Penn View Christian School

     Working ahead of the other three goal teams, the Connections Goal Team prepared an advance document/diagram in April of 2008 entitled, Passing on the Faith: A Community Work – A Spiritual Formation Framework.  Using a Venn diagram, the team laid out a foundation for “interactive conversation that will create reflection on and action towards how we help our children become radical followers of Jesus Christ.”  The completed diagram outlines the interaction between home, church and school for faith development showing overlap in responsibilities and circles of influence.  The diagram also delineates the unique roles each of these settings provides for the faith development of our children and youth.

     In the overview of the document, Passing on the Faith: A Community Work, the Connections Goal Team articulated, “The overlay over the school circle is an Anabaptist-Mennonite theology and lens through which faith formation is shared, taught, and experienced. This lens includes an understanding of a God of love who sent Jesus to be an example for us to follow in daily living, with a focus on peacemaking, social justice, servant-hood, community, and grace.”  This direction of the Connections Goal Team has set the tone for the work of the other three goal teams that have followed.

     On December 3, 2008, the Impact Goal Team gathered together for the first time.  Charged with facilitating this goal, "Tri-school community members are recognizable by their Christ-centered impact as pilgrim servants building God's Kingdom locally and globally," an early focus of the team was to develop a clear understanding and articulation of why our schools place such a high value on service.  Asking this question of why Anabaptists schools engage students in service was additionally important because two initiatives that were identified as priorities by the CIT read as follows:  Increase the frequency of authentic service learning opportunities that build empathy for others with a focus on action, and Enhance connections for service with Mennonite organizations locally and globally.

     Further, we recognized that engaging in service is an integral part of the Mission Statement, Graduate Profile, Core Values and Educational Philosophy of all three schools.  (In November, 2007, the school boards of all three institutions approved the adoption of a joint document that articulates these goals and commitments.)  In defining discipleship as one of the core values, this joint statement reads, “Following Jesus, peacemaking, and service, are expressions of our Anabaptist/Mennonite faith…”  The statement of educational philosophy articulates that, “Jesus rejected temporal power and chose instead a life of servant leadership…In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus demonstrated the redemptive, transforming power of love.” In response to what Christ has done, the statement concludes, “We seek to be faithful followers of Jesus in all aspects of life.”  Clearly, developing a foundational document addressing this question of, “why service?” was an important place to start.

     As educators we knew that a focus upon engaging students in service opportunities was also an emerging trend in public school curriculums.  However, we were keenly aware that although our purposes and goals for engaging our students in service were in many ways similar to those of public schools, as Anabaptists our reasons were also significantly different.¹

     The following document lays out an educational and spiritual grounding for engaging students in service in and through our Mennonite schools.  It is structured in three parts: A) Generaleducational benefits of doing service, B.) Pedagogical theories supporting the value of doing service, and C.) Anabaptist theological reasons for engaging students in service.  It is intended to foster understanding and cooperation within, and between our schools, homes, and churches.