Navigating Public Schools: Charting a Course to Protect Your Child’s Christian Faith and Worldview

Who Should Read This Book?
Navigating Public Schools will empower Christian parents to navigate the increasingly secular public school system with the aim to 1) cultivate strong relationships with their children in a season of immense secular pressure; 2) help their children stand firm in their Christian faith and Biblical worldview; 3) exercise their rights on campus; 4) become salt and light for Jesus Christ.

This book will also be a powerful resource for all Christians involved in schools—teachers, administrators, staff, extra-curricular groups, Christian club volunteers, youth leaders, pastors—as they learn to discern the misapplication of the "separation of church and state" and appropriately live out their Christian faith on public school campuses.

How Can This Book Help You?
For Christians, navigating the public education system is becoming increasingly daunting. Christian parents often feel anxiety about sending their children into the public school environment. Kids spend more waking hours in school than in their homes, and while there, they face many challenges to their faith. The statistics on kids and faith reveal that roughly 50-70% of Christian teens walk away from church when they leave home, and only about 10% come out of the teen years with a Biblical worldview.

Navigating Public Schools was not written to debate whether kids should be in public schools or not because the fact is, the majority of Christian kids are in public schools. Navigating Public Schools was written to parents who are hungry for guidance on this journey. As a public school teacher for ten years, Stephen saw firsthand how a child’s faith may be eroded, so he desires to equip parents and concerned adults to protect children’s faith in schools. This book is perfect for busy parents who want clear tools to navigate curriculum pitfalls, exercise their rights in schools, build a strong worldview foundation as a family, and influence the culture for Christ.

This book is meant to help Christian parents be intentional about charting a course to protect their child’s faith and Biblical worldview. But it’s not only for parents—Navigating Public Schools also equips teachers to step off the fear-induced cultural tightrope and appropriately incorporate Christianity into their curriculum. Christian educators, volunteers, pastors, and anyone who is involved directly or indirectly with public schools will learn to exercise their Constitutionally-protected rights in a respectful way.

All Christians who read this book will become more empowered to impact and protect the next generation.

Stephen Williams attended the University of California at Berkeley on a swimming scholarship and graduated with a degree in economics. He worked as an economic consultant before pursuing a teaching career. Stephen spent ten years teaching 5th and 6th grade in the Cupertino Union School District in California. Stephen founded Prepare the Way Ministries in 2006, following his involvement in a federal court case concerning the censorship of historical documents with Christian references. His principal and school district censored primary source documents including the Declaration of Independence, William Penn's Frame of Government, and Samuel Adams's The Rights of the Colonists due to their misinterpretation of the "separation of church and state." With the help of the legal firm Alliance Defending Freedom, Stephen filed a federal court case in November of 2004 to protect the freedom of speech and religion in public schools. The case gained national media attention, with TV interviews on Fox News and articles appearing in major newspapers. The case was settled out of court in the summer of 2005 and a written settlement was put in place that allowed primary source documents with Christian references to be used in Cupertino classrooms. Having been on the front lines in the church/state battle, Stephen offers a unique perspective on the ways our culture can erode a Biblical worldview. Stephen speaks nationally on worldview, apologetics, and cultural issues, including navigating public schools as a Christian. He currently resides in Bend, Oregon with his family.

Sarah Williams completed a Ph.D. in environmental engineering with an emphasis in microbiology from Stanford University. She is the recipient of a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship. Prior to attending Stanford, Sarah graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in engineering. While at the University of Michigan, she was awarded several Hopwood Awards in Poetry and Fiction; following her undergraduate coursework, Sarah was awarded a one-year fellowship to study English at Oxford University. She has published several scientific papers and book chapters in the area of environmental microbiology, as well as poems and stories in several magazines. She is married to Stephen Williams and is the mother of four daughters. She also consults part-time in the area of environmental engineering, enjoys creative writing, and helps with Prepare the Way Ministries.