A Full Reward: Reformation Through Family-Run Christian Schools

by Aaron M. Slack

Christianity is in crisis. The world is nowhere near where it should be, and seems to be getting worse. As our culture and society free fall further into degeneracy, the question is asked: what are we to do?

Conscientious Christians, knowing that we are called to be salt and light in this earth, are making efforts. What has emerged is an emphasis on politics, apologetics, and evangelism at the adult level. A Full Reward: Reformation Through Family-Run Christian Schools is a look at something different.

Current efforts at reformation have had mixed results. A Full Reward offers a new hope. The book's thesis is this - reformation will come, but it will come from the bottom-up, via ministry to the youngest members of our society: our preschool children. The very young are often neglected by even otherwise faithful ministries, as is shown by the attention given at the elementary, high school, and college level.

This book is about how to change society through missions work to these little children - the real fields ripe for the harvest (John 4:35). Even more, A Full Reward is about self-supporting missionary work performed by families. Because Christians first and foremost have a responsibility to their own families, the system explained in this book explains how to operate a ministry that fully provides for its operators and their families.

Imagine this: being able to impact and reform society, help children and their families, teach reading and Bible to hundreds of young children, and have their parents pay you for your services! It's an evangelist's dream come true and it can be reality. Such a ministry has existed for more than a quarter century in Southwest Florida. It is a ministry that does not rely on donations, but instead has a product worth selling: a great Christian early childhood education. It is a ministry truly independent and devoted to evangelism in its purest form. The ultimate goal of this ministry: the transformation of society through Christian education. Such a ministry can be yours, too. Find out how in A Full Reward: Reformation Through Family-Run Christian Schools and earn *your* full reward!

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2013

About the author

Rev. Aaron M. Slack is the manager of a family-run Christian school in Fort Myers, Florida, along with his wife, Amy, and six children. He is the son of a pastor, and has lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. He moved to Florida in 1994 and has worked for Grace Community School since 2001. He has a Masters degree in Christian Education from Patriot Bible University. He enjoys computers, science fiction, reading, and coffee. Find out more about the Grace Community School Apprenticeship Program at http://www.gcsapprenticeship.com and Aaron himself at http://www.aaronmslack.com

Reviews

[Victoria (hotcocoaandbooks) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts off talking about how homeschooling or at least bringing up a child in the ways of God's law (specifically by training them up in the Ten Commandments) is extremely important compared to sending a child off to a public school or a private school. I homeschool my sons and understood this importance too, however I do know many public schooled children who are fully serving Christ wholeheartedly simply because their parents spent much time raising them up in the Lord. That is the key in general, but he instead says those children are a minority without expounding on why they make it through. I too was raised by a parent who instilled God's Word into my life and I went to private and public schools (though these days I see much more value in homeschool education than in either of those). I stayed away from loads of trouble and even married my first boyfriend simply because I had a good fear of the Lord in me. I am a minority, it seems, but it had nothing to do with a school facility, but that I was trained in the Bible in general and it actually meant something to me.

The book continues to talk about the importance of apprenticeship rather than sending your child off to college with a load of loans they will be burdened with (or you will be burdened with). I agree completely (and chose to not go to college because I didn't know what I wanted to do, my parents didn't have the money, and I was actually afraid of getting involved in a bad lifestyle so I avoided the scene completely). I see much more usefulness in actually being taught about a trade rather than going to school for subjects you may not need or want to learn about or may not use your degree for anyway.

While I do agree on many points in this book, I did have a lot of issues with it too. It actually saddened me a lot. I thought this book was going to explain more about the beauty of teaching as parents in a school-like environment to children as the author states his school does in a facility. A lot of what he tried to say the school does was not given examples for it. How are these parents able to be paid for teaching while at the same time they are paying for their children to go? Why did he homeschool his children and not put them through the program, or did he do both? What do they tell parents who are interested in their program in regards to homeschooling? I am a bit confused here and there.

Here's what bothered me most. While I am totally for teaching the Ten Commandments and God's law at a young age, we need to tie in Jesus in which the law pointed to. For Christ said to love your neighbor as yourself which is the second greatest commandment after loving God (through the obedience of His law). Yet this man basically states that it is a child's fault in Africa for dying of AIDS before the age of 18 so we should not send our money to such charities because they don't have God there. Did he forget that person in Africa is made in the image of God and that we are to do unto others as we would want done to us? Should we want to die because our parents gave birth to us while having AIDS? No. He goes on throughout the book to state that basically people can't be Christians if they are poor because they were poor stewards of their money. There are millions of children on the streets around the world simply because that is what they were born into, and that's too bad because they were born into it, yet in the same book you say to let the little children go to Jesus and not hinder them? I am trying to make sense of this mentality. There are poor Christians around the world that have so much beauty and Spirit within them. What does he have to say about the parable about Lazurus and the Rich Man. . .Did he forget Lazurus was basically fighting with dogs about trying to get the crumbs on the floor? This prosperity Gospel is nonsense. Jesus had no place to rest His head and was basically a homeless person but He is our Savior whom we serve.

Also, Rev. Slack had great points about how we should uphold following Christ no matter what in how we teach our children. I agree. The problem is that in portions where he states how he does not bow down to the state's institution of how things should be taught, and how it is idolatry, he goes on to say that he pledges allegiance to the American flag after the Christian Flag and the Bible (which I was taught in a Christian school I attended as a child myself in that order too). The problem with this is that scripture in the new testament states we should only pledge or make vows to things of God. The American flag IS a form of idolatry if this author truly looks at it the way his mentality states. Then he talks about how he wants Christians in control of all government run things when the Bible says that we are aliens here just passing through without making an actual established home since we are of the Kingdom of God and are to be living as light in the dark world leading them not in charge over them, but through how we live differently in hopes that they will be willing to be taught.

Throughout this book Rev. Slack talks about Marxism and Socialism and Greek teaching styles. He applauds capitalism and wealth, yet does he forget Acts 2 when the entire book talks about how everyone shared their possessions with the rest of the believers and that there was never a need at all? That is a bit of communism, don't you think? Hmm. Doesn't sound capitalist at all.

He repeats himself many times in this book as well. I was having deja vu several times it seemed. I scratched my head thinking, "Didn't he talk about this already?"

Overall, I do see how this man does have a love for Jesus sincerely but the way he portrayed himself seemed to be haughty and prideful. He sounded like a "resounding gong" and a "clanging cymbal" without much compassion or love, and it made me sad. I love what he is doing with his educational facility, but I thought that is what this book was going to be about, a type of encouragement for me as a homeschooling mom rather than a "well I am going to go on a soap box while I talk about this on all different issues." Schooling had little to do with what is mentioned in the book.