I have a unique perspective on this. First, I=m an 20-year youth ministry veteran, nine years as a youth pastor and eleven years as a youth evangelist. This ministry is called Wild Frontier which is a lifestyle I=ve been preaching for nearly all those years. It is living your life beyond human limits. My focus has consistently been the school campus since youth spend so much of their time there–and tend to get by instead of living beyond human limits.

For the last ten years I have purposely substitute taught in one middle school and one high school. It is my way to be with nonchurched youth (the evangelist in me) at the place where they spend the most time. I have great fun at my school and many, many ministry opportunities. It is from this two Aworld@ perspective that I observe and write.

The school campus is a massive mission field. In one day of subbing in a sports marketing class, I heard students swapping stories about court-ordered community service, stripper experiences, one boy bragging about his bi-sexual girlfriend, and details about the 5-second rule. The 5-second rule is if you drop open candy on the floor, you have 5 seconds to pick it up before it is dirty. This is just in one half day, two class periods. Our schools are definitely a mission field.

It is our approach to this mission field that I question.

I am going to be speaking in generalities. I cannot emphasize that enough. I know there are individual effective Bible clubs, influential students, and unique school systems. I admit I have a one school system perspective. But it is a perspective most youth workers don’t have. I invite you who are reading this into my perspective.

Few Minutes Available

While in general there is a lot of wasted time in school (particularly sports marketing classes), it is hard to plan around it. In our school system, we get seven minutes between every class. That seems like a Abreak@ but in that seven minutes you need to get to your next class. That means squeezing through overcrowded hallways with bookbags that extend your width an extra foot. You may need to get across the building and/or up or down stairs. You might have to stop at your locker (which are not near classrooms) to pick up a couple 25 pound books. You can=t carry all the books you need for one day because they are the size of college textbooks now. And you may have to go to the bathroom. If you are lucky and your next classroom is close, you may have a minute or two to socialize. These precious minutes tend to be spent with friends just to catch up. Hardly witnessing opportunities unless there is maybe, maybe a chance to invite someone to the Aclub.@ At least remind someone and get club talked about.

We get the seven minutes between every class because we have just four 90 minutes classes a day. This is supposed to be their break. Schools who run seven classes (and some up to ten) a day have maybe four minutes between bells.

Lunch is 25 minutes and unless you get there first, you need to wait 15 minutes to get your food. Of course, there is time in line for opportunities. Those who bring a bag lunch can be first to their Aspot@ to wait for everyone else. There are loads of opportunities in that precious time but that is up to the student. A student with the missionary attitude will see the opportunity. A regular student will see a small break for downtime that is cherished.

Then there is class time. Most often talking is not allowed in class. That leaves stolen moments to talk (like when the teacher is passing back papers) or to write notes during the instruction time. Is this right? There may be a few free moments before the bell. That is the chance to talk to the 25+ in your class about your faith or club.

Tip #1: talk to your students about doing homework at home instead of in class. It is very common to do math in English, etc., to avoid having to bring it home. Encourage them to use that time instead to talk or pray.

Tip #2: Some teachers allow talking in class like the aforementioned sports marketing class. Now here is opportunity. If a Christian student would have the know how to take a conversation about strippers (it was a group of 4 to 5 boys, not the entire classroom–can you say sexual harassment?) and turn it into a conversation about faith, you have wide opportunity. We need to be teaching our youth how to do that.

There are also pass opportunities. These are when a student is granted a hallway pass for one of a zillion reasons. There is opportunity to extend minutes on that pass. But is that right? I know campus missionaries who do it though. Or they could take an extra lunch (called skipping). I know campus missionaries who do that also.

After school clubs and teams are completely different. Those are genuine and great opportunities. I cannot stress those opportunities enough. A Christian youth who is a real leader can affect an entire team.

When a youth worker asks youth to find some other Christians at your school or youth are brought together at a citywide youth rally and are asked to follow up at school together, the honest question is when? Unless they are in class or some team or club, when?

Three Types of Students Who Get Involved

In generalities, there are basically three types of students who get involved in campus Bible clubs.
Comers-and-Goers – These are the target students but you can=t build a club around them.
Leaders and Achievers – These are your Christian leaders and naturals to spread the vision and build a club around. However they are most-likely already overcommitted in many areas and club just becomes another area of commitment on an already too long list.
Quiet and Secure Christian Students – Club tends to be a social circle for them, particularly because most of their friends are Christian. It is meeting on friendly ground where they spend most of their time.

ll three types present obstacles for growth and sustaining a club. The same can be said of our youth groups. It really takes one or two special people to have the club affect the Amission field@ who have the vision of the club as the avenue to do it.