It takes a whole village to raise a child

African Proverb

When I was growing up, Sunday School and Scripture classes were an important part of village life, an accepted part of raising a child. Sadly, this is no longer the case, and as a result, most children know very little about Jesus. Christmas and Easter celebrations have become bigger and bigger, but the real reason for these celebrations is often lost. 

Thankfully in our village there is still a safe space where we can teach children about Jesus.  In NSW Public Schools, Special Religious Education (SRE) remains part of the curriculum.  Each week God opens the school gates, provides faithful volunteers to teach His word and brings students into our classes to hear it.  Each week the St Michael’s SRE team have the privilege of teaching over 400 Primary School students about Jesus – what an amazing Gospel opportunity! 

The most vital members of our SRE village are the SRE teachers themselves – 29 wonderful volunteers, ranging in age from 18 to over 70, some who have just started teaching this year, others with years of experience – but all passionate about telling children about Jesus. Each week they take time off paid work, study and family commitments, to prepare lessons, teach and faithfully pray for their students.  Yet very rarely do they see the fruit of their labour. The purpose of Primary SRE is not to convert children to Christianity. Teachers lay the foundation for others to build on by using the Bible to explain who Jesus is and modelling what it means to follow him.  For children from both Christian and non-Christian homes, SRE is a safe place to explore the Christian faith – answering their questions is sometimes a challenge but always encouraging. Our teachers trust in the promise that God’s word will always accomplish His purpose.  Praise God for their servant hearts, pray that He will sustain them and please ask that He will provide more people who are willing to serve in this way.   

Although we are well into the year, we still have classes without a permanent teacher and each week we have teachers away due to illness and other commitments.  Now is the perfect time to talk to me about teaching SRE.  Even if you can’t commit to teaching each week, covering a few weeks each term would be a real blessing to our regular teachers. I can assure you that you won’t be serving alone – there is a whole village involved in ensuring God’s word is faithfully taught and reaches the hearts that He is preparing for it. 

Our 8am Mission partner, Youthworks, has a key role in ensuring that SRE stays on the curriculum and that our SRE teachers are well equipped with sound training and provided with a Bible based curriculum approved by the Department of Education. 

The Bible Society too has a role, generously providing the age-appropriate Bibles that we read from in our classes.  It is always a joy when a child asks if they can take one of these Bibles home as their own.  The younger children often squabble over who’s turn it is to borrow the Jesus Storybook Bibles provided on loan.  In at least one family, the Storybook Bible, sparked a conversation between parents, which led to a child attending her local church for the first time.  Please pray that connections to church continue and that through them whole families may come to know Jesus. 

In our schools, it isn’t just the students that we are connecting with – positive relationships with the SRE co-ordinators and classroom teachers are critical for our 33 classes to go ahead each week.   

And joining our team of teachers is not the only way that you can be part of our SRE village – if you have been praying for SRE, you are already playing a vital role.  Please keep using the St Michael’s Prayer Resource which lists all SRE teachers by name together with the schools that they visit.  Perhaps your Growth Group may like to “adopt” a particular school, so that you can pray more intentionally for the SRE teachers, students and classroom teachers there. I’d be delighted to talk more about this with you.   

We may never know the impact of our SRE lessons on the children we teach.  But we do know that Jesus welcomed children into His Kingdom, and He calls us to do the same – Primary SRE is a wonderful way of doing just that! 

Margaret Moodie (5pm) | SRE Coordinator | 0408850420 | SRE@wollongonganglican.org