The foremost purpose of a Christian education is to instruct our young people in God’s truth, educate them in His requirements, and lead them to know God’s character. It includes giving them an understanding of the role of God’s church in the prophetic times in which we live. It also encompasses igniting in their hearts a passion to be missionaries to dedicate their lives to God’s service.
The Spirit of Prophecy clearly indicates: “True education is missionary training. Every son and daughter of God is called to be a missionary; we are called to the service of God and our fellow men; and to fit us for this service should be the object of our education.”1
As soon as our youth are out of secondary school, it is of utmost urgency to provide them with college opportunities that will instill in them zeal for God’s glory, a knowledge of God’s untainted biblical truth, and a passion to serve as missionaries. This is a time of transition for them. They are young adults seeking to establish their personal worldview and discover a career and purpose for their lives. They need an educational environment where they can be solidified in God’s principles!
Our training schools are also exhorted to make provision so our youth “who feel it their duty to fit themselves for work requiring the passing of certain legal tests”2 can secure at our training schools all that is essential, without having to go to schools where they will be exposed to false teachings.
As we draw closer to the final climax of the great controversy, our schools need even more “to serve as a barrier against the wide-spread corruption, to provide for the moral and spiritual welfare of the youth, and to promote the future prosperity of the nation [and church] by furnishing it with men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors.”3
This is why Hartland College exists. We are seeking to expand our students’ educational opportunities so they can secure all that they need at a missionary college! Thank you for your prayerful support.
1Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing, p. 395.
2White, Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 489.
3White, Counsels on Education, p. 61.