Lettie A. had no idea she could take her Bible to school. Her friends didn’t know either. Then her uncle told her about Bring Your Bible to School Day.
The 13-year-old from Virginia checked out the BringYourBible.org website. When she learned about her religious freedoms, she was pumped: “I was like, ‘Wow, I can talk to people about Jesus and bring my Bible to school. This is awesome!’”
Lettie was so excited that she started bringing her Bible to school before the actual event in the first week of October. She and her friends also began praying at their lunch table and taking prayer requests.
 |
Bible Blitz
In the days leading up to Bring Your Bible to School Day, she let her principal know about the event. Lettie and her friends put up flyers in the hallways and on their lockers.
“We felt people needed to be inspired,” Lettie says. “We wanted them to know that Jesus loves them.”
When Bring Your Bible to School Day arrived, almost half the kids in Lettie’s class brought their Bibles. Younger students brought their Bibles, too. Lettie read her Bible with friends during recess. She also read during free time when she wasn’t doing class work. Then she got together with other students and talked about what they had read.
“Being able to read my Bible with my friends… was a really cool experience I’d never been able to do in school before,” she says. “That was my favorite part of the day.”
Lettie thinks schools would be different if kids brought their Bibles every day.
“When you bring Jesus into a school area, it makes the whole place seem happy and bright,” Lettie says. “If students read God’s Word during their free time, they can keep being reminded that Jesus loves them.”
 |
Christ’s Crew
Lettie and her friends didn’t stop with that one experience.
Now that they knew they were allowed to read God’s Word at school, they made plans to keep going. Lettie wanted to have more conversations about Jesus. She asked the principal for permission to start an after-school club called Christ’s Crew. And the principal agreed.
Once a month, seven to 10 students meet. They start with a Bible study, have prayer, worship and even eat snacks and do an activity. For some students, this is the only time they get to hear the truth from God’s Word. Lettie has led a lot of their study sessions. But one time sticks out to her. After the lesson, one girl asked what it meant to follow Jesus. Lettie told her it meant believing in Jesus and committing your life to Him.
“The girl accepted Christ right there,” Lettie says. “It was a cool feeling to see that myself.”
Lettie hopes the after-school group will grow, because she knows Jesus also started His ministry with only a few people. And she hopes more students will take part in Bring Your Bible to School Day.
“It’s important, because it lets kids know they can actually bring their Bibles to school and read God’s Word,” Lettie says. “And that’s a really cool thing to be able to do.”
 |
Bring Your Bible to School Day is Thursday, October 5, in the United States. Focus on the Family sponsors this event to equip students to know about their religious freedoms and to talk about God’s love with others. Here’s how you can be part of it:
1. Go to BringYourBible.org to sign up. You can get a free guide, T-shirt designs, information and tips.
2. Let your principal know what you’re doing and follow school rules. As long as you don’t disrupt classes, you should have the right to hand out cards, put up posters, bring your Bible and talk to other students about the event.
3. Get your friends to join you. Encourage and pray for each other.
4. On October 5, take your Bible to school. Read it during free time and discuss it with your classmates before or after school. Be prepared to answer questions and find important verses. You may even want to bring an extra Bible to share or give away.
What Are Your Rights?
You’re a student, not a United States government employee. This means you’re allowed to express your faith as long as you don’t disturb classes or academic instruction. In the U.S. you can:
—respectfully state your personal religious beliefs during free time or if it’s relevant to class discussions.
—invite other students to voluntarily join you in praying, reading the Bible or talking about faith. But you can’t force them.
—pass out religious materials if other kinds of student materials are also allowed to be handed out.
—start a student-led and student-initiated religious club during non-class hours if other extracurricular clubs are allowed during that time.
—pray.
—wear Christian clothing or jewelry, unless your school’s dress code prohibits any kind of message on clothing and jewelry.
