I started teaching Scripture just after the lockdown finished. It all happened because of COVID. 

I’m a project draftsman, so all I really need is a computer and the internet, and my work noticed we were efficient at home as well. Living in Gregory Hills, the commute to my office is an hour and 20 minutes, one way. When they said I could work from home, I grabbed the opportunity! 

At the same time I began working from home, our minister sent out an email asking if anyone would consider becoming an SRE teacher. I thought, “If SRE falls on the same day that I’m working from home, that would be ideal!” So I grabbed that opportunity as well, and used my lunch break to teach Scripture. I started in August 2020 and have been teaching ever since. 

When I’m working from home, I can make my day suited to what I need. I start quite early, at 5.30am, take my breaks whenever, and Scripture is a bit later in the day. Once a month I have a company-wide meeting that I need to attend online, so I rush home to log on in time. 

When I started teaching, I taught Year 3 and 4. Lately, I have been teaching Kindergarten. Kindy is really interesting – most of the Kindy kids don’t know much about the Bible. They’ve heard little bits about God, so teaching them gives lots of refreshing insights and it’s really fun. 

I enjoy occasionally seeing the kids outside of the school environment and getting to meet their families. A few times when I took my daughter to gymnastics class after school, a parent came up to me, a bit confused, and said, “My daughter says that you are her teacher”. I thought, “Am I?” Then I saw the girl and said, “Oh yeah! I’m her Scripture teacher”. From there we had nice conversations. 

When I’m walking in the town centre, I hear, “Hey Mr L!” and it’s one of my Scripture kids. When I walk into the school to pick up my children, I have kids from previous Scripture classes come up and have a chat with me. It’s a good feeling. 

I grew up in Holland and went to a Christian school. In the mornings we started with singing and Christian stories. I’m happy to do SRE and bring Christian stories to the kids who opt in at my local school.

Please pray that the Kindy kids who I teach will understand what I am trying to teach them and will hold onto those truths.