{"id":263562,"date":"2024-05-06T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/?p=263562"},"modified":"2024-10-08T14:27:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T20:27:02","slug":"reaching-children-with-the-gospel-in-public-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/blog\/reaching-children-with-the-gospel-in-public-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Reaching Children With the Gospel in Public Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After 11 years of ministering with The Navigators NavYouth in inner-city public schools, Judy and Ernie Scalabrin<\/a> accepted the call to serve with The Navigators in their northern New Jersey neighborhood. With their three young children in public school and local sports, opportunities for connecting with families for Christ abounded.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A
Ernie Scalabrin (middle) with participants of a Navigators Bible club.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Then God surprised them with an amazing opportunity. Their school principal asked Ernie to teach a Bible club after school because two young Christian middle school students asked for one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following God\u2019s call, Ernie gave the principal a lesson plan, Bible, and copy of the NavPress<\/a> Bible study Design for Discipleship<\/a> Book 1. The principal made a presentation to the Board of Education, and it was approved. In 2003, their public school Bible club ministry was born!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing the Gospel in Public Schools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since then, everyday disciplemakers from other churches have expressed interest in teaching after-school Bible clubs in more schools. With the help of The Navigators Corporate Affairs and Risk Management (CARM) department to develop and implement a vetting process and child protection training, these partnering churches have been able to effectively onboard volunteers. All of the Bible club teachers are trained to share the gospel and morning devotions, as well as teach students how to memorize Scripture, pray, witness, and study the Bible in ways that are engaging and relevant for grades K-12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ernie is especially passionate for this ministry because of the research from Barna Group and the National Association of Evangelicals, which states that 85 percent of people who have put their trust in Christ did so when they were between the ages of 4 and 16. This is a testament to Jesus\u2019 special care for children when He said, \u201cLet the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.\u201d Mark 10:14 (NIV)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After seeing hundreds of children come to Christ through Bible clubs over 22 years, Ernie sees this ministry as essential for reaching generations for Christ, laying foundations of faith to prepare the youth to be everyday disciplemakers in school, work, family, and life as they grow up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Ernie is excited about the fact that the ministry has been grassroots and community-led. Partnering churches love the community impact of the Bible clubs, and church-going parents are thrilled their children are learning the Word of God in their public school setting, not just at church. Children are being transformed by the love of Jesus through the gospel, and the impact is rippling out to families and school staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Growing Ministry for Children<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ernie has devoted much of his time to train churches around the nation to start up Bible clubs in their own local public schools with hopes of expanding and multiplying spiritual generations. As more and more churches reach out to Ernie, he continues to help them navigate the logistics of setting up Bible clubs, leading them with Navigator principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pray for the children that The Navigators Bible club ministry will reach and disciple in public schools. Consider ways you may be able to partner locally to help reach children in public schools near you. For more information, contact Ernie Scalabrin at ernie.scalabrin@navigators.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Discipleship Tip:<\/p>\nJudy and Ernie were already involved in the public school system through his kids when he started the Bible Club ministry, using it as an opportunity to disciple children at his local schools. Look around \u2014 where are you already involved that you could disciple others? Whether it\u2019s your workplace, neighborhood, school, or community, you might be surprised to see who you could reach in your networks!<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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10 Prayers for Public Schools<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Do you want to come alongside your local schools and community like Ernie, but don\u2019t know where to start? Prayer is a great way to start! Use this resource to guide your prayers for public schools and see where the Lord may be leading you.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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DOWNLOAD NOW<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know 85% of people trust in Christ between the ages of 4-16? The Navigators Bible Club ministry is reaching kids with the gospel in public schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_helpful_pro_status":1,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6337],"tags":[1483],"mission":[10349],"topic":[46],"class_list":["post-263562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry-impact-stories","tag-disciple","mission-navigators-disciplemakers-for-life","topic-evangelism"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/05724-Article-Web.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"The Navigators","author_link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/staff\/thenavigators\/"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263562"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264949,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263562\/revisions\/264949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263562"},{"taxonomy":"mission","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mission?post=263562"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=263562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}