For the six years I served as a church youth director, I was determined to communicate the gospel of Christ to any teenagers within my sphere of influence. I desperately wanted to see lives changed but was repeatedly discouraged that my influence and love were counteracted—often overtly—by an opposing culture that our students found themselves in eight hours a day and five days a week at public school.

I always was thankful for Christian teachers who made the best of the unique opportunities their positions afford them. This year, I became one of them. Now, I continue the same mission of discipling teenagers; and I may actually have some advantages over my church-based co-laborers.

Since starting as a high school teacher, I’ve seen firsthand how students receive a peer-driven education in the areas of cheating and laziness, the desperate humor of insults, the inflated status of physical beauty and sexuality, the absurdity of making moral decisions and the prestige and self-glory of winning, all this in a context where “time with God” is apportioned into fleeting extracurricular periods.

My experience has reinforced my conviction that we cannot sit back and hope more unchurched adolescents might wander into church events or studies. God deserves better, and I believe He demands more. There are millions of students attending public schools who desperately need a youth pastor. We need to focus on making a greater difference on school campuses.

The sheer numbers of young people in public schools astound me. The average church-based youth group in my area draws about the same number of students as a one-period class at my high school. There is also a different population at school, where I teach a diverse group (racially, socio-economically and culturally) that seems largely absent from many Christian communities.

In this school environment, local people are granted unequalled time with the high school students from our neighborhoods. With this access comes an unprecedented availability to serve the various needs of our teenagers. Teachers get the kind of proximity and access each week that youth pastors only can hope for on occasional retreats and trips. With that level of convenient closeness are opportunities to present a life of integrity that is rare in most classrooms, hallways and cafeterias.

In fact, any teacher or student who demonstrates a commitment to transparent virtue or godliness truly stands out in public schools, where authentic Christ-like integrity is distinctive, often bordering on brazen and countercultural. While there are more rules—even laws—regarding appropriate discourse pertaining to Christ between students and teachers, there is no question that good character, morality and spirituality are areas in which many adolescents seek guidance.

I don’t believe all youth pastors should quit their jobs and get teacher certifications. Full-time youth work is a necessary and important calling that requires an extraordinary heart. Youth pastors certainly have opportunities to develop relationships that teachers can’t.

There are a multitude of opportunities for church workers to partner with and equip public educators as they cooperatively try to reach the next generation. Christian teachers, as well as youth pastors, have the opportunity to be missionaries in a truly foreign, yet truly local, culture on the nearest public high school campus where their authentic compassion is desperately needed.

Together, teachers and youth workers can serve today’s kids.