Friends: Our MCA school year has begun with double last year’s enrollment, and it is a joy to be in the thick of it.

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Spirituality Column #1032

August 25, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Children of God

By Bob Walters

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and truth,” – 1 John 3:18

Most teenagers recoil when being described as “little children.” But for the new Christian, to whom John’s epistle was referring when Christianity itself was brand new – and when John was writing – “little children” was about one’s nascent faith, not physical age.

In my own advancing years, I’m thankful for having been around a lot of teenagers these past couple of decades.  This includes my own two sons who are now well into their 30s, and my “retirement gigs” as a full-time high school substitute teacher, a school bus driver (talk about a detour), and now teaching history and civics at Mission Christian Academy, in Fishers, Indiana.

For me it has been 25 years since coming to Christ, September 2, 2001, at age 47. And it has been at this latter stage of my life that I too became a “little child” in Christ. When I was actually a little child, back in the 1950s and 1960s, I went to an Episcopal Church that instilled in me the stories about Jesus but not relationship with Christ. I chalk that up to my own immaturity; my faith was passive / dormant for many years. Jesus was just a teacher; the Bible was just a book. Ho hum.

For any actual kids reading this, please understand being a “child of God” isn’t about one’s youth. It means one is in God’s family: an heir, a son or daughter. We are no longer a slave to the law or to our sin. The Bible speaks both of “spiritual milk” for babies and meat for the mature in Christ. My walk has been rich and I hope fruitful; in league with the “heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:3) in this life. Christian maturity or age notwithstanding, I hope never to not be a child of God.

(How does God keep us “young in Christ”? Did you ever notice how often when we read a familiar Bible verse, it speaks to us in a new way? How scripture has endless discovery? Newness and wonder are how a child views the world, and how we view the Spirit’s gift of relationship to God and salvation in Christ. “Morning by morning, new mercies we see” – Lamentations 3:22-23).

I want to share this week about the high school kids I’m around these days, and the spiritual and educational environment we co-habit at Mission Christian Academy. Most of the students – and we as faculty – have a joyful understanding of being a child of God in the arms of Jesus.

MCA isn’t Sunday school. In only its seventh year, it is an accredited Indiana learning institution just shy of 800 students in grades K-12. Students don’t have to be believers, but as faculty we roll with our Christian faith in all aspects of our teaching, activities, and interactions. Most kids get it.  Jesus and faith-message t-shirts are common in the student body. Prayer clusters are common. Encouragement is common. Gossip is communally discouraged. Faith is the common denominator, and you can hear it in the joyful noise of an energetic student congregation throughout the day.

With enrollment doubled from last year, a new administrative face at MCA is Matt Vander Wiele, dean of students and our high school Bible teacher. His first-day address to the students described his opening impressions of the school. Matt noted kindness, effort, respect, and fun as MCA’s core, observable student characteristics. From where I sit, he nailed it right off the bat and I reinforced his observations with my students in each of six classes that first day.

There is a cheerful church youth group vibe at MCA; kids are kind to each other. They are happy and open, not suspicious or fearful of saying “hello.” It is especially noticeable in the amiable and constant passing period and lunch room chatter. They treat others as they want to be treated.

Kids put in a good effort. Partly that’s because of their parents being involved, partly because there’s a common fellowship of faith, and certainly because they work hard. MCA had 100 percent college acceptance of 2026 graduates who applied, with SAT scores in the top 10 percent nationally. Not every out-bound road is perfect, but kids leave knowing they are loved: by the Lord, and by us.

Students are effortlessly respectful to staff and to each other. Occasional hiccups happen, but the high schoolers especially are noticeably comfortable around adults, each other, and know they are there to learn. That said, our main goal is for them to grow in Christ, in peace and truth.

Fun … the kids work hard and play hard. Sports, social events, summer camps, missions, and school service opportunities reveal their already established appreciation of freedom and accomplishment. Growth is as intentional as it is organic. The Holy Spirit is welcome and moves freely.

MCA students are no more special than any other human youth, and Jesus came for all so that none would perish. It is a blessing to be where “children of God” are openly celebrated.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) and wife Pam (English teacher) are MCA’s oldest children of God.