School Partnership 101

We know that as youth leaders, partnership with the public schools in your community is important. The school is where the majority of youth in your community spend most of their time. How can we do a better job in investing in schools? Here are some principles we've learned:

An intentional shift

Take a moment and change your focus from a short-term goal ("get on campus") to long-term possibilities. We've discovered that the idea of "just getting on campus" can fall short of what's possible from a true partnership. Taking the long view can result in a much greater cumulative impact on relationships with students, administration, and harmony between the community's churches and schools.

For instance our Cincinnati area coordinator, Orlando Hale, went to the principal at a local high school and asked how the churches could serve. The principal asked for a weekly prayer time on campus for the staff. Months later she shared that there was a huge drop in disciplinary actions since the start of the weekly prayer times!

Here are six core values that help a youth leader or network "go long" with schools:

1. Whoever: Build connections with individuals on the school campus. A principal, teacher, school board member, student, or even a custodian. Listen to them, and put your agenda aside. It's all about relationships!
2. Whenever: Show up whenever that staff member has a need you can meet. The project may not fit your ministry dreams, but investing in that adult's needs builds trust. "Trust" is the secret sauce!
3. Wherever: Sometimes this takes you in a direction you don't expect. Roll with it; be patient. You may be at the lunchroom cleaning tables, in the office making copies, or some other place doing some other job that may or may not seem important to you. Again: it's building TRUST!
4. However: The more you connect and serve, the more you'll be able to utilize your strengths. In the short term, serve however they will allow you to.
5. Together: Find people in your church and also your network whom you trust, and bring them along with you on campus. The outcome is bigger than you and your church. No one church has ever reached every student in their community.
6. Forever: Schools don't trust people with an agenda, and they don't extend short-term trust. Schools need to know they can trust you. We need to invest in them. Do what is needed for the school. Sometimes slowly, but when trust is built you will see other and more impactful opportunities to serve the school, the staff, and the students of it. Be in this for the long haul.

Being able to work with youth on campus requires gaining the confidence of the gatekeepers in your community. We need to keep reminding ourselves that we won't bypass them to serve students. As youth leaders, our goal is to stand with the gatekeepers, lend our strength and skills to care for students. When we do that in the short term, we find that it opens long term doors and opportunities to us and our team.

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Stan Elder is the Great Lakes Coordinator for the National Network of Youth Ministries. His mission and passion is to unite Christ-followers within communities through youth leader networks in order to share the gospel and advance ministry to every teenager.