Church to open private classical Christian school in Gastonia

A Presbyterian church in Gastonia plans to open a private elementary school offering classical education to kindergarten through fifth grade.

First ARP Church of Gastonia, located at 317 S. Chester St., will open Kairos Classical Christian Academy in the fall of 2025, said Lead Pastor Matt Kuiken.

"We wanted to offer something unique to the educational landscape of Gaston County, and that is that it would be a classical model Christian school," Kuiken said.

The idea for the school came after the church expanded its campus in 2020 in a $6 million renovation project. Included in the expansion was a new gym, a kitchen, and classroom space. Additionally, church leadership feels there is a need for classical Christian education in Gaston County.

"As we've drawn younger families into First ARP Church, we've honestly had more families coming to us saying, 'Can you help us find a private, Christian education?'" Kuiken said.

Classical Christian education, Kuiken said, "is founded on the concept that God is the source of all knowledge. And so it's not just having a Bible class. But it's seeing how all subjects: math, science, literature, art, Bible, all knowledge comes back to the Lord."

Classical education is based on an old learning model called the trivium, which focuses on grammar, logic and rhetoric.

"And so the trivium has a lower middle and upper school. And in the lower stage, it's called the grammar model, where there's a lot of focus on memorization, reading, and the basics, the building blocks for all of education," Kuiken said. "And then the middle section is called the logic section, where children really learn critical thinking, how to construct an argument, how to think carefully. And the upper school is what's known as the rhetoric phase, where students learn to communicate effectively in writing and verbally, the skills that they've learned."

In classical education, parents are viewed as the primary educators of their children.

"And so we see this as a partnership with parents and families to really bring their students along," Kuiken said. "And in addition, classical education really focuses on education, not just as accumulation of knowledge. But as a growing appreciation for truth, beauty, virtue and wisdom. And so it's really about character formation. It's about raising servant leaders who will make an impact on the world."

As the school grows, it may begin offering middle school and high school grade levels, Kuiken said.

The school will teach an "Orthodox Christian" worldview, while still allowing students to examine other viewpoints, Kuiken said. Students, for example, would be taught that God created the Earth from nothing, but high school age students might learn about the theory of evolution.

"I imagine our high school students will read things like Darwin's Origin of Species, and have to think about and wrestle with those ideas," he said. "So the goal is to wrestle with diverse viewpoints, but within a Christian institution."

The school is expected to serve "average to above average students," said board member Susan Jennings.

The board is still discussing how best to serve students who don't fit into that demographic.

"We're still trying to concisely decide what we will be able to offer to someone maybe not in that average to above average grouping," Jennings said. "We want to offer it to as many students as we can. And we want them to be able to be successful … And we'll have to figure out if we can honorably offer to a student maybe that has some learning needs."

The board also is in the process of determining what the tuition will be, Kuiken said.

"I would just say it would be competitive with all of the other private schools and offer a good value. The goal is to offer a good value for an excellent education."

There will be an interest meeting for the school held in the fellowship hall at First ARP Church on Aug. 4 at 4 p.m.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Church to open private classical Christian school in Gastonia