By Ruthann Raycroft

IN Charles Ringma’s reflections on the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he writes that community is never a gray uniformity, but a colourful participation ­– where male and female, rich and poor, young and old, able and disabled, can find a common, but diverse life together in Jesus.

Community is a fellowship which celebrates harmony rather than conformity, with a vision of life large enough to include all who wish to serve God in a variety of ways.

This is what the Society of Christian Schools in B.C. strives to be: a powerful community of like-minded people working together.

Our organization is made up of 45 Christian schools, almost 10,000 students, and more than 900 teachers and support staff – sharing a biblical vision for Christian education.

Following Jesus is a way of life – and Christian schools want to help teach that way of life every day, in every school activity.

SCSBC exists to help schools as they fulfil their mission to develop Christ-followers. We provide those things that no one school could or should do on its own – whether it is a newly-developed curriculum handbook; a specialist meeting for Learning Assistance teachers; support for enrolling international students; fundraising for new school facilities; a new policy on staffing; or a school evaluation.

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A community’s resources are never wasted: when Valley Christian School planned their relocation to Mission and needed a new building, they were put in touch with Penticton Christian School which had a modular facility for sale.

Textbooks can be shared; new ideas can be communicated; school personnel can fellowship and be encouraged; and the burden for complex legal and financial issues can be shared.

We all have much to offer each other. This is true of the SCSBC community of schools, and of the broader community of Christian school organizations.

What a blessing to labour together in Christ: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.” (Colossians 1:17-18a)

To learn more about the SCSBC, go to www.scsbc.ca.

Ruthann Raycroft heads SCSBC’s communications department.

August 2007