For years, a strong conviction has shaped how Missionary Ventures thinks about Christian education: schools don’t transform because of a new curriculum or a fresh coat of paint. They transform because of the people leading them.
That conviction shaped Pathways to School Strengthening (PaSS) — a full pathway for helping Christ-centered schools grow, not a single tool or a one-time fix. PaSS meets a school wherever it is, from its very first year to its most established, and walks alongside it through whichever combination of assessment, coaching, training, and partnership it needs next.
PaSS grew out of one specific piece of that pathway: a school assessment tool. While developing it, MV missionary and Global School Strengthening Ministry Leader Sarah Amador realized mentoring was at the heart of the process. Schools didn’t simply need an assessment — they needed someone to walk alongside them as they pursued lasting change. That recognition is what grew a single assessment into a full, multi-phase pathway now serving school leaders in eight countries around the world, with new partnerships that will expand MV’s reach even further.
The Problem With “Fixing” a School
Christian schools in under-resourced parts of the world often face the same well-meaning but incomplete solution: an outside expert arrives, runs an assessment, hands over a report, and leaves. The school is told what’s wrong. Rarely is anyone still there to help fix it.
“So many of the schools I have worked with have a real desire to see their schools improve, but the limitations of their leaders’ capacity, tight budgets, and the numerous fires they have to put out day after day mean they often don’t make it very far down the school improvement path,” Sarah shared. She continued, “Many of the processes or tools that were available to help them were also quite expensive. We wanted to support leaders where they found themselves in ways that would actually help them, not just create another task or burden to bear.”
That gap — between diagnosis and actual change — is what the School Strengthening team set out to close.
A Different Way: Mentoring, Not Managing
PaSS was built around a simple belief: healthy schools begin with healthy leaders, and healthy leaders are grown through relationship, not hierarchy. Rather than a one-time visit, PaSS walks alongside a school’s leadership over an extended season — building trust, asking good questions, and helping leaders see their own school’s next step, rather than being handed to someone else’s checklist.
Maria Merlo, the school director of Master’s Footsteps in Honduras, had high expectations for the program.
“From my perspective, I believe it is going to help us a lot in strengthening what we do, because we are reminded of our purpose as a Christian institution: that we are forming citizens, not only in the academic, but also in the spiritual. That is what makes us different from other schools,” Merlo shared. “This program will help us do that better, and we are thankful for the support this provides in the process.”
The Pathway, Phase by Phase
PaSS isn’t a single program. It’s a pathway made up of distinct phases and offerings, and a school can enter wherever it fits their season and needs:
- School Start-Up — for schools just beginning, support in launching well from day one.
- School Assessment & Strengthening Program — schools can begin here, or arrive after Start-Up, and enroll in a guided assessment of where they stand. While enrolled, they receive free coaching to walk through the process successfully.
- Mentoring & Coaching — coaching continues beyond the assessment phase, at a sliding-scale fee, to help a school implement its plan. Leaders who want to give back can also train as PaSS mentors themselves, supporting other schools in their area.
- Ongoing Professional Development — through regional partners or PaSS-developed training modules, school leaders and teachers get the continued training they need to carry out their plans well.
- University Credentials — educators and school leaders will be able to pursue accredited, affordable graduate credentials as part of their professional growth.
- Schools of Influence — schools that have grown into models of excellence turn around and help strengthen others, repeating the PaSS cycle within their own region.
Project Alas is MV’s school start-up partner, and they currently have 72 new schools, with interest growing every day. The assessment and strengthening program has 9 active schools in the assessment process, and 5 that have completed the process. They represent 9 different countries and are all at different stages of development. The Pilpes in Ecuador are actively working on establishing university credentials for national partners through Southeastern University and Misceo. There are discussions with three different US Christian schools that want to partner with the network of schools as a School of Influence. At each phase of the pathway, new growth and partnerships are sprouting.
A Growing Team, A Growing Reach
As the network of coaches and schools grows, the ripple effect of strengthening Christian education can be seen beyond school grounds and across 9 countries and growing.
The program has trained three coaches in English and four in Spanish, with an asynchronous course in development so other leaders can become trained in coaching as they support their schools in the strengthening process.
These schools range from a school for orphans in Malawi without a school building to a twice-accredited school in the Dominican Republic. There are schools with higher levels of development pursuing further growth in South Korea, Nicaragua, Kenya, and Tanzania, while there are many church schools in Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras doing everything they can to better serve their students.
What Changes for a Teacher
Numbers and frameworks only tell part of the story. The real measure of PaSS is what happens inside a single classroom, with a single teacher, over time.
Loyda Castillo, director of Nicaragua Christian Academy Nejapa, has experienced the benefits of having a coach.
“Receiving coaching since the beginning of my leadership role as director has had a significant and positive impact on my professional development and as a leader,” she shared. “It has allowed me to strengthen my abilities, widen my perspective, and have a different vision for leadership. I have learned to make decisions with more confidence, listen actively, delegate responsibilities, and communicate more effectively with my team. It has also helped me overcome fear when I’ve made the wrong decision, which has allowed me to take on new challenges and develop a more strategic vision for our school. I am able to lead with empathy, responsibility, and commitment to everyone’s growth, thanks to the mentoring I have received. She has been there for me in difficult times in both my personal and professional life. When I have wanted to quit, she has listened to me and been a pastoral voice in my life. This is real Christian coaching. After Christ, she is my example to follow, and inspires me to leave the same impact in my team and personnel.”
Ana Cecilia Espinoza, the inclusive education coordinator at NCA Nejapa, had a similarly positive experience.
“My ongoing training through mentoring, both as one who is mentored as well as being a mentor to my team, has been the key to seeing a pedagogical evolution in our teachers, which has led to a positive change in our institution,” Espinoza said. “This bidirectional mentoring, with leaders being mentored and us then mentoring our staff, has facilitated a transformation in our school that has led to significant educational change and improvement in accessibility for all students.”
Why This Matters Beyond One School
Because many of the schools in this network have very limited resources, the team has committed to keeping mentoring accessible regardless of a school’s ability to pay. That commitment only works because of a strong base of people who believe in the vision enough to fund it — prayerfully, financially, and professionally.
“The element that always sparks excitement in those engaging with the Pathway is the possibility of connection,” Amador says. “The idea that as they grow, others grow alongside them, and that they can create networks of other Christian educators in other parts of the world doing the same thing they are. We pray and envision a growth in this network over the next few years. That more schools would join the pathway, but above all, that it would not be a once-and-done experience; rather, it begins a relationship that grows throughout the years, seeing schools and educators strengthened together,” she explained. “We hope to see our partnerships across the path become well-established, and even more schools join the process where it best serves them.”
How You Can Be Part of It
This work doesn’t happen without a strong network of people who believe in it. There are a few ways to partner:
- Pray — for wisdom as the team works across multiple cultures, discerning how to lead well and invest in people where they are.
- Give — financial partnership helps fund the ongoing mentoring relationships that make lasting change possible.
- Serve professionally — education professionals interested in mentoring a school or sharing training and resources are always welcome to reach out.
- Connect — if you know someone who’d be interested in this work, or want to learn more yourself, reach out for a conversation.
Because when leaders grow, schools grow — and students are impacted for generations.