NCCS does not limit enrollment to professing Christian families, but all families are required to sign a “Covenant of Commitment” that addresses issues ranging from behavior to financial obligations. No student gets a full tuition ride. Not just immediate families, but relatives as well, are challenged to share in the school’s welfare.

Asheville, N.C., is a prominent notch in the so-called Bible belt. There’s certainly no doubt it’s heavily churched. And church historians focusing only on Presbyterianism will find the area to be an intriguing treasure trove. Montreat, with its long shadows of the southern Presbyterian past, along with the historic imprint of the Asheville-based Presbyterian Journal, deserve a long and thoughtful look.

For all that, though, urban Asheville has never really latched on to evangelical and gospel-driven Presbyterianism. Half a dozen Presbyterian and Reformed denominations have congregations in the metropolitan area. But none have so far attracted significant proportions of African-American constituents.

If that changes in the next decade or two, credit is likely to go not to any of the individual churches—but instead to an undesigned and uncanny alliance. That entity has welded together the vision and energy of members of a variety of the very congregations that by themselves—and by their own testimony—haven’t been successful in building an African American base.

The enterprise is New City Christian School, established in 2006. NCCS was originally the vision of Coral Jeffries, wife of physician Brent Jeffries; both are long-time members of the Grace and Peace PCA congregation in downtown Asheville. And without a doubt, much of the energy that has shaped and driven NCCS has been provided by members of that church.

But cast your eye down a list of the school’s board or faculty, and you’ll start bumping into people not just from Grace and Peace, but from other PCA congregations in town and from congregations from other denominations and supporting entities as well. The list includes also some energetic non-Presbyterians deeply committed to the Christian
worldview and Bible-based pedagogy that dominate NCCS.

In fact, NCCS’s base of operations is at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, an inner-city church a short hop and jump away from Asheville’s big medical center. That location validates the school’s claim to exist for the needs of urban families—and specifically to help such families bridge the achievement gap that threatens the
future of so many inner-city boys and girls. NCCS says its goal is to provide “excellent education, Christian nurture, and service to the community.”

NCCS this year is offering classes for grades K through 4th, with plans to add a grade each year up through eighth grade. That modest and limited approach helps the school focus on another of its goals: To provide the family atmosphere that is often lacking in the lives of many of its students.

Will NCCS work? It may take a generation to answer that question with finality. But comprehensive testing at the end of the 2010-11 school year found 100 percent of the 3rd grade class (the highest class at NCCS last year) achieving above the 50th percentile of national standards. Looking at the whole student body, currently 44, 93 percent were achieving above the 51st percentile of national standards.

The NCCS website reminds existing and prospective families that “education is spelled S-A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E.” NCCS does not limit enrollment to professing Christian families, but all families are required to sign a “Covenant of Commitment” that addresses issues ranging from behavior to financial obligations. No student gets a full tuition ride. Not just immediate families, but relatives as well, are challenged to share in the school’s welfare. Such participation is encouraged through volunteering of services and with prayer support for the fledgling school.

Founder Coral Jeffries, who continues now as the school’s chief executive, points to the school’s unwavering statement of mission: “We’re here for the needs of under-resourced households to have the opportunity to attend a school that focuses on building a firm foundation for academic success in the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic in a Christ-centered setting. We will never waver from this commitment.”

Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yspb40PPHp4
http://newcitychristianschool.org/ [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

Joel Belz is the founder of World magazine and continues to write a regular column. (He is also the prime motivator for the existence of The Aquila Report.)