|
Many of the
GraceWorks' planning and renewal solutions provide vision clarity, leadership alignment, healthy systems, and spiritual renewal for your Christian school.
Don't do it!
Don't go into your next capital campaign unless you have a current strategic plan that is widely "owned" by all your key constituents -- parents,
Board, volunteers and staff.
With GraceWorks' non-profit rates, you can afford to do it right!
To schedule a free, 45-minute, no-obligation consultation, simply call:
1 (877)-9-FOR-R-KIDS (1-877-936-7754) or use the links below:
God's People, God's Vision
Through a creative partnership with the professional planning consultancy of Lawrence-Leiter Company, GraceWorks is pleased to announce an innovative
Planning and Renewal Process for your Christian school.
This unique process involves both renewal and planning. Renewal because "unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain" (Psalm 127:1). Planning because we are to love the Lord our God with our mind as well as our heart and soul (Matthew 22:37, cf. Luke 14:28).
Christian school planning, at its best, is a spiritual process of collectively discerning
God's will for the future.
Ultimately, the goal is to help everyone associated with your
Christian school walk more closely with Jesus.
That is the aim of
every GraceWorks' Healthy Schools Planning and Renewal
Process!
Why a Planning / Renewal
Process For Your School?
Key Benefit #1:
Spiritual Renewal
Spiritual renewal is the hallmark of all GraceWorks' processes. Spiritual renewal lifts the
Planning Process from "more of the same" solutions to God's highest aspirations for your school. Spiritual renewal recognizes that
ultimate solutions are found in our personal relationship with God. Spiritual renewal recognizes that renewal of the Body starts with the renewal of the people and its leaders. Spiritual renewal in planning recognizes that
unless "the Lord builds the house, they that labor, labor in vain."
(Psalm 127:1)
Prayer and Bible study
are integral parts of the entire process -- every retreat, every
training session, every event.
Key Benefit #2: Collective Ministry Direction
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
(Proverbs 29:18) Ministry strategy is formed in many ways besides formal planning processes. GraceWorks'
Planning / Renewal Process recognizes this.
In fact, strategy formation is a goal throughout the entire process,
not just at the
Planning Retreat.
A key benefit of the formal Planning Process is to gather together, and widely communicate, the overall ministry directions of
your school. The Planning / Renewal Process will clarify the priorities of ministry strategy. You
will have a clear sense of the level of support for various educational programs.
GraceWorks'
Planning and Renewal Process can be a powerful force for progressive change!
Attention Christian Elementary / Middle Schools :
If you are thinking about adding more grades, the
Planning / Renewal Process is an excellent idea!
Expand healthy :
know and GROW your support base!
Key Benefit #3:
Ownership
In many ways, GraceWorks' Planning and Renewal
Process is a change process for your school. A great deal of thought goes into helping your leaders and your people look at old problems in new ways and in helping these same people
"own" Godly solutions.
Follow-up assignments are a key part of the process.
Practically everyone in your school -- Board, staff,
school families, key volunteers -- is involved in the process in
some way whether through a home visit, survey, a focus group or as part of the planning process itself.
Wide involvement means wide ownership. (Which can only help you in fundraising!)
Key Benefit #4:
Solid Strategy Formation
Adjunct Consultant to GraceWorks' Planning /
Renewal Process is David Domsch, a professional planner with 25 years of experience who has served hundreds of non-profits. Domsch serves as the objective facilitator during the formal
Planning Retreat.
This frees up your chief GraceWorks' consultant to help you develop ministry strategy in a hands-on, informal way throughout the entire
Planning / Renewal Process. GraceWorks' chief consultant for
Planning / Renewal Processes is President, Dan Krause. Krause has a Master's degree in church growth and leadership from Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, California, and has exclusively worked with non-profits his entire 18-year career.
GraceWorks' Planning / Renewal Process seeks to draw out the best ministry strategy thinking from you, your
Board, your teachers, your key volunteers, and your school families, as well as the experience and training of GraceWorks' consultants involved in this project.
This is a far cry from the "pooling of collective ignorance" which often happens when formal
Planning Retreats are conducted as stand-alone events.
Key Benefit #5: True to Your School
The goal of your Planning / Renewal
Process
is 75% participation of your entire school family. This is
accomplished in three key ways: (1) surveys for parents, teachers, volunteers, (2) selective personal visits and (3) focus groups.
The purpose of the focus groups is to determine the
kinds of issues that are on the minds of your constituents and how they think about these issues. This input forms the basis of the surveys. Through this powerful focus group step, the goal is to develop, with you, the best school survey you've ever done. By understanding how and what your members are thinking, your survey asks the right questions the right way.
Key Benefit #6:
Common Understanding
What are the ministry challenges for the years ahead? By the end of the
Planning / Renewal Process, you and your leaders will have similar answers to this question. This
leadership alignment will be very valuable as your school responds to the significant ministry challenges all of us face in the days ahead.
Collectively understanding the problems is the first essential step in moving to solutions.
Key Benefit #7:
Significant Resources for Future Planning
By the end of the Planning / Renewal Process, you and your leaders will have assembled a
wealth of data and planning resources which will guide decision-making for a significant period of time. GraceWorks strives to make the information graphical and understandable. This includes both the demographic information and survey results, which are all presented to your leaders at the
Planning Retreat. You will have a common information base for future planning.
Key Benefit #8:
A Central Focus
Rather than a side-line event, GraceWorks' Planning /
Renewal Process is "the main show" for several months in the life of your school This includes a special theme and logo for the process, as well as a final celebration. This increases the overall effectiveness of the process through better communication, wider participation and more accountability. Your strategic plan is much less likely "to sit on the shelf" if dozens of people sacrificed for it over a period of several months -- and
the entire school knows about it.
To schedule a free, 45-minute, no-obligation consultation, simply call:
1 (877)-9-FOR-R-KIDS (1-877-936-7754) or use the links below:
|