Adapted from FAQs:
Some say that it costs the American church over $130,000 to reach one person, but the School Chaplain Program can reach a person for just 10 cents. How is the SCP able to reach so many for so little?
It is about leverage, sound business principles, and a flat organizational model. Our inspiration was taken from Acts 19:9-10 (text in bold letters are my emphasis):
“But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took the disciples away with him, and had discussions daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”
According to Barna Group research, 85% of the body of Christ decided for Jesus between the ages of 4 and 14. Every single salvation is immensely important, but from a strictly efficiency standpoint, concentrating on the highest yielding group — sometimes referred to as the 4/14 window — has proven extremely profitable.
PK-12th grade education is the largest network on earth. It surpasses every other group many times over. With very rare exceptions, every single member of society passes through the institution of school at some point. In developing nations, approximately 50% of the population is comprised of school-age children, parents of school-age children, or people involved in PK-12 education.
PK-12 education corrals the target group of 4 to 14-year-olds. Schools provide the infrastructure, buildings, chairs, sound systems, lighting, and even free public transportation. Schools also provide communication channels to minors and their families. The most powerful reason why the School Chaplain Program is so incredibly efficient is that no change in routine is required. No swapping bowling night for midweek services or Sunday morning sports for worship. Daily routines stay exactly the same.
With all the advantages of preaching and teaching the Gospel in school, it is easy to see why the Apostle Paul redirected his efforts to the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9-10). By doing so, he brought a large geographic area into the knowledge of God!
The obstacle in reaching PK-12 school children involves getting past the political citadels guarding public education from the perceived nemesis of Christianity. Mission Generation discovered that, without exception, education professionals and parents saw the value of school counselors. They recognized the need for Biblical ethics, hope, faith, and love, regardless of their religious background. The key to entry was to offer a high-quality spiritual school counselor (chaplain) training program that would satisfy the needs of education professionals and parents.
The ministry’s highly-skilled technicians created phone apps, websites, blogs, vlogs and LMS (learning management systems) that monitor training, administer social media pages, and host webinars. The ministry’s technology team also provides technical assistance to national, state, and municipal governments as well as school districts, educational institutions, and teacher unions.
Offering the above services fosters inter-institutional trust and healthy relations which allow the School Chaplain Program to use (leverage) public education as a platform to teach and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As such, we leverage the massive network of public education for the Gospel, and the cost to the ministry is just 10¢ a person!
Strategic Philosophy
Mission Generation’s strategic philosophy can be summed up in a word – leverage.
In a broad sense, Mission Generation’s strategic philosophy is like Uber. Uber is the largest cab company in the world, yet they do not own a single taxi. Uber provides a platform for drivers to connect with people needing a ride. In doing so, they provide personal transportation as well as income for drivers — without the responsibility, maintenance, insurance, or liability of owning a fleet of automobiles. They leverage millions of automobiles with a digital program.
When Uber was birthed, many people tilted their heads and asked, “You want to be a global cab company without owning any cars?” Yet Uber has become an international giant, the largest cab company in the world. Think of Mission Generation like Uber, but for Jesus.
Leverage is a business term which means “reach a large mass of people with the Good News of Jesus Christ on a tiny budget.” To accomplish this, Mission Generation utilizes digital technology to leverage school facilities and faculties to deliver the Gospel to the largest group of unreached people in the world – school-age children. Leveraging existing infrastructure allows the ministry to maximize the impact of every penny and every minute of effort to best represent the heart of our partners.
If you look deeper into the ministry’s strategic philosophy, you may be surprised to find that the resources being leveraged, institutional and human, are often worldly and sometimes even outright demonic. That’s right, Mission Generation utilizes worldly and demonic resources to preach the Gospel. The idea of God using the devil’s assets is well established in the Bible. Numerous passages recount how the Lord turned the enemies’ resources on themselves. My favorite is when young David used Goliath’s own sword to cut off the giant’s head in I Samuel 17:51.
A great example of this concept was expressed by a Roman general who ordered his quartermaster to pack provisions for a two-day march. The quartermaster replied, “But master, we will not engage the enemy for three days.” “Yes”, the general replied, ”That day we will eat the lunch of our enemy.” A cliché was born.
Eating the enemy’s lunch requires solving problems and overcoming challenges in ways more common with business acumen. One example of how the ministry accomplishes this is how it responds to the universal shortage of school counselors in the developing world. We reshaped our Bible courses into a high-quality, spiritual school counselor training (chaplain) program that meets every academic requirement. The School Chaplain Program offers a post-baccalaureate degree in spiritual school counseling and school chaplaincy with international certification and accreditation.
It costs governments billions of dollars to provide public education for PK to 12th grade students. The average cost per student in the nations where we work is $2500 per annum. We leverage the massive network of public education for the Gospel for just 10¢ a person! This equates to a $25,000 to $1 leverage!
Financial support for Mission Generation can therefore be equated with the two-day march in our previous example. Ministry funding is used to put teams in the field, positioning them to use the very resources the left uses to indoctrinate children. In so doing, the ministry delivers the saving grace Jesus Christ and the hope of the Gospel for a dime.
Mission Generation has been placed at the vanguard of Kingdom expansion by leveraging school faculties and facilities to the Glory of God thanks to the prayers and financial support of our partners.
A study by the Springdale Research Institute characterizes the condition of young people under age 25 as conducive to the success of the School Chaplain Program. Gen Z birth years are 1997 to 2012-15, and are currently aged 6 to 24. Other nicknames for this population are iGeneration, Post-millennials, or Homeland Generation. The average Gen Z-er received their first mobile phone at age 10. Many of them grew up playing with their parents’ mobile phones or tablets. They have grown up in a hyper-connected world and the smartphone is their preferred method of communication. On average, they spend 3 hours a day on their mobile device. The study reveals why campus chaplains are so very successful.
