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In every neighborhood in America, you can find two things: An elementary school and several churches. Since the time that synagogues were schools, the People of God have cared deeply about literacy—and yet, somewhere over the past few centuries, the US Church has often lost her way.
Today, in America’s neighborhoods, one in four children grow up unable to read at basic levels. In those same neighborhoods on Sunday mornings, churchgoers are reminded to love their neighbor and to care for the ‘least of these.’
Once your church becomes a Literacy Church, you will see impact. Odds are, your partnership with your local school will be a source of meaning and inspiration. And in time, you will want to see that impact and inspiration spread to other schools and other churches.
Building a network of church-school partnerships has many positive impacts:
- You get to catalyze and multiply the numbers of children whose lives are transformed.
- You get to watch outposts-of-compassion pop up all across your city’s map.
- You get to share the experience of transformative mentoring with sister-churches. Impact is always sweeter when we do it together.
- You will have more inspiring stories to share.
- You will strengthen your bond and reputation with city leadership (political and beyond.)
Where to Begin:
- Begin with what you know: If you are a denominational-pastor, reach out to your fellow denominational pastors/leaders; if you are in a church-planting-network, begin with those churches, etc.
- Begin with who you know: Are you in a pastors’ prayer group? Start there. Is there a clergy association to which you belong, ask them.
- Begin with who is nearby: Proximity does wonders for partnerships. By joining with nearby churches in nearby neighborhoods, it is easier to share resources, stories and celebrate together.
- Start small: A network of three churches is a wonderful start. Together you will be the trailblazers to perfect the program, build a reputation, and collect the stories to expand your network when the time comes.
Taking your network citywide:
- Recruit a Flagship Church: City networks often takeoff when a flagship church gets involved. A flagship church is a church who:some text
- Is widely respected.
- Uniquely and creatively represents the ethos of the city.
- Has a reputation for effective civic engagement.
- Sets the pace in other areas of church initiatives and growth.
- Recruit a Convener: In many cities there is a widely respected do-gooder, who has the reputation to call people together. This may be a faith-based non-profit, a local evangelistic organization, a Christian business association, or a recognized author/influencer etc. The nature of the convener is not the issue; identify the person/group with the social/spiritual cache to bring leaders together.
Illiteracy is one of the rare justice issues that the church could eradicate from a neighborhood or from an entire city. There are 65,000 elementary schools in the US and 400,000 churches. It is not difficult to imagine a church partner for every school.
If your city’s faith leaders build a partnership for every elementary school…
You will discover your entire city is the Road to Jericho and your city’s congregants will become the Good Samaritans that Jesus calls us all to be.
