In the mid-90’s, as Westminster Presbyterian Church approached its 1999 bicentennial, its church leaders realized they lacked a clearly identifiable mission. Looking closely at the church's mission program, the church was given a small amount of money to support over 30 different organizations. “By trying to be all things to so many organizations, we weren’t really being effective for any of them,” says Westminster Pastor Sandy McConnel. Then, in 1996 after thoughtful prayer,  our congregation’s staff and lay leaders developed the idea that would one day grow into what is now School Church Partners.

The church approached a nearby elementary school, Van Cleve School for the Arts (K-6), offering to help in whatever area the school needed. Due to the importance of the Ohio Proficiency Tests, it was mutually decided that a tutoring program would be most beneficial. A small group of volunteers from the church went to the school one day per week to tutor. Soon after, we added a “Student of the Month” pizza party at the church. The following year we expanded tutoring to two days and moved  the program to the church. As time went by, we committed ourselves to do more and more for the school. For a list of all SCP activities, see School Church Partnership Ideas.

More and more church members saw the opportunity for mission work right here in our own back yard of Dayton, Ohio. Showing their faith by their works (James 2:18), many members of the congregation pitched in to assist in the partnership. Now, nearly every relational group in the church has committed itself to assisting the school in some way or other. Who benefits? The students, their families and the teachers of Van Cleve Elementary School.

We think we have a real success story here, and we want to share our joy, our feeling of accomplishment and our enthusiasm with you.