Religious education involves changes in human beings making for the right relationship with God-right thinking about him, right attitudes toward him, and right conduct before him. That is the difference between Christian education and general education (C. B. Eavey, History of Christian Education, 1964, 10). Hence, as the adage, it takes a village to raise a child, Christian education is the work of the church, the Christian home, the Christian school, and Christians in whatever societal setting they find themselves in (Warren S. Benson, Philosophical Foundations of Christian Education, 2001, 26). Yet, having a clear-cut philosophy of Christian education is at the heart of fulfilling God’s mission and purposes for his church.

The philosophy of education is about providing answers to questions like “Why all this education? To what purpose?” (Lawrence A. Cremin, The Genius of American Education, 1965, 30). It boils down to answering the ‘why?’ questions as opposed to the ‘how?’ questions. An education system that concentrates more on the ‘how’ than the ‘why’ (Neil Postman and Charles Weingartener, The School Book, 1973, 295-97) is certain to end up with what Charles E. Silberman described as “mindlessness” (Crisis in the Classroom, 1970, 6).

Knight stated; the study of educational philosophy is (1) to help educators become acquainted with the basic problems of education, (2) to enable them to evaluate better the wide variety of suggestions offered as solutions to these problems, (3) to assist them in clarifying thinking about the goals of both life and education, and (4) to guide them in the development of an internally consistent point of view and a program that relates realistically to the larger world context (Knight, 2006, 5).

Further, Knight (Philosophy of Education & Education, 2006, 5) asserts, philosophy in its technical sense might best be thought of in three aspects: an activity, a set of attitudes, and a body of content. Given below are a comprehensive summary of these three aspects.

I am of the view that, in the Adventist education system, it is imperative every stakeholder rediscovers the rationale for our existence to give it a much-needed breather. Our teachers at all levels need to recapture the passion and they can only do so when they understand the reason why Christian education in general and Adventist education in particular was set up from the start. To do so, there is need for more consultation from the administration with those at the frontline ministry like teachers and pastors. One way to help boost the moral is to take the staff out for weekend retreats as Jesus did invite us "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while" Mark 6:36. 'For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isa 30:15. 

I firmly believe for every Christian worker be it in pastoral, teaching, medical or any arm of ministry, our walk with Him (the Lord of the work) must precede our work for him. Hence, through weekend retreats, this is driven to the participants. Nearly everyone who attends always speak highly of the experience of retreat. Below is a picture of one of such retreats conducted with the staff of Central Papua Conference in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Retreat for Central Papua Conference Office Workers