School is starting around the country again, and the Christian School movement is growing again significantly. I wanted to take a moment to remind all that literacy education, even from Bible times, has been seen by godly people as an essential aspect of reaching people and truly discipling people for the Kingdom of God. General education from a biblical perspective is God’s work.
The Hawaii Example
The first gospel-preaching missionaries arrived in Hawaii in 1820. They were Congregationalists sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)—the same board that had commissioned Adoniram Judson to Burma eight years earlier. As with Carey and Judson, the initial work of the missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands focused on language.
Learning the native language was essential for communicating gospel truth. These early missionaries believed that reading the Bible was vital to the growth of true Christianity within the soul. The independent study of Scripture had sparked the Reformation, and personal possession of the Bible for private study was once a capital offense under the Inquisition.
Putting the Bible into the hands of the people had profound effects. It enabled personal conviction through the power of the Holy Spirit and removed theological control from a select few. Influenced by the First and Second Great Awakenings, these missionaries understood that true Christianity involved the transformation of the soul, not mere outward conformity to religious norms. Inward faith is nurtured through private worship.
No Written Language
In 1778, James Cook made the first European contact with what was then known as the Sandwich Islands. Within 50 years, the first gospel-believing missionaries arrived. When Hiram and Sybil Bingham, along with Asa and Lucy Thurston, landed in Hawaii in 1820, the Hawaiian language had no written form. History and genealogies were passed down orally through chants memorized by children and recited by elders. There was no alphabet or written grammar.
Providential Preparation
God had been providentially preparing the leadership of the Islands. King Kamehameha II, along with his stepmother and co-regent Queen Kaʻahumanu, played a pivotal role. The Queen was already rejecting the harsh and restrictive elements of traditional Hawaiian religion—especially those affecting women—and was open to the gospel. She officially converted to Christianity in 1824, two years after the Bingham’s arrived in Oahu.
Mission Work Begins with Language
The missionaries not only learned the native language but also built influential relationships with Hawaiian royalty and chiefs. They quickly developed an alphabet for the Hawaiian language consisting of 13 letters and a glottal stop. The phonetic system they designed was easy to read once the letters were learned—unlike the complex English language.
By 1822, just two years after their arrival, the missionaries published a reading primer in Hawaiian and began teaching literacy. They went on to print newspapers, educational textbooks, government documents, and more. The Gospels were published in 1828, the New Testament in 1832, and the entire Bible in 1839.
Astonishing Rise in Literacy
Hawaiians, both young and old, learned to read at an astonishing pace. An education system was established, and the King mandated literacy. Marriage licenses were issued only to those who could read. According to John Kalei at the University of Hawaii, Hawaiians went from having no written language to a 91% literacy rate in just 13 years. This rise in literacy coincided with the translation of the Bible into the heart language of the people, leading to widespread conversions and following Christian growth.
Mission Phase Completed
By the 1840s, the ABCFM ended its support of the Hawaiian Mission, concluding that the churches had become self-sustaining and that resources could be redirected to newer, more needy fields.
This remarkable chapter in Hawaii’s religious history was the result of God’s providence, the development of a written language, the rise in literacy, and the transformative power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To this day, Christian Education has a large presence in Hawaii. Many Hawaiians consider education and Christian discipleship as intricately connected—it has been that way in their culture for the last 200 years.
As the school year begins, educators and parents must remember that teaching children to read opens the door to a relationship with Jesus Christ and a lifetime of devotion to Him.
Audio version of this article: Teaching Children (and Adults) to Read is God’s Work
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
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