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About Christian Schools of Florida

Mission

Christian Schools of Florida supports, encourages, and accredits Christian early childhood, elementary, and secondary schools in the State of Florida that endorse “Transformational Education.”

Purpose

• To function as a recognized accrediting association in the State of Florida for Christian schools endorsing a perspective of education as articulated in the statement, Transformational Education.
• To function as a Florida state recognized program assisting Christian schools in teacher certification and master in-service.
• To provide opportunities for member schools to spiritually fellowship and professionally interact with one another.
• To provide representation for member schools in the State of Florida, with the legislature, the department of education, and other state and local agencies through membership in professional organizations, such as the Florida Association of Academic Nonpublic Schools (FAANS), and the National Council for Private School Accreditation (NCPSA).

History

In the early 1980s it became evident to a number of Christian schools that a unique and distinctive organization was needed in Florida to accredit and assist schools that endorsed and promoted Transformational Education. Many of these schools were accredited by other Florida organizations, both secular and Christian. The goal was an accrediting agency that would provide spiritual guidance and leadership not found in secular organizations, and provide higher quality professional and academic standards and processes not found at the time in other Christian organizations.

Christian Schools of Florida honors the legacy handed down to its member schools by the earliest known Christian school community in Florida, the Huguenot community, established at Fort Caroline in 1564. The growing persecution in France of French Calvinists led their most powerful member, Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, to seek a refuge for them in Florida. Member schools of CSF maintain the theological distinctives contained in Transformational Education practiced by those early French Protestant Christians.

Denominational affiliation

Christian Schools of Florida does not have an affiliation with any Christian denomination. Some of its member schools are church owned, some are governed by parent societies or organizations, and some are privately owned. Many of our member schools have their roots in the teachings of the Protestant Reformation as articulated by Martin Luther and John Calvin. We welcome schools of other heritages who embrace with us historic, orthodox Christian doctrines, and who, with regard to carrying out the task of Christian schooling, practice transformational education.

What do member schools believe in common?

Generally member schools of CSF affirm the following central doctrines of Reformed theology:

God

• God is sovereign over all things and determines all things.
• God is central to all things.
• All things are intended for God’s glory.
• God exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

The Bible

• God has spoken propositionally to mankind by general revelation through the physical creation and by special revelation contained in the Old and New Testaments.
• The Bible is the sole rule for what is to be believed and practiced.
• The Bible is reliable, without error, and absolute.

Salvation

• Man is a sinner and is in need of a savior.
• God has provided salvation for sinful man through the substitutionary obedient life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
• Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners. He is God’s eternal Word.
• The Church of Jesus Christ is composed of all those in heaven and earth of all ages who have placed their faith in Him alone for salvation.

Faith

• Salvation is granted by grace through faith alone as a free gift. It is neither earned nor deserved.
• The Christian life is to be lived by faith.

Covenant

• God works through covenants, most importantly the covenants of redemption, works, and grace.
• God’s covenant blessing most normally moves along generations through families.
• Children born into families having a covenant relationship with God are uniquely blessed and at great advantage.

Cultural Mandate

• God has given mankind a unique position and responsibility in His creation: to fill the earth, subdue the earth, and rule over it. He is to be a change agent, governing, reforming, and restoring his culture.

Great Commission

• God has given to His people the commission to evangelize and disciple the world.
• God has given to His people the commission to live all of life for His glory and with fidelity to the Bible in every area of human existence and endeavor, including politics, academics, culture, technology, and the arts.

Schooling

• Schooling is primarily the responsibility of parents and not the church or the state.
• Schooling cannot be divorced from the family, the Church, or the scriptures.
• Schooling is to be biblical in every aspect.
• Schooling is to prepare children to fulfill the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate as members of His kingdom.