Click the above banner for details on how some cities and churches are pulling together
A Local High School Movement Reversing Systematic Poverty - Learn More
The role of Education and Business in City Transformation
If through Christ we can impact the cultural norms where most people live every day: the schools, colleges, and businesses, the city will make major progress towards seeing the gospel grow in the hearts of the people. After many years of concerted prayer City-wide awareness and unity among mature churches and leaders is growing in Syracuse and Rochester, rallied around key actions. Below are a few breakthroughs and engagement points for the gospel that require and encourage multi-church collaboration and ownership of the vision to impact the “7 Mountains of Influence” in our cities.
Public High Schools
Student-led groups in schools – Multiple Churches are adopting schools and finding coaches, teachers and student leaders to launch FCA and other on-campus ministries to provide a place of strength for our youth, and the experience of reaching their classmates with the gospel, and becoming a welcome asset and influence for the principal and staff. We can provide experienced staff to assist and accelerate the process of starting and growing a group in every school.
Adopt-a-school prayer teams - There has been a breakthrough in the Syracuse City School system that can be replicated in other cities. Through some people offering to pray with the principal and school staff on a weekly basis, God has demonstrated remarkable changes to the principal’s staff that have drastically reduced violence, solved financial problems, increased graduation rates, and provided a commonly observed peace in the school. This has spread from one to now four city schools and has opened the door for a large number of on-campus open Christian activities and projects. Details can be discussed. Churches are not adopting an increasing number of schools. This has increased the unity in the body of Christ.
Colleges
A movement for churches to pray for Syracuse University has yielded strong results within the administration and opened new doors. There is now a process to gather and prepare all local Christian high school students to visit the campus ministries, and for the ones who will attend, be prepared for outreach during freshmen orientation, called Freshmen Reaching Freshmen. This could be replicated in other cities. There is a good unity movement among the campus ministries as well.
Steps Churches can take for High School & College Positioning
- Pastors, Parents and Students use the resources on the Transition Page to provide vision and equip students to connect with campus ministries during their junior and senior year college searches to select colleges with strong campus ministries.
- Use the Churches Page to organize this.
- Ask local college campus ministries if you can bring high school juniors and seniors to meetings, events, and outreaches so they develop an appetite for campus ministry and outreach. I will be glad to call them in advance and introduce the concept. (John Decker - john@BelieversCollegePrep.com)
- Help students to focus on preparing for the first month on campus as a freshman as the outreach sweetspot.
- Encourage them to return and talk to your youth group on Thanksgiving or Christmas break.
Businesses
The Business Men’s Fellowship groups in Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, and Binghamton are finding ways to impact the local businesses and economies:
- Prayer teams going to local businesses and seeing results that bring them back. Some are starting to use this Portland Co-Labor model as one approach. In Portland this has grown to the point where every Friday business people from 35 churches and denominations break up into groups of 6 and pray with businesses, schools, and local governments. The videos share the process.
- Alpha Course in the Business - this is starting to work in Syracuse, and has the promise of seeing open lunch forums with non-believers every week. Alpha & Alpha for Business
- See the Reversing Systematic Poverty link for some other examples.
Bill Bright’s view of transforming culture in spheres of influence.
The Education & Business sectors can easily be addressed by most people and families
