“Let the Little Children Come to Me…”

“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10 ESV).

There are currently 56,000,000 children in grades K-12 in nearly 100,000 public schools in the United States—most of whom don’t know Jesus and are in need of the gospel. 

In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court opened a door for ministry to these children, their families, and school communities with the Equal Access Law of 2001. This law states that if any public school allows outside secular community organizations to use their facility, they must also allow religious organizations to do the same.

According to the Barna Group, only 6% of adult Christians made their decision to follow God over the age of 18. That means 94% made decisions as children.

“We have been given an amazing opportunity to reach millions of children, families, and thousands of public school communities directly with the gospel and disciple them over grades K-12,” says D4L staff Ernie Scalabrin who serves with Church Ministries (NCM) in New Jersey and has been working directly with public schools for 20 years to bring the gospel to children.

“We currently have three churches that are providing volunteers for our public-school Bible clubs. And the reason we're able to do this is that we train adult teaching leaders in Navigator discipleship principles.”

Ernie points to the heart of the local church: “Most churches want community outreach and there's no better community outreach than a local public-school Bible club. There is no better time to reach people for Christ and begin the discipleship process. It brings in people into the church. And then the church disciples the family. But churches need to be trained on discipleship.”

He emphasizes, “We are not dependent on staff for this ministry,” highlighting the potential to reach more students as everyday disciplemakers are raised up through partnerships with churches and other Missions.

Ernie has a genuine desire to see others catch this vision and equip them: “One of our staff who's also becoming a pastor in Harlem, New York wants me to train his staff soon. Again, we don’t rely on staff for the bulk of this ministry, as volunteers and youth pastors in the local churches, along with Christian public school teachers, can teach these Bible clubs.”

While at NSG23, he and his wife connected with Oakcliff Bible Fellowship’s public school initiative director in Dallas. “[He] couldn't believe about the equal access law. ‘Could you come back tomorrow and let's talk more?’ I said absolutely.”

There’s also a group in Ohio that’s seeing more schools jump on board every year. “We have schools that want to pay their teachers to teach a Navigator Bible club. They know it's evangelistic, but the schools are looking for after school activities and teachers are being paid a stipend for managing other clubs. So, they're going to pay their teachers a stipend for our clubs, too.”

The Lord is at work, giving people His heart for the next generation. Ernie shares, “I have an ever-increasing number of teachers to train or coach and we have more schools coming on locally and other places. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me’” (Matthew 19:14 NIV).

Knowing that the time and logistics required for onboarding volunteers can often be a barrier, he’s been working with Corporate Affairs and Risk Management (CARM) to develop a streamlined process for this. His ministry now has a child protection video, background checks, and a vetting method for working with teachers.

Now, he’s praying for laborers. And, he’s being diligent to connect with the Body of Christ, bringing Mission and City leaders to look at the work being done. These leaders have pledged to work with him, helping provide laborers and connections necessary for growth. Ernie cites the strategic nature of the K-12 public school model and wants all of the Missions to know the benefit of this multi-grade outreach. “Peter Trautmann [D4L, New York City] and Mike Whitney [Church Ministries with D4L, Maine] came and visited one of my Bible clubs and they really loved it. Kristie Monteiro wanted the City leaders to learn about this effort. I want to make sure City leaders know that they don’t need to recruit staff to do this.”

This ministry isn’t solely focused on children in public schools. Ernie is going a step further, envisioning Christian public school teachers, administrators, and other staff to see school as a workplace ministry, and the surrounding communities of neighbors as fields ripe for harvest. What a great example to the young student disciplemakers in their schools of making Christ known where you live, work, and play.

God has clearly opened a door for ministry in public schools, through the Equal Access Law, and through partnerships with local churches, Cities, Workplace, Neighbors, I:58, and the Networks. His heart is for the little children to come to Him. Let's pray that the gospel would flow freely through these relational networks, fueled by prevailing prayer, so that the 56,000,000 children in public schools grow up into a generation that knows the Lord and helps others know Him.

For more information and to connect with Ernie Scalabrin to develop young disciplemakers in the public school system, please feel free to email him at ernie.scalabrin@navigators.org.