Shalom Mennonite School offers to its students a quality, K-8, Christian education with an Anabaptist perspective in a warm, friendly atmosphere.  It seeks to assist parents in their God-given responsibility of teaching their children and training young people for living lives of service to God under the lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Scriptures.

• Bible – We believe the Holy Bible is the Word of God.  It is authentic and its matter, authoritative in its counsel, inerrant in its original writings, and is the only infallible rule for faith and practice.
• God – We believe in the one triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who is eternal, infinite, holy, omniscient, unchanging, omnipotent, and omnipresent.  He is both love and a consuming fire.
• Creation – We believe that the Genesis account of creation is historically factual and literally true and that all creation is sustained by God.
• Fall – We believe that man was created in the likeness of God as a crowning work of the Creator in a state of purity, but by disobedience is now fallen into a lost estate of sin and death from which only God can save.
• Savior – We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, that He was born of a virgin and lived among men without sin, that He became the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world by His death on the cross that all who believe in the anointing work of His shed blood and the power of His resurrection shall have everlasting life, and that He is now ascended to glory and intercedes for the believer.
• Holy Spirit – We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit, that He is the comforter for believers to guide them into all truth and to empower them for a life of righteousness and service.
• Church – We believe that the church is the body of Christ composed of all those who through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are baptized with the Holy Ghost.  The church is to preach the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ to all humankind and to teach all the commandments of the Lord.
• Ordinances – We believe the New Testament ordinances are for the Christian: that baptism be administered upon confession of faith, that communion be observed literally as a memorial of Christ’s suffering and death, that feet washing be observed literally as an expression of Christian servant hood, that the holy kiss be practiced as an expression of Christian love, that the Christian woman be veiled, that anointing of the oil be administered to the sick for healing to those who call for it in faith, and that marriage be the union of one man and one woman for live with Christians marrying “only in the Lord”.
• Authority – We believe order is the primary rule for blessedness.  The Lord has given the church the keys of Kingdom of Heaven.  He has given the state the right to suppress evil.  He has given parents authority in the home, with fathers as the head.  Christian people are obliged to honor and respect all due authority and to show love toward all men.  We believe it is the Christian’s duty to pray for and honor those in authority and that Christ’s disciples are to refrain from violence and force in human relations.
• Satan – We believe that Satan is the personal enemy of God, that he is the deceiver of mankind, and that he is at work promoting evil and seeking to draw away from God.
• Hope – We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the grave bodily and that He will return in person to receive us to Himself as well as those who have fallen asleep in Christ.
• Consummation – We believe the Lord will judge the devil and banish him to hell along with all the unrighteous, but the Lord will gather the righteous into His eternal presence to dwell with Him in fullness of joy forevermore.

I.  The School and the Home

We believe that…

• God has designed the home to be the primary institution for the training and education of children.
• God has ordained parents as the primary teachers of their children and that parents are ultimately responsible for the education of their children.
• The school and its teachers stand as delegated authorities, serving to cooperate with and assist parents in the nurturing and training of their children.
• Parents should take an active interest in their children’s educational progress. To facilitate this, the school should encourage parents to communicate with the school regarding their students’ needs, provide regular evaluations and feedback to parents regarding student progress, and provide opportunities for parents and teachers to meet together.

II.  The School and the Church

We believe that…

• The Church has been ordained by God and is responsible for the spiritual nurturing of its members. The school should serve to assist local, supporting church congregations in the spiritual nurturing of its students.
• The school should maintain a consistency of teaching and activities that support the teachings and mission of local, supporting church congregations. This is facilitated by the appointment of three, ordained men from local, supporting Mennonite congregations to serve as pastoral advisors to the school board of trustees.

III.  The Teacher

We believe that the teacher should…

• Be a Godly role-model for students who demonstrates Christ-likeness in character, submission to God, His Word, and other authorities, and active support for the local church.
• Maintain a central and authoritative presence in the classroom, being willing and able to bear the authority delegated to him by parents.
• Maintain a warm and friendly classroom atmosphere which is orderly, values love and respect, encourages creativity, and encourages each student to strive to do their best for the honor and glory of God.
• Direct the learning experiences of his students through a sufficient knowledge of the subjects taught, competence in teaching, and the ability to recognize and provide for the individual needs of students.
• Demonstrate a love for learning and be committed to personal and professional growth so that he can more effectively serve the Lord and meet the academic, personal, and spiritual needs of his students.
• Consistently support in word and life the school’s statement of faith, philosophy of education, mission, and policies.

IV.  The Student

We believe that…

• Each person is created in the image of God.
• Each person has a sinful nature due to man’s disobedience to God, and, thus, in each person, God’s image is marred by sin.
• Each student is in need of firm, redemptive guidance, Biblical instruction, and discipline in order to see himself as God sees him and to develop into the complete person God intends him to be.
• Students learn in different ways, at different rates, and have varied levels of ability. This should be affirmed in the lives of the students, pointing to the need for varied gifts and service in Christ’s Kingdom for the fulfillment of its mission.

V.  Education

We believe that…

• Christian education is Biblically-based and Christ-centered, educating not only the minds of students but also their hearts and wills so they may live a life of love, surrender, and obedience to God.
• The spiritual component of a Christian education should consider the maturity level of the student, guiding him toward a growing relationship with the Lord.
• The primary goals of a Christian education are to have the character of Christ built into the hearts, souls, and minds of the students and to prepare them for lives of service in Christ’s Kingdom.
• Traditional Anabaptist-Mennonite values, such as discipleship, community, non-conformity/ transformation, and peace and non-resistance, must be an integral and intentional part of the curriculum so that students are given opportunities to understand, practice, and personalize them.
• Only by ministering to the whole child (mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual) can we deal effectively with any one area of his personality.
• Students should be taught in heterogeneous groups (mixed ability levels) as much as possible, and normal academic instruction should be geared toward the student of average ability. The school should offer reasonable academic assistance and/or enrichment for students who need it.
• Academic instruction in the early elementary grades (K-2) should be primarily focused on the traditional areas of reading, writing, and arithmetic. These basic skills should be emphasized throughout the elementary grades.
• Direct instruction and questioning should be used as the primary methods of academic instruction and that, if used, other methods, such as cooperative projects, research projects, discussion, etc., should be used as supplements to these.
• Information/skills to be learned and retained should be taught sequentially, connecting what is unknown to what is known, presented in more than one way as much as possible to accommodate different learning styles, and reviewed periodically.
• Formal academic evaluation should be done primarily using standards-based evaluations (student’s work is evaluated against an objective standard) with performance-based evaluations (student’s work is evaluated subjectively) used only as supplements to these.

VI. Curriculum

We believe that…

• Reading should be taught using an explicit phonics-based curriculum.
• The primary goals of music education should be to develop skills in and appreciation of a cappella singing.
• The primary goals of physical education should be to teach and develop the concepts of teamwork, acceptance of others, good sportsmanship, and wholesome recreation.
• (Statements related to the other academic subject areas will be added here)

VII.  Discipline

We believe that…

• The purposes of discipline should be to help students develop respect for and submission to the authority of God, His Word, and His ordained authorities, to build Christian character and self-discipline in the lives of students, to encourage students to take responsibility for their words and actions, and to create an orderly classroom environment.
• Disciplinary measures should be restorative in nature, motivated by and done in love for the benefit of the student, and administered in such a way as to provide a consistent pattern of expectation.

The vision for a new elementary school began during the winter of 2002 with a small group of people who shared a common interest in and believed there was a need for a school that would provide elementary education within a conservative Anabaptist framework.  Over the next year, numerous meetings were held for a prayer, council and discernment.  In the fall of 2003, a decision was made to formally organize a committee to pursue plans for a new elementary school.  The need for this school was solidified in the spring of 2004 when Blue Ball Mennonite Church, having seen a great need and making plans for an elementary school in this area, discontinued their plans in favor of supporting this new work.

Shalom Mennonite School is organized as an association.  This provides opportunity for patrons, grandparents, past patrons, church leaders, and other interested persons to be actively involved in the operations of Shalom.  Association members may serve on the board and/or school committees and are given voting privileges at the annual association meeting.

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Middle School:

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