What We Believe
Statement of Faith
Ontario Christian School, a Christ-centered educational institution, means to bring glory and honor to God in response to His mercy to His people. As God’s children, we individually and communally serve, explore, participate, and delight in His creation and Person.
These statements reflect the basic tenets of Reformed Theology, which is the doctrinal basis on which Ontario Christian School was founded.
We believe that God is a Triune God – One God eternally existing in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
We believe that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
We believe that man is created in the image of God and that although God created humanity in His image with the ability to live perfectly for His glory, man disobeyed God. Because of this original disobedience, every individual is a sinner by nature and does himself practice sin. Man is thus alienated from God, his neighbor, and the world. All are sinners, and sin is a condition that affects every relationship.
We believe that because all people are sinners and have lost their ability to live perfectly, they cannot enter Heaven and eternal life with God through their own deeds.
We believe that it is solely by God’s grace, expressed through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that true life and freedom are available. Through his death on the cross, Jesus paid the price for the sins and rebellion of those who believe in Him. Through his perfect life, his righteousness is credited to all believers. Through faith in him, we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Through the resurrection of Jesus, man’s final enemy, death, has been defeated.
We believe that all of the world is a part of God’s creation and He is sovereign over and in all things and that every academic subject must be taught and interpreted from a Biblical perspective. Jesus is the Word incarnate the Redeemer and the King, and in Him, all things are held together.
We believe that the Holy Bible is the divine, inspired, and infallible Word of God by which we understand God, His created reality, the Fall, salvation, and God’s will for our lives. The Bible is to be interpreted as a unified whole. It is the only rule of authority for all matters of faith and obedience.
We believe that God makes a covenant with parents and their children. Therefore, parents (or guardians) have the responsibility of bringing up their children in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.” We believe that a most consistent and meaningful education will result when the home, the school, and the church are in agreement on the basic concepts of life. The home has the primary responsibility for the children and is the children’s primary source of nurture and guidance. The school exists to assist the home in its role of instruction. The Christian parent, as a member of the body of Christ, seeks for the family growth in faith and practice with regular and active involvement in a local Christian church.
We are called as Christians to grow in maturity in Jesus Christ, to be knowledgeable about our faith, to stand firm in our convictions, to live as servants in community, and work toward reconciling all things and relationships to Jesus Christ.
What do we mean by Reformed?
Ontario Christian School was founded by a group of Reformed churches and individuals who were passionate about providing excellent Christian education for their children. That goal has not changed, but what has changed is the number of different denominations represented by our student body and families.
We are still that same strong, unapologetically Christ-centered school that believes that distinctive, transformational education is about presenting the kingdom of God and assisting students to participate in it. As Christians, we speak that same language, but our accents might be a little different. In order to be clear and cohesive, here is what the word Reformed means at Ontario Christian.
We believe that God is a Triune God – One God eternally existing in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches us many things about God and how He has worked in the past, how He works today, and how He will work in the future. God is in control of everything! He is sovereign and in charge. He knows the future and has all things in His hands, working them out according to His established plan.
The Bible makes it clear that we have all sinned, yet God does the work of salvation for us by providing a Savior, Jesus Christ, and illuminating our hearts and minds to God’s truth. Jesus’s death on the cross provided that gift of salvation by God’s grace alone. It is by faith alone in Jesus Christ, not by anything we can do, that we find personal salvation.
God, as Creator, is faithful. The Old Testament and New Testament tell story after story of God’s covenant promises to His people. God’s faithfulness and control extend to all areas of our lives, including our salvation. There is no area that is not sacred.
God’s Kingdom is here, but it is not fully realized, and He wants us, His image-bearers, to be part of His redeeming work. That means that no matter what we do for a profession, God can and desires to use us for His service.
The Reformed faith is summarized in the confessions of the church – the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort.
Reformed ideas cross denominational lines.
The emphasis is on God’s Word, a sovereign God, salvation by grace alone through faith alone, God’s covenant faithfulness, and God’s Kingdom and our role in it. At Ontario Christian, faith and learning are not separated. Biblical truth is integrated into every subject, helping students develop a thorough and complete Biblical lens through which to view the world. We embrace the Gospel as a way of life, a way of thinking, a way of doing ethics, a way of making choices so that it cannot be segregated out from any other part of life and/or be compartmentalized. Ontario Christian speaks in this Reformed accent to the glory of God.