Where Are We Going?

The Christian way of life is never more than one generation from extinction. If our beliefs and traditions are not purposefully passed to our children, they die with us. That’s why education is essential. Education is the catapult with which we launch skilled builders and brave soldiers into the future to glorify God in all of life (1 Cor 10:31). The vision for Valor is to create an education community united in our common commitment to raise our children in the discipline of the Lord (Eph 6:4) instead of according to secular dogma. We want to be a community where doing things God’s way is normal.

That means we (and “we” here means our community of families and the school) train our children to serve God (Col 3:23–24), seek wisdom (Prov 2), and stand firm (1 Cor 16:13).

Serve God

We glorify God when we do what he commands. We want our students to fear God rather than man (Acts 5:29). We want to see them joyfully take dominion for God, working heartily as unto the Lord (Col 3:23–24) and thus extend Christ’s rule and reign on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10).

Seek Wisdom

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov 1:7). Every subject we study at school is:

• from God because we’re studying his creation (Col 1:16–17).
• through God because he provides us with curiosity and ability to learn (Phil 2:13).
• to God because we are living sacrifices to God when he renews our minds (Rom 12:1–2).

We approach education with our students as a sacred quest for truth. We guide them to search for insight as for hidden treasure (Prov 2:1–5) so that they find Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3).

Stand Firm

Our culture wants to turn our children into cowards too afraid to be strong and courageous for Christ. We train our students not to be embarrassed to believe and obey everything written in God’s word (Luke 9:26, 2 Tim 1:8). If God says it, we believe and we love it. We teach them to gladly embrace and pronounce the Bible as the ultimate standard for all of life. That’s how they become steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord (1 Cor 15:58).

We’re partnering together to raise children prepared to rebuild a godly culture. We want God’s way of life to prosper and flourish in this wider Stillwater area. We have courage, conviction, and a joyful devotion to God (Neh 8:10) because Christ has died, and more than that, was raised to life (Rom 8:34). If God is for us, who can be against us (Rom 8:31)? With God on our side, our vision is to build a school community united by our common goal to raise children in the discipline of the Lord. God willing, we will graduate young men and women of valor who spread God’s glory from sea to shining sea.

God made mankind to rule. We became the rulers of earth when God gave us dominion over his creation (Psalm 8:6). The Bible tells us that God made us to rule in many different passages. In saving us, God made us co-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17), inheritors of the world (Rom 4:13), and princes under the Prince of Peace. To be declared a child of God (John 1:12) means we join his household. And being in the household of the King of kings means you’re a part of ruling with him. Christ is the head, and we are his body (Eph 4:15–16).

Since our God-given calling is to rule, God-honoring schooling prepares students to rule well. That’s why Valor strives to equip students to walk in a manner worthy of their calling (Eph 4:1). To be prepared to rule, students need to receive a body of knowledge and a way of life. That’s why our mission is to educate and enculturate students in Christ.

What does it mean to “educate”?

When we say that our mission is to educate students, we mean that there is a body of knowledge we want them to understand and embrace. We don’t mean transferring bare facts from teacher to student. We teach students what is good, true, and beautiful according to God. We teach them to judge historical figures by the standard of God’s word, glory in biology as the work of a creative God, and exult in God through the beauty of good poetry and story-telling. We fill their minds with the glories of our endlessly glorious God and we equip them with the mental tools they need to keep learning and discovering for themselves.

What does it mean to “enculturate”?

When we say our mission is to enculturate students, we mean there is a way of life we want them to learn and enjoy. We’re developing a strong culture and training students to love it and follow it. Education isn’t complete until it gives students a whole way of life. If you train a child in the way he should go, when he’s old he will not depart from it (Prov 22:6). In other words, we want God’s ways to be normal to them. That means we are supporting area churches and the households who send children to school with us by making a school culture that:

• Reveres God and his word by prayer and thanksgiving.
• Deals with sin God’s way by confessing and asking for forgiveness without making any excuses.
• Honors our authorities by obeying right away, all the way, with a happy heart.
• Trains boys to be distinctly masculine and girls to be distinctly feminine, each according to God’s good design.
• Embraces the call to love neighbor by practicing courtesy and having good manners.
• Nourishes godly self-respect by dressing neatly.
• Cultivates discipline and punctuality by arriving on time.
• Ignites a passion and joy for learning about God by studying his creation.
• And much, much more.

Our mission is to teach students a body of knowledge that holds together in Christ (Col 1:17) and train students in a way of life that honors Christ (Phil 1:27); to educate and enculturate students in Christ. In doing so, we partner with parents to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Valor uses the classical tradition in our Christian education and enculturation. What is classical education? It includes both educational content and a specific educational method.

Content

Classical education aims to revive and pass on the heritage of Western Civilization left to us by the ancients and curated by our forefathers in the faith. That means we read the great works of Western literature to form in our students a deep appreciation for the history of their civilization. Just because something is ancient does not mean it is good. Therefore, we teach our students to discern good and evil with the Bible as the light unto their path (Psalm 119:105).

Method

Classical education equips students with the tools of learning, the seven liberal arts. Students are trained to memorize correctly, read closely, think critically, write clearly, and speak compellingly. Our teachers guide students to create ideas with their own minds, not just memorize information for a test. Thus students are equipped to love God with all their mind (Matt 22:37).

The liberal arts

Let’s understand what we mean by the term “liberal arts.” An “art” is a discipline which produces something, as opposed to a “science” which is a body of knowledge. The fine arts produce music, paintings, and sculptures. The mechanical arts produce sturdy bridges, dry homes, and automatic watches. So what do the liberal arts produce? Knowledge. The liberal arts produce knowledge within the person using them. And not just the knowledge of bare truths—the deep wisdom that embraces goodness, truth, and beauty everywhere it is found as a gift from their Father in heaven (James 1:17). They are called “liberal” (from the latin liber meaning “free”) because their use creates free-thinking people.

So what are the seven liberal arts? They are divided into the trivium and the quadrivium.

The trivium

The three arts of the trivium teach students how to think with words, both in their mind and on the page. The result of learning the arts of the trivium should be students in whom the word of Christ dwells richly (Col 3:16) and so is expressed beautifully.

• Grammar teaches students the basic parts of each subject. Language grammar teaches students to read, the parts of speech, and punctuation. The grammar of history teaches students the timeline of events and people in the period studied.
• Logic teaches students how the parts of each subject relate. Logic in language teaches students to evaluate the validity of arguments and craft their own. The logic of history teaches students how history holds together in a coherent story and to assess the faults and virtues of each individual.
• Rhetoric teaches students to communicate their thinking effectively. This includes the skill of writing clearly and speaking compellingly.

The quadrivium

The four arts of the quadrivium teach students how to think with numbers in space and time. The result of learning the arts of the quadrivium should be students who praise God for his harmonious, intricate creation because they understand it deeply (Psalm 19:1).

• Arithmetic teaches students to think in numbers, including how numbers operate on one another (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.).
• Geometry teaches students about numbers in space (area, volume, circumference, etc.).
• Music teaches students about numbers in time (whole-note vs. quarter-note, tempo, harmony etc.).
• Astronomy (or what we might call “physics”) teaches students about numbers in space and time (planetary orbits, lunar distance, etc.).

Classical education aims to give students the tools to think in words and numbers so that they are equipped to obey God by taking dominion of his world.

Thoroughly Christian

There is no truly classical education that isn’t thoroughly Christian. “Classical” is not a synonym for “rigorous.” Nor does it simply mean an education in the classic literature of the Western world. Classical education retrieves the seven liberal arts reformed by our forefathers in the faith during the medieval era. Those Christian scholars created an educational system from the seven liberal arts whose purpose was to teach subsequent generations to see Christ as preeminent in all things (Col 1:18) and that all things hold together in Christ (Col 1:17). Its goal was to create, perpetuate, and expand Christian culture so that the gospel which saves sinners would also transform civilizations.

Some have attempted to create a “classical” education void of Christ. By doing so, they wrest the seven liberal arts from their Christian purpose and use it to advance secularism. That’s not really classical education because the whole point of the classical tradition was teaching students to know and love Christ in all of life. The content and method of a classical education were developed by Christians for Christians to pass on a body of knowledge and a way of life so that the coming generations would know and worship God for his great works (Ps 78:6).

God made everything for his glory. “From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever” (Rom 11:36). That means our students are created to glorify God, which is exactly what Isaiah 43:6–7 says,

“bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

What does it mean that everything exists for God’s glory?

Everything exists to show off what God is like. The earth is simply bursting at the seams with the intricate detail, creative attention, and vast power of God. He formed flowers so that we could taste the sweet nectar of beauty. He carved the canyons and sculpted the mountains to give us a hint of his supremacy. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1). Everything God makes and does gives us a view into what he is like.

Everything exists as a reason for us to praise God. Scripture tells us to praise God for his creation (Ps 148), his works of redemption (Ps 145:4–7, Eph 1:3–6), his personal kindnesses (Ps 103:4–5), for one another (1 Thess 1:2–3) and his divine attributes (Rom 11:33). Everything is here for us to point at it and exclaim, “Father, you did that too?!”

God has promised that one day his glory will cover all the earth. God even swears by it, “Truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord…” (Num 14:21). He predicts it, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14). So, that’s why we aim for our students to glorify God in all of life.

Secular Education vs. Christian Education

Modern American culture preaches secularism. Secularism says that God is fine for your personal life, but you better not bring him into work, politics, or anywhere else where he might tell other people what to do or think. Declaring God’s universal dominion is considered “intolerant.” They try to limit the glory and dominion of God to the “sacred” domain of private life while keeping it out of the “secular” domain of public life. Obviously that won’t work for Christians. The foundation of the gospel is the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and Christians are commanded to declare his exclusive Lordship in every sphere of life. Thus, the great hope of every Christian is that God would have dominion from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth (Ps 72:8) as men and women submit to Christ’s Lordship through faith and repentance.

Education to the glory of God is the difference between a Christian education and a secular education. Secular education simply declares “neutrality.” They say things like, “two plus two equals four regardless of whether Jesus is Lord.” When education tries to be neutral, it begins with the greatest lie of all: history, math, science, literature, and everything else taught in school have so little to do with God that you can remove him from the equation with no ill effects. That’s not neutral concerning God; it’s hostile. If everything exists for God’s glory, teaching any subject disconnected from God is treachery. God’s glory is not an “add on” to our mission statement, it’s the whole point.

At Valor, we want our students to be equipped by our education and enculturation to glorify God from the factory floor to the senate floor, from the board room to the living room. Simply, we want our students to glorify God in all of life. And we aim at it confidently, holding unswervingly to our hope because God is faithful (Heb 10:23). I can’t wait to see the honor our students will bring to the Lord as they graduate and seek to extend his glorious dominion into every area of their lives. Look out world, here we come.

Our school is a Protestant, confessional school. Let me tell you what that means.

Protestant

The Protestant Reformation taught us that God saves us by grace apart from our works and that Scripture is sufficient, apart from Tradition, to equip us for every good work. The reformers taught that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. As we live for God’s glory alone, we live Coram Deo, before the face of God. Because we live all of life in God’s presence, there is no secular/sacred divide. Jesus is Lord of our lives, our households, our churches, our workplaces, our communities, and our nation, because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him (Matt 28:18).

Confessional

We’ve chosen to be a confessional school so that the faculty are united on most of the doctrines that substantially shape Christian living. Practically, that means all of our faculty subscribe to, love, and teach from one of three confessions:

• Westminster Confession of Faith
• 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith
• Treasuring Christ Together Elder Affirmation of Faith

All of those confessions are broadly Reformed. That’s where Valor’s first doctrinal distinctive comes from. Here’s what it says:

“God’s meticulous sovereignty. God controls everything. There are no accidents. History, past and present, is the record of God’s intentional actions. His sovereignty over all things inspires us to worship, trust, and obey him. We want to trust God when suffering comes and glorify God by enjoying him and his gifts.”

God’s meticulous sovereignty simply means that he controls everything. Charles Spurgeon said, “I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes.” What difference does this doctrine make in education and enculturation? Here’s a brief sample.

The gospel

God is sovereign over salvation. God freely chose us for salvation, not because of any merit in ourselves. Every bit of salvation is a gift from God. He gave his Son as a sacrifice for our sins (John 3:16). He gave us his word (2 Tim 3:16). He provided someone to share it with us (Rom 10:14–15). He gave us ears to hear and eyes to see (1 Cor 2:9–14). He gave us a new heart (Jer 31:33). He gave us faith (Phil 1:29). He gives us power to overcome sin and grow in holiness (Phil 2:12–13). What do you have that you did not receive (1 Cor 4:7)?

History

God is sovereign over history. History is a record of God’s intentional design. There are no accidents. Voltaire, the Enlightenment philosopher, mocked providence and God’s sovereignty on the basis of natural disasters, like the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. But we believe in a God who pre-planned the greatest disaster, when the only innocent man who ever lived was hung up to die, and who used it to save the world (Acts 4:28). There is a right side and a wrong side of history—and the difference is who will bow the knee to King Jesus and recognize his sovereignty.

Science

Everything created is evidence for God’s careful, intentional, loving design. From basic anatomy to advanced astrophysics, everything is carefully crafted by God. Every created thing is a dynamic diorama of God’s inexorable power and infinite creativity. As our students study chemistry, biology, and physics, they’re finding out they didn’t have the first idea about how complex and ordered God’s universe is. There’s more wisdom and knowledge hiding everywhere they look, for them to seek out.

Everyday life

Since everything is under God’s control, every good gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (James 1:17). We can thank him for everything from warm blankets and hot coffee to cool breezes and cold lemonade. Each one is a gift specifically prepared for us. We can also trust God in every trial. Since God is in control of everything, our trials are custom-fit for our good (Rom 8:28). Every year some students have the worst day of their life and come to school the next day. It’s because of God’s meticulous sovereignty our teachers say, “I’m so sad to hear about this struggle. Take heart. God is a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). All things work for the good of those who love him. He is with you and so am I.”

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

We’re partnering with parents to help raise children with valor. Valor, like every virtue, is good because it reflects who God is. The Bible tells all of us to put on Christ (Romans 13:14). As we do, half of us become new men, and half of us become new women. We are compassionate as men or compassionate as women; we are strong as men or strong as women. There is no such thing as “human virtue” that is not expressed in either masculine or feminine ways because there are no humans who are neither masculine or feminine. Each virtue is reflected through our masculinity and femininity differently so that God’s glory shines more completely for the world to enjoy.

As we aim to train our sons and daughters in biblical masculinity and femininity, we are fighting against the feminist spirit of our age. I don’t think you can overestimate how much havoc feminism has wreaked in the last hundred years.²

Feminism has convinced our society that men and women are the same instead of equal, competitors instead of coheirs and partners. Feminism is why girls compete against boys in wrestling and movie heroines must wreck their masculine adversaries. Feminism made them compete for the same kind of strength. This ideology dominates modern art and entertainment. Notice how different the movie posters below are. (I’m not endorsing either movie; I just want you to see feminism’s effects.) Before feminism did its worst, our art depicted men valiantly raising their swords to defy danger, ready to “die with their boots on.” The hero stands in front of his woman to defend her. She stands at his side as his help-mate. After feminism infected our culture, a weaponless man stands behind two determined women. He’s overshadowed by a third woman in aviators wielding a shotgun. Previously men enjoyed the honor of battle and women the honor of protection. Feminism made them compete for the honor of battle.

Feminism is why young moms sheepishly admit they are “just” a stay-at-home mom (as though they are “less than” for not having a nine-to-five job). It’s why some women prefer daycare to raising their children. To make anything of themselves, they must compete for the same careers as men.

Feminism is also why young men don’t treat young women with the special honor they deserve. Gone are the days when young men honored the women around them by holding the doors openor refraining from coarse language. If they do so now, the courtesy will likely be received as an insult. Instead, men treat women like they are “just one of the boys”—which is exactly what feminism says women are. They compete for the same social standing instead of enjoying a special honor.

This competition is foolish. God didn’t create men and women to compete. He made us intentionally incomplete to fulfill the mission he gave us. It is not good that man should be alone, so God made him a helper fit for him (Genesis 2:18). Man is incomplete for his mission without his helper, and the helper is incomplete without someone to help. Together they enjoy the glory of God’s good design.

Feminism treats honor as a fixed pie—any slice men enjoy is one less for women (it’s the economics of Marxism applied to the sexes). G. K. Chesterton got it right in a little poem from his notebook:

If I set the sun beside the moon,
And if I set the land beside the sea,
And if I set the flower beside the fruit
And if I set the town beside the country
And if I set the man beside the woman
I suppose some fool would talk
About one being better.³

Feminism isn’t just wrong, it’s destructive. Ella Langley sings about the let-down of feminism in the song “Be Her.” The first time I heard the song flipping through the radio (yeah, I still listen to the radio sometimes!) I almost had to stop the car. And it wasn’t because the poetry was especially impressive. In the song, she regrets the promiscuous, substance-abusing, insecure, independent feminist “dream” she thought she’d love and instead longs for a life of simple, feminine glory.

She’s a lover, a mother, a sister, and wife
She rolls over in the morning to the love of her life…
I just wanna be her so bad, it hurts so bad, it hurts so bad…⁴

The Bible’s vision for masculinity and femininity won’t leave our daughters filled with regret and envy like feminism has.

So what does the Bible teach? The Bible recognizes and celebrates the very good differences between men and women. You can summarize the essence of masculinity and femininity like this:

• Masculinity gladly assumes sacrificial responsibility⁵ (Ephesians 5:25, Nehemiah 4:14, 1 Timothy 5:8). Godly men take initiative even at great risk or personal expense for the benefit of those around them. This is why for centuries men have fought for the honor and protection of their families and poured out their lives and time to provide a fruitful lifestyle for them.
• Femininity gladly glorifies of what is entrusted to her (1 Corinthians 11:7; Proverbs 12:14; 31:13–22; Titus 2:4–5). Godly women gratefully receive and transform raw ingredients into incarnated glory. They beautify the plain and adorn the simple. This is why for centuries women have turned houses into homes and transformed paychecks into dinner tables laden with tasty food where laughter rings through the house.⁶

The way we cultivate manhood and womanhood is easier to see than explain.

• Our young men dress in jackets and ties, and our girls dress in skirts and blouses, because God made us with different dignities (1 Peter 3:3–4).
• When our students work together in groups, we expect young men to take the burden of responsibility instead of passively leaving the job to the conscientious girls in their group.
• We give our boys room for rough, competitive play. We treat their strength, ambition, and drive as an asset, not a liability (Proverbs 20:29).
• We welcome our girls’ instinct to make things lovely. Making the ordinary glorious is a uniquely feminine gift.
• Our boys hold doors open and let girls go first. When it’s time to move something heavy, we expect it’ll be in the arms of our young men. That’s not because girls are weak or unable. It’s because God made men to use their strength to honor the women around them (1 Peter 3:7).
• We teach girls to gladly receive honor from young men because our girls are glories worthy of honor, not rivals competing with boys for honor.
• We teach our girls that their words have power to build up or tear down (Proverbs 14:1). So we correct careless or cutting words just as we correct a boy’s rough hands.

The biblical vision of masculinity and femininity is central to any truly Christian culture. So it’s our joy to partner with parents to help them raise masculine young men and feminine young women to glorify God in all of life.

May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace. (Psalm 144:12)

1. 2Abigail Dodds, (A)Typical Woman: Free, Whole, and Called in Christ (Crossway, 2019), 41–42.
2. 3G. K. Chesterton, untitled poem in his notebook (1894–98), British Library MS Add. 73334, fol. 5; often printed as “Comparisons.”
3. 4Ella Langley, “Be Her,” written by Ella Langley, Michael Hardy, Smith Ahnquist, and Jordan Schmidt, on Dandelion (SAWGOD/Columbia, 2026).
4. 5Douglas Wilson, Father Hunger: Why God Calls Men to Love and Lead Their Families (Thomas Nelson, 2012), 41.
5. 6For a more detailed explanation of the glory of femininity, see Rebekah Merkle, Eve in Exile and the Restoration of Femininity (Canon Press, 2016).