Gilead School of Discipleship –

Home of the Gilead Warriors

“GILEAD”- BEHIND THE NAME …

In Numbers 32, Moses and the children of Israel lie in wait on the east side of the Jordan River. They had already succeeded in conquering much of the land on the east side of the Jordan, and they were now waiting to cross to the west side and take Canaan, the Promised Land. Israel consisted of 12 tribes at the time. Two of those tribes were named Rueben and Gad. These two tribes possessed a large amount of cattle. The land on the east of the Jordan was more fertile, and better suited to raise cattle than the land on the west side of the Jordan.

Rueben and Gad came to Moses and asked him if he would allow them to posses the land on the east side of the river instead of going into the land of Canaan to settle into a land less suited for their needs. Moses sharply rebuked them, and asked them if their intention was to allow their fellow Israelites to go off to war while they settled in comfortably in their own land. Rueben and Gad explained to Moses that their intention was to go off to war with their brothers, but that they first wanted to “…build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones; [and they said] But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them into their place; and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land” (Numbers 32:16-17).

The region in which these cities were built on the east side of the Jordan is called the region of “Gilead”.
In Gilead these tribes built cities of refuge and sanctuary for their children in order to protect them from the world around them. While the region of Gilead was not the Promised Land that the Lord had intended for these tribes, it was the heart of these tribes to use this land to establish sanctuaries for their children.

Much like Rueben and Gad, it is our commitment to provide a Christian school that will serve as a place of refuge and sanctuary for the children that God has placed within our care. Further, that the children may be educated in an environment in which Christ is invited to rule and reign, and in which they are prepared to serve Him both now and in the future. Thus the name Gilead School of Discipleship.