The Playbook Middle School & High School · Central Florida

Your School.
Your Club.
Your Right.

Every public middle school and high school in America is legally required to allow student-led faith clubs — if they allow any non-curriculum clubs at all.

Most schools already do. Which means you already have the right. You just need to know how to use it.

This is the complete playbook. Start here.

The Law

"It shall be unlawful for any public secondary school which receives Federal financial assistance and which has a limited open forum to deny equal access or a fair opportunity to, or discriminate against, any students who wish to conduct a meeting within that limited open forum on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings."

Equal Access Act — 20 U.S.C. § 4071 (1984)
Chapter 2 · The Playbook

How to start
your club in 7 steps

This is not complicated. It is a process. Follow it in order and you will have a running club faster than you think.

Find two or three people who mean it

Don't announce anything yet. Don't make a flyer. Find two or three students at your school who are actually serious — people who will show up even when it's hard, even when it's awkward, even when the meeting is just the three of you. Build on that foundation, not on a crowd.

Quality of the core beats size of the crowd. Always.

Find a faculty sponsor

Most schools require a faculty member to be present at club meetings as a supervisor — not a leader, just a responsible adult who can vouch for the gathering. Ask a teacher you respect. They don't need to share your faith. They just need to be willing to sit in the room. Be upfront about what the club is.

A teacher who respects you even if they disagree with you is gold. Find that person.

Submit a formal club request

Go to the main office and ask for the club application process. Fill it out completely. Name your club — "Jesus Club," "Christian Students Club," or "Faith and Life" all work. List your faculty sponsor. List your founding student members. Be calm, be professional, be polite. You are exercising a legal right, not asking for a favor.

Bring a printed copy of the Equal Access Act summary. Don't lead with it — but have it if the conversation goes sideways.

If they say no — know what to do next

Ask for the denial in writing. Ask which other non-curriculum clubs are currently approved on campus. Document the date and who you spoke with. Then contact Eric at The Going Ministry — he has resources and connections to help you navigate this correctly. Do not get angry in the office. Do not make threats. Just get the facts in writing and leave calmly.

A written denial from a school violating the Equal Access Act is a legal case. Stay composed.

Pick a time, place, and format

Before school, after school, or lunch works. Pick a consistent day — same day every week, every two weeks, or monthly. Consistency matters more than frequency. Pick a room that fits your group. Keep the format simple at first: welcome, a short question or topic, discussion, prayer. Fifteen focused minutes beats an hour of dead air.

Start with less than you think you need. You can always add.

Invite people personally

Don't start with a flyer. Start with a personal conversation. Look someone in the eye and say "I'm starting something on Wednesdays before school — it's a Christian club, and I think you'd get something out of it. Will you come?" A personal invite beats a hundred flyers. Once you have five or six regulars, then make the flyer.

The most powerful marketing in any community is a friend saying "you should come."

Hold the first meeting like it matters — because it does

Prepare. Have a clear opening. Have a question ready that gets people talking. Have a clear close. Thank people for coming. End on time — respect for people's schedules communicates respect for them. Then immediately start planning the second meeting. The second meeting is where clubs live or die, not the first.

First meetings get curiosity. Second meetings get commitment. Prepare for both.
Chapter 3 · Leadership

Running it well is
a spiritual discipline.

Anyone can start a club. Running it with integrity, consistency, and grace — through the weeks when nobody shows up, through the disagreements, through the pressure — that's where character is built.

The way you lead this club is part of the gospel you're living. People are watching you more than they're listening to you. Lead like you know that.

Here are the principles that separate clubs that last from clubs that fizzle out after three meetings.

Welcome the one who walks in alone
The student who shows up for the first time by themselves, not knowing anyone, is the most important person in the room that day. Stop what you're doing. Learn their name. Make sure they're not invisible. That moment either grows your club or kills it.
Start and end on time, every time
Chronic lateness says the club doesn't take itself seriously. Starting exactly when you said you would, even if three people are there, communicates discipline and respect. People who come late will start coming early.
Ask questions more than you give answers
The best club meetings are conversations, not lectures. Prepare one good question that doesn't have an obvious answer. Let people sit in the tension. The gospel works better in genuine conversation than in a monologue.
Protect the skeptic in the room
If a student comes who's not a Christian, or who has hard questions, they are not a project to fix. They are a person who came. Protect their right to ask anything. If your club is only safe for people who already agree, it has nothing to offer anyone.
Don't run it alone
Identify two other students in the club who can help lead. Give them real responsibility — not just tasks, but ownership. A club that depends entirely on one person will collapse the moment that person is sick, busy, or graduates.
Connect your club to something bigger
Link up with Young Fire and The Going Ministry. Know other Jesus Clubs in nearby schools. Occasional joint events between schools create energy and remind students that what they're doing is part of something that goes beyond their hallway.
The High Points
The conversation that changes someoneYou will have a meeting where something shifts for someone — you may not even know it happened for months. That moment is why this exists.
The friend who comes because you askedThere's nothing like watching someone walk through that door because they trusted you enough to show up. Honor that trust every week.
The school seeing you as credibleWhen faculty start respecting the club — referring students to it, acknowledging it publicly — the culture of the school genuinely shifts. It happens. You will see it.
Leading something real at 14Most adults don't lead anything until their thirties. You are building something, taking responsibility for it, and watching it grow or fail. That experience is irreplaceable.
The Pitfalls
Starting big, then fadingMost clubs die because the first meeting gets 20 people and the third gets 4. Expect this. Plan for it. The real club is the 4, not the 20.
Making it a cliqueWhen the same six people huddle together and outsiders feel like they're breaking into something, the club is already dead — it just doesn't know it yet.
Turning it into a debate clubIf every meeting becomes an argument about theology or politics, people who came for community will stop coming. The gospel is not primarily an argument — it's a story and an invitation.
Losing the spiritual centerThe moment the club becomes primarily a social gathering — fun, friendly, but content-free — it stops being a Jesus Club and becomes just a club. Hold the center without making it rigid.
Chapter 5 · The Center

Keep the
Gospel at the core.

Here's what a Jesus Club is actually for: it is a place where students can encounter the real Jesus — not a mascot, not a rule system, not a political position, but the actual person who said "I am the way, the truth, and the life" and backed it up with the resurrection.

The gospel is not primarily about being a good person. It is about a God who became a person, died for people who didn't deserve it, and came back. That story — told plainly, taken seriously, lived out honestly — is more interesting, more challenging, and more life-changing than anything else you could put in front of your school.

Don't water it down to make it easier to accept. Don't make it harder than it is. Just tell the story. Ask the questions. Sit in the honest answers. Let Jesus be who He said He was — and watch what happens when teenagers who've never had an adult take them seriously suddenly encounter a Savior who takes them seriously too.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 — This is still the center. Start and end here.
Know Your Rights

Questions students
actually ask

Real questions. Real answers. Plain language, no legal jargon. Tap each question to read the answer.

Not if they allow other non-curriculum clubs. The Equal Access Act requires any public secondary school receiving federal funds to provide equal access to student groups regardless of the religious or philosophical nature of the club.

If your school has a chess club, a drama club, a social justice club, or any other club that isn't directly tied to a class curriculum — they must allow your Jesus Club too. This is federal law, not a policy they can change.

✓ They cannot refuse you

A teacher can attend and supervise your meetings — many schools require it for any club. However, school employees may not lead, direct, or participate in the religious activities of the club. They are there as monitors, not participants.

This is actually a protection for you. It means the school cannot use a teacher to control or water down what happens in your meeting. The agenda is yours.

✗ Teachers cannot lead — you lead

Yes — completely. The Equal Access Act specifically protects the religious nature of student-led meetings. You can pray, read the Bible, worship, and conduct any religious activity that is student-initiated and student-led.

The school cannot tell you what you can or cannot do spiritually in your own student-led meeting. They can set rules about noise, safety, and behavior that apply to all clubs equally — but they cannot single out religious activity for restriction.

✓ Fully protected — this is the point

Students can generally distribute religious literature at school under the same rules that apply to any non-school literature — usually in non-classroom areas during non-instructional time. You cannot disrupt class to hand out Bibles, but you can hand them out before school, at lunch, or after school.

Check your school's specific policy on distribution of non-school materials. Most schools have one that applies equally to all materials. As long as you follow that policy, religious materials are protected speech.

✓ Yes — with the same rules as any other literature

Expect this. It is not a sign that something is wrong — it is usually a sign that something is right. How you respond to hostility is one of the most powerful testimonies your club can give.

With students: be kind, don't argue, don't escalate. You don't need to win the debate. You need to be the person who didn't act like they expected.

With teachers or staff who are actively interfering with your legal right to meet: document it, stay calm, and contact The Going Ministry. This is exactly the kind of situation Eric can help navigate.

✓ You have rights — and backup

Yes — if other clubs can. If the school allows other clubs to post flyers on bulletin boards, announce meetings over the PA system, or post to the school website, they must allow your club the same access.

Design your flyers well. Be clear about what the club is. Don't be vague just to avoid pushback — you are not doing anything wrong and you don't need to pretend you are.

✓ Equal access applies to advertising too
We're In Your Corner

You don't have to
figure this out alone.

Eric Schwalbach has been in Central Florida classrooms for 30 years. He knows how schools work, what administrators respond to, and how to help you build something that actually lasts. Tell him where you're at — whether you're just starting, running into problems, or want to connect with other clubs in the area.