“We want to get out of the Christian bubble!” My voice joined my peers’ frequent complaint during middle school. My classmates and I felt that the cinderblock walls of the church building rented by our small, still-growing classical Christian school were restrictive to the point of repression. Our stiff plaid uniforms sparked loathing in us, just as the regular hymns and memory verse that rang throughout the school often kindled annoyance. We felt disconnected from the world outside the walls of our school. These feelings of annoyance sprang from the immaturity that causes many teenagers in Christian homes to kick against the goads of their family’s rules and faith. Still, behind our complaints lurked a question we were unable to formulate:

How can Christian educational communities balance their presence “in” but “not of” the world?