How do students, educators, and schools flourish together—especially in an era of increasing pressure from standardized testing, growing challenges to student mental health and well-being, and frequent educator burnout? Many schools strive toward academic achievement as their primary marker of success, but this well-meaning approach can lead to a reductionist view in which students are too often seen as statistics rather than whole human beings. Teachers, school leaders, parents, and of course students know that flourishing is a much broader and more holistic aim for education. But what is to be done?

The goal of this book is to call Christian educators back to a better vision of flourishing within a robust theological framework, with the practical guidance necessary for implementation. To accomplish this, Lynn Swaner and Andy Wolfe take readers through an exploration of five essential domains identified through extensive empirical research—purpose, relationships, learning, resources, and well-being.

An ideal resource for professional development and strategic planning, Flourishing Together persistently adheres to the principle that “anything that is worth building cannot be built alone.” Thus, the vision for flourishing here is one in which the school community is understood as an interconnected ecosystem, in which “each one’s flourishing is dependent on their flourishing together.” Accordingly, teachers and administrators will be inspired and equipped to reshape their schools as places where they—alongside their students—can flourish together in a community of abundant life.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One: Purpose

     1. Our Shared Calling

     2. Fullness of Life

     3. Reimagining Purpose

Part Two: Relationships

     4. Flourishing Relationships

     5. Abiding Together

     6. Reimagining Relationships

Part Three: Learning

     7. Learning for Flourishing

     8. Asking Questions

     9. Reimagining Learning

Part Four: Resources

     10. Educational Abundance

     11. Breaking Bread

     12. Reimagining Resources

Part Five: Well-Being

     13. Well-Being in Schools

     14. Jars of Clay

     15. Reimagining Well-Being

Epilogue