An Individual’s Journey with the Principle Approach

An Individual’s Journey With The Principle Approach
First in a Series
Ruth J. Smith
PilgrimInstitute.org

It was early in the 1970’s, my husband, Allen Smith, and I found our lives were extremely busy — three children attending Christian school, working in a church ministry and Christian school, which was very demanding in time and commitment.

The school administrators were introduced to two ladies from California who had published two large red books, and there was much discussion about using the “Principle Approach” in the school. There wasn’t any published curriculum that taught using this approach, most Christian schools had never heard of it, and so the question had to be answered: How do you have a school that uses the Principle Approach?

The principal of that Christian school taught a class on Sunday evening, which was open to anyone who wanted to attend. Interested in learning what the school was teaching, my husband and I attended that class. Little did we realize that this class would change our lives!

Principles of government were introduced, and we began to think through some very basic ideas which had been part of our thinking. Who controlled history? Was it God’s Hand that controlled, or was Satan controlling through a great conspiracy? What does it mean to govern yourself? What was our view of individuals? How were we training our children? What was our view of each of our daughters?

But the Lord wasn’t going to let us just attend a class and think through these ideas in our home. He had different plans!

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