Koinonia in Classical Education

Everything I do is grounded in lived experience. My conviction about racial healing within the church, and especially within Christian education, comes from experiences that have shown me that authentic Christian fellowship is possible, even across our differences. From as far back as I can remember, my parents taught me that I could stand firmly in the truth of my human experience as a Black person while still practicing grace, forgiveness, and authentic Christian fellowship with anyone who names Christ as their Savior.

One of my earliest memories of experiencing Christian fellowship across difference comes through the friendship my parents shared with the Winemans. The Winemans were a White couple who had been some of my parents’ closest friends since the 1970s. Their two children would spend the night with my brother and me, and my brother and I would spend the night with them. Mr. Wineman would always carry me around on his shoulders. When I find the picture, I will post it here! That friendship continues even today. They were some of the first people to find out that I had fallen in love with the man who is now my husband.

Never once did my parents seem afraid that some danger would befall my brother and me as Black children spending time with a White family, and the Winemans never seemed worried about their children spending the night at our house in DC. When my dad started our church almost fifty years ago, they joined, and Mrs. Wineman became one of our first pianists. After my dad gave his life to Christ soon after I was born, he sought to develop a ministry that held together truthfulness about the Black experience with the grace and forgiveness that Jesus modeled for us. Our church demonstrated koinonia, Christian fellowship, in so many ways.

That same kind of fellowship has continued in my own adult life. On the Fourth of July, my husband and I hosted a big party in our home. Afterwards, friends commented on the diversity of the people who had gathered there: White, Black, African, Iranian, Latino, Asian. The entire human rainbow was represented. Over the years, the Lord has allowed my husband and me to develop friendships with so many diverse people, and the fellowship is so sweet. We learn so much from one another. These are not relationships built around a diversity initiative or program. They are friendships. They are people we love, fellowship with, learn from, laugh with, and share life with. This is another reason I know that koinonia across our differences is possible.

When my brother and I began attending school in the mid 1970s, my parents chose Christian schools for us. It was there that we became conscious of racism within Christianity. The safe haven I had experienced through the love of my parents, our church, and relationships like the one we had with the Winemans could not completely protect me from that painful reality. Yet even as a child, I tried to practice what my parents had modeled for me. Some of my schoolmates still remember the yearly slumber parties I would have, when I would invite every girl in my class. There was no color line. Some of the girls were shocked and excited to be invited, but to me, this was simply what Christian fellowship was supposed to look like. I was following my parents as they followed Christ, and I now realize that they were modeling for me the same kind of fellowship we see in the early church. They taught me that our differences did not have to keep us from loving one another, sharing life together, and genuinely belonging to one another.

As my parents had me visit different schools, from preschool through high school, my mother paid close attention to how welcomed I felt in each space. I remember visiting one preschool for a day and realizing that the teacher did not seem to want anything to do with me. I was only four years old. The children rejected my presence as well. When my mother picked me up at the end of the visit, she had already decided that I would not be returning. Eventually, she found a Christian school where I felt loved and welcomed.

My experiences from PreK through twelfth grade taught me something important: not every White Christian space was hateful. My parents also maintained a strong conviction that, as believers, we should be able to dwell together. They never gave up on Christian education. Yet the truth remains that racism and White supremacy have been entangled with Christian education since America’s founding, and they continue to seek to keep Christian communities trapped in their grip. One area where I have witnessed an especially intense resistance to confronting White supremacy is within Classical Christian education. In the effort to preserve the West, there can be a natural tendency to preserve White supremacy along with it. Someone may read that statement and feel offended. I ask that you allow me to explain.

If protecting the West means silencing every other human story, or silencing human beings who have also found a connection to the classical tradition, then a school that does so is upholding White supremacy. Yet history tells us that this tradition has inspired people around the globe. As a Black woman who has endured very painful experiences of racism in Christian education, there is no way I can align myself with something that proudly promotes a Eurocentric worldview. At the same time, as a follower of Christ, who did not center his own ethnicity as he sought to draw all people to himself, I cannot respond by centering only my own story either. I, of course, center Christ. But because Christ embraced all of humanity, I believe I am called to do the same in the work that I do. I have to be clear and distinct about that.

So I have made a very difficult decision, but one that I believe is necessary. It is difficult because I am aware that this decision may isolate me in some ways, but I also believe that making a clear distinction is essential. I have chosen to create a new name for the educational philosophy I practice: Koinonia Classical Education. I am shifting my focus and energy toward communities that share this vision of bringing classical education to all people while intentionally nurturing communities that reflect what Heaven will look like when every tribe and tongue worships together around the Throne.

I want to distinguish my work from White supremacy, racism, and political agendas. I do not believe the purpose of classical education is to train up an army of people to defend a particular political side or ideology. At the same time, I also want to distinguish my work from other theories that seek to address racism and White supremacy but lack an emphasis on forgiveness, grace, reconciliation, and the creation of communities where people of every ethnicity feel that they can truly belong.

There are educators who feel specifically called to bring classical education to challenged communities, which are often diverse communities, and I believe that work is important and necessary. I am not saying that approach is wrong. But through my own life experiences and the work God has called me to do, I have come to understand that this is not my particular calling. My calling is to use classical education as a means of bringing people from different backgrounds together into one community.

Over the past two years, we have been intentionally striving to implement this vision at The Living Water School. We have worked to create diverse advisory boards, and our teaching staff includes people from White, Black, Asian, Latino, and other backgrounds. Our hope is that as our leadership increasingly reflects the diverse Christian community of the early church, and the community that Scripture tells us will one day gather in Heaven, families from many different backgrounds will see themselves as belonging within our school community. The Living Water School has always included people from diverse communities, but we want to continue growing our student population in this way.

I also want to support other schools that desire to do similar work. I realize that I am in a unique position as a Black woman seeking to lead the way in creating diverse communities where people experience genuine belonging. Often, efforts toward diversity and belonging are led by people and boards that do not look like me. Yet my own human experience, beginning in childhood, has made this work deeply personal to me. I know what it feels like to enter a Christian educational space and wonder whether I will be welcomed there, but I also know what it feels like to experience authentic Christian fellowship across differences. Both experiences have shaped my conviction that this kind of community is possible. So I am stepping out in faith to do what I believe God has called me to do and, hopefully, to help other schools that share this vision do the same.

Our curriculum and teaching do not elevate the West above everyone else, but neither do they elevate Africa or African Americans above everyone else. Instead, throughout the year, we are intentional about teaching students about many different peoples and traditions, often bringing those traditions into conversation with the West. We want to be clear about who we are so that no one mistakes our school as being aligned with political, racial, or White supremacist agendas. At the same time, we do not believe that the answer to the historical erasure of some human stories is to elevate those stories while diminishing others. Our goal is to create a community where all human stories are valued and where no group must be diminished in order for another to be seen.

I believe that because Jesus cared enough about all of humanity to die for the whole world, he commands me to care about all of humanity as well. Even as I look truthfully at my own history, I am not called to dismiss the stories of anyone else. We are all sinners saved by the matchless grace of God. In the way we educate our children, we must teach them to value all human stories while also being honest about the ways human beings and human societies fall short of God’s will.

Over this summer, I have been rebranding my work, my school, and my overall vision, and in the coming months I will be sharing more about what these changes mean. My yearl gathering called Redefining Classics will change after this year, and I will share more details about that soon. Everything I have done in the past has centered on Classical Education and the ways it has historically elevated my community. But God has convicted me that classical education is not simply a tool he sent to elevate my people. It can also be a tool that draws all people together, which is actually his will for he says, “”That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21)

As you know, I am working on my second book, The Koinonia Theory, which I hope will become a guidebook for much of what I have shared here. I want to begin with my own work, putting these ideas into practice within the communities God has entrusted to me. Then, as I continue to learn and grow through this work, I would love to support others who also desire to build koinonia within their own schools. I do not simply want to write about this kind of community. I want to help build it, first in my own work and then alongside others who feel called to do the same. If our churches and schools heal, then perhaps we can become a light to this divided and dark world, demonstrating the unifying and gracious love of our Savior.

This is Koinonia.

Through our Christian fellowship, we show the world what unity looks like. If we continue fighting over which human narratives should be preserved and centered, then we miss something essential about why Jesus walked into Samaria, called together very different disciples, and established a church in which people from nations across the known world heard the gospel on the Day of Pentecost. Ultimately, nothing matters in this life more than doing the will of God. Politics and the elevation of our own human stories cannot be our highest priorities. What matters is that God be lifted up and that, through lifting him up, others are drawn to the God of love who gave his life for the entire world. Therefore, the work I do should create spaces where every human community can see its humanity reflected, whether through classical education or any other educational philosophy practiced within a Christian school.

That is the vision behind Koinonia in Classical Education. This is only the beginning. As this vision continues to grow, I look forward to sharing more ways we can cultivate Koinonia in our schools and help build Christian educational communities where every child knows they belong.