Elijah House Academy

We believe formation happens in the heart. We define the heart as the causal core of our personhood; out of this core come our values, desires, emotions, thoughts, words, and actions. We believe that our own hearts must be submitted to the Lord in humility and dependence before we will be able to shepherd the hearts of our children well.¹

We believe formation is most often a process rather than an event. Formation in Christlikeness is ultimately an outworking of God’s grace, which tends to happen in small moments over a long period of time. The staff who care for our children must lead with vision, sacrificial patience, and intentionality for as long as the children are in their care.²

We believe our hearts need to be transformed because of the sin of selfishness. Our innate selfishness puts us in the center of our thoughts and causes us to place our needs and desires ahead of others’. In selfishness our children try to take for themselves glory that belongs only to their Creator; this leaves them uninformed, weak-willed, or rebellious. Selfishness is the primary source of dysfunction in our school.³

We believe that the law is a gift from God: It communicates His standards while at the same time exposing our selfishness. It can also serve as a means of temporarily restraining the outward manifestations of our sin. As we create and enforce standards of conduct (law) at EHA, we will be careful to use the law according to this understanding, bearing in mind that it lacks the power to transform or redeem.

We believe in effective classroom management, and we differentiate this with systems of behavioral control. These practices are designed to change a child’s outward behavior by using varying types of manipulation, threatening, and guilt, without addressing the heart. These tactics often yield short-term results, but they will never produce the kind of formation we desire.

We believe that helping our children see themselves rightly is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. Most of our children’s struggles result from a lack of information, a weak will, or a rebellious heart. If a child is uninformed, then the role of the staff is to provide information. If a child is demonstrating weakness, staff will create supports to encourage growth. If the child is willfully defiant or rebellious, then natural/logical consequences will be applied with consistency until the child’s will is strengthened to do what is right. In all cases, the following heart questions will help children inwardly process:

• What was going on? What was the situation? (provides context)
• What were you thinking/feeling? (takes focus off other parties)
• What did you do in response? (helps the child see his responsibility)
• What were you trying to get done? (identifies motivation)
• What was the result? (reveals cause-and-effect)

We believe that the goal of formation is to help restore the i​mago dei​ in our children. This is summarized in our “I am, I can, I ought, I will” statements. We want children to know that as bearers of the Image of God they are capable, by grace, of doing as they ought, but they must be willing. Proper discipline reminds the child who he is, encourages his capacity, clarifies what he ​ought to do, and strengthens his will to follow through on the ought.​ Where appropriate, natural or logical consequences should be applied in such a way that they help the child inwardly process the issue and move towards restoration.

We believe that three primary enemies are actively forming our hearts, and that the culmination of their unchecked influence is hopelessness. The enemies are these:

• The flesh:​ Our core identity is that of a worshipper; but instead of rightly worshipping God, we worship ourselves. Our selfish hearts are frequently the main problem.
• The world​: The world we live in is broken. God’s perfect creation has been corrupted by sin, and this context forms us at a heart level and contributes to our dysfunction.
• The devil​: Our most formidable enemy is Satan. With his forces of evil, he is intentionally trying to destroy the image of God within us and thus keep us bound in his kingdom.

We believe relationships are the best tools for forming our children. God Himself affirmed the redeeming power of relationships by becoming flesh and dwelling among us. A framework for this relational approach is:

• Love – build authentic relationships
• Know – discover where change is needed
• Speak – be an instrument of sight
• Do – help live out revelations of God and self

• We believe we are to incarnate the love of God to our children through authentic relationships.
• We believe we are to identify the places where their knowledge is lacking, where their will is weak, or where they are in rebellion, all the while affirming that they are loved and accepted.
• We believe we are called to be instruments of sight for our children.
• We believe it is our responsibility to help our children fill gaps in their knowledge, build strength where they have been weak, and confront their own rebellion.

We believe that this approach to student formation requires sacrifice. We also believe that God will not call us to a task without enabling and equipping us to do it. Our desire is to be soft brushes, not brittle ones, in the hands of our Redeemer as He forms our children for His honor and glory.⁴