Making an Impact on Vulnerable Youth through School Partnerships

In this season of thanks allow me to give thanks for the partnerships that Chain of Lakes has developed with three schools in the Anoka-Hennepin School District.  Those schools are Blaine High School, Anoka Regional High School, and Anoka Technical School.  I’m especially thankful this week because Chain of Lakes was recognized for our partnership with Blaine High School this past Monday at a ceremony at the Anoka-Hennepin District office. A video of the ceremony is here: https://www.facebook.com/chainoflakeschurch/?ref=bookmarks.  Check the video tab on the page to find the video.

These partnerships come out of some core principles that the Local Mission Team at Chain of Lakes has established.  These principles are: 1) We want to help vulnerable youth; 2) We do this through relationships with people, partners, who are in direct contact with vulnerable youth; 3) We listen  closely to the needs that the partners tell us exist; We respond to these identified needs in a exceedingly generous way.

The Local Mission Team of Chain of Lakes has gone out of our way to build relationships and a partnership with a staff person at each of these three high schools. We try to meet with that staff person at least once every sixty days. When we meet with them we ask repeatedly—what are the needs that you are seeing, and how can we help.

The mistake that churches can sometimes make in a partnership is the church wants to establish the needs.  People in the church might have an idea for something that we think would help.  But because that idea might not be meeting a need, that idea—which can lead to a lot of passion—ultimately might not make an impact.

Chain of Lakes Church has developed a separate tab on our web site that shares the specifics of what our congregation has done over the past five years in these partnerships. Looking at this web page makes my heart fill with joy. The site is here: http://www.colpres.org/homeless-youth/

The relationship between Chain of Lakes Church and Blaine High School is the longest relationship that Chain of Lakes has.  It started with a phone call to Robin Burge-Ross who at the time was the Social Worker at the school. We asked how we could help. She said she had a huge need for Christmas gift baskets for youth in the school. We said we would get to work.  Ultimately the people of Chain of Lakes provided a large number of Christmas gift baskets. A partnership was developed. We started meeting with Robin about every month. Trust was developed. From that trust everyone’s imaginations took hold. 

In these conversations we talked about having a Box City where youth from Blaine High School would experience homelessness. The students would sleep in a box on the tennis courts and then go to school the next day. Chain of Lakes would provide the boxes, the porta potty, adult volunteers, and find speakers for a program. An organizing team made up of reps from the Outdoor Adventure Club from the school and folks from Chain of Lakes was developed.  We have grown to trust each other.  Box City has developed where the team organizing the event only met three or four times in organizing this past year's event.  I didn’t attend a meeting. The event was the best ever. The Blaine High School choir took a collection for HOPE 4 Youth during their concert that took place on the night of Box City. They collected $5,000.

Some might wonder if a partnership between a church and a school violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.  Our partnerships do not. The primary purpose of the partnership is not to bring youth or adults to Christ or to Chain of Lakes. We don’t talk about our faith unless we are asked.  We don't hide from our faith and have had people connect to Chain of Lakes.  The connection was initiated by the person who came.  Ultimately we believe through our actions we are sharing the heart of Jesus.  We're sharing ourselves in a non-imposing way.

The partnership between Chain of Lakes and Anoka Regional High School and Anoka Technical High School are the same way. The people of the Local Mission Team have developed a relationship with the Social worker of each school. We try to meet with that person at least once every sixty days. When we meet with them we always ask the question, “How can we help?”

Some might wonder how Chain of Lakes can support three partnerships while also helping HOPE 4 Youth. Chain of Lakes was awarded the faith partner of the year award by HOPE 4 Youth in 2017. For me it comes back to the generous heart of the people of Chain of Lakes. The people of Chain of Lakes want to make an impact.  We've developed a "whatever it takes attitude" in overcoming the inevitable obstacles that develop.  We publicize the needs of each of the three schools on consecutive months.  Then we make the case to the people of Chain of Lakes about why their support is so important. The people have always responded.  

If someone asks me if Chain of Lakes is doing “too much,” I gently respond with, “it’s not possible to help a vulnerable youth(s) too much."  When we ask for food or money from the people at Chain of Lakes we always say that people have the freedom to make their own decisions. 

And frankly if we error, I’d rather that we error on the side of giving too much compared to too little.

In this season of Thanksgiving, I want to encourage all churches to develop a partnership with a school. The rewards are so high and the impact on a vulnerable youth is immeasurable.