Faith Statement

1. Welcome

1.1 About Good Shepherd School and Day Care

Good Shepherd School and Day Care (Good Shepherd) was founded in 1992 by Reverend Nick and Caryn Kozel, a ministry of Dominion Educational Ministries, Inc. (DEMI). DEMI is a religious not-for-profit 501(c)(3) Christian educational ministry. Since its foundation, thousands of Shenandoah Valley preschool and grade school children have passed through Good Shepherd’s doors, learning about Christ and receiving childcare aimed at helping them become lifetime learners.

1.2 Mission Statement

Our Mission at Good Shepherd School and Day Care is to teach children about the love of Jesus Christ, care for their daily needs in a nurturing environment, and provide them with a solid academic foundation for successful living.

1.3 Non-Discrimination Statement

Good Shepherd School and Day Care accepts applicants for enrollment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, or national origin.

1.4 Statement of Faith

The board of DEMI oversees, guides, and directs its mission. While DEMI board members and the Good Shepherd School and Day Care staff may represent various branches of the Christian faith, they each affirm the following faith statements:

We believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as distinct personalities with distinct roles, but one God. This One God is the creator and sustainer of the universe.

We believe the Bible, comprised of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is the divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God in its entirety, and that it is our final authority in matters of doctrine and practice.

We believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, died on a cross for our sins, was raised from the grave, ascended to the right hand of God the Father where He intercedes for His people, and will return as our victorious Lord.

We believe in the universal Church as the spiritual body of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ; and in the necessity of regular attendance in locally organized churches for the nurture of Christians and their families.

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God.

We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death.

We are therefore called to support, protect, and value all human life.

We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, homosexual behavior, pornography, etc.) is sinful.

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of Good Shepherd.

We believe that the Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of Good Shepherd’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our board of directors is Good Shepherd’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.