An SRE teacher recently told me that the principal in the school where he teaches asked if she could look at the program he was using. He confidently lent her a copy of his Connect Teacher’s Manual. The following week the principal gave it back to him and thanked him for letting her spend time looking through the curriculum.
It is a wonderful privilege to be able to go into our public schools and teach children about the tenets and beliefs of Christianity. Many parents, teachers and school principals are interested in what and how we teach. Teaching SRE from an approved curriculum is important for two reasons: firstly, it makes it easy for interested people to know what is going on in our classrooms; and secondly, it helps teachers to make sure that they are teaching appropriate material to children.
Accountability can be defined as ‘being liable to be called to account’. That is, we have to be held answerable for the things we do. We know that we are ultimately accountable to God. In the book of Romans, Paul reminds us that we will all stand before God’s judgment seat and give an account of ourselves to Him. We may also be called to account by the parents and teachers of the children we teach, and even by the schools that we teach in.
We need to be open and honest about what we are teaching children. This is important when we go to where the children are, for example when we teach SRE; and when the children come to us at church. What does this openness look like?
• Using teaching material that is age appropriate and draws children to the great truths of the Bible.
• Using an approved curriculum when we teach SRE that we can make available to parents, teachers and principals if they ask to have a look.
• Having a careful and well thought out approach to selecting appropriate leaders and teachers for children’s ministry and not just desperately filling gaps in our rosters.
• Ensuring that our teachers have completed their Safe Ministry training and, for our SRE teachers, their SRE Accreditation Training.
• Providing ongoing trainer for our children’s ministry leaders and teachers.
• Ensuring that anyone involved in children’s ministry has completed a Working with Children Check.
• Making it clear when we invite children to events at our church if there will be some Christian content.
• Being open and welcoming to parents who don’t attend church so that they can be confident about what we are doing with their children.
Being called to account has such a negative feel about it, but it can be a positive thing to do. It can be as simple as asking a leader or teacher how they are going or offering to pray with them. Taking an interest in what is happening in the Sunday or midweek children’s ministry helps leaders to keep accountable but it is also very encouraging to know that parents and others care about what is happening.
Proverbs 10:9 is a good reminder of the importance of being accountable because ‘whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out’.
