‘God confidence’: Bible2School CEO urges parents to prepare kids to live out their faith

Christian parents don't have to choose between sending their children to public school and teaching them to live openly for Jesus Christ, says Kori Pennypacker, who's concerned that many families and educators misunderstand students' religious freedom rights.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Pennypacker, CEO of Bible2School and author of Backpack Faith: Helping Your Child Live Confidently for Jesus in Public School, published by Focus on the Family, called on parents to prepare children to stand firm in their faith.

The ministry leader explained that public schools reflect the culture and the public square.

"We as Christians, though, need to give our kids God and we need to give the Word of God," Pennypacker said. "That's a lot more powerful than the culture."

Pennypacker has worked in public school ministry for more than 15 years, and her organization has been involved in the work for 45 years. Through Bible2School, communities can organize one-hour Bible classes for public school students during the school day under a legal arrangement known as release-time religious instruction.

Release-time instruction began in Gary, Indiana, in 1914. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down on-campus religious classes in McCollum v. Board of Education in 1948 and upheld off-campus programs in Zorach v. Clauson in 1952. Pennypacker said the program operates under federal court rulings. Students may leave school grounds for religious instruction with parental permission, provided no public tax dollars are used to fund the religious activities. The Zorach opinion also said public schools “may not coerce anyone to attend church, to observe a religious holiday, or to take religious instruction.” She noted that state laws and school codes can impose additional requirements.

"And it is legal. It is legal," she reiterated, provided there is "off-site parental permission and no tax dollars" are used. 

Bible2School serves thousands of students across the country, the ministry’s CEO said, describing the program as an opportunity to reach children and families who might otherwise have little connection to a church.

Fifty-four percent of the children involved in the program last year had no church home, she said. Among families without a church connection, 22% began attending church after their children participated in the weekly Bible classes.

Pennypacker recounted meeting a mother who credited the program with helping bring her family back to Christianity. Her young son repeatedly encouraged the family to attend church, while her 16-year-old son, who had struggled with drugs, was able to get connected with Christian friends, build a community and eventually got baptized.

"The Bible just doesn't reach one person. It reaches entire families," she said.

Pennypacker added that some teachers have told Bible2School representatives that students return to school kinder and better behaved after participating in the classes.

One of the organization's goals is to educate school officials who might not understand the legal framework for release-time religious instruction, rather than assuming that opposition stems from hostility toward Christianity.

“We have schools that don't understand, and so that's where the pushback comes from, if you will. And we just look at kindly educating them because they just don't know the rules,” she said.

“And that's what we're here to tell them. ‘Hey, we want to stay in our legal lane; we want you to stay in your legal lane,’” she continued. “But this is something parents want; they want a moral fabric for their children.”

The Bible2School CEO also addressed what she described as a widespread misunderstanding of the phrase "separation of church and state."

The phrase “separation of church and state” doesn't appear in the U.S. Constitution but derives from an 1802 letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association, in which he wrote of “a wall of separation between Church & State,” while affirming his support for religious liberty, according to the Library of Congress. Pennypacker maintained that people often invoke the concept to restrict religious expression, even though constitutional protections are meant to safeguard religious freedom.

"Separation of church and state is a shield," she said, noting that the Constitution protects Americans from government interference in their religious liberty.

“And so, when you talk about separation of church and state, there's really no such thing when it comes to prohibiting the First Amendment, religious freedom, and freedom of speech as well,” Pennypacker stated. 

Her new book, Backpack Faith, focuses on equipping parents to help their children navigate public school while remaining confident in their Christian beliefs.

One of the most important things Pennypacker believes Christian parents can do when their children are in public school is pray with them. She encouraged parents to pray aloud, affirm their children's God-given worth, and ask what is on their minds before entrusting the day to God.

Rather than relying on self-confidence, she said, children should develop what she calls "God confidence."

"We want to give our kids God confidence through prayer every day," Pennypacker said, sharing that the practice continued into adulthood for her son, who wouldn't leave for work without praying with his wife. Pennypacker said the habit began when he was growing up and illustrated how daily prayer can shape a child's life long after leaving home.

The mother and Christian ministry leader encouraged families to understand the rules governing religious expression so they can help their children exercise their rights while respecting the boundaries that apply to public schools. She also emphasized that parents, not schools or other institutions, have the primary responsibility for discipling their children.

"I want them to know that they are the primary disciples of their children," Pennypacker said about what she hopes parents will take away from her book. 

“Nobody else is going to do it. There's no plan B. There's no second string. They are the ones that are the primary disciples, and their kids can live their faith in public school all the way through the week,” she stressed. 

Many years ago, her son, Matthew, came home from school upset after a teacher told him he couldn't mention Jesus in response to a classroom question about Christmas. Matthew had answered that Christmas celebrates Jesus' birth, while other students had mentioned Santa Claus and reindeer.

Her son’s teacher was a Christian who didn't understand the rules, according to Pennypacker, who used the incident as an example of how parents facing a similar scenario can kindly educate someone about what students are permitted to do. 

“So us, we as parents are the disciples, but we also need to know what the laws are, what the rules are to stay in our legal lane and for the public school to stay in their legal lane, quite honestly. And what the benefit of all that is that our children live their faith at home, they grow at home, and then they also live it out in the public school and in the public square, and they can have conversations because there is pushback,” she added.