Bullying in Christian Schools: What to Do About It

In the previous article in this series, I discussed just how powerful words are to us. God created us with the ability to recognize that words have an impact in our lives in order for us to be able to fully understand the Bible and its life changing promise when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. In this article, we will look at the issue of bullying in Christian schools.

Let’s start with a story from a long time ago …

The Roman Soldier: A Bully’s Story

I am a Roman soldier and I often don’t have a choice in what I do. I just have to obey the orders I’m given, whether I like my orders or not. There have been times when I made some bad choices in my life because I was only thinking of myself and what I wanted. The story I’m going to tell you was a combination of both. It’s a story about what my friends, who are also soldiers, and I did one day.

I remember when our troubles all began. It started the first time I saw Jesus. He had been arrested and charged with disobedience to God. He claimed to be the Son of God and the King of the Jews. It was also said that He made the outrageous claim that people could only go to heaven if they believed in Him! I had never heard of such a thing.

We had heard about this man and thought that He was crazy. Then we were sent to guard Him in prison, so we thought we’d have a little fun with Him. Oh how I remember this because we were so mean. We took His clothes off of Him and decided to beat Him. We thought it was fun! He never even tried to fight back or yell at us.

We then thought it would be funny, since He claimed to be a king, to put a scarlet robe on Him. Then one of the other soldiers brought a long, thin branch from a thorn bush, one with two inch thorns on it. We wrapped this long thin branch from the thorn bush into a circle and made a crown out of it and jammed it down on His head. It made Him bleed and had to be very painful.

We also made Him hold a tall stick that looked like a king’s scepter, and we all said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” We all laughed and made fun of Him. We were pretty proud of ourselves. Some people started spitting on Him and some took the stick and beat Him over the head again, again, and again. And still, we thought it was fun!

Then He was led away to be nailed to the cross. He was bleeding so badly He couldn’t even carry His own cross. He collapsed and fell halfway to the hill where He was to be crucified, so we made a person who was watching all of this carry the cross the rest of the way for Jesus. Once we all got to the hill, we drove huge spikes through His hands and feet. The pain had to have been really terrible.

Jesus would not take the drug that would kill the pain. I guess He wanted to be fully awake until He died. I don’t know why. It seemed crazy to me. Well anyway, we decided to gamble for His clothing and I won His coat. I thought it was great then, but I’m so ashamed of what I did now. I was a mean bully! (An excerpt from Valle Bible Church, Vacation Bible School curriculum, 2016.)

(Various accounts of the time leading up to Jesus’ death can be found in the four gospels: Matthew 26:67-27:56; Mark 14:65-15:20; Luke 22:63-23:46; John 19:1-24)

Bullying in Christian Schools

As the story of the Roman Soldier shows above, Jesus knows what being bullied feels like. He knows the emotional and physical pain that others can inflict on someone. God provided this story to us to help our children know that Jesus understands what they are going through. It also shows that Jesus provides an example of how to handle these situations.

Unfortunately, bullying is one example of how some people use powerful words and actions for harm.This second article is written more for parents of children who are being bullied, either physically or emotionally, by another child. Sadly, this happens in Christian schools, too. I have worked with several children who are attending private Christian schools and they still have a bully in their lives.

As parents, it’s always disheartening to hear that a child is being bullied. It’s even harder to hear about instances of bullying in Christian schools. If your child is being bullied at school, please discuss it with school personnel. They have specific protocols in place to respond to these situations.

Resources for parents and schools

As parents, we can often feel helpless or unsure how to handle these situations. A great resource for parents to go through with their child is, “Bullying is a Pain in the Brain,” by Trevor Romain. This resource is written for children ages 8-13 with a 5th grade reading level.

It briefly talks about cyber bullying, but is not really meant for this type of bullying. It is wonderful at discussing ways to identify if a child is bullying others. It helps both the child and the parent build skills on how to handle bullying situations.

For children and teens a little older, there is an amazing book called, “The Kid’s Guide to Working Out Conflicts: How to Keep Cool, Stay Safe, and Get Along,” by Naomi Drew. There is a companion book to this for the professional or parent going through this material with a child. This is great both for children who have been bullied, as well as children who have been the bully.

Seattle Christian Counseling is also a great resource for children and their parents. If you notice your child is isolating themselves or having other significant changes in behavior, please seek counseling immediately.