“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” – Mark 9:42

Just last week, I talked about helping Christian moms make the right educational choices for their children. I also talked about the importance of being very involved in your child’s public school education. Well, we’re going to talk a little more about that.

Upon reading my last post about making the right choice for your child’s education, some people commented about how desperately broken our public education system is. I’m not arguing that. I do not know God’s specific plan for your child, but I do know many good, God-fearing people within that system who are making a difference. Now it’s your turn to try to make a difference.

As if my hair were not already curly enough, some recent stories have put my head in frizz mode. It was bad enough that an Oregon high school had already introduced gender-neutral bathrooms for both students and staff with self-perceived gender ambiguity issues. Now one of the nation’s largest school systems is introducing lessons on gender fluidity to students in grades 7 to 12.

As if students don’t already have enough to deal with.

Students in Fairfax, Va., schools will be taught sexual identity and preferences evolve throughout our lives and are not based on our God-given physiology. They are, in fact, “boundless,” according to district recommendations. Yeah, that boundlessness worked so well for Sodom and Gomorrah.

But wait. There’s more. In a speech last week – again, in Virginia – Secretary of Education Arne Duncan floated the idea of public boarding schools for at-risk kids, particularly those without parental involvement. “There’s just certain kids we should have 24/7 to really create a safe environment and give them a chance to be successful,” he said.

I, of all people, understand too well the risks such children face. My childhood experience and my victory over statistical odds through Christ are what spur me on to give hope to hopeless inner-city children in Anchorage each summer. And therein lies the solution: not in the government but in the hands of God’s people.

God’s people must be the defenders of the defenseless, the advocates of the hopeless and hurting, the spokesmen for the weak and easily led astray. We cannot sit idly by while educators undermine the concept of a God-given identity in a child who the Bible teaches is fearfully and wonderfully made. We cannot remain silent while children are encouraged to pursue perversity while exploring the so-called boundlessness of their sexual identities. We cannot allow a secular education system to take on the role of Mom and Dad to children who have no genuine concept of family.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” – Matthew 5:13

Someone recently asked me whether I believe the church abdicated its God-given role in society because the government usurped it. No, I instead believe the government usurped it because the church first abdicated it. It’s time we, the body of Christ, step up.

So let’s share some ideas. How do you serve as an advocate for children and an ambassador for Christ in your child’s public school? in your church? in your community? What impact are you having on behalf of children for Christ?