(You can think either red or yellow-or maybe even both/and.)

You can get stuck in a paradigm if you don’t push yourself to look for another option.  There is a tendency to think two-dimensionally and miss the alternative that may lead you to the best decision.  Orange thinking suggests that instead of thinking in terms of “either/or,” you see what happens by merging the ideas or maybe coming up with a totally different option.

Some churches struggle with the idea of whether or not they should start a “Christian” private school, a trend among many churches in recent years in order to “protect kids from the humanistic influences of a secular education.”  What’s really best?  Should the church start a private school for their Christian kids or should the church try to send Christians to influence the public school?  It’s an ongoing debate.  Do you think red or do you think yellow?  Well here’s an Orange thought.  What if a church decided to start a public school?  That’s sort of what Cedar Valley Church decided to do.  They have been praying for God to give them an opportunity to reach more people.  Well, you know what can happen when you ask God for something.

So when they got a phone call from a group who wanted to start a charter school, they had a dilemma.  (A charter school is a publicly-funded school with fewer regulations than a traditional private school).  Since they had actually purchased their church from a public school system, it was perfectly suited to house the needs of a school.  It has a large atrium for parent functions, a 1600-seat sanctuary, gym and a large playing field with a playground, tennis courts, basketball courts and softball field.  In addition, there are classrooms already designed for elementary student use.  And did we mention they had been praying to influence unreached families in their community?  So the staff at Cedar Valley Church had to decide if they were willing to allow teachers and kids from their surrounding neighborhoods to use their church five days a week.

It was probably not the first or second idea they would have come up with, but it was definitely a way to gain influence and respect with families.  Then, according to the leaders at Cedar Valley, they were thrown a curve.  The Minnesota State Department of Education stepped in and said they would have to take anything that was considered to be “Christian” off the walls during school hours. 

(Some Christians picket government buildings when they take Scripture off the walls.  What do you do when they ask you to take it down in your church?)

So Cedar Valley did what most churches would do… well, maybe not.  They found common ground with the Department of Education.  They redesigned their hallways around virtues that are based on Scripture but did it in a very non-threatening way.  Since they used 252 Basics, they found an artist to design an everyday illustration in a kid’s world that demonstrated the virtue (with permission from rethink of course).  Then they created 36 separate pieces of art to illustrate the principles to Christian and non-Christian families.  When they installed their “virtue wall” this March, they were actually able to synchronize what the church taught kids biblically with what the schools would teach kids about character.  And they did it in a way that respected both organizations.

What really made the idea Orange was how it rallied parents in their community and church.  Their strategy was to have a visual reminder to parents in the church and school of the need for partnership to raise their kids.  Now, even parents who don’t attend Cedar Valley are starting to learn the value of getting involved with the moral development of their own children.