Foundational Faith

A Biblical Foundation for Christian Education

Our faith shapes every part of learning, guiding students across our Twin Cities campuses to see God’s truth throughout His world.

We Believe:

1. There is one personal, sovereign, eternal and holy God, who reveals himself as three distinct persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 
2. God has revealed himself to us both through the Bible, which is his infallible, authoritative written word, and through the universe that he created and faithfully sustains. 
3. God created mankind unique, good, and in his image.  The purpose of mankind is to glorify God and to cultivate, care for, and develop his creation.  No part of our life is spiritually neutral; all areas of life are subject to God and his Word. 
4. The disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, separated us from God, made us sinful by nature, and put us in need of salvation from eternal punishment. 
5. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ, who is the one and only way of salvation.  Jesus Christ is the Son of God and fully divine.  He was born of the virgin Mary, making him fully human, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, made us right with God, was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven and will return to judge the living and the dead.  He rules all people and things, and as such is the center of our lives. 
6. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is essential for our salvation and enables us to live a Godly life. 
7. Christians are to meet regularly with one another as a church body to worship God, to encourage one another, to proclaim the gospel message, and to experience God’s grace through baptism and the Lord’s supper. 
8. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and he reigns over all things for our good. To be a citizen of this kingdom is a privilege, a joy, and a responsibility. Led by his Spirit, we place our every thought, word, and deed in the service of Christ’s present and coming reign, and we live daily in the confident hope of his triumphant return. 

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Philosophy of Education

1. All things exist to glorify God, whom we know in Jesus. Therefore, we must teach children that every part of their lives must serve Christ’s glory.
2. Because God made and upholds his creation, it is of essential goodness and worth. We take delight in all aspects of the physical world, the theoretical world, and biblically lawful human activity as good gifts from the Creator. Therefore, the Avail Academy curriculum must study the entire created order; reflect the principles of truth, goodness, and beauty vested in our world; and interpret each fact in the universe as belonging to the upholding work of God.
3. God made men and women to tend the world as bearers of his image. Therefore, we must teach children, of whatever ability, to study our world and use its resources to fulfill our task of stewardship.
4. God has created a world of order, not chaos, and has given human beings the ability to understand the created order. Therefore, we draw on the many insights that non-Christians as well as Christians have acquired in studying creation, and that they have used in formation of human culture.
5. Sin darkens our hearts and understanding of the world. Therefore, we teach that all human culture is affected by sin and falls short of glorifying God. We must continually evaluate all human actions, including our own, from a biblical perspective.
6. The Scriptures are God’s inspired Word and that, as we are illumined by the Holy Spirit, they teach us how to view all of life and creation. Therefore, we support education that accepts everything contained in the Scriptures and that interprets all things in the universe according to them.
7. Jesus Christ, as Lord of all, renews his people in his image and calls them back to the task of tending his creation. Therefore, we support Christian education, which does not divide life into secular and sacred parts, nor ignores any part of the world as outside its interests.
8. Christ has called the members of his community to serve him together and has obligated them to teach their children how to serve in his kingdom. Therefore, we affirm that education is the task of the whole Christian community; Avail Academy takes its place beside the family and the church and fulfills a unique role in instructing and nurturing the student.
9. Children of believers are members of the Christian community and are regarded as God’s servants. Therefore, we support schools that encourage students, beginning while they are young, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in everything and to use their skills in the interests of the kingdom of God.

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We are prompted by these guiding principles to be purposeful in the way that we teach and learn at Avail Academy. Every part of our lives must serve Christ’s glory. What great joy when our children come to know and believe that the entire created order reflects God’s truth, goodness, and beauty! What great joy when they come to know and believe that every fact in the universe belongs to the upholding work of God!

Teachers and students in every Avail Academy classroom delight in all aspects of God’s world as good gifts from our Creator, drawing on the many insights that non-Christians and Christians have acquired in studying creation. Teachers and students recognize that all human culture is affected by sin and falls short of glorifying God, so we continually evaluate all human actions, including our own, from a biblical perspective. We immerse ourselves in God’s Word, interpreting all things in the universe according to them. We discover and develop God-given gifts and purposefully direct them in God’s Way and Word. Alongside the family and the church, Avail Academy fulfills a unique role by instructing and nurturing students from Kindergarten through 12th grade to use the gifts of God for the cause of Christ.