Covenant News

NPU Students, Covenanters To Mentor Troubled Youth

CHICAGO (November 18, 1999) - A dozen students from North Park University's AfterHours program, along with several Covenanters involved in a variety of church and para-church urban ministries, are in training to become mentors to troubled youth in the Chicago public school system.

The mentoring program is considered by some to be an unprecedented collaboration between religious leaders and the public school system, with 105 churches and 300 volunteers from a variety of faiths currently participating in the program. "Chicago has been very territorial in the past when it comes to churches," said Ginny Olson, director of youth ministries at North Park University and citywide coordinator of the National Network of Youth Ministries. "This is something that's bringing them together for a common cause," she observed.

"The initiative is the latest and most ambitious effort in a three-year campaign to recruit local clergy to serve schoolchildren," states a Chicago Tribune article, which also notes that the school-clergy partnership "has pushed the limits of church-state law and raised concerns among some civil rights advocates who fear it opens the door to proselytizing in schools."

However, public schools Supt. Paul Vallas was quoted as saying that careful guidelines governing the manner in which mentoring occurs should adequately address constitutional concerns. The central purpose of the program is to keep children in school and out of trouble, especially children facing expulsion or suspension.

When a school realizes that a particular child is having difficulty either at school or at home, a mentor will be called upon to work with the student, helping the child through whatever difficulty they are experiencing. "Students are hungry for adults who care about them," Olson noted. "This is helping to meet that need. It's coming from a perspective where we really believe the church is called to minister," Olson added. "It means we get out of our comfort zone and into the community."

"This represents a major expansion of our Interfaith Partnership," Vallas was quoted by the Tribune. "It represents much more aggressive partnering between the schools and churches. This is us utilizing the resources of these religious institutions for counseling and mentoring children in crisis," he added. Vallas said facing a potential church-state controversy is well worth the effort in exchange for the value the religious institutions can bring to the public school system and its troubled youth.

Olson describes the invitation to join Chicago schools in the effort as a rare opportunity. "A key part of youth ministry is trying to work with the school system . . . to be able to minister where the kids are at," Olson said. She acknowledges that youth workers must exercise caution with respect to the separation of church and state issue, but argues that the value outweighs the risk. "Our hope is that this will open up schools in a number of other urban centers," Olson said.

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