Dear Parents and Friends of CCS,
May this issue of Parent News find you experiencing the grace and goodness of God!
As we close out the first semester of what has been an outstanding school year so far here at CCS, I want to take a quick look back at where we’ve been and where we’re heading over the next few months.
Since August we’ve been steadily working through the first two foundational rocks upon which daily life and work at CCS are built:
A Solidly Biblical Theological Foundation, rooted in the Word, Spirit and Gospel of God
A Vital Shalom Community, where people strive to live intentionally together in peace, safety, wholeness, hope and joy.
Today we’ll touch on the third rock:
A Dynamic Resurrection Culture.
We began this leg of the journey two weeks ago as we unpacked together the concept of “practicing resurrection”, that movement toward maturing in and healing through Christ.
It calls forth the wisdom of living well and intentionally, and living for others as well as ourselves.
And indeed, practicing resurrection serves as a core principle supporting a Resurrection Culture.
This third rock defines how we employees should work with each other as a Corps i.e. Faculty & Staff, and how our graduates will work redemptively and incarnationally in the real world as salt and light, as “sacred agents” who are in love with Jesus.
In short, a Resurrection Culture is marked by:
A Kingdom Vision, where we press into what inspires us to continue the work, as well as the strategic vision and calling we aspire to fulfill as we strive to live out the Gospel of the Kingdom on a daily basis.
A Kingdom Strategy, where as educational practitioners we learn to adapt, to collaborate and to delegate well.
A Kingdom Context, within which we live out of the redemption that is ours in Christ. Empowered by this free gift, we intentionally live and work with passion, weaving excellence, celebration, deep relationship, joy and rest.
We recognize that we are very much on a daily journey toward these realities, and that we desperately need the wisdom and strength of God working in us, energized by deep faith, hope and love.
Practically speaking, this is what gets us out of bed the morning after a day filled with difficult meetings fraught with unwanted yet often inevitable conflict.
This is the” hard but right” Kingdom work of moving toward resolution, of being the hands of feet of Jesus even as we are keenly reminded of our own brokenness and weakness.
This too is an aspect of “practicing resurrection”, one that we would do well to practice in our regular lives, even as today unfolds and we are met with the all-too-familiar realization that brokenness pervades the world, our work, our family, and, alarmingly, our own heart.
And this is precisely why Gospel-Centered education, a teaching and learning centered on the person and work of Christ, is so necessary.
Not just for our children, but for all of us.
If you’d like to hear more, I invite you to check out our new podcast, Gospel Centered Education. New episodes air each week - please share it with a friend!
May God cover us with His glory, even as the “waters cover the sea”, and may He be seen as the Perfectly Marvelous One by all who cross our path this week.
For CCS and the Kingdom,
Tom