Christians &The Public Schools.

Where are the Christians in all of this? How many Christians have shown up at the school board meetings? We may not be in your school district but God is. Why have not the Christians gotten together and elected school board members like they did in Vista, CA a few years ago. I think it tells a lot about the strength of the Christians in your community. Why don’t you stand up and lead the way? I did that when I was pastoring even though I could only get one other pastor to go with me. The congregation I pastored was all in favor of it but the local pastors would not take a stand because they did not think it would do any good. The problem once it hit the local news and about one million people heard it was eradicated immediately. It’s about time some Christians toughen up instead of rolling over and playing dead.

I get most excited when my friends who are seminary professors tell me that they have some of the poorest prepared students they have ever seen today because so few know the Bible. That comes from the local churches.

In communism the students were taught atheism and the Christians then were some of the strongest in the world at the time.

 

JM: They have a responsibility to perform the duties of their job as they contracted to do. Separation of church and state doesn't mean that Christians stop being salt and light where they are. I Peter 3:15b says "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." It says a lot if the way you live your life shows such hope in Christ that it prompts questions.

JM: Between my wife and I, we're raising three of our younger brothers (2 of mine and 1 of hers) along with our son. The circumstances that brought them to us were traumatic. We felt that since they were spending 7-9 hours a day at school, with extra-curriculars and sports, we wanted them to have the comfort and care of a Christian environment. My wife's salary pays the tuition and fees. We've not observed many families that have been successful at home schooling, and since neither of us had a background in teaching, decided that her working and sending them to a Christian school was a better option.

JM: To be salt and light. The same role they have anywhere else in the community.

 

Where are the Christians in all of this? How many Christians have shown up at the school board meetings? We may not be in your school district but God is. Why have not the Christians gotten together and elected school board members like they did in Vista, CA a few years ago? I think it tells a lot about the strength of the Christians in your community. Why don’t you stand up and lead the way? I did that when I was pastoring even though I could only get one other pastor to go with me. The congregation I pastored was all in favor of it but the local pastors would not take a stand because they did not think it would do any good. The problem once it hit the local news and about one million people heard it was eradicated immediately. It’s about time some Christians toughen up instead of rolling over and playing dead.

I get most excited when my friends who are seminary professors tell me that they have some of the poorest prepared students they have ever seen today because so few know the Bible. That comes from the local churches.

In communism the students were taught atheism and the Christians then were some of the strongest in the world at the time.

 

Those are excuses. How many Christians are corporately praying? God is able to humble the masses. How big is your God? Is your God made with hands or is He infinite and eternal? When the world seems large God seems small. When your God is big the world seems small.

Jesus changed the world.

Your community is not nearly what Jesus faced. His followers were persecuted for their faith. Not too long ago the communists killed the Christians and yet the church grew. In fact the church today is growing the most where there is the most persecution.

When I read 1 Peter I see nowhere that God promises Christians comfort and ease when living out their faith in Christ. Do not buy into the health-wealth gospel like the TV preachers who like to suck people dry.

Your kids will influence others if they are encouraged and not taught to make excuses.

In the midst of adversity the apostles changed the world around them.

 

gb,
You and I are hearing two different things. It sounds to me like Ann is standing up and making a difference.

She has battles that I do not, because my school district is smack in the middle of the Bible Belt. And it sounds like she is handling them well.

 

I am sure she is making a difference. We communicate to our children what we believe. I communicate to my daughter that we have a great opportunity to reach people. It is like having a big audience observing our lives each moment.

She is still making excuses and talking like her vote is nothing. God is not about votes. He is all powerful. He could level that entire town in one swoop. God is waiting for the Christians to humble themselves and not come in their own strength. God is not mocked. God does things His way so He gets the glory. Too many people are taught to rely on themselves and not God. Too many are taught to rely on their own ability to manipluate the system and not God. They are taught nothing will happen until the Christians get together and vote.

Jesus changed the world and it was not a democracy. It was persecution time.

I pastored a church where I worked with a lady and single handedly God used her to make a change in a high schol which was unwilling to make that change. God did it in one five minute session on TV. A lady from the TV station called her and asked when she would be ready. She had never been on TV but when she was put on it was clear that God was the voice.

When things so often seem to break down that is when Christ in us shines. I find it extremely hard to reach people when the people look like those in the churches. Tehewider the difference the more noticeable my faith.

 

I sometimes feel that way about where I live. Nashville is full of churches but it is also full of people who are hostile toward God. The battle over public education here goes back to the days of segregated schools. The white Christians here fought integration tooth and nail, so part of the hostility, at least as far as the public school system is concerned, dates back to that. The continued battle, over philosophy and classroom content, is the current source of hostility toward Christians on the part of the public schools. The same approach that white Christians took regarding integration, demands, threats, angry accusations and attempts to use political pressure to get their way, are largely responsible for the difficulties.

We tried, when we first moved into this neighborhood, to identify other Christian families whose kids went to the public school, through a couple of the local churches, so that we could form a Christian parent/family support group. Neither church we approached was interested. One of them didn't want to work with families who went to other churches because they might have different doctrines or practices of which they didn't approve. The other one was pushing home school and trying to start a private school of their own and was discouraging any family from sending their kids to public school. Of course, there was no consideration given to the fact that they had church members for whom neither home school or private school was an option. I'd send my boys to public school, and be an advocate for being salt and light, if I knew there were other families there who were doing the same thing, and if they had a support system.

Eventually, Christians are going to have to do this sort of thing, since only about 10% of the population can now afford to send their kids to a Christian school, and homeschooling is not an option for working class parents, both of whom have to work just to meet expenses.

 

God may not be wanted there but He has you there.



I and many others do understand what you are going through. I have lived in areas where the churches are liberal but the godly Christians were strong. In one of the areas where I lived I got together with one man to pray three times a week for one hour each time. He had complained and I challenged him to pray with me. It wasn’t too long and we saw about 65 people who came to Christ. along came several others who were weak Christians. Out of that came several Bible studies. When we moved away to another area of the U.S. we saw Christians complaining about things my family saw as nothing.

A friend of mine tells the story about a time when he was on a oil rig out in the ocean and one time he complained to God about there not being any Christians. After his complaining he began to pray for the workers and soon he began a Bible study and was surrounded with Christians.

When I came to Christ my dad removed me from his will. Many of my relatives wanted nothing to do with me. My mother in law did not want much to do with me. In effect I stole her daughter from her.

In 2004 my grandmother died and when I looked around I realized that at one time I was the only Christian. Today most of them are Christians. My dad has changed his attitude a lot. He recently told me about how much he trusts me. One time he even visited me and heard me preach that day. My mother in law has been very gracious and generous to me. At the funeral one of my cousins came up to me and mentioned that at one time I was the only Christian. I prayed for them and continued to try my best to be the person I should be. Many times we never talked about Christ but at other times we had great discussions. People are looking at our behavior not just our talk. 27 years after I came to Christ my sister and her family came to Christ within a matter of a few months. Today all of them are involved as leaders in some kind of ministry in the church they attend that is just exploding with ministry.

I have had the battles in church too. I have been yelled at, lied to and lied about in the church. My daughter was been ridiculed by some church members. All of them who did that have gone down the wrong road since. One of them committed suicide a few years ago. One of the members told me later that he carried a gun to church because one of the deacons antagonized him. During that same time the church exploded with growth because God was working. At the same time Satan was working. Today the church is dead and back to its same ways. Out of that came new believers who are living for Christ. Most of them are going to another church.

Obviously the battle is present. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. When I have been in areas where there are few Christians they band together to pray for people and encourage one another. In other areas where things are comfortable the Christians are much weaker.

1 Peter 1:6 "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."

Be encouraged God is still at work. Sometimes it may not feel that way. Through it all you will grow and know God better. Keep praying for the antagonists. Keep praying for your enemies. God will work in a supernatural way.

Remember what Daniel encountered and how God blessed him.

 

When I pastored my first church a lady in the community asked for support on a school issue. It was about a vulgar book that students were required to read in English. I took it to the congregation. It was a church of about 16 people at the time. The teacher was approached in private by one lady from the congregation. She would not change. The superintendent was appraoched. He would not change. So we went to the school board. They did not get to us on the agenda. We were shunned. The school board would not listen. The teacher would not listen. I could not get any help from even one pastor in the area. Most of the pastors told me we would be ineffective and they did not participate in those things. We felt isolated. Finally after we exhausted all our ideas and ways one of the ladies asked me about what we should do. I mentioned for her to call the local TV station. That local TV station was in a city of close to one million people. We were a very small church in an outlying area and hardly anyone knew us. That lady received a call back and was told to be ready to be interviewed. A few days later she was called and the TV station interviewed her. Her story was put on the 6 o'clock news. Talk about prime time action. Immediately the school made a change.

Out of that came some great things. We had people who started coming who wanted to help us grow. We had people who already had experience in ministry. One man and his wife had 11 years fo experience in working with youth. One lady who came from 21 miles away had experience in working with the Billy Graham organization. Our prayers were answered beyondour dreams. We saw God answer the seemingly impossible. We knew that what we were seeing was not because of us.

 

1. What responsibilities does a Christian have if they are teaching in the state educational system? Where is the line, in your opinion, between Christian duty and the first amendment prohibition of separation of church and state?


The same responsibility that a Christian has in any other line of work. Why would one think there was a difference? Where do I draw the line? My rights end where someone else's begin. If I don't want a Muslim teacher teaching Islam to my child then I must respect a Muslim parent's right not to have a Christian teacher teaching their child Bible doctrine. There is a place for witnessing to children but it is not the public school system.

I had a problem last year with one of my daughter's teachers who barely stayed this side of the line when teaching the kids about Christianity. If I as a Christian was concerned about what doctrines he was teaching my child, how more so would a Muslim parent? It turned out that he and I agreed on most of what he taught and what we didn't agree on won't matter in eternity, but I still prefer to teach my children the finer points of Christianity myself. If I want that right, who am I to deny it to someone of a different (albeit wrong and on the road to hell) religion? This is America and if we truely believe in the precept of freedom of religion, then we Christian need to keep our word and allow everyone the same right.

2. For Parents: What is the deciding factors for you as to whether you educate your children in public school setting or other placement (home school or Christian School)?

That is a complicated question for anyone, but moreso for us because we have two chronically ill children. One must consider the environment created by the school district. If I were in Annsni's school district, I might make a very different decision from the one I've made. When my kids started there weren't resources for homeschooling like there are now so that wasn't even a consideration. Private Christian schools were available, but from personal experience I knew they were indoctrination machines first and educators second. I can indoctrinate my own child quite well, thank you, and that combined with the cost for said indoctrination with no better an education for my child than the public schools could offer made up our minds quite quickly.

I have to point out that our school district is in the top ten districts in the state. I should also tell you that I go to church with various board members, the superintendent and various other district admin. Our district is very tolorant of Christianity. Well, our district is very tolerant, period. We have a real world mix of people and lifestyles in this rather small town of ours. We manage to get along because of our Christians not in spite of them and we do not make our schools a battleground.

Now I said that our case was more complicated than most because of the kids illnesses. Our eldest manages to attend school about two thirds of the days. Our son only manages about half of days. Homeschooling has come up more than once. It is very hard for a child to make up that much missed work. But, here again, our school district has come through with solutions that work. Yes, it was a battle to begin with. Mostly because the district didn't understand what was allowable under the truancy laws. Once they figured out that those laws weren't applicable to folks in our situtation, and that took an entire year, we have gotten great cooperation.

I had rather stay in the system, because of the support and accountability involved. We aren't going to get too far behind because there is someone standing there telling us what to do next and helping us to set goals. I wouldn't have that kind of support if I homeschooled and it would be easy to let things slide when our son gets into a 3 or 4 week long migraine cycle.

3. What role do Christians have, in your opinion, in the public schools?

See my answer to question number one. Our role in the public schools is the same as in any other place. We do not have to be preaching to be sharing our Christianity. Our Christianity should show in our very actions throughout the day even if a scripture or prayer never escapes through our lips.

 

A child's parents should teach them about the Bible and Jesus. Second comes the church and Sunday school. Why should the government teach children religion? I wouldn't want them to do that.

 

Get a copy of the book Unmasking the New Age by Douglas R. Groothuis. It is a powerful book. You would be amazed at how much is being taught in churches today.

 

Ann, we ended up adding and entire room onto our house to hold all the books. You know what? We still don't have enough space! The shelves are packed two books deep and some are laying on top of the others. I've been cleaning out the kids books today and gave about half of them away. Wish I could do that with T's tech books, but I'd be in trouble if I tried. (My books of course are too valuable to toss. )

 

Satan can't be shut out of anything that is of this world. The church and our own beliefs provide a haven against the devil. You won't find one anywhere else.