Page 5 - CC Life 15 2016 Spring

PRESIDENT’S LETTER
The Growing Christian Education
Movement in Taiwan and Mainland
China
Dr. Quentin Nantz
This issue of CC Life is focused on the growing
Christian education movement in Taiwan and in
Mainland China. This movement spans all years of
education – from kindergarten, through elementary
and secondary years, to higher education as well.
On August 4, 2011, Tim McGill, the Superintendent
of Morrison Christian Academy brought Dr. Janet
Nason, Asia Representative of the Association of
Christian Schools International, (ACSI) to visit
Christ’s College Taipei (CCT). At that time we
had just experienced the lowest point in our student
enrollment in recent years, with just 170 students.
As we talked about our enrollment needs and the
needs of Christian education in Asia, Dr. Nason
mentioned the growing K-12 Christian School
movement in Asia (especially in Mainland China)
and the need for Christian teachers. She said, “I
think what Christ’s College Taipei needs to do is
train Christian teachers for these schools.” That is of Taiwan operating under the regulations for
how the establishment of an elementary Christian
teacher education program and the establishment of
a 1-12 model Christian school eventually became
part of our board-approved strategic five year plan.
The establishment of an elementary Christian
teacher education program at CCT is timely, given
the rapid development of K-12 Christian education
in Mainland China. An article entitled “Off the
Grid” by June Cheng in the September 5, 2015
edition of World Magazine estimates that there are
300-500 newly formed Christian schools in China.
An article entitled “Religion in China: Cracks in
the atheist edifice” in the November 1, 2014 edition
of The Economist, goes even further when it refers
to “more than 2000 Christian schools . . . dotted
around China.” Starting an elementary Christian
teacher education program from scratch is no small
feat, so we are partnering with Covenant College,
a well-established Christian liberal arts college in
the USA that already has an established program
and ACSI approved curriculum. We will adopt
that curriculum to start a program at CCT leading
to ACSI teacher certification, training Christian
teachers for the Christian school movement in
Taiwan and on the mainland.
Up until recently, the K-12 Christian school
movement in Taiwan has largely been confined
to schools that are classified by the government
as “foreign” schools. In order to attend these
schools, the students must have a passport from a
country other than Taiwan. Recently, however, we
have met a number of pastors and parents who are
starting Christian K-12 schools for local residents
“group home schools.” We would like to pioneer
the use of newly developed “experimental” school
regulations to start a bilingual (English/Chinese)
Christian 1-12 school which will be named “Christ’s
Academy.” This experimental school model allows
us to enroll up to 480 students in grades 1-12 and is
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