Plans to Prosper

When God said to the exiles through Jeremiah that he “had plans for them, to prosper them and not to harm them, for a future and a hope,” (Jer 29:11) he was saying to them that he would be bringing them back to the Promised Land in 70 years (Jer 25:12, 29:10). In the meantime, he admonished them to build houses, to plant vineyards, to have children, and to marry their children off, to increase and not decrease (Jer 29:5-6). In short, he was telling them to increase so that when the time came, they would be ready— remember, they originally didn’t take the full promised land because there wasn’t enough of them to occupy it (Ex 23:29-30).

Here at Aletheia, we have continued to increase; thankfully, it has been at a pace that has allowed us to keep the high quality that is the whole point of this project. We believe that as we do our work God will continue to increase us, as he brings more families who connect with our values. We also believe that for our part we should be looking to grow in quality and infrastructure so that we are ready and able to receive the ways God might bless us.

Currently, we are in an exploratory mode with respect to High School, because we want to have an option for our students to complete the full arc of classical education, starting with grammar and ending with rhetoric. We are also looking at expanding our PreK offerings, because last year we turned away nearly as many families as we admitted. And we are beginning to explore our options for special education, as something that we believe is close to God’s heart, and an area of education for which there are limited options in Peoria.

I believe this work is analogous to the type of hard work the exiles were told to be doing while they were stuck in a foreign land, waiting on their return. In like fashion, we await the return of Christ— yet in the meantime, there is much worthwhile work to set our hands to. I would invite everyone to pray for these different options and for wisdom for us as we explore them and make decisions. I would also encourage anyone interested in possibly helping out in different areas to contact us. I consistently find that as God gives traction in a particular area, he also brings individuals whose gifts and passions line up with what we’re doing.