2490 Tower Drive, PO Box 303, Bolivar, Missouri, 65613
417 777-2330
Introduction
to Polk County Christian School
Influencing students to make a difference in the world for Christ is a significant motivation that drives PCCS. Students encounter an emphasis in Christian values and Biblical teaching in every aspect of their educational experience.
PCCS was incorporated in 1993 and soon thereafter applied and received a federal 501(c)(3)status. Contributions to PCCS typically qualify as tax deductible charitable contributions under the 501(c)(3) classification.
The founders’ vision was to establish a Christian school that would serve families beyond the Bolivar community. Currently, students from Bolivar as well as approximately 12 surrounding communities attend PCCS.
Parents, faculty, and staff work together to promote a sense of family at PCCS. Students benefit from small classes and individualized attention. Most students participate in academic competition organized by the Association of Christian Schools International, where PCCS students have consistently had very high ratings.
Students participate in chapel each week and corporate prayer each morning. The curriculum is designed to emphasize strong basic concepts. It doesn’t include trends but the solid foundational principles. Along with a strong emphasis in basic classes, Computer Technology, Art, Music, Physical Education, Spanish, and Bible are part of the curriculum in kindergarten through seventh grade. The preschool curriculum also features Computer Technology. Each student, beginning with kindergarten takes yearly standardized tests, and the scores are compared to national averages. Typically, PCCS students score well above the national average.
Polk County Christian School is independent, non-denominational, and distinctively Christian. The teachers and staff are Christians who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Members of the faculty and staff give testimony that they have a sense that they are in God’s will in being at PCCS, that educating children is their calling, and that employment with PCCS is God’s direction for their lives. Employees commit to living a life that can be considered an example of Christian virtue.
With a strong sense of commitment to Christian education and excellence in academics, PCCS has continued to grow significantly. Not only do the classes adhere to basic academic curriculum with a focus on excellence, every student also follows a Bible curriculum.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The educational philosophy of Polk County Christian School is based on the Bible as the sole authority for the contents of our curriculum for evaluating truth, for determining practices, and as the basis of our faith. The purpose of Christian education is to glorify God by teaching children about God, His laws and His love, and to strengthen their faith through the educational process. Christian education places a high priority on academic excellence through emphasis on the fundamentals.
The Holy Spirit uses the Word through the entire educational process to cultivate the student’s fellowship with God, to develop within each student a Christian mind, and to instruct the student in godly living, for fulfillment of the total purpose of glorifying God in his/her life both personally and vocationally. The faculty and teachers, as born-again believers, must model the life of Christ as revealed in Scripture by integrating the material in their disciplines with the truth of Scripture and by developing personal relationships with their students. As God supplies, the school has the responsibility to choose the personnel, materials, and curriculum for young people to grow spiritually, academically, and physically into their potential. Students must be taught the Scriptures so that they may know God, understand the nature of man, and see God as the source of all truth, integrate and interpret all that is learned with the truth of the Bible, become an integrated individual honorably applying the student’s own God-given abilities and personality; equipped to live and work with others at home, at school, at church, and in a changing society, become a committed servant and leader within the Body of Christ, and
value citizenship by understanding biblical concepts of freedom, human dignity, and authority.
The authority for such an education comes from God’s command that children be taught to love God and place Him first in their lives, and from the fact that parents are responsible for the total education and training of their children. Upon the parents’ request, this Christian school will seek to aid the parents in fulfilling their God-given responsibility of training their children in the way of godly living.
DISCIPLESHIP SCHOOL
There are many styles of Christian schools. For example, there are Christian reform, parochial, discipleship, and evangelistic schools. The desire of all these is to see children come to know the Lord and to grow in relationship with Him. However, each type has unique objectives and areas to which they work.
PCCS is designed to be a discipleship Christian school with our primary emphasis being to disciple and train students who are young believers to have a deeper walk with Christ. We hire only Christian faculty and staff. Students are accepted who are already Christians or those whose parents or guardians are Christians and agree to accept and abide by the Statement of Faith and guidelines found in our student handbook.
The discipleship school offers the greatest opportunity for teaching spiritual truth to individual students. It is the belief of the school that if students have a few simple rules and are taught to live by grace, then there is great potential for long-term commitment. This offers the highest potential of testimony to the community and the highest potential for evangelism on the part of the students and the school.
Evangelism is important and the role of faculty and staff is to encourage a deeper walk in students only after they become believers in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. If emphasis is placed on both evangelism and discipleship, students may acquire only a general understanding of Biblical knowledge which can lead to a legalistic attitude or mind-set. PCCS will do all that is within its power to prevent this from happening.
