Nestled against the beautiful Rincon Mountains, in a cozy nook of the Sonoran Desert in Vail AZ, shines the aptly named Creation School, a ministry of Christ Lutheran Vail Church - where the thrill of learning meets the wonder of God’s creation and the joy of Jesus’ love.
In the Fall of 2012, Administrative director Jennifer Hook envisioned a Christian early childhood center and by 2013 Creation Preschool and Parent’s Day Out was created! Starting with 5 students and a part-time teacher in a modular classroom, ten years later there are now 100 students from Early Learners (2 years old) through 6th grade occupying 4 buildings and 8 classrooms. Truly God @ Work! Expansion plans include the addition of four more modular buildings to serve 7th and 8th grade students next year.
Pastor David Hook explains, “We are ONE ministry!” We embrace this! We teach Christian beliefs from a Lutheran perspective based on the Word of God. The church and school work hand in hand to create cross-over ministry between the daily work and Sunday morning.”
The combined ministry vision is to be a life-changing connection to Christ in our world. “Go unto all the world and preach the Gospel to all Creation.” (Mark 16:15) This is practiced daily by our staff and families – and especially so during the pandemic. Creation School was blessed to continue opening their doors, arms and hearts to the community while local schools closed. God has blessed Creation School with increased enrollment and a caring, passionate staff.
Creation School’s mission is equipping students through rigor, relevance, and relationships, leading their families, communities, and the world as loving followers of Jesus. This is evident each day in their interactive classrooms, natural, desertscape playground where water play overflows, and weekly Chapel services, in which students produce, perform and deliver God’s message with Scripture stories, singing and signing (ASL) Christian songs.
The church and school also enjoy a partnership with the Vail community and school district, including diaper drives, food bank grocery collection, even a community block party with local authors to promote literacy. Through these interactions, students see the positive impact on their community and learn how to use their gifts to serve others.
Their encouragement to PSD ministries is to be open to the call of the Spirit. Ten years ago, content to be a small preschool, they little knew that God was leading them to a call far exceeding expectations or experience. God has guided the church and school through the challenges of Covid, put people in place to bless them and move the vision forward, and opened doors during three construction projects. Pastor Hook shared, “As we look ahead to the next season of growth, we know that our school is a testimony to God’s great wonders and love.” Amen!
Enable more stories of transformed lives through Jesus
Untold thousands are still in darkness, lost like “sheep that have gone astray”. But this is exactly the mission our Lord has created His Church for – reaching the lost for Jesus’ sake in as many ways as necessary. This is the purpose for which our 300 churches and 150 schools were founded in their many contexts. And “the fields are ripe for the harvest” right now!
Your gifts are critical and enable us to continue and expand our shared work together, fulfilling the PSD mission of effectively resourcing congregations and schools for transforming lives and making the Great Commission REAL!
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