Midwestern Christian Academy started the 2024-25 school term with 186 students, a slightly smaller enrollment than it had last year. Changes in the amount of financial aid available, combined with a small increase in tuition may be reasons for the slight decline, along with financial policy requiring families to have a clear balance before re-enrolling. Looking ahead to 2025-26, as of February 15, 150 students were re-enrolled. With current enrollment deadlines approaching, and the ongoing interest of new students and families, we are looking forward to seeing an enrollment at or near the 200 mark again next fall.
This year is the 68th school year at Midwestern Christian Academy. Over almost seven decades, the impact of the school has expanded the ministry of Midwest Bible Church well beyond the size and scope of the church’s membership. It is difficult to measure, at this point, the Kingdom impact of the students who attended here or graduated from here over those 68 years. MCA operated a high school program for many years, and then, at some point added the pre-kindergarten program. By calculating the average size of graduating classes across the school’s history, our best guess is that approximately 2,000 students completed either 12th or 8th grade here, and that as many as 3,400 different students have passed through these doors.
MCA is unique in many ways among the Christian schools in this country. It has survived and prospered for 68 years in an urban setting where fewer than 5% of the Christian schools in the United States are found. It has transitioned to meet the needs of families, meeting challenges of changing ethnic, racial, religious and economic demographics. MCA was founded in 1956, at the very beginning of the modern Christian school movement, and while almost half of the Christian schools in the United States have closed over the past two and a half decades, MCA remains as a viable ministry. We are among a very rare group of Christian schools in which the majority of the students are from ethnic and racial minority groups, and one of just a small group of schools in the US where over 50% of the students are of Puerto Rican descent.
This year is the 68th school year at Midwestern Christian Academy. Over almost seven decades, the impact of the school has expanded the ministry of Midwest Bible Church well beyond the size and scope of the church’s membership. It is difficult to measure, at this point, the Kingdom impact of the students who attended here or graduated from here over those 68 years. MCA operated a high school program for many years, and then, at some point added the pre-kindergarten program. By calculating the average size of graduating classes across the school’s history, our best guess is that approximately 2,000 students completed either 12th or 8th grade here, and that as many as 3,400 different students have passed through these doors.
MCA is unique in many ways among the Christian schools in this country. It has survived and prospered for 68 years in an urban setting where fewer than 5% of the Christian schools in the United States are found. It has transitioned to meet the needs of families, meeting challenges of changing ethnic, racial, religious and economic demographics. MCA was founded in 1956, at the very beginning of the modern Christian school movement, and while almost half of the Christian schools in the United States have closed over the past two and a half decades, MCA remains as a viable ministry. We are among a very rare group of Christian schools in which the majority of the students are from ethnic and racial minority groups, and one of just a small group of schools in the US where over 50% of the students are of Puerto Rican descent.
MCA has, over the sixty-eight years of its existence, experienced several of these “seasons” as it has provided Christian school educational ministry to its constituents. Our current season has been one of enjoying the blessings of growth and recovery over the past seven years. The school has achieved full accreditation, which is a recognition of both its strong Christian environment and its academic excellence. We have seen the renovation of virtually all of our current facilities, including much of our classroom space and our gym. We have expanded our athletic program to offer sports activities for our students during most of the school year, and this year, we increased the level of competition and the length of the basketball season by joining an additional league made up of parochial and charter schools.
Students from MCA have multiple high school options open to them because of the academic level of instruction here. Many MCA graduates are honor students at schools like Chicago Hope Academy and Walther Christian, and virtually all of our eighth graders who apply are accepted at CPS selective enrollment high schools. Academically, more than two-thirds of MCA students score in the top two quartiles on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and over 80% of our students are rated as “proficient” in mathematics and reading skills, so our academic standards are advanced.
Students from MCA have multiple high school options open to them because of the academic level of instruction here. Many MCA graduates are honor students at schools like Chicago Hope Academy and Walther Christian, and virtually all of our eighth graders who apply are accepted at CPS selective enrollment high schools. Academically, more than two-thirds of MCA students score in the top two quartiles on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and over 80% of our students are rated as “proficient” in mathematics and reading skills, so our academic standards are advanced.
This year, we chose Matthew 22:36-40 as our scripture theme. Sometimes, in a Christian school setting, where students study the Bible every day, and worship together once a week, which may also add to what students are doing in their own church, it becomes easy to take the application and practice of the Christian faith for granted. But we also have an opportunity to learn the details that come from what Jesus revealed about God in a much deeper way.
In this passage, Jesus unequivocally and clearly states that the priorities which rise to the very top of life, when we sincerely follow God and desire to be full of his Holy Spirit, are really very simple and easy to understand. Jesus, the Son of God who was sent to reveal God to us, equates two priorities that come about as a result of being redeemed by his sacrifice on the cross. They include loving God with all of our heart, soul and mind, and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. He made clear that “neighbor” is synonymous with “fellow human being,” not distinguishing any of the identifying characteristics on which we humans sometimes get hung up on.
Our Christian school is a safe place to understand what it means to practice this priority of faith. Starting to show our love for God by extending that love to those students who are here together in the same place is a good place to start. It’s easier in this kind of protected environment, where teachers can continuously remind their students about these priorities. That way, when they are out in the world and on their own, the experience they had as a student here, and the convictions they experienced as a result of being in a Christian school, will go with them.
In this passage, Jesus unequivocally and clearly states that the priorities which rise to the very top of life, when we sincerely follow God and desire to be full of his Holy Spirit, are really very simple and easy to understand. Jesus, the Son of God who was sent to reveal God to us, equates two priorities that come about as a result of being redeemed by his sacrifice on the cross. They include loving God with all of our heart, soul and mind, and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. He made clear that “neighbor” is synonymous with “fellow human being,” not distinguishing any of the identifying characteristics on which we humans sometimes get hung up on.
Our Christian school is a safe place to understand what it means to practice this priority of faith. Starting to show our love for God by extending that love to those students who are here together in the same place is a good place to start. It’s easier in this kind of protected environment, where teachers can continuously remind their students about these priorities. That way, when they are out in the world and on their own, the experience they had as a student here, and the convictions they experienced as a result of being in a Christian school, will go with them.
The influence and impact of Christian school education will be different in the life of each student who experiences it. There’s no doubt that the existence of Christian schools have supported and undergirded the work of the local church, and supported evangelistic outreach on the mission field. More than half of today’s pastors and vocational ministers in the Evangelical churches of the United States went to a Christian school for at least five years of their educational experience, and more than two-thirds, 67%, of the volunteers who apply and are accepted for overseas mission service are Christian school graduates or former students. And while attending Christian school is not a guarantee that a person won’t drop out of church, while only 15% of the millennial generation claims church affiliation in the US, 74% of those who attended or graduated from a Christian school have stayed faithful in attendance and membership.
So Midwestern Christian Academy continues to expand the ministry of Midwest Bible Church to the surrounding community and beyond.
Principal R. Lee Saunders
So Midwestern Christian Academy continues to expand the ministry of Midwest Bible Church to the surrounding community and beyond.
Principal R. Lee Saunders