We take seriously our admonition in Ephesians 6 (“And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”) to raise our children into multigenerational faithfulness. The word used in that Ephesians passage is Paideia, which means to enculturate; to drop your children in the middle of Christian CULTURE and raise them in it. It is far more than reading the bible and attending church. Our faith must permeate everything we do (and not do). We are to teach them to be Christians; to think like Christians, to walk and talk and dance and compete like Christians. To walk in joy and love what Christ loves.

No matter how far back in history you go, dance has been involved in all worthy cultures. The first recorded dance in history was when Miriam, sister to Moses, after witnessing the parting of the Red Sea, took a tambourine and led the women of Israel in a dance. It was common in the United States in years past to host balls and soirees and to engage in group dance. Have you ever attended a Greek, Jewish, Indian, Irish, Chinese, or other ethnic wedding? Did you notice the history of dance being celebrated before your eyes? Why did we American Christians ever stop? As “swing your partner” slowly turned to provocative, suggestive movements, we began to turn aside and ended up abandoning dance completely. Eventually, some churches began to actually preach against and then to ban dance of any kind. How sad.

We are on a mission to reverse that trend. As homeschoolers, we have learned that to capture the hearts of our children, we mustn’t simply say “no, no, no” to what the world has to offer, but rather, say “YES!” to only the BEST. When we fill their love cups with “yeses,” they don’t even notice the “nos.” They aren’t tempted by the offerings because they love Christian culture. Paideia. And, when we say “all ages” we mean ALL ages. All the cool parents dance with a baby on their back.

So, is it our duty as Christians to gather before the Lord in community dance? We believe it is. We pray, “Thy Kingdom COME, not Thy Kingdom go.” In our way of thinking, dance is an expression of covenant theology: old and young, rich and poor, all together, celebrating the joy of the promises, without the icky feelings and awkwardness that comes with other styles of dance, and we intend to redeem it. We believe the Feast of the Lamb will include dance, so why wait? With skilled instruction, everyone soon learns to forget what their feet are doing and just enjoy the fun.

We invite you into our vision. Have Lori Borre call your dance, large or small. Whether or not you fully align with our theology, this will be the most fun you’ve had in ages.