Michael Evans is currently serving as the assistant regional director in the ACSI Mid-Atlantic Regional Office. Before joining ACSI in 1998, Mr. Evans taught in Christian middle schools in Connecticut. He earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Eastern College in Pennsylvania and his master’s degree in Christian school administration from Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. He was very instrumental in the formation of the Philadelphia Association of Christian Schools (PACS) and the Christian School Network (CSN) of Washington, DC. Both of these new organizations exist to network Christian schools and maximize effectiveness through sharing resources, information, expertise, and encouragement.
In the middle of New York City, surrounded by one million people within a three-mile radius, Manhattan Christian Academy stands as a witness to the power of Christian education in the life of a community. Serving over 300 students in preschool through eighth grade, the school has a richly diverse population of Latino, African American, White, and Asian students. Dr. Rick Bonifas, the school’s administrator of 13 years, attributes such diversity as one of the greatest strengths of the school. As a White person from the suburbs, he considers himself privileged to work in this crosscultural community of learners.
The birth of Manhattan Christian Academy stemmed from the visionary leadership of Pastor Tom Maharis of Manhattan Bible Church. Pastor Maharis, a Greek immigrant who at age seven came to New York with his family, remembers his own childhood adjustment to America. He also remembers times of trouble, particularly ones that included drugs. As a pastor with an understanding of urban immigrants’ struggles, Maharis wanted to offer hope to families living in the community where he himself grew up. This community, the Washington Heights/Inwood section of New York City, has the highest concentration of immigrants in the city.
The school desires to instill in its students a work ethic and qualities of character that will allow them to realize their full potential and be prepared academically for future success.
The school’s main goal as it serves the community’s children—the minority, immigrant students from the depressed areas of the city—is to give a vision for the future. The school desires to instill in its students a work ethic and qualities of character that will allow them to realize their full potential and be prepared academically for future success. With 90 percent of its second- through eighth-grade students coming to the school one to three years behind academically, the school offers learning opportunities including summer school and tutoring to help these students succeed.
“ACSI has been a tremendous support!” offers Dr. Bonifas. Manhattan Christian Academy, a member school for many years, appreciates ACSI’s Metro New York City Teachers Convention and the host of student activities, which provide students with an emotional outlet, healthy competition, and opportunity for interaction with other Christian school students. He boasts that his students do very well in the ACSI speech meets since “in New York City, we definitely have talkers.” The school is also enrolling in ACSI’s new STAR program and plans to go through ACSI accreditation. Dr. Bonifas appreciates the high standard that ACSI sets for all schools, including urban schools, and enjoys the interaction with other administrators. For many years, he served as the urban school representative on the ACSI Northeast Regional Council.
Over the next fifteen years, Dr. Bonifas seeks to continue raising a steady stream of funds to increase teachers’ salaries, secure other properties, and expand the school ministry. Additional funds would also be used to develop a community center with athletic facilities, family-centered programming, and adult classes in literacy, ESL, and computers.
Dr. Bonifas received his first challenge to consider urban evangelism in 1984 while attending an Urbana Mission Conference. During his years working at Moody Bible Institute, this challenge was strengthened and finally led him to New York City to take the helm of Manhattan Christian Academy.
The Meantime Volume 1 Number 3