Section 1 — Who We Are

Mission Statement

Providing academic excellence in a Christ-centered environment, Mount Paran Christian School unites with home and church to prepare servant-leaders to honor God, love others and walk in Truth.

Vision Statement

Mount Paran Christian School aspires to be a national school leader by providing an innovative education to a diverse community of learners within a liberal arts framework, all for the Glory of God.

Core Values

In support of our mission, MPCS is founded on four core values. MPCS is Christ-Centered, Learning Focused, Pursuers of Excellence, and Community Oriented.

• Christ-Centered: embodies a nurturing culture where a biblical worldview and deep faith are developed in the hearts and minds of students who seek to impact the world for Christ.

• Learning Focused: MPCS enables students to explore deeply, think critically, experience authentically, problem solve confidently, and retain meaningful learning.

• Pursuers of Excellence: MPCS rigorously seeks the highest standard for exemplary education, with quality opportunities for learning, well-balanced student development, and a complete experience for families.

• Community Oriented: MPCS nurtures community through relationships, service to others, and family connections.

Statement of Faith

Mount Paran Christian School is a nondenominational, covenantal school that is unapologetically Christian in its mission, vision, and programs. All staff, students, and parents sign the following Statement of Faith identifying their shared commitment to the Christ-centered purpose of MPCS:

• We believe that the Holy Bible is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative source of Christian doctrine and precept.

• We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

• We believe that man was created in the image of God, but as a result of sin is lost and powerless to save himself.

• We believe that the only hope for man is to believe in Jesus Christ, the virgin-born Son of God, who died to take upon himself the punishment for the sin of mankind and who rose from the dead, so that by receiving him as Savior and Lord, man is redeemed by His blood.

• We believe that Jesus Christ, in person, will return to earth in power and glory.

• We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells those who have received Christ for the purpose of enabling them to live righteous and godly lives.

• We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ and is composed of all who, through belief in Christ, have been spiritually regenerated by the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the responsibility of the church to nurture Christians and to spread the Word of Jesus Christ worldwide.

Assumptions and Principles:

• Life within the Christian community must be lived for the glory of God, daily conforming ourselves to the image of Christ, and recognizing the Lordship of Christ in all aspects of our shared work. (Matthew 22:36-38, I Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:9, 10, 17)

• An abiding love for and accountability to Jesus motivates all our actions in this community of believers. (John 15:12-17, I John 4:7-12)

• As ministers of Christ, Mount Paran Christian School faculty and staff bear responsibility of service. (Matthew 7:12, 25:31-46, Galatians 5:14, 6:10)

• Attaining common goals and ensuring an orderly community life necessitates subordination of individual prerogatives. Christian freedom also includes the option of not doing some things in order to contribute to the common spiritual and emotional good of the impressionable students we serve, as well as promote the betterment of Christian community of which we are a part. (I Corinthians 8:9-13, 9:19-23, 10:23-33)

• Mount Paran Christian School recognizes that certain attitudes are expressly condemned in Scripture. These include, but are not limited to greed, jealousy, pride, lust, needless anger, an unforgiving or rebellious spirit, harmful discrimination, and prejudice. (Galatians 5:19-21, I Corinthians 6:9-10)

• God’s Word prohibits certain behaviors. These include, but are not limited to theft, lying, cheating, plagiarism, slander, profanity, vulgarity, adultery, homosexual behavior, premarital sex, sexual promiscuity, pornography, drunkenness, immodesty, occult practices, and heresies. (Galatians 5:19-21, I Corinthians 6:9-10)

• Scripture teaches that all of our actions should be God-honoring. We seek, therefore, to be selective in personal choices, recognizing the influence of our decisions impacts the Mount Paran Christian School community and the broader body of Christ. (Romans 12:2)

• Secularism is a subtle issue involving uncritical conformity to the spirit of the culture and age. As disciples of Christ, Mount Paran Christian School faculty and staff members are called to be counter-cultural, understanding that one’s disposition concerning such matters as materialism, isolationism, success, hedonism, and moral relativity must stand in perpetual review. Christians are called to be especially vigilant against idolatry, allowing a preoccupation with other things to come before God. (Romans 12:2, I John 2:15-17, Exodus 20:3, Philippians 3:18-20)

• The Bible defines marriage as a sacramental covenant between one man and one woman; God-designed human sexuality is expressed and affirmed within a monogamous, heterosexual marriage. (Genesis 2: 23-24, Colossians 3:5-7, Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9-10, I Timothy 1:9-10)

• Christians are compelled by Scripture to believe that God creates life in the womb of a mother and that life, being divinely ordained, is sacred and should be protected and preserved by a Christian community. The Bible also affirms that the sexual nature and identity of a person is determined by God at conception. This God-given gender is recognized and verified by a legal document at the time of birth. (Psalms 139:13-15, Psalms 22:10-11, Galatians 1:15)

Covenant Statement

Mount Paran Christian School is a covenant school and expects each of its participating families to share a commitment to the Christian faith and actively participate in the ongoing ministry of a local church, regardless of denominational affiliation. We encourage your continued regular, active involvement in your church home. As a covenant commitment with Mount Paran Christian School, we, as a family, agree to the following commitments for the upcoming school year:

• We, as parent(s) or guardian(s) of our child(ren) attending Mount Paran Christian School, do affirm that biblical training in our home will provide a secure haven of safety and loving care, as indicated in the Word of God, accepting responsibility as stated in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

• We have carefully examined and agree with the Statement of Faith of Mount Paran Christian School and desire Mount Paran Christian School to work as agents of our household.

• We pledge our loyalty to the aims and ideals of Mount Paran Christian School and will bring any criticisms directly to the teacher and/or administration so that they may be handled in a biblically-appropriate manner (Matthew 18). We will avoid discussions with those not involved so as to avoid a spirit of dissension or division at the expense of our child or the school.

• We pledge that if, for any reason, our child does not meet the academic requirements or does not cooperate with the disciplinary standards of Mount Paran Christian School, we will withdraw him/her without delay and cooperate with the administration in completing the withdrawal process.

• We understand that students are admitted for one year at a time and that Mount Paran Christian School reserves the right to dismiss, suspend, or otherwise discipline any student who does not adhere to the standards in the Student Handbook. We understand that a student may also be dismissed due to parental noncompliance of school policy or if an administrative decision is made that Mount Paran Christian School is not the most appropriate setting for the student/family. In addition, the student must have successfully completed the prior academic year.

• We understand that Mount Paran Christian School is a non-profit ministry operating on the principle of faith and that tuition is kept as low as possible to make Christian education available to those who desire it for their children. We also understand that tuition and fees do not cover all operating costs and that additional funds for needs must be met through gifts and personal services of the parents. We, as the parents, commit to give as regularly as God provides to meet the financial needs, to perform services when needed, and to uphold the school consistently in family prayer.

• We pledge to support an environment at home and school that fosters socially responsible behavior and speech. We also agree to train our children to be respectful toward others who are different from them, be it physically, racially, ethnically, or socio-economically.

MPCS Code of Conduct and Lifestyle Agreement

As a Christian community committed to “preparing servant-leaders to honor God, love others, and walk in Truth,” Mount Paran Christian School is dedicated to the highest standards of academic achievement, spiritual growth, and personal development.

The Mount Paran Christian School Student Code of Lifestyle and Conduct Agreement is founded on Matthew 22:37: “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” While pursuing holiness and spiritual growth is necessary to the Christian life, we have come to realize that students must first and foremost understand the centrality of the Gospel if they are to be rightly motivated to pursue godliness. The Gospel message is simply this: "God saves sinners," and now we have the joy and challenge to love the Lord our God with our whole selves. The administration and faculty of Mount Paran Christian School will commit to cultivating an atmosphere that reflects the centrality of the Gospel; upholds biblical expectations; and promotes authentic repentance, genuine forgiveness, and relationships established in grace (1 Corinthians 16:14, Leviticus 19:2, 1 Peter 1:15-16, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Ephesians 2:4-5, Romans 7:14-25, Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:9-10).

Members of the MPCS community seek to honor God by pursuing biblical lifestyles for individual and communal benefit. Faith in God results in behavior that displays His authority in our lives, and Scripture teaches that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are qualities of lives and relationships of the Christian community (Galatians 5:22-23).

Therefore, MPCS students are encouraged to pursue the following lifestyle characteristics:

• Using abilities and resources to seek the welfare of all people as individuals of worth. MPCS does not allow discrimination or harassment of people because of race, color, national or ethnic origins, age, gender/sexuality, or disability.

• Morning devotions, prayer, and the variety of chapel services influenced by different denominations should be respected because communal worship creates opportunities to connect to God, expressing our shared faith in Jesus Christ. Likewise, all students are expected to engage in regular corporate worship in their local church.

• Avoiding the attitudes and behaviors of greed, jealousy, pride, lust, needless anger, an unforgiving spirit, harmful discrimination, prejudice, theft, lying, cheating, plagiarism, gossip, slander, profanity, vulgarity, transgenderism, sexual sin, pornography, drunkenness, gluttony, immodesty, and occult practices (Galatians 5:19-21, I Corinthians 6:9-10).

• Scripture teaches that all our actions should be done to the glory of God. We should, therefore, be careful in the choices of clothes, media, and recreation, promoting those which strengthen the body of Christ and avoiding those which would diminish our character and testimony as it relates to Christ. As participants in school-sponsored clubs, sports, and activities, students are expected to always behave in such a way that brings honor to God.

• Preserving the body’s well-being as a temple of the Holy Spirit by abstaining from the use of alcohol, illegal drugs, vape devices, tobacco in any form, and the abuse of prescriptions and over- the-counter drugs while enrolled in MPCS.

These lifestyle characteristics are tangible expressions, by God’s grace, of the path to Christian wholeness. Therefore, students are encouraged to not see the Code of Lifestyle as a burden, but to alleviate the brokenness of the human condition by pursuing God’s perfect design for identity, relationships, and creation (Romans 7:7-12). And, finally, while adherence to the Code of Lifestyle is expected, the faculty and administration of MPCS do not expect perfection. As the kindness of God leads His people to repentance, the administration commits to grace-filled conversations in which students are free to transparently repent and not carry the burden of sin behind a mask (Romans 2:4).

I have read and agree to the MPCS student code of lifestyle and conduct.