{"id":3573,"date":"2023-03-11T06:44:29","date_gmt":"2023-03-11T12:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/?p=3573"},"modified":"2023-03-28T17:27:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T22:27:42","slug":"refining-the-mission-for-an-aligned-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2023\/03\/11\/refining-the-mission-for-an-aligned-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Refining the Mission for an Aligned Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In organizational development, scholars often make the distinction between an organization\u2019s vision and mission. While there are numerous ways to differentiate between the two, generally speaking, an organization\u2019s vision is an inspirational picture of the future. It is the aspirational end state that comes from asking the question, \u201cWhat if the world could be different? What if it looked like\u2026this?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A vision, as you might expect, is purposefully general. It can be so broad, in fact, that it can entail a number of pathways to achieve it. This is where an organizational mission comes in. A mission is a purpose statement for how one specific organization is going to fulfill a vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For example, imagine you live in a town where you notice that a growing number of young people in their 20\u2019s and 30\u2019s report lacking purpose in life. Having passed through the modern education industrial complex, they lack the thoughtfulness and tools to think about what it would be like to craft a life built on enduring values. They have been trained to think that life is about maximizing income, not living for a higher purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, these young adults in your town display a noticeable lack of creativity. They do not read, build, explore, serve, or sing for fun. They have graduated college and landed decent paying jobs, but their leisure is short-circuiting as free time is routinely consumed through tech addiction passing as “catching up on shows.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As life\u2019s big challenges begin to set in, these young people realize they do not know what they think about complex political issues. They are left paralyzed by the suffering that comes from the illness of a loved one. They are not sure whether God is actually good and really involved in their day to day lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon noticing such a problem in your town looking out, you further observe looking in that a version of yourself shares some of these deficiencies. Meanwhile, an aspirational picture begins to emerge in your mind of a young person who lives and looks decidedly different. \u201cWhat if I drove down the street and saw a young man or woman living like\u2026this?\u201d you ask yourself. \u201cHow would this happen?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus begins your journey toward Christian, classical education<\/a> and perhaps even starting a school toward this end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I will explore how schools can strengthen their mission statements and then align their communities with this overarching purpose. The goal is that through achieving strong organizational clarity, schools in the Christian classical education renewal movement can better deliver on what they have set out to achieve and then be faithful to this work for the longterm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Missions, <\/strong>One Vision<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are hundreds of Christian, classical schools in the United States. I recently heard that there were 140 of such schools in 2010 and now there are over 700. This is amazing progress for the movement in just 13 years. For each one of these schools, there is a distinct mission or purpose, stating why it exists. Consider this small sampling, which exemplifies the variety:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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