FLUSHING — A grassroots movement to integrate Bible studies during the public school day has not only gained traction nationwide in recent years, it’s become a quickly growing program offered to students in several local schools.

Lifewise Academy is a strictly voluntary program that is privately funded. While lessons take place during the school day, the public school students who participate do so at sites off school property during lunch breaks and recess.

With cases of anxiety, depression and suicide at all-time highs among youth and church attendance, Bible literacy and professions of faith at all-time lows, Lifewise Academy was launched to address a need in society through ministry.

The program has truly taken root in Belmont County, where every public school district in the county now has a Lifewise program that is growing. The program for each school has a director and a group of teachers and volunteers of all ages — from young adults to seniors.

Dana McGary is the director of the program for the Union Local School District, and Lifewise sessions for those students take place at the Trinity Gospel Fellowship Church in Flushing.

“Union Local has been amazing to work with,” McGary said. “They’re very supportive of the relationship, and I think they see the value of what the kids are learning here, especially the character traits — how you’re to behave and how you’re to treat other people.”

The Lifewise Academy program itself began back in 2018-19 in Van Wert, Ohio, when two area ministries combined efforts to reach “unchurched” students in public schools during released time — which is legal. The program expanded to other schools and within the past few years, Lifewise Academy has basically gone viral.

“It has exploded,” McGary said, noting that there are established Lifewise programs that are at least in the planning stages in every state across the country. “Every school in Belmont County now has a program.”

While a Supreme Court ruling in 1952 determined that teaching the Bible during the public school day was constitutional, the language in state codes that addresses this right varies, McGary noted.

“Every state’s wording is a little bit different,” she said, noting that Ohio recently changed its language from stating that a school “could allow” people to offer the program to a school “has to allow” people to offer the program.

Locally in Belmont County, the first Lifewise program was started in St. Clairsville. The program at Union Local had a soft launch in February 2023. This school year is the first full year for the program at UL, and it has expanded from fourth and fifth grades to third through sixth grades.

“The program is available from kindergarten through high school, but every program has to do what they can accommodate, and right now, that’s what we’re able to do,” McGary said. “It’s off school property, it’s parent permission and it’s privately funded. We have to do all of our fundraising. The only thing the school has to do with it is that’s where we get the kids. Other than that, the school’s not connected to the program at all.”

The sessions go by in a flash, especially at locations where students have to take a bus to a site some distance from the school. At Union Local, sessions take up about 55 minutes total, including the bus ride.

“Once they get here, it moves very quickly,” McGary said. “They spend some time on the bus reviewing what they learned previously, talk about the character trait that goes with the lesson — today’s was perseverance — and we talk about what that means and now that you’ve learned, what do you do with it?”

They sing a couple of songs, pray, watch a video, do a fun activity, eat lunch while teachers go over the lesson with them and then review what they’ve learned on the way back, sharing how that lesson can apply to life.

The group makes sure the students get to eat and get in some physical movement since it is their lunch and recess time.

“We have a lot of fun, and we have parents who tell us Lifewise is their kid’s favorite day of the week,” McGary said, noting that research shows that schools with Lifewise programs have students with better than average attendance and behavior. It shows when children get off the bus to attend sessions — giving high fives and bursting with energy and excitement. “And they energize us.”

The Lifewise Academy program provides the lessons, and a combination of paid but mostly volunteer teams work together to coordinate each session.

“They give us the curriculum and the tools we need,” McGary said, noting that it is up to parents to have their children participate. Some families with children in the Lifewise program attend church regularly, while many others may not attend church at all.

“We send out a letter explaining what it is and how they can sign their kid up if they chose to do that.”

Different programs in the area vary, McGary said, pointing out that some schools have a church across the street where students can walk for the sessions. The program at Union Local purchased a bus, which the group lovingly calls “Clifford” as it is painted red in the Lifewise Academy uniform style.

The UL program’s biggest group is the sixth grade group.

“That’s super exciting to me,” McGary said. “At that age, they’re interested in a lot of things — not necessarily learning about Jesus. But we have a strong core of 60-plus kids every week. It’s just been a blessing. We’re a family here.”

Programs are expected to continue to grow locally and across the country. The limiting factors are funding, scheduling issues, the amount of available volunteers and other variables.

Some schools have overlapping recess times, and those with Lifewise sites within walking distance from the school can provide more flexibility than those with transportation needs.

“We want to do as much as we can,” McGary said. “We want every grade that we can get. The growth potential is huge.”

Through the program’s lessons, children learn that they are loved, that they matter and that there is a purpose to their lives, she said.

“Life is hard,” McGary said. “These kids go through hard stuff — difficult situations. You need hope in this world. You need something to hold on to and something to believe in through the hard times. Jesus is it.

“We ask the students, ‘What do we do when we know who Jesus is and when we hear about Jesus?’ We share it with other people, and that’s what we encourage them to do.”

This message is not only helping bring the children to church, it’s also helping to spread the gospel to many of their parents, McGary said, adding that this is important because people are not seeing faith as a priority nowadays, and a number of churches are closing.

There are vocal and active opponents to the Lifewise programs, many arguing religious messaging should not be preached to public school students during school hours.

However, McGary stressed that these programs are allowed by law, do not take place on school property, are not funded by tax money and are voluntary.

“We’re not pushing it on anyone, but we’re letting people know it’s available,” she said.