Are kids missionaries? A key question in the public school debate

It’s a frequent question in the Christian community: should parents send their children to public school or private school (or homeschool)?

Many factors may influence their decision, including finances, transportation and a family’s individual needs.

Some support sending Christian kids to public schools as “missionaries,” but leaders such as Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis say there is scant scriptural backing for it and warn of the dangers.

“We are to be light and salt in this world, but one can only shine light if one already has it to shine,” Ham writes, citing Scripture.

Ham and Matthew M. Kennedy, an Anglican rector in Binghamton, New York, make a compelling case for parents to either avoid public school altogether or make a deliberate and informed choice about the environment they are entering. 

“Until the late 20th century, Christian parents could reasonably expect to send their children into a public school system that was at least not hostile toward Christianity,” Kennedy writes. “Nevertheless, a corner has been turned. Public school systems across the United States are adopting and communicating ideas intrinsically antithetical to Christianity. 

“Myriad instances readily come to mind, from school-sponsored drag shows and sexually explicit library books to the racialized reframing of American history.” 

Kennedy describes the “tectonic shift” as including “queer theory for kids” and the “oppression narrative as curriculum,” both of which contain strong anti-biblical viewpoints. 

“A child who internalizes the Queer Theory notion that his or her sexual identity is a matter of personal choice – that there are not just two but an ever-widening spectrum of genders from which to choose – is a child who has been catechized into an anti-gospel,” he writes. 

Regarding the oppression narrative, which reframes America’s history in terms of the oppression of black people, he says, “the Bible teaches that both the powerful and the powerless can be perpetrators of injustice. The measure of history for Christians is the Bible, and it demands that truth and evidence prevail over partiality and party.” 

Like Ham, Kennedy is cautious about placing Christian children in public school. 

“While God can protect children from harm and empower them as His witnesses, we must not send them purposefully into harm’s way,” he says. “Children do not generally have the intellectual, spiritual or emotional resources to critically assess and adequately respond to the daily catechetical training they receive from teachers and peers. 

“Unless you are sure that your school district stands firmly against the flood of cultural devolution, the wisest course is to homeschool or to enroll your children in private Christian school.” 

Ham also warns of the threatening influences found in public schools. 

“Let’s face it, most of the public school system indoctrinates kids for six or so hours a day in the anti-God secular worldview of evolutionary naturalism and sexual humanism,” he writes. “According to studies, most churched kids have not survived the public education system and have walked away from the church. … All are contaminated to varying degrees, but most become severely contaminated. 

“Bottom line: Are you putting your own kids at risk from contamination because you want them in the system to witness to others?” 

Hearing both sides 

Still, some parents intentionally choose to send their children to public schools for reasons that typically go beyond the “missionary” argument. 

“We did not, as some have suggested, send our children to public school to be missionaries,” Elizabeth Spencer writes. “We sent them to public school to be students and friends – guided by the greatest Teacher and Friend, who regularly spent a lot of time in close contact with ‘the public.’” 

Spencer and her husband chose public school for their two daughters, who she says learned how to be bold about their faith and stand strong in the secular environment. 

“We wanted their faith to be tested and tried and challenged and refined … and to come out stronger than it was when they went in,” Spencer writes. “We wanted them to learn, gradually and carefully, how to live in the world but not be ‘of’ it (John 17:14-18).” 

Shelby Turner, another mom, had the luxury of buying a house in an affluent suburb to be in a district that met her family’s needs. She’s had a good experience with teachers and administrators, who she’s found “to be on my side and supportive of my wishes.” 

“We do a lot of listening and asking questions,” she writes of how they use things her kids hear from their peers as teachable moments. “And then we do a lot of explaining what the classmate was talking about and how we can respond in truth and love as Christians.” 

Another woman, Claire, from a small town in southeast Wisconsin, placed her children in public school after considering factors such as cost, transportation, extracurriculars and curricula. 

“We want to be a light in our community and teach our kids to have conversations with all different kinds of people with differing values in order to best love others and spread the truth of the Gospel in a way that honors the dignity of the human person,” she writes.  

Enrolling her kids has helped her meet her neighbors, who also have kids in the school, and she’s been attending school board meetings to keep on top of curriculum and policies. She says her area is conservative and that “our public school is not actively trying to brainwash our kids,” yet she did have to reassure her young daughter who was aghast when a classmate questioned if God was real. 

“Part of me wishes I could have protected that innocence a bit longer,” Claire admits. “But a larger part of me knows that it’s my job as a mother to disciple her in a broken world.” 

Notably, these Christian parents who reported success in public schools had a common thread of intentionally discipling their children and being involved in what was happening at school. 

For Ham and Kennedy, choosing a Christian school helps reinforce what’s being taught at church and home and to lessen the chance of worldly indoctrination. Christian public school parents focused on increased opportunities and walking their children through challenges to equip them for the “real world.” 

“I fully support people who choose a different option than me for their kids, and I hope one day public school parents will be more supported by those who choose other options,” Turner says. 

But it’s also clear that for many Christian parents, public school is no longer the default option. Factors such as a school’s culture, curriculum and openness to parents’ input should all be considered. 

Amid the cultural darkness, more parents are choosing Christian education and even starting Christian schools to serve their communities. And even those who choose public school are expressing a healthy desire to control or monitor what their children are hearing and learning. 

Some, however, still don’t have that choice. 

“The Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father,” Kennedy writes. “If public school is truly your only recourse, you have every reason to trust that the Good Shepherd will guard and protect your children.”