http://www.bearspawschool.com Bearspaw Christian School – LIVING THE MISSION UPDATE
The Bible makes a profound statement in Proverbs 29 that “without a vision the people perish”. This declaration speaks volumes of how God has wired us as human beings. We were made to live life in community, to join ourselves together around something that creates passion and purpose … pulling us into mission towards God’s greater redemptive purposes for us and for our world. That something is called “vision”!
The community of Bearspaw Christian School (BCS) has caught God’s vision to be a school that teaches minds, reaches hearts and transforms our world. Our vision has created a community of teachers & staff, parents, grand-parents and students who are part of God’s much greater redemptive plan of transforming our world through generations of godly young people. As a community, the call of God on us is so great, and this moment in our history is so significant, that our response needs to go beyond teaching academics in a Christian School setting. This call requires us, as a community, to be intentional and purposeful about the way it functions together. It is called LIVING OUR MISSION! BCS believes that to realize our vision we must live the mission of joining with our families to realize personal academic excellence and Christ-like character in each student. It is this mission that we want to be evident in everything we do as a school community. Living out mission is difficult and hard work. It requires us to be intentional in two key areas: our hard tangibles and our soft tangibles.
Our “hard tangibles” are things that are easily understood and that are enablers for us to live out our mission and, ultimately, realize our vision. Hard tangibles are things like our facilities, equipment, resources and curriculum. In order to achieve our mission we need to make sure we have the right amount of space for our students, the right academic and non-academic programs to meet the needs how each child is created and wired by God. Our “Creating Spaces, Equipping Kids” building initiative is all about making sure we have the right facilities and resources to achieve our mission. However, it is only one component of living out our mission.
“Soft Tangibles” is the much harder part of living out our mission because it is not always so clear or easily understood. “Soft Tangibles” are about the way we function together as a community of teachers & staff, parents, grand-parents and students at BCS. It is making sure that the way we teach, encourage, discipline and communicate supports the mission of joining with the family to realize personal academic excellence and Christ-like character in each student.
This is so important to us at Bearspaw Christian School, and so critical to realizing our vision, that we have recently initiated a renewed focus on examining how well we are living the mission in our soft tangibles. This is a normal part of life in healthy organizations and will enable us to continue to build upon the foundations of previous years. The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) has identified nine areas to look at to further strengthen the way we live out our mission. They are: 1) Student Development; 2) Staff Development; 3)Parent Engagement; 4) Admissions; 5) Marketing & Communications; 6) Advancement; 7) Technology; 8) Facilities; and 9) Finance & Administration. Taking into consideration the feedback we received at the spring 2009 focus groups, we will be following a simple four-step process to identify where we may have opportunities to further embed our mission into these nine areas. The following diagram illustrates the four step process:
While the Senior Leadership Team of BCS is working through these steps, we want to engage in this process as a community. As we explore these nine areas we will be soliciting input from teachers & staff, parents, grand-parents as well as students and alumni. This process is a journey and our desire is that it becomes part of our DNA as we regularly examine the way we live out our mission at BCS for the sake of achieving the vision that God has called us to. We value you as part of the BCS community and thank you for your prayers and support as we engage together to teach minds, reach hearts and transform our world for Christ!