By April Graney
When my husband, Tom, was in high school, a classmate leaned over and casually asked, “Hey, would you like to go to church with me sometime?”
Tom wasn’t opposed to church. He’d just never been invited before. This invitation got him to a place where he began hearing the gospel.
Finally, at a Power Team rally, my future husband tearfully repented of his sins and trusted in Jesus’s death on the cross for his salvation. He walked down to the center of that arena, with hundreds of others who had done the same.
The result: a changed life, a godly husband, father of five, serving in ministry for the last 25 years. It all began with a friend at school inviting him to church, a friend bold enough to live out the message: “Jesus loves you … and so do I.”
A Simple Invitation Changed a Life
When our own children became school age, we initially homeschooled them. But by the time our oldest started sixth grade, we wanted to get involved in our local public school.
We believed that because Jesus loved the students at that school, so should we. We enrolled our four oldest children in school. After dropping them off that first day, I drove straight to my first-ever Moms-in-Touch meeting and cried softly through the entire prayer time with a bunch of complete strangers.
The following year, one of our daughter’s classmates, who was left in a very dangerous living situation after her mom was incarcerated, came to live with us. Jesus loved her, and so would we.
Living Out Love
The school for at-risk students where I currently teach serves children who have faced abuse, homelessness, and neglect.
They have lost parents, struggled with drugs or alcohol addiction, or faced trauma because of others’ choices. Their behaviors as a result of their trauma sometimes make them hard to love.
But I know Jesus loves them, and because of that, so will I.
Loving the Hard-to-Love
Our nation’s schools are filled with kids who need to hear the gospel. After encountering the woman at the well, Jesus told His disciples in John 4:35, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
There are nearly 60 million school-age children in the United States. The Barna Group reports that nearly half of all public educators are practicing Christians, and 86 percent of Christian families send their children to public school.
Christians are in public schools.
Let’s support and equip them by helping them understand this harvest field and giving them tools to share the love of Jesus.
A Great Harvest Needs God’s Workers
If we were each bold enough, every child could hear someone at their school say, “Jesus loves you … and so do I.”
Whether it’s a classmate in a classroom, a teacher at an after-school club, or a parent volunteer, seeds of the gospel can be planted. Students are bringing Bibles to school, praying at flag poles, and attending student-led Christian clubs.
We can and should support and encourage this work. Let’s open our eyes to see the fertile soil of our nation’s schools. Let’s be faithful to shine the light and love of Jesus in our schools. They are ripe for harvest.
April Graney teaches at a school for at-risk students in Oklahoma. Her book “If Jesus Came to My School” encourages children to share the love of Jesus in their schools.
