By: Dan Steinfield, Head of School and shared at Dedication on 8/29/2024

On September 23, 1949, a small group of seven parents—who understood the concept of this blessing—knelt in prayer and asked the Lord to establish a Christian elementary school in Delaware County by September 1950. To create an opportunity for their students to walk with, to talk with, to follow in the footsteps—yes, to be covered in the dust kicked up from the feet of—their rabbi, Jesus Christ.

On September 5, 1950, 58 students representing 43 families celebrated the first Dedication Service for the inaugural school year at Delaware County Christian School. Over a year in the making, their vision and excitement were big, and they knew their God was bigger. The parents claimed Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee.”

75 years later, we gather this evening for our Dedication Service, celebrating DC's story of God's faithfulness. Since our founding in 1950, DC has seen evidence of God’s miraculous provision each decade. These markers serve as a reminder of God’s hand at work through the parents, faculty, staff, and leadership of DC to continually advance His ministry.

I have seen some of these miracles with my own eyes, and many I did not see. But the stories still resound. Every day, I experience their fruit. There are thousands of stories of lives transformed as DC fulfills its mission to educate students who will serve God and impact the world through biblical thought and action. One thing is sure…the founding families trusted God to do immeasurably more than they could ask or imagine as they stepped forward in faith to start Delaware County Christian School.

Ephesians 3:20-21

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than
all we ask or imagine, according to the power at work with
in us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout
all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Written to the church in Ephesus from their beloved Paul, I am confident memories of their time spent with Paul in Ephesus came flooding over them as they read these words. In Acts 19, we read of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, where God did mighty works…immeasurably more than they could ask or imagine. “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched His skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them” (Acts 19:11-12).

Paul emphasizes this power is at work within each of us as believers. Two times previously in Ephesians Paul uses the language of “immeasurably more.” God shows the immeasurable greatness of His power in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, seating Him at the right hand, above all principals, powers, and dominions (Eph 1:18-21). And God shows the immeasurable riches of His grace in raising us up and seating us with Him (Eph 2:4-7).

Paul’s benediction to the Ephesians serves as a reminder and a charge forward: “The same God who worked extraordinary miracles while I was in your presence now wants to do immeasurably more in you and through the Church!"

This power at work within us as believers is fostered through discipleship…being covered in the dust of our Rabbi, Jesus Christ.

With the same heartbeat, Dr. Roy W. Lowrie, Jr., DC’s first Head of School, wrote, “The Delaware County Christian School did not begin as an experiment, but as a deep conviction. Today, the campus, with its subsequent buildings, is a multimillion-dollar property. However, DC has never been an investment in real estate; instead, it is an investment in the lives of children, young people, and their parents. It remains a school for God.”

Discipleship is walking with the master. Knowing Jesus' name is important, but more so is having true faith in Jesus. You are known by Him because you are walking with Him, in a relationship with Him.

In Acts 20 we see the beauty of Paul’s discipleship with the church in Ephesus—discipleship that had forged deep and loving relationships among the church and with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As Paul prepares to leave for Jerusalem, he summons the Ephesian Elders. Dropping everything, they immediately come to Paul and we gain a glimpse of the power of relational discipleship at work:

• It costs time, travel, and expense. Today, parents, faculty, and staff, all choose to give time and expense for the life-on-life discipleship found at DC.
• Paul lived among the Ephesians with humility; sharing joys, tears, and trials. Similarly, the DC community shares “life” together. We have experienced great joy and we have mourned deep and tragic loss, all walking together in faith and humility, with our hope in Jesus Christ.
• Paul taught and served the Lord declaring the whole counsel of God.A DC education is rooted in Christ and grounded in the Word of God to provide a biblical worldview lens to think critically and act biblically.
• Paul did not cease night and day. This was a way of life, with consistency and perseverance. All we do—academics, arts, athletics—we do to grow and develop our spiritual life in Christ. We are the people of God’s story who engage in real work that forms ourselves and shapes God’s Kingdom on earth.
• The Ephesians were equipped against wolves who would rise up to seek destruction.DC students are equipped to be innovators and problem solvers, seeking the redemption of all things. DC students exercise uncommon imagination to see Kingdom possibilities. DC students join God in what they work on and how its effects ripple through the culture for the renewal of all things.

The Ephesians were fully prepared for a life of impact through the power of Jesus Christ at work within them.

Similarly, our dedicated faculty and staff today disciple students, inviting them to be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did. To apprentice to a Rabbi was to follow your Rabbi twenty-four seven. You were not simply a student in class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:00-11:50 am; “class” was life. You spend every waking moment with your Rabbi—sleeping at his side, eating at his table, sitting at his feet—and end up, after long hours walking behind him from town to town, covered in his dust (John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way, pages 9-10).

This is the heart of a DC education, starting with our mission to educate students who will serve God and impact the world through biblical thought and action and delivered through our distinctives of innovative and exemplary education rooted in Christ.

We gather this year, our 75th Anniversary Year, to do what we have done for 75 years: invest in the lives of students to be prepared for a life of impact.

An impact that will be immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.