New family onboarding: Community and support in a Christian environment
As Christians, we are called to be in community with one another. As Hebrews 10:25 calls us to do, we must not give up on meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, and in a time where more and more people, regardless of religious beliefs, are more prone to isolate, we must hold onto these words now more than ever.
While forming strong connections with those around us may come naturally to some, it can certainly be intimidating to others. Not everyone can just plug themselves into a new Christian community without any prior connections or guidance. This just makes it all the more special when the community itself steps in to personally offer a guiding hand.
For new EC families, Elisa Duger is that guiding hand. Despite her and her family only having been connected to EC for two years, she has already become an ambassador for new families, aiming to answer the question, “How can we help onboarding new families with no prior EC connections?”
To solve this challenge, Duger, in partnership with Eastern Christian School administrators, has provided multiple points of contact for people to get to know the children and parents of EC. Just this past summer, she organized playdates for several new families, inviting existing families to help make connections, making phone calls to brand new families so that they have contact information for other families more familiar with the school and held events on both the middle and high school campuses. At the middle school, the parents met with principal Dan Lazor where he went over pick-up, drop-off, and cell phone policies while the kids were in classrooms getting to know each other and their new teachers. At the high school, a teen hangout was held where the new students played board games and video games while Duger would spend time with parents in the courtyard and take questions. One of the more recent onboarding events took place at Duger’s house where parents met various members of the board. The purpose of this get-together was for the parents to get to know each branch of the school and their roles, as well as how new families can get involved in this Christian school community. This was a major event with about 70 people attending.
Overall, EC has been incredibly intentional of late about providing opportunities to build community through parent-church-school partnership. While part of EC’s mission statement is to “assemble a caring, culturally diverse community…” it’s the part that immediately follows that’s extra important in this instance. That part being, “…with the support of parents and local churches…” Becoming part of a community can ironically be a lonesome task for those who are more introverted or just have no idea where to start, but thankfully, we’re not meant to do this alone. EC sets a wonderful example for other Christian schools and communities, as well as other school and communities in general, by providing the warmest of first impressions that aim to take as much tension off of new families as possible.
