The Seventh-day Adventist Church recognizes God as the ultimate source of existence and truth. In the beginning, God created in His image a perfect humanity, a perfection later marred by sin. Through Christ and His Spirit, God determined to restore humanity from its lost state. Through the Bible, God has revealed His will to the world, a revelation that supersedes human reason. Through His church on earth, God seeks the lost for His kingdom.

The basic tenets of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as well as the inspired writings of Ellen G. White, are directed toward God's restorative plan for fallen humanity. The church conducts its own system of education to engender belief in these tenets, within the context of one's personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and to foster a desire to share that relationship with others.

Although fallen, every human being made in God's image is endowed with attributes akin to those of the Creator. Therefore, Seventh-day Adventist education seeks to nurture "thinkers rather than mere reflectors of other's thoughts" (Education, p. 17); loving service rather than selfish ambition; maximum development of one's potential; and an appreciation for all that is beautiful, true and good.

An education of this kind imparts far more than academic knowledge. It is a balanced development of the whole person. Its time dimensions span eternity. A Seventh-day Adventist education requires the cooperation of the home, school, and church working together with divine agencies in preparing learners for citizenship here on this earth and in the New Earth to come.