Christian Clubs in Public Schools

Why should churches get involved?

Churches are major stakeholders in schools as the church's kids attend the local school. Therefore, parents in the local church are already familiar with their local school and are aware of ways they can support their school. This is coupled with the basic Christian tenets of love and good works. Most churches want to be a blessing to their neighborhoods and bring hope and the love of God to their local school.

Churches Partner With Public Schools

On Average there are 14 Churches for each school. AND YET IT'S DIFFICULT TO FIND CHURCHES TO GET INVOLVED IN SCHOOLS

Most children who attend the local church also attend the local school. Parents are connected to both institutions. What other local organization has such a direct link to the school?

This is why the NEA, the Department of Education, the White House and 13 other federal agencies are calling upon faith-based organizations to get involved in their local schools.

HOW TO SET UP A PARTNERSHIP

www.weeblycloud.com/editor/main.php#/ Meet With The Principal
Finding out the the objectives of principal, guidance counselor, teachers and administrators helps in addressing certain issues and adjusting the character based education towards those needs. This meeting will help identify what other after-school enrichment programs are currently offered in the school and how the Torch club, or however you name the club, will best fit in.

For Elementary Schools, we recommend a six week program one day a week after school twice a year, in the fall and spring semester, depending on the school's schedule. A good time to start the club is about a month after the school year begins so that students are adjusted to school but the club will be done before the Christmas activities. In spring you can to start in mid to late January to prevent conflicts with sports activities but programs in April and May work as well. These are just suggestions as you need to integrate with your calendar. This meeting will help to get information about school policies concerning clubs during non instructional time. An elementary level christian club is offered as a separate after-school program but integrates well with school enrichment programs. As with any club, you need to state the purpose of the club in the flyer which gets sent home to the parents and that you offer a voluntary, after school, faith-based program. You will find a sample flyer here.

An elementary school club is set up as a community club using the First Amendment Free Speech Clause (which also protects the free speech rights of students.) Find out exactly how elementary school clubs are established in the 288 page book Bring the Light to School.

Adopt a School

Church Outreach Into Your Local School

Partner with Schools will inspire your congregation to get involved in your local school. Not just for material needs but more importantly to meet the spiritual needs of students.

Contact us for a brief or longer presentation on Sundays, Wednesdays or during conferences to raise awareness of the great need and opportunity to bring God to our public schools. Often people from the congragation will come to the information exhibit afterwards to express interest. Children's ministry leaders, parents, grandparents, and youth pastors/leaders are ideal candidates. But any concerned christian can put a team together to teach a bible study in school. You will need a person who can teach the bible story and some support leaders who will manage the classroom during the lesson. We can show you how to obtain a US criminal background check on everyone to assure the safety of students or take the ones you already have on file for your teachers.

Share how much God loves them

Current school problems such as bullying, depression and suicides cannot fully be placed on schools.
These issues require the help of all including faith-based organizations and churches.

Why not start Christian Bible study and offer hope and love. Schools know the importance of social emotional learning and that real academic learning can only take place when social emotional needs are met. That's were you come in. Self identity, perseverance, fairness, respect, etc/ can all be taught alongside a bible study. Elementary schools welcome churches who come along and help reinforce their character education program by incorporating those principals into a voluntary, after school bible story. And we know that the whole Bible is about character. High Schools need the SEL (Social Emotional Learning) component.

For elementary schools you'll find out more here. And for High Schools here.

Communicating with School Administration

When communicating keep in mind the following:

1. Public school teachers and school district officials are not typically lawyers. Usually, even the school board attorney is not an expert in First Amendment rights. Therefore it's helpful to call attention to the correct legal principles involved, without resorting to litigation.

2. Because some of the law in this area is so recent, some public schools have not yet caught up. In many cases, public school teachers and administrators would like to permit more religious expression in public schools if they only knew that the most recent Supreme Court cases allow it.

3. The rights of public school students and their parents may only be limited by the school's need to maintain order, to avoid coercion, and to enforce nondiscriminatory pedagogical restrictions on student activities.