A monumental decision was made last semester by the leadership team of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Club, now called Student Christian Leaders (SCL). After reviewing the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Faith Statement, the 2019-2020 FCA leadership team came to the unanimous decision to break away from the national lead organization. Now, in a new school year, the 2020-2021 leadership team will carry out that decision in a virtual environment, something much different than they had expected.

FCA, the national organization, is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry. At North Atlanta, FCA was a club that took place every other Friday morning before school. Students gathered in the library to play games, eat breakfast, and hear from a guest speaker. While it was titled Fellowship of Christian Athletes, you didn’t need to be Christian nor an athlete to attend meetings, and the club leaders had always made that clear to the student body. The club was open to everyone, despite what their beliefs or what extracurriculars they took part in. However, it was brought to the attention of the leadership team last year that some students were reluctant to attend meetings as they found the national FCA’s statement of faith, and the organization itself, blatantly homophobic. This barred many students from wanting to come, as well as support an organization that openly didn’t support the lifestyles of some of their peers. “The messages that FCA promotes aren’t the same that we want to, mainly its staunch belief against homosexuality,” said junior and leadership team member Ben Holzworth. “We just want FCA to be a place anyone can come to feel like they’re part of a community.”

Like all extracurriculars last school year, FCA was abruptly stopped, unfortunately right in the middle of its breakaway process. Despite this unforeseen circumstance, the new SCL leadership team plans to carry on with the decision and movement started by last year’s team.  “We’ll be sticking with the decision to act separately from the national FCA organization,” said Holzworth. “It’s not that important to us to be recognized by them [national FCA], but more so to be recognized as a supportive community for anyone at NAHS.” 

Trying not to stray far from normal, the club is planning on doing Zoom meetings with guest speakers and virtual games, similar to the traditional in-person meetings. Like most extracurriculars, SCL is trying to find ways to plan around the pandemic while still keeping students’ safety their top priority. 

Regardless of whatever circumstances the club is faced with, SCL will continue to work hard to provide a space for students to come together no matter their background or beliefs, certainly embodying the spirit of the Dubs.