Do With, Not For Your Local School

     Last week I was at the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference in Indianapolis. One of the key themes of the conference was education reform and school impact. I attended a number of very helpful workshops on projects that churches and ministries are doing with schools in various parts of the country. One of the key takeaways for me was this idea of doing things with a school and not for a school. A couple examples:

• There is a church in Houston working with a local school district. When the pastor first approached a particular local school and asked how the church could help, the principal started listing things that the church could fund. (This is not atypical in a district that is strapped for cash, and many of them are these days.) This pastor wisely replied by asking what fundraisers the principal might want to do in which the church could help the school to raise those funds. In other words, the church did not go out and raise those funds independently and give them to the school (doing something for them), but the church worked with the school to raise the funds by supporting the school's idea for raising the funds and providing workers for the fundraising event(s). 
• My friend, Kirsten Strand, from Community Christian Church in Naperville, Illinois, was the co-presenter of another workshop. She shared about the numerous things her church is doing with a local school district. I have previously written about their church's parent mentoring program, but one thing that she highlighted in this workshop is that the school must provide the first mentor at a cost of $1,000. Her church will then fund up to six more mentors per school. However, it is up to the school to take the initiative to fund the first one. So, the church is working with the school instead of just doing something for the school.

     There are a number of reasons that I believe the principle of "doing with, not for" is sound. Here are a few. First, it is a relational approach. If a church just writes a check and gives it to the school, it will be appreciated but not do much to build a relationship. Second, when a church works with the school, the school leaders will come to trust the church because the church is letting the school leaders set the agenda for these projects. In other words, the school has ownership and the church takes a supporting role. Third, in working with schools the church will see what is really going on in the school because they are investing time and energy working alongside (and within) the school community. Fourth, it is a well-established principle of community development that giving a hand up is much better than a hand out. If a recipient has some "skin in the game" they are much more likely to value the help whether that recipient is an individual or a school community.

What are some other examples of how a church can work with a school instead of doing things for a school?