Put Christ Back In Schools

                Well, we’ve all seen them from time to time right?  The causes that come by every once in a while asking for people to support the idea of putting Christ back in our public schools.  Now, I should first say that I wholeheartedly support the idea of getting groups of people to come out and support these kinds of things; nonetheless, I have been thinking about this issue differently these past few months.

                Of course, we all know that putting Christ back in schools basically means allowing public prayer inside and outside of the classroom as well as the reading and teaching of God’s word.  These things are all great things and really do deserve to have a place in our local schools.  In fact, there’s an interesting discussion to be had about why Christ was removed from public schools in the first place, but we’ll save that for a later time.

                The more I spend time in God’s word, the more I realize that a genuine Christian should literally be a walking, breathing representation of Christ and His word.  In other words, our students today who have accepted Christ as their personal savior should be impacting their fellow students and school with the truth of Jesus Christ and the Bible.  They can do this by simply living the Christian life the way God intended it to be lived – making right choices and standing firm on Biblical principles.

                I once had a teacher in high school (a Christian school by the way) who would constantly remind us that we could be the only Bible some people ever read.  Now, this was her effort to get us to understand that people are paying attention to how we are living our life and if we live it rightly, we could positively impact their lives for the cause of Christ.

                So, with all of this in mind, let’s go back to the initial cause being discussed – putting Christ back in schools.  Well, I argue that He never left.  The Bible assures us that there is no place on earth where Christ is not present…He is in all places as well as living in the life of every believer by means of the Holy Spirit.  We as Christians shouldn’t assume that if a school outlaws class prayer and Bible class that Christ has essentially been removed from that school – quite frankly that’s absurd if you think about it long enough.  Christ never left, he continues to be present in all places, including schools, and is actively working in the lives of every student who knows Him as their personal Savior.  If it’s class prayer and Bible class that we are seeking, then my encouragement is to all Christian students – stand up for your beliefs!

                It’s hard to believe that if a couple hundred students and their families suddenly gathered at the school building as teachers and administrators are arriving that they would fail to receive the message – that we want Christian freedom brought back to our local schools.  However, taking a stand for Christ in our culture today seems to be a challenging thing to do, especially for our teenage students.  This is why those of us who have experienced negative high school peer pressure should reach out to these students now and encourage them to stand up for their beliefs and not to be afraid to defend their Christian faith.  But as to putting Christ back in school, let’s assume he’s never left and instead encourage students to speak out about their faith once again.  This will most likely remind people that Christ is just as present in our schools today as He was 20 years ago.  Outlawing prayer will never change that!