Youth spend far more time in school than church. Yet, most youth workers rarely set foot inside their local schools, leading some to argue that our schools are the church’s forgotten mission field.
Because of the demanding needs that schools have, in addition to their increasing influence on youth, youth workers no longer can afford to ignore the education system. To better equip youth workers to partner with their local schools, we talked with four ministry experts in church and school partnerships.
Introduced to the Christian faith by a teacher, Paul Gibbs knows firsthand just how important ministry with schools is. He is the founder of The Pais Project, which offers apprenticeships for young adults, training them to teach and serve in local schools while connecting their students to local churches.
Will Babilonia is the Colorado Community Church, Aurora Campus, youth pastor. Passionate about ministry to schools, he has led seminars, titled “Developing a Meaningful Relationship with Your Local School Campus,” at the National Youth Workers Convention.
After working on several educationrelated campaigns, Chris Butler is now the lay leader of Chicago’s 2020 Vision, an organization with the goal of transforming the culture of education, including the quality of instruction and the overall school experience, before today’s first graders graduate from high school in 2020.
Professor John Turner teaches at the University of South Alabama. His book, Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America, analyzes evangelical efforts to restore American education to its “Christian roots.”
YouthWorker Journal: How big a deal is it for youth workers to build relationships with local schools? Why?
Will Babilonia: I think it’s a really big deal because God cares for the city to which He has called us. Schools are the place where our teens spend a large percentage of their time and form much of their worldview. We want our kids and their teachers to prosper. As
John Turner: They’re important because a relationship of some sort is going to exist. Even if a school administration initially is hostile, youth workers should seek to improve the relationship over time by expressing respect for school administrators and by patiently explaining their approach to ministry. Often, Christians presume hostility or resistance is implacable; but as ambassadors for Christ, we have an obligation to seek reconciliation.
Chris Butler: I think it’s a huge deal. It’s getting increasingly difficult to get young people to the actual church building. It’s becoming necessary to get into the places where young people already are. What better place for this than schools? Getting involved with the schools is a great way to reach the youth in the neighborhoods where our churches are.
YWJ: How have junior- and senior-high schools changed in the last 10-20 years?
Paul Gibbs: The changes in the schools reflect the changes in young people. Young people are far more relational now. Schools are looking for genuine relationships they can trust within the school community.
Will: Schools are more protective than ever. School shootings have made school officials guarded about “strangers” on campus. However, when youth workers look for ways to serve their local schools without an agenda, they earn trust.
John: From a historical perspective, it’s fascinating how much things have changed in the past 50 years. Before the early 1960s, many public schools still began their days with prayer. When organizations such as Young Life began their work, they entered schools that for the most part still endorsed at least a vague Christianity. During the past 15 years, schools have become much more wary of lawsuits from groups opposed to any apparent endorsement of Christianity.
Chris: There have been a lot of shifts in the quality of education. The quality of the actual education is outdated. We’re educating students for a world that no longer exists. The world is so much smaller; it’s more technological. Yet, we still have the same regimen of education. The quality of the atmosphere of education is chaotic. In the urban context, there’s so much disunity; no one trusts anyone. There’s violence, drugs, promiscuity. All of these things are in the schools. The actual job of teaching gets pushed way down on the list of things to do because instructors are dealing with all these other issues.
YWJ: What steps can youth ministries take to establish partnerships with local schools?
Will: First, check your heart. What are your motives? Do you want to serve your school to better your reputation or God’s? Next, pray. Ask God to break your heart for the staff and students; to help you serve with no strings attached; and for favor with parents, teachers and administrators. Introduce yourself to, and follow up with, the adults on campus. Ask the leadership of the school how you can serve them. Be prepared to tutor, provide school supplies and mentor, among other tasks. Serve to meet spoken needs, not what you think is needed. When a door is opened for you, be consistent! Nothing will cause greater skepticism among school leaders than not following through on your word.
Chris: Begin to pray for the school. Once you’ve made that spiritual and heart connection with the school, start serving. Don’t try to start a Bible club or an outreach. Instead, go to the school and talk to the principal. Ask, “What do you need? How can we help?” There are a lot of educators who know what to do but who don’t have the resources to do those things. Whenever churches can help bear the load, it helps educators who know where to begin to get it done. So ask what a school needs, then do that. This builds trust with the principal. Once you’re serving in the school, use volunteers to become a presence in the school. Schools need hall monitors, classroom aides, etc. Once that presence is established, that’s when the firm relationship is established. The sky is the limit after that. You can advocate inside the school or on behalf of the school because now it’s your school.
YWJ: What are some common youth ministry attitudes or practices that actually hinder partnerships with schools?
Paul: Prepackaged ideas, such as motivational speakers, curricula or musicians we present to schools when we think we understand their needs, actually limit us. Also, an isolationist view that says we have to do it all and cannot partner with anyone else—that’s more about conquest than partnership. A lack of understanding of what teachers really need is detrimental, as is the fear of not knowing what to do. If most youth workers were given the opportunity to go inside a school, they wouldn’t know what to do. Traditionally, we train youth pastors how to teach in church—not outside of it. If youth workers feel ill-equipped to minister in schools, they won’t.
Chris: Often we want to do the very thing I tell the churches not to do—start a Bible club or hold an outreach—things that don’t really help the relationship. It becomes adversarial because you’re trying to bring your program into the schools instead of trying to build that relationship with them. Secondly, there are still youth ministries holding the belief their primary place of ministry is inside the church. That’s a bad paradigm because it’s not the way the world works anymore.
YWJ: How would you respond to youth workers who voice concerns about having to tone down the explicitly Christian nature of their work in order to partner with schools? What legal issues do youth workers need to be aware of as they establish partnerships with schools?
Paul: This is a process that takes a long time. We have to lead people on a journey. There were certain restrictions to which Jesus adhered, but He provoked questions. Jesus also turned questions around to get back to the real issue. We don’t have to compromise; we just have to learn to teach in a way that leads to conversations.
Will: Never try to play tough with the administration when it comes to “student rights” and your presence on campus. It’s their responsibility to be gatekeepers. You need to be an asset to them, not a liability. The gospel is more show than tell. If the opportunity to bring up issues of faith presents itself, take it. However, never force discussions about your faith or make it a condition of your service to the school.
John: Realize a variety of strategies are sometimes necessary to introduce students to Jesus. Paul recognized that need on Mars Hill, so we can recognize the validity of subtle approaches at local schools. Once relationships are formed, there will be plenty of opportunities for witnessing, prayer and discipleship. Students typically want authentic relationships and friendship before anything else.
Chris: It’s important to be aware there is an official separation of church and state. It’s equally important to realize churches have been working with schools for a long time. There are ways to do that without violating any laws.
YWJ: What else should we know about this issue?
Paul: The tide is turning. We need to worry less about the politics of getting into schools. If we can do our part well, schools will open to us and we can successfully build bridges between them and our churches.
Will: We need to expand our view from “ministry at the school” to “ministering to the school.” Campus ministry is more than grabbing lunch with kids on or near campus. Making mealtime our main focus of campus ministry can be seen with skepticism by administrators who feel we’re only there to proselytize. Our involvement should be more than just encouraging our teens’ participation in a school Bible club.
Chris: There is tremendous need for partnerships between churches and schools. Churches actually can make a huge difference in their local schools. Successful partnerships between churches and schools also benefit the churches in big ways. The church is healthier because the partnership gives opportunities for everyone to be involved in the work of the church in a meaningful way. It moves people from the pews to serve and engages them in living out the gospel.
Suggested Resources:
2020 Vision:
http://jeremydelrio.com/blog/
Pais Project:
http://www.paisproject.com/
2020 Vision – Chicag
http://visionnehemiah.homestead.com/
