeschools and private  Christian schools.  Dr. Morris notes, "Technology combined with good curriculum have made K-12 Christian education available to anyone anywhere anytime and at reasonable cost."

Proponents of Christian education note that children who are home schooled or trained in private Christian schools typically score 4 years higher than their public school counterparts, get into excellent universities, and seize a higher percentage of scholarships than do graduates of the government-run schools.  They are four times as likely to have a Biblical worldview and to remain in church after they graduate. 

For more information on the Exodus Mandate, you may call (803) 714-1744 or visit www.exodusmandate.org.