A national religious education organization is trying to start Bible-based education for public school students in Monroe and Brown Counties.
LifeWise Academy is an Ohio-based organization providing off-site Bible-based education across the country. The group says there are over 500 live chapters in the country, with more than 4,000 in process. Ohio and Texas are among the states with the most live chapters.
Indiana has 63 live chapters, most of which are in the northern part of the state. The group says it has 57 of 100 signatures it wants to before contacting administrators to start a LifeWise program in the Monroe County Community School Corporation. Brown County has 31 of 50 signatures needed to proceed with exploring an official program.
“If there is sufficient interest, the next steps would involve building a local team of volunteers to meet with the school district to determine whether a released time program is feasible,” a statement from LifeWise said about a potential program in Brown County.
Indiana law permits students to leave school during the day for religious instruction. Students are allowed to receive up to 120 minutes of off-site religious instruction per week. The entity providing the instruction is required to work with the school principal to ensure the period the student leaves school is least disruptive to their instructional time.
According to the LifeWise website, the curriculum involves teaching students about the Bible and Bible passages.
Churches in favor of starting a program in Brown County includes Nineveh Christian Church. Tom Knight, senior pastor at the church, said a program like LifeWise can help make religion more accessible for students who may find Christianity intimidating or had past negative experiences with religion.
“Church has to be outside the four walls,” he said. “Now, we love having people in here, but it's 2026, and there's a lot of hurting, scared, frustrated people out there…there's a different way of doing church. Maybe we should try it and still be faithful to what we believe to be foundational truth, but how we apply that foundational truth could be different.”
If a LifeWise program did provide services for students attending Brown County Schools, Knight said he would encourage volunteers from his church to apply to teach the LifeWise curriculum. Knight said he agrees with the notion of separating church and state, but thinks since this program is voluntary, it’s okay to have it available to school children.
“If it were a forced thing, then I would be a preacher to say no,” he said. “We can't. That's not how the gospel gets shared. The gospel is a living gospel, and it is shared through life experience. It's not forced on people. We cannot force the gospel.”
Encounter Life Ministries, a church in Nashville, is also interested in the program. Lead Pastor Cory Joy said schools would benefit from having a pastor available to talk with students and support them. As a career coach at Brown County High School, Joy sees the benefit of having that support system that he thinks a counselor can’t always provide.
“Sometimes really what they need is they just need someone that cares about them. They need someone that has good biblical principles, a biblical foundation, can love well, can not hold judgment,” he said. “…You know, not, what's wrong with you? Why can't you get your grades? Why can't you do the work? Why are you struggling with anxiety? You know, just pull yourself together, but like, actually have compassion, a heart to just be like, hey, how can I walk alongside you in this tough moment?”
Joy acknowledged how it may be harder for students who are struggling academically to leave during the school day to attend religious programming. But he still thinks having the option is worth it.
“If it doesn't take school funds and it can add to the environment, why not let two or three pastors come in and just be present, just be available,” he said, “with the understanding, I'm not going to try to get you to come, my church. I'm not trying to do anything other than just be a partner to your success in life.”
Brown County Schools Superintendent Emily Callahan declined comment except to say she has not received inquiries from parents on the topic.
“Brown County Schools works hard to ensure families have access to educational opportunities that align with their interests while following all applicable state and federal laws,” Callahan said in an email.
MCCSC denied a request for an interview and said in an emailed statement that it is committed to adhering to the law to support families.
The line between the separation of church and state fading
Madeline Ziegler, staff attorney for Freedom from Religion Foundation Inc, said she has received an increasing number of complaints from across the country, including Indiana, about religion playing a bigger role in public school classrooms.
Her organization works to ensure religious programming isn’t occurring on school property --- which she said has occurred in Indiana --- and advocates for lessons to take place outside of school hours.
She said release time programs like LifeWise are known to create student conflict and logistical issues for schools.
“Our public schools are open to everybody, and they should remain spaces that are for absolutely everybody of all religions and no religion at all,” she said. “And there's no need to introduce such a divisive issue as different religious beliefs into that equation.”
Zachary Parrish, executive director of operations for the Secular Education Association, has advocated for more transparency on LifeWise’s curriculum.
When Parrish’s association published LifeWise’s curriculum a few years ago, LifeWise sued for copyright infringement. The Secular Education Association and LifeWise then reached a settlement agreement in 2024 saying that LifeWise must provide 48-hour access to their curriculum to anyone who requests it.
It took months of requests following the agreement for LifeWise to make the curriculum available. Parrish is still pushing for LifeWise to provide all of its materials online for anyone to view, which he says is still not the case.
Parrish’s own daughter attended a school in Ohio that he says implemented the LifeWise curriculum during the school day. He said she was left out of activities.
“They handed me the classroom rotation schedule, which included LifeWise. Like it was right there, listed with all of the specials classes: gym, art, music, LifeWise,” Parrish said. “I called the school and I said, ‘My daughter's not going to be doing LifeWise. What's she going to be doing?’ And the answer was, ‘We're shoving her into the gymnasium to go read by herself for an entire period.’”
