Practicing Incarnational Christian Education: Embracing the Place, Time, and Community of Your Call

The context

Duncan Christian School (DCS) exists on the ancestral (recognizing that land was traditionally passed down from one generation to the next), traditional (recognizing that these lands were traditional hunting, fishing, recreating, and family-making lands of a people group), and unceded (recognizing that the land was taken and never given over) territory of the Cowichan Tribes. This location is important because it has shaped DCS’s identity and purpose. Let me explain.

The town of Duncan is situated on Vancouver Island in Beautiful British Columbia (BC)—and yup, that’s what it says on the license plates, so it must be true! Duncan is about 45 minutes north of the provincial capital Victoria. You can drive a couple hours west to the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island (next stop—Japan!) and a few minutes east to the calmer inland beaches. Duncan is surrounded by natural beauty—ocean, rivers, mountains, lakes, and the grand fir and cedar trees of the West Coast Rainforest.

Unique to Duncan is that it has one of the highest concentrations of First Nations in the province of BC, among which are the coastal Cowichan Tribes. The history of this people group includes the horrific abuses of the residential schooling movement in Canada and the attempt to obliterate any indigenous culture, including the forced displacement from their lands onto reservations. The children of the Cowichan Tribes are only two-to-three generations away from that abuse and degradation of their culture and way of life.

The change

How does DCS fit into this story? In terms of our own history, DCS was founded in 1960 by a group of Dutch immigrants with a theology and passion for providing Christian education to the children of Christian families. Over the past 65 years, the school has grown into a preschool-grade 12 enrollment of just under 500 students, of which 25-35% are members of the Cowichan First Nations.

For most of its history, DCS’ student population clearly represented its Dutch immigrant heritage. All of that began to change in the 2000s when leadership was convicted that their school did not represent or serve their broader community.

DCS began a journey to open their school to the children of the Cowichan Tribes. This decision was met with varied responses from constituents. Some were concerned that letting in “these” students would change the culture of the school, and they were right. Some were concerned that this change would impact the course offerings at the secondary campus, and they were right.

The outcome

The transition to enrolling a far greater number of Cowichan Tribes students was a journey. It required a significant amount of relationship and trust building. Imagine that your only experience with Christian education is having suffered sexual and physical abuse as a child and now you are driving or walking with your grandchildren to their Christian school classroom. As stories like this were not uncommon, DCS worked extra hard to earn respect and build confidence with these families. Now there are beautiful stories of grace and forgiveness, along with deep relationships and pride of participation in the cause of DCS.

Along the journey, so many things changed. For example, discipline in the context of the Cowichan Tribes often involves the community and the elders, so the school began to partner in that process with their First Nations Students. The school also needed to represent its student body visually. Therefore, First Nations art and artists became a presence.

First Nations employees were hired. Elders were welcomed into the learning space. And because the generational trauma of colonization still manifests itself in today’s generation, DCS developed programs of support for students and families who struggled with learning and with living lives of shalom. Both past and current school leaders have and continue to foster relationships with the local band chief and leaders, listening and learning and strengthening both their partnership and the school’s positive culture of belonging—a key pillar of the DCS vision.

If you visit DCS today, you will see kids of a variety of ethnic backgrounds playing on sports teams, studying math, and learning music together, all proud members of the DCS community, a growing and well-respected Christian school.

The impact

Observing DCS, it is simply wonderful to see a group of Christ-followers so committed to serving the community in which they exist. This priority redefines what school improvement means. 

I am deeply inspired by the vision and work of DCS because they have chosen to serve the community in which they are placed. Their understanding of success and excellence is so clearly connected to student flourishing—you can see it as soon as you walk into the building.

In a cultural moment in Christian Education where the market pressures to compete and excel, we may be tempted to consciously or subconsciously define our success by standardized test results, athletic banners hanging in the gym, or the percentage of university acceptances from our graduation class.

Observing DCS, it is simply wonderful to see a group of Christ-followers so committed to serving the community in which they exist. This priority redefines what school improvement means. Rather than import a school success formula into their institution, the leadership and board of DCS took a deep dive into understanding what it means to be faithful in their particular context.

Theologians call the incarnation “the scandal of particularity,” the idea that Jesus came as a particular person to a particular place and time. He is not just a general idea. Likewise, as Christ-followers we practice an incarnational faith: we are called to follow Jesus in a particular place, with and for a particular people, in a particular time.

For me, DCS embodies what I call Incarnational Christian Education. It proclaims the gospel in word and even more in action. If you have the chance to visit BC, I encourage you, on behalf of DCS and in the words of Mother Theresa, “to come and see.”