Among Youth Ministries, Columbine Still Resonates

c. 2000 Religion News Service

For the most part, students feel safe at Luther East High School, a small school in Lansing, Ill.

But, like 3,000 other schools, churches and Christian groups, the school recently ordered "Bulletproof?," a video package aiming to help students prepare for and prevent violence. The student body watched and discussed it during several of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod school's chapel sessions in February.

Next week, when the nation marks the first anniversary of the April 20 tragedy at Columbine High School, Luther East's Principal Glenn Rollins will participate in a dramatic skit to show students how easily a moment of anger can escalate.

"We do it, number one, so that students are aware that we're vigilant about it, that we're concerned about it, that even in a small Lutheran high school, we're not just putting our heads in the sand and saying it could never happen here," said Rollins. "We're not stepping away from the fact that this is an increasingly violent society."

Rollins is not alone among Christian youth workers who have sought to find tangible ways to address violence in a post-Columbine age. In the coming weeks and months, crowds are expected to gather on Washington's National Mall for events triggered by the Columbine violence, in which 12 students and one teacher were killed by two other students who committed suicide.

Youth ministries across the nation have worked harder to build relationships between youth and adults and to reduce isolation that sometimes leads to student violence, their leaders say.

The Rev. Ron Luce, president of Teen Mania, an evangelical Christian ministry that serves teens, said the Columbine tragedy in Littleton, Colo., continues to resonate with America's youth, especially Christian young people.

"I'll tell you this: Every time we speak of it, there's this incredible hush in the crowd," he said. "It's almost like ... you're doing open-heart surgery on their generation when you talk about it."

Even as experts see an increase in efforts by local groups to protect youth from harm, some also are reporting decreasing instances of teen violence nationwide.

"We continue to see a decline in numbers of kids who carry guns to school," said Shepherd Smith, president of the Sterling, Va.-based Institute for Youth Development. "That trend is pre-Columbine and is continuing. We continue to see fewer shootings in schools even though the ones that occur are highly publicized."

But the publicity of the shootings that have occurred is driving ministries to find constructive ways to work toward reducing violence even further.

During "Acquire the Fire" conferences held on weekends across the country during the academic year, Teen Mania has been encouraging young people to take proactive steps to prevent Columbine-like tragedies. It recommends praying for their fellow students, being bold about their faith by wearing Christian T-shirts and carrying Bibles to school, and evangelizing.

"We're asking every Christian young person in America to once a week share their faith -- and this is a kicker -- with somebody in their school who's down and out, who's been ridiculed, who's been mocked," said Luce. "These shooters have all been people like that."

The weekend youth conferences usually attract 5,000 to 10,000 students, but this weekend (April 14-15) the ministry hopes to draw 60,000 to the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich., to an event called "Stand Up: The National Gathering of the Unashamed" at which the Columbine tragedy will be commemorated.

Other events propelled by the tragedy are also expected to attract large crowds. They include "Take a Stand" and "The Call," scheduled for May 19-21 and Sept. 2, respectively, on the National Mall.

"The Call" is aimed at youth and their parents and is sponsored by church leaders from a variety of denominations and ethnic groups.

Linda Furr, coordinator of "Take a Stand," said she hopes more than 50,000 will turn out in May to urge more prayer in schools.

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