Changing Lives

The Need for Education Provides a Door for the Gospel

Lack of Education in the Dominican Republic (DR)

  • The DR is third to last in the world for quality of primary education. (2010 Global Competitiveness Report)
  • Only half of elementary students will finish the 4th grade, roughly a third will complete eighth grade and a mere 10% will graduate high school. (savethechildren.org)
  • 46% of under-educated girls become pregnant in their teens.
  • The DR has the lowest student scores in Latin America for reading comprehension, mathematics and science. (UNESCO’s SERCE) 
  • There is a severe shortage of teachers with most classrooms having over 50 students.

Additional Impacts in the Community of Jarabacoa

  • One in three teens do not attend school and fifty percent of these dropouts left because they didn’t have the funds to continue. 
  • The escalation of drug and alcohol use affects 46% of the teenage population.
  • Half of Jarabacoa’s residents depend on family members living in the US to send finances for subsistence living due to widespread unemployment.

Doulos Discovery School Offers a Gospel-Centered Solution

Doulos Discovery School was founded in 2002 in response to the significant lack of quality education and the need for the gospel in the DR. A pre-K through 12th grade bilingual school, Doulos provides 265 students with a high quality, college preparatory education each year. The Doulos mission is:

To educate and equip servant leaders through Christian discipleship and expeditionary learning to impact the Dominican Republic.

One of the exciting confirmations of our journey was discovering that the Doulos mission specifically aligns with the skills God has given us and the ministry vision He has placed on our hearts.

Educate and Equip:

Doulos: Doulos empowers students with a high quality, college readiness program.

Buehlers: With fifteen years of educational experience, Mike adds crucial expertise to the Doulos staff. His broad skill set fills a major void at Doulos and enable him to mentor other staff members, which will then equip them to better educate Doulos students.

Servant Leaders:

Doulos: Doulos places a strong emphasis on leadership through service. Their desire is that their students yield their lives in worship to God, which leads to serving Him and others.

Buehlers: The four of us have the daily opportunity to be servant leadership in action. We always look to finding ways to meet needs and share the love of Christ at the school, our church and throughout the community of Jarabacoa.

Christian Discipleship:

Doulos: Doulos seeks to exalt Christ at every turn, teaching students how to be His disciples in every aspect of life, including the academic subjects. As a Biblically integrated school, Doulos holds fast to God’s word and teaches each class from the perspective that God is the foundation for all truth.

Buehlers: Mike’s position as academic vide principal involves overseeing the development and implementation of all the biblical integration in the classes at Doulos. The goal is that all lessons are crafted in a way to intentionally lead students in learning through the lens of a Christian worldview with gospel discussion and application.

Impact the Dominican Republic:

Doulos: The desire of Doulos is to see students complete their post high school education internationally and then return to the DR to take on revolutionary roles in the leadership of the country.

Buehlers: While Mike’s primary role was to be a teacher, he quickly saw the hole that was needed in leadership and accepted the role of academic vice-principal. This allows him to shape revolutionary leaders through equipping the teaching staff. He also has a long term vision to provide gospel centered training to local educators in the DR to help create lasting educational and spiritual change for both students and teachers.

Let us answer your questions.