Teresa McClelland comes to Providence Christian Academy after a hiatus from teaching High School History, English/Literature and Bible in a Christian School here in Franklin County. She is a transplant to Greenfield from the Boston area and is the wife of 41 years to Jim and mom to four adult children. She has been for 40 years a born-again lover and follower of Jesus Christ.  As a new Christian and a brand-new mom, Teresa asked the Lord, “What does school look like for the children of Christians?” Thus began her adventure in Christian education as Christ began to cast a vision for how He wanted “school” to look. 

 

Teresa was first a homeschool mom for 7 years, then one of the founding members of Jonathan Edwards Academy, a classical Christian School in Turners Falls, where she taught for twelve years until the school’s closure in 2009. Teresa served on the education committee that wrote the curriculum for Grades 7-12 which included the Senior Seminar Capstone class, The History and Philosophy of Politics and Government, which she had the privilege to teach. She also started the Academy Players, a drama program for the Middle and High School where she produced and directed the annual production of one of Shakespeare’s plays from 2001 – 2009.

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Since the closure of the school, Teresa has taught her church’s Middle and High School Sunday School class and she has directed Shakespeare productions of middle and high school students for Classical Conversations, a Christian Homeschool Cooperative Network. Mostly though she prayed that the Lord would raise up a new group of families committed to a vision for educating a new generation of children for His glory and to His service. It is Teresa’s desire to see students here in the town of Greenfield that have been made “fit for the Master’s use.”  Students who, when they graduate from Providence Christian Academy will have hearts for the Lord Jesus Christ, and whether they attend college, or adopt a trade, become wives and mothers, or embrace a vocation in ministry, will live their lives “Coram Deo” - Before the Face of God and in His Presence.

 

To see this vision come to fruition Teresa knows the importance of teaching students to think well, write clearly, and speak winsomely – in other words, communicate what is the True, the Good and the Beautiful to their generation so that others will see Jesus and want Him. 

She is delighted to have the privilege to serve in the awesome work of the Lord at Providence Christian Academy this school year.