By Bethany Bentley

Full disclosure, I do not go to school, I’m in online school. But all summer, Pastor Ty Haguewood was talking to the students about how we were going to reach our communities for Christ. During youth group we split up into school groups and talked about how we were going to take the Gospel to our city, to our schools. Now the time has come. We’re back to school.

Nobody enjoys going back to school, it’s stressful and hard. Starting over at a new high school in junior year is hard. Starting high school at one school while all your middle school friends are at another school is hard. Starting college classes after not being in a classroom for the first time in three years is hard. But soon enough the stress will die and everyone will get used to it all again, like every year.

But as the stress dies down and everyone gets used to school again, let me say this: don’t. Don’t get used to it. Don’t go through the motions again. Don’t sit inside your own little bubble in every class. Don’t sit alone at lunch like you do every year. Don’t get stuck in a rut, like we all do every single year.

Don’t sit silently; let’s be as excited about the Gospel on Monday mornings as we are on Sundays and Wednesday nights. Let’s say we’re going to bring friends to church and then actually do it. Let’s really go sit with that one kid at lunch and share the Gospel with them. Let’s say we’ll go live and breathe and speak the Gospel to our classmates and actually do it.

More than that let’s share the gospel with our friend that we’ve grown up with, that we know is still living in their sins. That friend that we are so terrified of losing; of having them reject us if we share the Gospel. It’s scary. Facing rejection is scary. It’s said over and over and over again in church, fear shouldn’t stand in the way of evangelism, and that’s true.

Here are three things to remember:
1. Sometimes fear gets in the way of sharing the Gospel.
2. You are not an utter failure when fear does get in the way.
3. Don’t become weary.

When you can’t physically make yourself go sit with someone or open your mouth to talk, you are not a failure. Yes, it’s important to share the gospel in our schools, but in those times when we are just too scared to talk, we can pray. We can sit and pray and talk to God and ask for the courage to speak, or for Him to be glorified while someone else speaks.

Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Don’t become weary. In those moments when we feel like we’ve poured out so much of ourselves into others that there couldn’t possibly be anything left to give, turn to God. Turn to the Word. Don’t just tell others to pray and read the Bible, do it yourself. You can’t pour out into others if you’re not being poured into. That’s why we have church programs and small groups to recharge and come back to the Gospel.

At the end of the day, every single one of us needs the Gospel. The Gospel is not just for the lost. We all need to be reminded that the God who created the universe saved us and loves us. So let’s take that love to our schools.

Bethany Bentley lives in Albuquerque, NM with her parents and younger brother. She is a member of Albuquerque’s First Baptist Church and attends school online. Bethany is an accomplished photographer and her work has been published in Albuquerque Magazine.