About the Christian Montessori Training Center

The Christian Montessori Training Center (CMTC) is designed to encourage and enlighten the mind of the educator to embrace the child as designed and created by God, who desires each child to be fully alive! CMTC was founded with the mission of promoting a perspective of education that is biblical, practical, and substantial. Through the program, students learn how to engage children with the key components of the Christian faith, bring them to their own personal awareness of God in the person of Jesus Christ, and develop their understanding of Him and His work in their lives. It was our intent to create a training institution that would further the work of those who view children as Jesus did, who said “the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” Maria Montessori articulated this mission as she became a scientist of the pedagogy of children and believed in the beginnings of human potential (Child Alive ® Welcome Letter).

The methods developed by Dr. Maria Montessori have been used in the classroom for a very long time, but we continue to see new ways they impact children, their families, and educators alike. More and more people are interested in Montessori education due to the success stories they hear in their communities. Your dedication to this program will enable you to be a part of something larger, something special – something that could change the future of education and certainly the future for your students! Our Program Director reminded us of these important words written over 100 years ago:

“The more one considers the Montessori Movement as a whole… its immense potentialities for good… the more the conviction grows that the founding of such a religious order to carry on her work would be the fulfillment of her lifelong desire to serve the Church. It would seal the vow which she and her first followers took before the Blessed Sacrament in 1910: ‘Before the majesty of God I desire to consecrate myself…offering myself as a holocaust to Jesus Christ our Lord. I desire to follow the path of His divine will, embracing my sweet cross with the intention so truly to live that, if it be His will, the Church of Christ, in a reformed humanity, may triumph midst the splendors of civilization.’

—The Child in the Church

We engage a new cohort each June as our adult learners embark on their one-year journey with the CMTC. The Summer includes a seven-week intensive, followed by a Fall and Spring Practicum semesters.

The CMTC is hosted primarily on the Bloomington campus of Hand In Hand Christian Montessori (HIH), in conjunction with the college facilities of Bethany Global University (BGU). Both the orientation and debrief sessions are held in the Red Barn at the BGU. The facilities offer a kitchenette, ADA bathrooms, workspace, copy machine, and telephone accessibility. A completely furnished Children’s House and Elementary Classroom will be the settings for the training. On-campus housing and food are available for additional costs.