With: Jill Kilker and Pastor George Jensen
Pharos Academy is a new Christian, classical hybrid microschool just launched by the leadership of Enola First Church of God in the Eastern Regional Conference. It’s an exciting time, but maybe you’re confused about what a “Christian, classical hybrid microschool is.” Let’s explain.
Simply, Pharos Academy is a small school, run out of Enola First’s church building, aimed at homeschool families who would like help teaching their students. Pharos offers a few courses throughout the week, like Algebra 1 and Latin, and students are dropped off for a class period or two for instruction. The hybrid part is important because it means the parents remain the primary teachers, but instruction for specific classes is offered by Pharos to supplement. Grading, along with the rest of the curriculum, is ultimately still administered by the parents.
The goal is to take some of the load off parents who need help, advice, and mentoring through the challenge of homeschool. And that’s how the Pharos Academy leadership team sees their calling; to walk alongside parents and students through their educational journey.
The school is wrapping up their first week of classes now, and we wanted to hear from Pharos Leaders like Jill Kilker, Head of School, and Pastor George Jensen, Chaplain & Spiritual Advisor/ Algebra 1 Instructor, about how the first week has gone, the mission and vision of the school, and their hopes and dreams for the future of this new ministry.
Jill Kilker is the Head of Pharos Academy, and the Director of Children and Youth Ministries at Enola First Church of God. She has taught in public schools and worked with private and homeschooled children. She is also a homeschool evaluator and consultant in Pennsylvania.
Pastor George Jensen is the Lead Pastor at Enola First Church of God and was previously a teacher at Harrisburg Christian School.
Read more about the leadership team behind Pharos Academy here: Pharos Academy Staff
Can you tell us the story of how Pharos Academy came to be?
George: It was three years ago, and we were seeking the Lord regarding the vision and direction of our church and where God would have us to go beyond our purpose. As we prayed specifically, three areas came to light during this season of prayer and fasting. One was to redo the kitchen and perhaps some other parts of our facilities. Another one was to enhance our security at the church. The third one was to offer some kind of alternative educational experience, primarily in the area of homeschool, to help families.
George: Jill is a homeschool evaluator. She homeschooled her children and has a lot of knowledge in this area. We thought, “How can we do a ministry here to help the people in our church, in the community, and in our conference?” That's where this initiative originally came from.
George: I also was pleased because I felt it fell within where our Eastern Regional Conference’s “Discover Develop and Deploy disciples for Jesus Christ” initiative. In this case we're helping parents, especially homeschoolers, along that way because parents are the chief ones responsible for discipling their children.
Jill: Having homeschooled my children in kindergarten through 12th grade, I know that I needed a support network. It was very hard. I taught in public school 10 years before my children, and it rocked my world to become a homeschool mom. I really needed that support system, but I had trouble finding it in those days.
Jill: Since I started working with homeschool families as an evaluator and consulting with them, I hear the same questions and the same insecurities from families quite frequently. Taking all of the things that I'm already doing as a consultant and putting them into ministry was a natural step for me. Parents are looking for someone to guide them about the law, someone to guide them about curriculum, and frankly, someone to help take something off their plates.
You've described why it's called "Pharos" on your website. In brief, what does a lighthouse represent in the context of a school?
George: About 20-25 years ago, while praying, fasting, and talking through Sunday school classes and different groups in the church, we felt that God was calling us to be a lighthouse for Him, guiding people to salvation in Jesus Christ and preparing them to face the storms of life. So, the lighthouse theme hit home with us.
George: We interviewed visitors and church people and said, “Why are you here? Why do you stay here? Why is this your church?” And we heard this repeatedly, “We feel safe here. I feel that I can come here, and it helps me face the storms of life and to live out my faith.” We kept hearing that our church was a safe place to come. When starting the school, we wanted to somehow reflect these characteristics of our church. We came up with the idea to use the church's symbol of the Lighthouse, so the name Pharos Academy was born out of that. But why didn't we just call it “Lighthouse Academy?” Jill was very wise to know, and I didn't, that with the homeschool world and classical education especially, there's an emphasis either on Latin or Greek terms. That's just very popular and thus came the word “pharos.” It's a Greek term that refers to lighthouse, so we landed on that. You can find out more about the meaning of pharos on our website.
Were there challenges in getting the congregation on board?
Jill: In each phase of that journey, God made it clear to us that there was a lot of cohesiveness in the team planning this. Pastor Jensen and I had a lot of the same thoughts and ideas about the direction of the school, and that just very confirming. I'm thankful for the road that we were on because it led us to the model that people really wanted. Many families really wanted the model that we're offering now. God had a plan, He taught us things along the journey, and He brought us right where we need to be.
George: Without a supportive congregation… if it's not a “God thing” and if the congregation isn't behind it, then of course, like anything else, you're in for a very difficult journey, but we've had a very wonderful, supporting congregation here at Enola First Church of God. The Eastern Regional Conference has been very supportive of us too.
Jill: I think it takes a pastor who sees that vision and who desires to provide something as an alternative to public schools. I think it takes a congregation who's generous and trusting during the journey. And I think it takes a willingness to kind of go with the flow when things don't go as planned and to trust that God knows, and He will guide and direct. We had many people who saw the vision.
George: It also takes a visionary like Jill to be the tip of the spear, I guess. Of course, I've been behind it, supporting it and have done a lot on the church end. She has too, but she's more on the school end, and she's very equipped for this. I look at who has God gifted us to have here. Like for example, in our church, it would be impossible right now, I think to do a basketball team. We just don't have the people and the resources to do that. But ironically, we have a leader here with knowledge of education and homeschooling and these sorts of things, so it just seemed to fit. So, you use the people that God has brought to you.
What is Pharos Academy’s mission and vision? Does it address the mission of the church?
Jill: Our mission is
Partnering with parents to provide academic rigor and mentoring while deepening students' relationships with Christ, developing a biblical worldview, and pursuing goodness, truth, and beauty in a loving church environment.
You can find that on our website, but when you break it down, every word is meaningful there. We don't want to usurp parents’ responsibility. We want to partner with them. We want to support them, as well as their children. We want students to know the Lord. We're unapologetic about that. We want them to develop a biblical worldview, so they can be ready to give an answer for the hope that's within them. We're a classical school, so pursuing goodness, truth, and beauty is a main tenant. In terms of the loving church environment... we want people to walk in these doors and know that they're loved and welcomed. That's kind of my big quick overview of the mission.
Jill: We say at Pharos Academy, we offer HOPE, H-O-P-E. That's an acronym for Helping Our Parents Educate. The reason we added that piece is, as I work with homeschool families in the area, they want someone to hold their hand and walk with them. They want someone who will mentor them and say, “Yes, you can do this. I know today was hard but maybe try this or try that.” They want someone to say, “Okay, well, yes, it probably is time for you to think about having your student take the SAT in preparation for college.” We are providing ministry to parents as well. We will be offering some free workshops for parents to come and ask questions and get a focused topic that will help them in their homeschool journey.
How feasible is an idea like this for other churches?
George: We see there just is an increase in this homeschooling movement. And so that's one thing that may be common in other regions, other areas, that people have an interest in this. There you go. That's some of the seeds for it. Many of our churches have a system of rooms or Christian education wing or area, so this is a great use of space during the week. However, what would be unique to Enola is that our church had the vision for this, and we have the people and the leadership, such as Jill, to pull it off.
George: All the churches are going to have probably an increase in people desiring for homeschooling, and they have the facilities for it, but they may or may not have the leadership or the passion to pull it off. If you have all those things, I think you can do something.
Jill: I think the other thing is: [churches] could ask us questions. I mean, we've been on a journey. We've learned a lot. We can point them in the right direction with Herzog Foundation. We can give some suggestions about what we have learned. This is very much an entrepreneurial thing that requires that kind of trial and error, and we've gone down that road. If there were other churches that were interested, we could tell them what we know.
As leaders of the Academy, what do you hope the future looks like for Pharos?
George: We see it at this point as a micro school because of the size of our facilities. But what I would like to see happen is that the “Discover, Develop, and Deploying Disciples” is strengthened to include parents and children. We really see parents taking a role in discipling their children. You're their primary school teacher throughout the day, what a great opportunity for discipleship! That’s how I'm looking at this, to spread the culture of discipleship in a new way, a new “layer of the cake”, by parent to child.
Jill: I love to think of our school being known in our community as that lighthouse, that place where students are challenged academically and find wonder and joy in learning, are discipled in their faith and ability to "give an answer for the hope that is within them," and feel the love of Christ and a church of believers...from the moment they enter our doors. I am motivated by thinking of parents who accept the call to disciple their children academically and spiritually, are equipped for this challenging task, and feel the support of leaders and entire church coming alongside them and holding them up in prayer in their homeschooling journey. We don't ever need to be the biggest, flashiest school in town because that is not our goal. Our goal is to bring honor and glory to God by faithfully serving His children and their families and offering HOPE for all.
During this launch week, we’re celebrating with Enola First Church of God and the Pharos Academy team for their years of hard work leading up to this important moment. We offer our sincere congratulations to everyone involved and prayers for the success of this school and ministry!
If, like Enola First, you’re considering how your church can make an impact in your local community through education, especially if you’re in the state of Pennsylvania, we implore you to reach out to Enola First and Pharos Academy. They’ve done a lot of pioneering in this space for our denomination and would be happy to offer advice, make connections, and cheer you on.
Find Pharos Academy’s Contact information here:
Likewise, within the last year we’ve written and interviewed other churches who do work in education, like our multi-person interview about church-based preschools. Find that, and more here:
CGGC eNews—Vol. 20, No. 36
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