Meetings of CRC classes (regional groups of churches) are usually attended only by adults. But at a recent meeting of Classis Northern Illinois, the entire student body of Unity Christian School in Fulton, Ill., was there to lead delegates in devotions and to offer lunch at the school’s new thrift store.
Why such a connection between a school and a classis? In 2006 the classis gave the struggling school $150,000 as affirmation of the Christian Reformed Church’s commitment to Christian education (see The Banner, July 2005, p. 28).
Unity used the money for a tuition-reduction incentive program that enabled new elementary school children to attend their first year for as little as $1,000. Since the support of the classis began, the school’s enrollment has increased from 142 to 214 students.
Nearly 90 of the students who came to Classis Northern Illinois’ meeting were attending the school thanks to the assistance of the classis.
“Your generosity,” wrote Unity Superintendent Dick Ritzema in a letter to the delegates, “has been extremely helpful and has impacted scores of families who want Christ and a Christian perspective in their child’s education.”
