Blueprint for Students’ Faith: Key findings from the ACSI Bible Program (Part 1)

Some of us may have experience building our own house. Even without that lived experience, we all may understand intuitively and agree that constructing a strong house requires complex planning and detailed execution. Every construction project not only needs a solid blueprint but also a team of skilled laborers, sufficient resources, the right tools, an achievable timeline and Gant Chart to plot the overlapping phases of construction, and strong project management skills. A sturdy house cannot be completed if any of these elements are missing. 

What if you had access to the best blueprints and resources from Bible teachers, curriculum directors, and spiritual formation staff across all ACSI schools to help create solid biblical programs for Christian schools? 

In early 2025, we undertook this vision as we invited Bible teachers, curriculum directors, and spiritual formation staff from all ACSI schools to participate in a comprehensive survey on Bible program development. 

We were deeply encouraged by the response—almost 500 educators and administrators took the time to share how their schools are building meaningful, Bible-centered learning experiences for students. 

Now that the survey is closed and the data analyzed, we’re excited to share what we’ve learned, beginning with this first of four blogs. 

This report reveals both encouraging consistencies and creative variety in how schools approach spiritual formation. From staff input to curriculum choices to integration of apologetics, stewardship, service, and evangelism, the findings offer a valuable snapshot of the priorities, challenges, and innovations shaping Bible programs today. 

Whether you’re looking to refine your own program or simply want to understand how others are equipping students for lives of faith, we hope these insights spark fresh ideas and deeper conversations. 

In the coming months, we will share the results of our Bible Program Survey. These findings will address questions such as, “Who holds decision-making authority for Bible curriculum in Christian schools?” and “What approaches do Christian schools use to develop reading comprehension in Bible class?” We’ll also highlight key strengths of Bible programs within ACSI member schools. This blog series intends to provide space for Bible teachers, spiritual formation coordinators, and Christian school staff in general to engage meaningfully in creating biblical and spiritual formation programs in schools. 

In this first blog post, we’ll provide helpful context for the study by sharing summary statistics about our respondents and initial findings on who makes decisions about Bible curriculum in schools. 

Context of the respondents  

There were nearly 480 respondents in this survey. About 45% of the respondents were administrators, 29% were heads of school, 16% were teachers, and the remaining 10% were school staff. About 55% of the schools that participated in this survey were covenantal schools, and about 38% were missional Christian schools. About three-fourths of the respondents come from ACSI-accredited schools, and about 52% of the respondents serve in Christian schools located in suburban areas, followed by 26% from rural and 22% from urban areas. In addition, most respondents come from the central division (about 57%), followed by 22% from the Eastern and 21% from the Western division.   

Main Results 

1. Types of Bible Curriculum used in Christian schools 

    

One of the questions we asked participants in our survey is related to the kinds of Bible curricula they use for their students. We understand that each grade level might use different curricula for their Bible curricula. Therefore, our survey tries to tease this question by grade level. Our results confirm this trend. These are some of the highlights of the results: 

• There are a wide variety of types of curricula that are used across grade levels in Christian schools ranging from ACSI/Purposeful Design curriculum, the Summit curriculum, the Bob Jones University (BJU) curriculum as well as self-created curriculum. Specifically, only about 2%–9% of the respondents used the ACSI/Purposeful Design curricula, 10%–17% for the Summit curricula, and 13–15% for the BJU curricula. These trends hold true for all school levels. 

• One consistent trend is that the majority of Christian schools in our sample mentioned that they created their own Bible curricula—10%-15% in elementary schools, 20%–30% in middle schools and about 45%–50% in high schools. On the contrary, ACSI/Purposeful Design curricula are commonly used by most Christian Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten programs (about 20%–25%).  

2. Decision-making ability for a Bible curriculum in Christian schools  

    

We also asked respondents about the decision-making process of the curricula that they use in their schools. Specifically, we asked who decides which curriculum to use for the students. We found that Bible teachers and administrators work collaboratively in deciding what Bible curricula are used for students (28%) followed by some sort of committee or council that consists of Bible teachers, administrators, board members, parents, or other stakeholders (19%), followed by a curriculum director or specialist leading the decision-making process with input from teachers and administrators (15%), and a Bible department chair solely making the decision (13%). This highlights that while the majority of the schools utilized a collaborative decision-making process between Bible teachers and administrators, there is a wide variety of decision-making practices among Christian schools when it comes to what Bible curricula to use for students.  

These early findings offer just a glimpse into the broader story our survey tells. As we continue this blog series, we’ll dig deeper into the real challenges schools face in shaping Bible programs, explore the curriculum choices schools are making, and hear from educators themselves about what’s working—and what’s not. Whether you're a teacher, administrator, or curriculum developer, you won’t want to miss the insights ahead. Stay tuned for Part Two, where we unpack the key wins and losses that schools encounter in developing meaningful, effective Bible instruction. 

Special thanks to Tim Pardine, M.Ed., M.Div., Upper School Bible Department Chair at Hanalani Schools, whose insightful questions and early work inspired the development of this survey. His contribution played a key role in shaping the inquiry and its outcomes.