BUILDING IDENTITY THROUGH COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE: EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS IN THE NETHERLANDS

Abstract

This paper documents the rise of new evangelical Christian schools in the Netherlands as a response to a perceived growth in secularisation of existing nominally Christian schools. There are now three such first schools which promote a Biblically-based understanding of Christianity where a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is seen as central to belief. The author uses elements from a model of identity developed by Etienne Wenger to illustrate various aspects of the nature and purposes of these schools.