• Cultivating Character and Competence // Changing Communities and Culture

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  • Adopt-A-School


    In January 2008, The Coalition launched 2020 Vision for Schools as an adopt-a-school campaign to transform public education in New York City within a single generation of students. For generations, NYC has failed to deliver on its promise to children that if they stay in school, they will be equipped with the skills they need to succeed in life. First graders in September 2008 are the high school graduating class of 2020. Churches and youth ministries around the city are declaring that this generation will be the first one for whom we make good on our promises. We launched a website at www.2020Schools.net to promote the campaign and provide resources to equip churches to adopt schools effectively. The basic concept is explained at the About page, as well as in a YouTube video you’ll see posted on the home page. The Resource page offers links to a variety of supporting materials, including articles, audio downloads, PowerPoint presentations, case studies and more. The website is very much an evolving organism, with new content and functionality being added regularly. Below is my archived Adopt-a-School page from 2006-2007.

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    The Idea + The Challenge + Related



    New Resources (July 2007) + AUDIO: Adopt-a-School: An Idea whose Time has Come - NEW from UYWI 2007 + BOOK: Playbook: A Campus Ministry Primer for Cities + POWERPOINT: Adopt a School: An Idea Whose Time Has Come - NEW from UYWI 2007 + BLOGPOSTS: All blog posts tagged with Adopt-a-School. + TIMELINE: Adopt-a-School Timeline (May 2007)


    THE IDEA

    What would happen if...

    Dare we expect that test scores might improve and the $14 billion currently spent on the school system be managed better?


    The idea is doable. There are 7,100 evangelical, charismatic, and Pentecostal churches in the five boroughs. In contrast, New York's 1.2 million public school students are scattered across 1,400 public schools. That’s roughly a 6.5:1 ratio of churches to schools. Including the 1,000 private and/or parochial schools, there are still more than three churches for every school.

    The challenge to discovering whether the experiment works is to monitor and coordinate it effectively. Any thoughts how?


    THE CHALLENGE (Reprinted from Network Magazine)
    NetMag Summer 2006
    Summer 2006


    Why Churches Should Adopt Public Schools NOW


    Why Churches Should Adopt Public Schools NOW
    by Jeremy Del Rio
    Campus Ministry

    Summer 2006 pg 6
    Get PDF Version

    "… In love, He predestined us to be adopted…" – Ephesians 1:4-5 (NIV)

    Sometimes a good idea takes a while to generate traction. But then a combination of timing, people, and Providence inspire enough hearts and minds to action that it transforms society, in what Malcolm Gladwell calls a "Tipping Point."

    Consider, for example, the idea that churches should love youth in their communities by adopting public schools. The Campus Alliance has been saying this for years, even creating a website to help promote the idea and track its progress (www.EverySchool.com). But a review of the Every School database suggests that the cry has fallen on many ears that are unable, or unwilling, to hear. Many schools still wait to be adopted.

    Recently, things began to change in New York City. In January, 293 pastors and ministry leaders who gathered at the 15th annual Concerts of Prayer Pastors Prayer Summit prayed intentionally for the first time in memory – with one voice and for more than a few minutes – for the city’s millions of young people. Rather than generic, "Bless them, Lord" prayers, they focused instead on specific concerns:

    • At-risk youth within particular churches, including the incorrigible ones, the nondescript ones who blends into the background, and the weak ones whom bullies target.
    • Personal and community struggles, such as sexuality, HIV/AIDS, family disintegration, and gangs.
    • Systemic injustices such as a public education system where 60% of elementary school students don’t read at grade level, yet spends $12 billion educating them, and generational poverty that traps nearly 30% of NYC children below the poverty line, with 72% of Latino and 61% of African American children.
    • The commissioning of ministers, both church-based and marketplace workers such as teachers, paraprofessionals, business managers, health professionals, and students themselves, to love youth without judgment.

    This intentionality extended into a break-out session where 75-100 leaders conducted an "intergenerational conversation" concerning how to engage the region’s youth and youth culture with the gospel more effectively.

    Why the zealous response? Consider that Jesus described children, who represent 25% of New York’s overall population, as the most ripe for a spiritual "harvest." Who’s more "like a child" – Christ’s prerequisite for entering the kingdom of heaven – than a child?

    To make the conversation more manageable – engaging all of the city’s two million kids 18 and under (by themselves, they would be the fifth largest city in America) is a daunting proposition – the discussion focused on the 1.1 million students in New York’s public schools.

    Why public schools? To borrow another of Jesus’ metaphors, effective "fishing" requires going where fish gather, namely (cheesy pun alert) within schools. Factor into the mix the reality that public school students come disproportionately from our nation’s most vulnerable communities, and compassion compels Christ-followers to be transformational agents.

    How then should believers and churches engage within the context of nonreligious public school systems? By viewing those systems not as enemies, but as allies for equipping kids to live the lives to which God has called them.

    Beyond that, churches should adopt particular schools within their communities. Imagine if every congregation committed to pray regularly for at least one local elementary, middle, or high school. Now imagine if individual congregants became answers to those prayers by volunteering within the schools as hallway monitors, classroom assistants, tutors, event organizers, PTA delegates, or coaches. Even better, imagine if the students themselves were empowered to be salt and light on the campuses; and if God-fearing staff members – whether teachers, aids, principals, or agency administrators – recognized their profession as a calling.

    As a community outreach strategy, the best part about adopting schools is that it is doable.

    New York City, which boasts the nation’s largest public school system, spreads its students among 1,200 public schools. Who would adopt these schools? Sociologist Tony Carnes of the International Research Institute on Values Changes has identified 7,100 active churches within the five boroughs. That’s more than a 6:1 ratio of churches to schools. Add in the 1,000 private and/or parochial schools, and there are still more than three churches for every school.

    The math is similar on a nationwide scale. According to The Barna Group, there are more than 300,000 Protestant and 20,000 Catholic congregations throughout the U.S. The nation’s 57.2 million nursery through high school students are enrolled in 94,000 public schools and 28,400 private schools.

    What might happen if the body of Christ within those 300,000+ churches actually functioned as such, and lived out the incarnation of Christ within the walls of our 94,000 public schools? Kids might actually be loved unconditionally, families served selflessly, and schools transformed in ways we all long to see.

    Some would advocate that we wage a quixotic battle to reinstate what I consider to be a meaningless nondenominational thirty-second prayer in schools. Why not, instead, resolve collectively to actually pray, repent of neglecting to labor where the fields are white unto harvest, and commit to loving our schools through adoption?

    It’s time we reached a "tipping point" to reach our schools!



    Related
    + "An Intergenerational Stirring: Why Christian Churches Should Adopt Public Schools" + Fund for Public Schools (for businesses interested in supporting individual schools) + Campus Alliance's EverySchool.com campaign + Taking Adopt-A-School to a higher level + Dean Jonathan + PS 34, Take 2