It Was a February Night...80 Years Ago

This is a very special month for Wilmington Christian School. 
It was 80 years ago, on the night of February 12, 1946, when a group of dedicated Christian parents gathered at the First Independent Presbyterian Church, located on the corner of 14th and DuPont streets in Wilmington. These parents realized that, to raise their children to seek after Christ, biblical instruction in the church or Sunday school alone could not compare with the hours spent in school, particularly when that instruction contradicted, distorted, or even omitted God’s truth.

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Months earlier, a group of six area church leaders and theologians had begun prayerfully discussing “the great need in our area for a Christian education that would touch every area of life." Our founders had a firm conviction—as we do today—that it was impossible for a secular school experience to provide such an education.
And so, that February night, these parents and leaders met together, prayed together, and sought the Lord’s will. And by midnight, the decision was made to start a Christian school. Shortly thereafter, the Christian School Association of Wilmington was founded, and by September of that year, the first 32 students entered Wilmington Christian School. 
Decades later, in 1986, WCS’s 40th anniversary year, Dr. R. Laird Harris (one of the founders of WCS and its first board president) wrote these words as he reminisced about that first decade:
“The school by this time had a strong foundation. Its facilities were not extraordinary, but its teachers were. The curriculum fulfilled its purpose of giving strong Bible knowledge, a Christian worldview, solid instruction in Christian morality and conduct, all reinforced with loving but firm discipline. Finally, essential to the WCS mission was the school’s rigorous academic curriculum that encourages each student to work to his potential, with the excellence of God being the standard of measurement.”
Today, WCS continues the spirit and mission of our founding. Every day committed parents entrust their children to outstanding Christian educators who model and teach biblical truth in all areas of the curriculum. The world of 2026 is a very different place from the world of 1946. But God’s truth has not changed. God’s power has not diminished. God’s redemptive plan has not altered. The ultimate need of every child has not changed. And God’s command to parents remains:
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)
What began on a February night in downtown Wilmington continues today in Hockessin and everywhere faithful parents seek to raise their children to love the Lord and impact the world for Him!
Praise God for 80 faithful years. And praise God for the next 80 years, by His grace and for His glory!
 
Educating for Eternity,
Jonathan Nazigian
WCS Headmaster