This page is to outline what the Appleton Christian Homeschool Fellowship (ACHF) is about.  After reading our purpose, objectives, and Statement of Faith, if you feel this is the group for you, prayerfully consider applying for membership.

Who We Are

We are homeschoolers, but first and foremost we are followers of Christ, and thus proclaim the Good News.

The Good News

In short, the Good News, or the Gospel, can be summarized as follows:

• We believe in Heaven, a perfect place where those who belong to God will fellowship with Him forever (John 14:2).

• Because of our sin, and all have sinned, we cannot go to Heaven and be in God's holy presence (Romans 3:23).

• But because God loved us so much, He sent his son, Jesus, to live the perfect life that we never could, to pay our penalty and die in our stead (Hebrews 9:22b).

• Once we admit our fallenness, accept God's gift, and believe in Christ's atoning work, we become His children and are seen as righteous (Acts 16:31).

• As His children, God wants us to continue to grow in our knowledge of him (2 Peter 3:18).

Definitions

• 1. Christian: For the purpose of this group, a true Christian is a person who has personally received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, who trusts in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of sins, who has the Holy Spirit residing within, and whose life evidences change consistent with faith in Jesus, including desiring to love and glorify God, and striving daily with the help of His Holy Spirit to be obedient to His Word, the Bible.

  2. Homeschooling: We define homeschooling as parent-led and parent-directed education of their children. Specifically excluded is the full-time enrollment in a virtual school.  The legal status of homeschooling also entails filing a form PI-1206 with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

  3. Family: One man and one woman, united together, two as one, in a covenant, biblical marriage before God and legally recognized as married under the laws of the state or country in which they were wed, along with their homeschooled children.  This may also include a Christian widow(er) or divorced parent and their homeschooled children.  Any other arrangement shall require the approval of the Leadership Council, with due consideration to God's ideal structure for the family, which is one man and one woman, together for life, in a mutually monogamous and loving marriage.

Purposes of the Appleton Christian Homeschool Fellowship

• 1. To be a Christian homeschool group in the Fox Valley that believes God’s Word is the supreme and final authority for all matters.

  2. To be a Christian homeschool group where the 6 literal days of creation described in Genesis is authoritative and true, and provides the foundation for a proper understanding of who God is, our fallen nature, and our need of a Savior, found only through God’s son, Jesus Christ.

  3. To be a Christian homeschool group that supports parents as they follow God’s word to instruct their children in the Lord’s commands (Deut 6:7) and disciple their children as they become followers of Jesus Christ, equipping them to serve Him.

  4. To be a Christian homeschool group that intentionally facilitates stronger support and opportunities to develop deeper relationships for homeschooling families.

Objectives

• 1. Honoring the Lord through discipling and training the children He has lent us by:

     1. Providing support, resources and activities to homeschool families for Christian training, discipleship and spiritual growth.

        1. Bible studies, lectures, presentations, group learning classes and activities for topics such as apologetics, Christian worldview, etc.

     2. Providing support, resources and activities to homeschool families for academic training in areas such as Math, English, Literature, Science, History, Social Science, Foreign Language, Arts, etc.

• • • 1. Lectures, presentations, group learning classes and activities.

      2. Network of parents for teaching advice, curriculum recommendations and cooperative teaching activities.

• 1. 3. Organizing activities and experiences to supplement homeschool education:

• • • 1. Field trips to museums, businesses, etc.

      2. Public presentations.  For example: Science Fair, oral presentations, art shows.

      3. Sports and fitness.

• 2. Building a supportive network of like-minded Christian homeschool families.

• • 1. Organizing social activities for families, parents and children.

    2. Facilitating small groups to foster friendships and spiritual and academic support.

    3. Involving homeschool fathers

    4. Encouraging mentorship by experienced homeschool parents.

• 3. Honoring the Lord in our community through missions and service.

• • 1. Evangelism & spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth.

    2. Serving the poor and needy.

Statement of Faith

The purpose of the Statement of Faith is to define the beliefs of the Fellowship in a clear manner.  We believe that the whole of Scripture teaches these truths, but we will include some key verses for reference.

STATEMENT OF FAITH

• 1. God:  We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love, worthy of all worship and the One who both will punish sin and has provided the way of redemption.  God has the right to punish or reward us because He is our Creator and also because of His royal, judicial office.

     1. God the Father:  God the Father is Creator of all that is, seen and unseen.  He is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Sovereign of all that He has created, and sustains and upholds all creation by His power.  He is thus by right and in fact the rightful Lawgiver and Judge of all His creatures.  He is coequal and coeternal in power and glory with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

     2. God the Son, Jesus Christ:   We believe in the perfect deity and perfect humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection in His ascension and His personal return in power and glory. In His divine nature He is eternally preexistent, coeternal and coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  In His full humanity He was tempted in every way like us, yet without sin.  He is therefore able to provide full atonement for our sins and our sin nature by His substitutionary death on the cross.

     3. God the Holy Spirit:  We believe in the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement, who bears witness to the truth of God’s Word, who is the agent of new life, who indwells, seals, teaches, guides, sanctifies and enables believers to live godly lives.  The Holy Spirit is coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Son and is fully the Third Person of the Trinity and not merely a force or influence in the world.  The Holy Spirit will not reveal to the individual believer anything that is contrary to Scripture.

  2. Bible: The sixty-six canonical books of the Old and New Testament, alone and in their entirety, comprise the God-inspired Scriptures, infallible and inerrant in their original autographs.  The Bible is the supreme and final authority in all matters, including, but not limited to, faith, life, morals, doctrine, history, science and cosmology.  The authority of the Scriptures is derived from God Himself, and is not derived from the Church, tradition or any other human source.

  3. Origins: We believe that a normative reading of the Scriptures leads to the inescapable conclusion that God created the universe ex nihilo (out of nothing), in six twenty-four hour days, and that in God’s original very good creation there was no disease, suffering or death of any creature in whom was the breath of life.  We further believe that the Flood recorded in Genesis 6-9 was a global, cataclysmic event, with results observable in the earth to this day.

  4. Man: We believe that man was directly created by God and is uniquely made in the image and likeness of God. We believe that all humanity, because of Adam's fall, has inherited a sinful nature, that all human beings choose to sin, and that all sin is exceedingly offensive to God. Humanity is utterly unable to remedy this fallen state.  Because man is created by God each individual is accountable to God for his choices and behaviors.

  5. Salvation: We believe salvation is a gift from God offered to all man by grace alone, not by works, and is accepted by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary and is the only provision for the forgiveness of our sins.

  6. The Nature of Evil: We believe in the existence of Satan and his demons who are working in the world to destroy the souls of men.  We believe that during our time on earth even those who are redeemed are constantly tempted to sin by the world, our own sinful flesh, Satan, and his demons. We believe that all Christians should endeavor to live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord.  We believe that the indwelling Holy Spirit, Who is present in all believers gives us the power to resist the forces of evil within and around us, but that because of our sin nature we still all sin. 

  7. Gift of Life: We believe in the sanctity of human life as created by God, from the moment of conception until the Lord chooses to take the breath of life.  The sanctity and dignity of human life is not in the least diminished by the size, age, or disabilities suffered by the individual.  We believe that when we minister to the needs of the weak, infirm, and suffering we are ministering to Christ Himself.

  8. Marriage: We believe the marriage covenant was created by God and is both a civil (legal) and spiritual bond and is only between one man and one woman, united for life in a mutually monogamous bond of love and commitment, and is the only God-ordained institution for the bearing of children.

  9. The Good News: We believe it is our obligation as believers to witness by life and word to the truths of the Gospel and proclaim these to all mankind.

  10. Christ’s Return: We believe in the "blessed hope", the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ, for His redeemed ones; and in His return to earth, with His saints, to establish His Kingdom.  We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men and that they will meet judgment. Those who have received Christ’s atonement will inherit eternal life in the New Heavens and the New Earth where there will be no sin or death and they will dwell with the Lord forevermore. Those who have rejected Christ’s atonement will suffer eternal condemnation along with Satan and will be confined to the Lake of Fire.

Membership

Membership in ACHF shall be based upon review and acceptance of membership application according to the following principles:

• 1. Membership shall be open to families engaged in homeschooling all children of school age.  Exceptions based upon special needs of one or more individual child(ren) (e.g. need for speech therapy, profound autism, etc.) shall be reviewed by the Leadership Council at the time of application for membership or upon a family's change of status.  

  2. Families desiring membership in ACHF must submit a completed Application For Membership to be reviewed by the Leadership Council.  The Application form shall include:

     1. A signed statement, agreeing with and agreeing to support, uphold, and abide by the Statement of Faith and Purposes. In spiritually mixed marriages, only the believing spouse shall sign the Statement of Faith and Purposes.

     2. A statement of testimony regarding each parent's faith in Jesus Christ.

     3. A statement of church affiliation.

  3. At least one parent in the family must acknowledge Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  Spouses who do not complete all requirements for membership are not considered members, and are not able to vote or serve in any leadership capacity.  However, the entire family shall be welcome in fellowship functions.

  4. Children are not considered members and as such cannot vote.

  5. Every member family shall assume some role of service within ACHF.  Examples of this may be organizing field trips, teaching enrichment classes or organizing family events.  Service positions will be filled by consultation between members and the Leadership Council and shall be reviewed annually.

Charter of the Appleton Christian Homeschool Fellowship

The Charter of ACHF can be read here.

Becoming a Member

Still Interested?  Fill out a Membership Application.  We look forward to talking to you soon!