Fields of Faith is celebrating its tenth anniversary with students, parents and teachers across the country who are sharing their faith with their friends and the community.
Fields of Faith is a peer-to-peer event in which students invite their own classmates and teammates to hear fellow students share their testimonies, be challenged to read the Word of God and follow Jesus Christ. An athletic field provides a neutral, interdenominational rally point where a community can come together. It started as a local event of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Oklahoma in 2002 and has grown nationwide to involve more than 50,000 people.
Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom says participants can be assured of their rights to publicly share their faith on school athletic fields.
"Like other similar events, 'See You at the Pole' and things like that, students have a constitutional right to do it and need not fear threats from atheist groups and anti-religious groups that would try and curtail the rights of students to organize these events or for schools to allow students to use facilities for these types of events," Sharp remarks.
He also points out that teachers and other school personnel have a right to take part in the event.
"Courts have held that teachers, staff and school administrators have the right to participate in those types of after-school events, as long as they make clear that they are doing so as private citizens and not as representatives of the school," he tells OneNewsNow.
ADF provides a number of guidelines that give students and school officials the knowledge they need to respond to any complaints about Fields of Faith or other similar events.
Fields of Faith is always held on the second Wednesday of October.