Sometimes my youngest daughter wants to know what it is that I do all day. That is a good question, and I have been thinking about not only what I do but what Crossroads Kids Club does. What is it that we can offer churches who want to engage with public schools? I have boiled it down to three things—three C's:
CONNECTION. First, Crossroads Kids Club is a
name brand and serves as an umbrella organization. This is helpful in
opening the doors to new schools and districts. Recently, I met with a
pastor and principal in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Although the principal
and the pastor were already friends, the principal was very cautious
about having anything "religious" in his building. Because this church
was hoping to start a Crossroads Kids Club program and because
Crossroads has been operating in public schools for over a decade, I was
able to provide the principal with names and phone numbers of other
principals with whom he could speak to investigate us. He seemed to
appreciate receiving this information, and just this week I received an
e-mail from him saying that the door is open and explaining how he and
the superintendent wanted to structure things with regard to the
church's relationship to the school. So, a connection to an umbrella
organization opens doors to new schools and new districts.
CURRICULUM. Second, we have learned that it is very difficult to find curriculum that works well in schools. There are a several challenges we face going into the schools. To start with, we have to keep things very simple and portable. We have to get in and get out quickly, so we can't have elaborate set ups or activities requiring lots of preparation. Also, we have found that much published material is heavily literacy-based. We deal with a lot of non-native speakers of English and other students that are below their grade level in reading, so we need a curriculum that is "hands on" and not literacy based. Finally, much of what is out there presupposes knowledge of Christian faith. We regularly encounter students from non-Christian (e.g., Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.) backgrounds, and so we cannot presuppose prior knowledge. Finally, we strive to be non-sectarian in our approach. We desire to be a Bible-based character-formation club and to stick to the parts of Scripture that are most clear. To that end, one thing that we do is not print the text of the Bible into the material but only Scripture references. We leave it to each church to decide what translation of the Bible they wish to use. One of our site directors said recently that she thought she would have to edit the curriculum to fit her denomination's theology but found that it worked just fine as it was. I took this as a sign of our success in creating something Jesus-centered, Bible-based, and non-sectarian.
CONSULTING. Third, we offer personal and contextualized advice and training to churches to help them with everything from engaging with a school for the first time to recruiting and training leaders. This is probably the most highly specialized part of what we do and draws on our years of experience working with children and with schools. Recently, I spoke by phone with a youth pastor in Orland Park, Illinois. He moved there from Texas very recently. In Texas, he had a lot of access to students on campuses, but he has found the door to school-based ministry to be closed in the Chicagoland area. I asked him for the names of the middle schools he would like to work with. I was able to determine that these schools were in three different districts and that all of them have policies that should permit a Christian after school club on campus. In fact, one district's policies explicitly mentioned that religious groups would not have to pay a rental fee. The point of this story is that school districts are very often bureaucratic and difficult for church leaders to navigate. From our years of experience, it is generally easy for us to be able to find openings for churches in their communities where they have not been able to in the past, and this is a big part of our consulting.
CURRICULUM. Second, we have learned that it is very difficult to find curriculum that works well in schools. There are a several challenges we face going into the schools. To start with, we have to keep things very simple and portable. We have to get in and get out quickly, so we can't have elaborate set ups or activities requiring lots of preparation. Also, we have found that much published material is heavily literacy-based. We deal with a lot of non-native speakers of English and other students that are below their grade level in reading, so we need a curriculum that is "hands on" and not literacy based. Finally, much of what is out there presupposes knowledge of Christian faith. We regularly encounter students from non-Christian (e.g., Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.) backgrounds, and so we cannot presuppose prior knowledge. Finally, we strive to be non-sectarian in our approach. We desire to be a Bible-based character-formation club and to stick to the parts of Scripture that are most clear. To that end, one thing that we do is not print the text of the Bible into the material but only Scripture references. We leave it to each church to decide what translation of the Bible they wish to use. One of our site directors said recently that she thought she would have to edit the curriculum to fit her denomination's theology but found that it worked just fine as it was. I took this as a sign of our success in creating something Jesus-centered, Bible-based, and non-sectarian.
CONSULTING. Third, we offer personal and contextualized advice and training to churches to help them with everything from engaging with a school for the first time to recruiting and training leaders. This is probably the most highly specialized part of what we do and draws on our years of experience working with children and with schools. Recently, I spoke by phone with a youth pastor in Orland Park, Illinois. He moved there from Texas very recently. In Texas, he had a lot of access to students on campuses, but he has found the door to school-based ministry to be closed in the Chicagoland area. I asked him for the names of the middle schools he would like to work with. I was able to determine that these schools were in three different districts and that all of them have policies that should permit a Christian after school club on campus. In fact, one district's policies explicitly mentioned that religious groups would not have to pay a rental fee. The point of this story is that school districts are very often bureaucratic and difficult for church leaders to navigate. From our years of experience, it is generally easy for us to be able to find openings for churches in their communities where they have not been able to in the past, and this is a big part of our consulting.
What other things would help you to get started in school-based ministry?
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