He Is Worthy!

Last year, I dared to ask something that I’ve probably asked before, but for some reason asking it in this season of my life feels so much weightier than asking it as an 18-year-old or even in my mid-twenties. I asked this question of God: “What do you want? What is your heart for our city?” No qualifications. No multiple-choice. Just a wide open-ended question that I genuinely wanted to know the answer to. And I felt like God responded saying something like, “I’m glad you finally asked!” And thus began a journey of open-postured inquiring, listening, wrestling, and discerning.

I am an educator. I have served in Christian Schools for the past 15 years, teaching for the first four years, then four more years as a “second in command” administrator, then served the last seven years as the Head of School. I’ve seen the transformative impact that an excellent liberal arts education can have on a child and their family. A child spends more than 15,000 hours in school from kindergarten through 12th grade. By sheer volume of hours alone, the education a child experiences shapes them in ways that churches and after-school programs just simply cannot begin to compare.

For most of the past 15 years, I have primarily served families that generally have most things going OK for them. While there are certainly a number of families that have made great sacrifices to send their children to the schools where I’ve served, most of them still lead fairly stable lives in which questions about whether they have food to eat tomorrow, whether they should go without power or water this month, or legitimate concerns about their physical safety simply aren’t legitimate concerns. Yet, there are thousands of people in our city that are caught in these cycles.

So, back to that question I asked God last year, “What do you want? What is your heart for our city?” He gave me the answer. He said, “Look at my Word! What have I said over and over again? I have told you my heart. It is for the widow, and the orphan, and the broken, and the poor, and the fatherless, and the things that are not. If you want to be in my heart, I have made that very clear!”

And so began the dreaming: What would it look like to bring the richest of educations to the poorest of people in our city? As I was wrestling with this question, I was sitting in church, listening to Fr. Kyle preach about the role of the church in cultivating the hearts and imaginations of people (the Greek word he used was Paideia), and it struck me. That’s it!

What would it look like for our churches to focus less on programs that try to grab a couple hours per week of attention from people whose schedules are already overwhelmed, and instead to see the 15,000 hour opportunity to make a day-in, day-out, slow and methodical impact on a child that is frankly on a horrifying trajectory. The Church historically was the innovator in bringing education to every child—not just to the elite. The church historically, opened wide its doors to educate the poor and broken, leading the way in education as they did in the establishment of hospitals and orphanages. What if the Church reclaimed this role which we have relinquished to the Government?

As I wrestled with all this, I thought, “Yes, Lord, someone should really work to make this happen!” And you can guess what happened next. It was as if He looked at me and said, “Why not you?” And while my response has not always been an eager “Here I am, send me,” the Lord has continued to show up in His surprising ways, and if the joy that my wife and I have already experienced is any indicator of the joy ahead, then we may burst with His joy, because being in the heart of God, while a scary place to be at times, has been the most wonderful place to be. And in those moments that I doubt if this is really the right path or if it’s worth the cost, I’ll sit at our out-of-tune piano and pound out some chords the best my untrained hands know how and sing out to the Lord the words of this Andrew Peterson song:

Is anyone worthy?

Is anyone whole?

Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave

He is David's root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

From every people and tribe

Every nation and tongue

He has made us a kingdom and priests to God

To reign with the Son

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?

He is!

So why would I quit my job as Head of School at a highly-regarded classical Christian Schools?

Why would Incarnation Anglican Church give up space, energy, convenience, and resources?

Why would you join us in this radical endeavor to bring the richest of educations to the poorest in our city?

Simply put. Because Jesus is worthy.

Will you join us in the joy of educating with the heart of God for our city?

Sincerely,

Josh Dyson
Hope Academy Founder & Head of School