My husband and I made the decision when our girls were school-age, that unless the Lord made it abundantly clear otherwise, that they would attend public school. This blog post is not about justifying our choices or condemning other parents for homeschooling or sending their kiddos to private schools. We know they need to do as the Lord leads them. But for us, we felt – and still feel – that we want to teach our girls to be in the world and not of the world before we throw them to the world.

We want to help teach our girls how to be lights in dark places when they are still young, impressionable, and coming home to us in the evenings. We seek to be engaged with their educations as we are involved with their schools, communicating with their teachers and inviting their school friends into our home. As parents, we felt called and compelled to send our children into public schools as missionaries, witnessing to their friends and ministering to the faculties.

Recently, several states have passed legislation that forces public schools to post the Ten Commandments and/or teach Bible courses. As a Christian teacher and a parent, I have issues with this. I don’t agree. I don’t believe (as one meme I recently saw on Facebook said) that posting the Ten Commandments in the classroom will make students better people.

It isn’t words printed on a poster or engraved on a plaque or etched into marble that will provide the hope that public school students need. The government should not require any religious education if we don’t want all religions to have equal exposure. According to Scripture, God’s law shows mankind what is wrong and points to our need for Jesus. Students already know that it is wrong to steal and kill and lie. They don’t need any poster, plaque or monument to tell them that. Nor will they find Jesus on a list of rules.

After spending the last three years working in a public middle school at the buckle of the Bible belt, I can say this: the legislation that is being passed would not help students find the hope that they so desperately need. Last night, I finished a self-paced professional development course on mental health and suicide prevention. The statistics are staggering, but sadly were not surprising to me. I see these students sitting in my classroom sinking in stresses and situations no adult should have to endure, much less a child.

This is my mission field. I seek to build relationships and pray for opportunities to offer the hope I have in Jesus. Now, I pray for sensitivity and boldness, discernment and discretion but have already come to a peace that if I am ever forced to leave my post due to my witness that the Spirit will guide me through that too. After all, He would be the One to lead me into those discussions in the first place.

But – the restraints that I face as an employee of the State of Tennessee, cannot constrain my Christ-following and loving students. This is their mission field too. They can speak up and stand out. They can live differently and boldly. They can offer hope.

Yet, this is a tall order to ask of children, of young disciples. They are still learning why they believe what they believe. Most of them struggle to live out their faith in the midst of peer pressure while wrestling with their identities in Christ. The culture can be overwhelming for me as an adult believer of over 30 years to engage, how can it not be heavy on their young hearts and developing minds?

Church, these believing students, these missionaries should be the focus of our prayers and resources – not pushing that Old Testament laws be posted. Students won’t read the Ten Commandments even posted in their classrooms, but they will read the lives of their classmates, teammates and friends.

This is why our girls go to public schools. And, just as if they were entering a mission field in a third world country or inner city neighborhood, some days are honestly a definite act of faith, watching them walk into those buildings, trusting God to protect them physically, emotionally and spiritually. Yet, when I hear one of my girls praying with a friend to receive Christ, God using her to make a difference in eternity, I know we are doing what God has called us to do.

It is through personal, intentional interactions that I have seen Christ push back the darkness in our public schools. I have witnessed God grow our girls’ faiths and teach them to rely on Him in tangible ways. I have watched Christian kids and educators make real differences in the public schools. God is working in public schools.

As long as there are Christians attending, His Spirit is in the public school. No law banning prayer or forcing Bible lessons can dictate whether or not He is there. He cannot be forced in or out as long as His followers are enrolled or employed, sitting at those lunch tables and engaging peers. God is still in public schools.