Advancing Christian Schools

Story: Kris Brambila
Photos: Eva (Lube) Coppinger '17

Concordia’s graduate school is developing new programs to help Christian educators discover new opportunities.

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A frequently stated historical fact known by most who are familiar with Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska is that early in its history, Concordia was known as Concordia Teacher’s College, and its singular objective was to train teachers for service in LCMS and Christian parochial schools.

Throughout the decades, that worthy objective has shuffled to accommodate the demands of change in our business and education worlds and has inevitably evolved alongside Concordia’s growing and expanding catalog of academic offerings for teaching and non-teaching disciplines alike.

As Concordia continues to widen its impact on vocations of all types, our university’s century-old dedication to developing effective Christian teachers and leaders is still as prominent and passionate as ever, and ultimately drives the next era of growth in academic offerings that meet the needs and requirements of today’s teachers and educational leaders.

Hearing Educators Loud & Clear

In response to reader requests to learn more about Concordia’s plans for developing relevant resources for our current and future parochial school professionals, we want to share details about a new certificate offering created as the direct result of feedback from Lutheran school professionals.

While hosting the September 2022 ALSS (Association of Lutheran Secondary Schools) Heartland Summit, Concordia organized a focus group and surveyed attendees to uncover education’s greatest needs as voiced by those who work in our schools every day. Across the board, current Lutheran school administrators identified a gap between the potential for school advancement initiatives and the actual efficacy of existing advancement strategies.

Our surveyed school administrators explained that while their school may employ one or more professionals with titles like administrator, advancement director or director of enrollment, the positions are often nebulous with advancement-adjacent duties that, while still important, don’t fulfill the role’s intended purpose. In short, Christian schools face significant challenges in developing critical areas like mission and identity, funding and enrollment, and marketing strategy because they lack specific knowledge for how to successfully identify and implement long-term advancement strategies in a Christian school.

Administrators emphasized that this knowledge gap isn’t the fault of those in advancement roles, but rather, the result of a reality where instruction pertaining specifically to Christian school advancement simply isn’t available. Public schools, on the other hand, aren’t necessarily strapped with fundraising, enrollment or marketing concerns, further decreasing the likelihood of developed advancement training.

Instead, faculty and staff tasked with these hefty responsibilities must improvise and self-teach throughout their careers. Conversely, leaders coming into advancement roles with dedicated knowledge will have the ability to more immediately organize and impact school advancement initiatives.

Concordia aims to be salt and light for every undergraduate and graduate, who will in turn be salt and light for the countless students, families and communities they’ll impact through their vocations.

By now, you’ve noticed that the theme for this issue of the Broadcaster is Salt and Light (Matt. 13-16), a message that aligns seamlessly with the clear opportunity revealed by our study, that is, Concordia’s intention to emphasize Christ in higher education and to wisely discern ways to provide distinctive instruction to our current and future Lutheran and Christian school leaders. Concordia aims to be salt and light for every undergraduate and graduate, who will in turn be salt and light for the countless students, families and communities they’ll impact through their vocations.

 

A New Program for Advancement

In response to our educators’ resounding requests, Concordia is rolling out its new graduate-level certificate, Advancement for Christian Schools, beginning with the spring 2024 term.

Advancement for Christian Schools teaches the principles of school advancement, including the importance and impact of a school’s identity and mission, and how best practices, growth planning, funding methods and marketing strategies successfully combine to inform and strengthen the advancement of a Christian school. The concepts outlined below are applicable and valuable for any Lutheran or Christian school leader, whether they are an administrator of an elementary school, or an advancement or enrollment director at a secondary school. 

Advancement Principles: Focuses on best practices, structure and the role of the advancement team with various stakeholder groups.

Mission & Identity: Instructs strategies for developing processes that identify a school’s mission and identity and utilize these key elements to impact school growth and advancement.   

Funding & Development: Examines how to nurture school funding initiatives through the development of funding models and revenue sources.

Enrollment & Marketing: Discusses strategic marketing plans and best practices for enrollment and engaging various stakeholder groups.  

The Future of Excellent Christian Education

Concordia is actively building programs that specifically address the needs of Lutheran and Christian schools and their leaders. Future programs will include Futures & Innovation in Christian Education, Nonprofit Management, Education Administration for Christian Schools, Trauma & Resilience, and more.