Lutheran Education - Partnership for Expansion
Public policy is expanding education options at a breakneck pace. We have the opportunity to offer a Lutheran education to thousands of new families in the next decade.
Soaring Education Services: Powering Growth in Lutheran Education
Open Sky Education is a national, non-profit RSO of the LCMS working to ensure that world-class academics and faith-based educational choices are accessible and affordable for all.
Christians
Soaring Education Services, a division of Open Sky, is dedicated to adding new seats in K12 Christian schools and settings. We’re uniquely ensuring that character formation and Christian education not only endures in America but thrives and grows.
Lutherans
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Educators
Soaring understands the landscape of education. Creating “best-fit” learning models — traditional schools, microschools, hybrid homeschools, tiny private schools, and resource centers – is our focus.
What is Lutheran Education?
A Lutheran education is Christ-centered, grounded in Scripture, and prepares students for a life of service to their neighbors. Lutherans in America have always been committed to opening schools alongside congregations. Baptism, vocation, traditions and worship, mission, confession–these are central to the identity and ethos of Lutheran schools.
Lutheran Tradition – Lasting Impact – Learning Together
The need for new seats in Christian schools is a tremendous opportunity. Together, we can make an impact in the lives of children while sharing the richness of our faith and traditions. Soaring and LCEF have a shared vision and are excited to accelerate new Lutheran education opportunities.
Soaring Education is excited to partner with the Lutheran Church Extension Fund for a collective impact. By uniting the passion and heritage of the LCMS and the commitment of LCEF with the expertise and guidance of the Soaring Education team, we can expand Lutheran education in an environment of denominational support, school launch expertise, and keen market insight.
What Soaring Offers
Our team advances Lutheran education through a variety of services aimed at the district level and tailored for individual sites.
School Choice Analysis
FOR LCMS DISTRICTS: Provide a District-wide study highlighting current school choice opportunities, noting the implications and costs/risks associated with utilizing funding in a particular state or region. Provide an implementation plan (and/or support) to access new school choice dollars.
FOR INDIVIDUAL SITES: Provide a site-specific study for Lutheran schools of their current school choice opportunities. Provide guidance for utilizing school choice funds noting potential costs/risks and offering recommendations. Provide an implementation plan (and/or support) to make a Lutheran education more accessible and affordable for more families in their community.
Microschool Launch
FOR LCMS DISTRICTS: Host School Start-up Boot Camps to provide organization, training, and support for affinity-based and/or geography-based groups of new Lutheran school launch teams. Facilitate cohort organization for new groups to support each other.
FOR INDIVIDUAL SITES: Our team of educational experts advise school projects at every step of the process. We offer three distinct products:
-FEASIBILITY study to guide your initial consideration.
-School model DESIGN coaching to understand your needs and assets as you seek to create a good-fit model for your community.
-School development BUILD service that supports you as you organize and fashion your school; including a completed (micro)school operational playbook.
-Personalized operational support and coaching for new school launches.
School Growth Recommendations
FOR INDIVIDUAL SITES: Collaborate with LCEF Real Estate Solutions to support their 5-Phase process to support Lutheran school growth plans.
Revitalization Services
FOR LCMS DISTRICTS: Provide customized training sessions to support existing Lutheran schools’ leadership teams. The purpose of these boot camp-style gatherings is to explore expansion or transition from a traditional model to a variety of new potential approaches, such as microschools, hybrid schools, homeschool resource centers, and other emerging models. These have the potential to maintain quality while creating strong financial sustainability and scalability.
FOR INDIVIDUAL SITES: Support existing, struggling Lutheran schools with the capacity and leadership to transition their school to a new thriving school model. Potentially includes a Feasibility Study, our Design and Build services, and/or individualized coaching.
Our Beliefs
We believe there is one living and true God, existing in three co-equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, Luke 3:22). God creates, upholds, and governs all.
We believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in the earth (Genesis 1:1); that He is passionate about His relationship with His people (Exodus 34:14); that He hears and always answers prayer; that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him in faith through Jesus, His Son.
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, and teachings, His death on our behalf – which pays for our sins, His bodily resurrection (John 11:25) and ascension into heaven (Mark 16:19), and His visible return to earth on the final Day of Judgment (Matthew 25:31-32; I Corinthians 15:20-25).
We believe the Holy Spirit dwells within our hearts (Romans 8:25; 1 Corinthians 6:19) and produces in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are God’s words, fully inspired, without mistake in the original manuscripts, and the inerrant rule of faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
We believe all Christians are forgiven of their sins (Matthew 26:28; Mark 2:5) and considered to be holy by God (Romans 1:7). These Christians form the universal Church, a living spiritual body, of which Christ is the head and all born again persons are members (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). The members of this body are called to serve God through serving others (John 13:1-17). We believe that whoever wishes to become great among people should be a servant of people (Matthew 20:26) and that we should model our lives after the life of Christ, in that the Son of God did not come to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28).
We believe that all people are sinners and are under attack from Satan, the “world”, and even their own flesh (Revelation 12:17). All humankind is deserving of condemnation, but by His mercy God calls, gathers and enlightens us. Therefore, the repentant are justified (made right with God) by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ and only by God’s grace and through faith alone are we saved (John 3:16-19; John 5:24; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:23-25; Romans 5:8-9; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-10).
We believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting (John 3:16; 2:25: 5:11-13). We believe that those who have faith in Jesus Christ will rise with glorified bodies to everlasting life in heaven (Philippians 3:2; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52) and those who do not have faith in Christ will rise to eternal death in hell (John 5:28-29; Matthew 10:28; 25:46).
We believe the maturing Christian daily reads, meditates, and reflects on God’s Word (Psalm 1:2; John 5:39; Acts 17:11; Romans 15:4), communicates with God in prayer (Matthew 6:6; James 5:16b), worships God regularly with other Christians (Luke 4:8; John 4:24; Romans 12:1), and shares the reason for his/her hope with others in love and respect (1 Peter 3:15).
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