Sydney's schools are mission fields ripe for the Gospel says a man tasked with recruiting Christian teachers for the next generation.
The director of the Christians in Teaching Project, Ian Keast, has covered close to 10,000 kilometres in the past year encouraging students to see teaching as a vital area for serving Christ.
He believes the current shortage in educationalists is an opportunity to influence generations of Australians that can't be missed.
"I remember well the Christian teacher who prayed for, encouraged and mentored me
in those formative years when I became a Christian in Year 8 at High School," he says.
"Looking back on that time, he's a clear example of the influence a Christian teacher can have on students."
This is where the Christians in Teaching Project comes in.
The program, jointly promoted by Youthworks and the Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation, recognises schools as strategic places for growing God's Kingdom.
Mr Keast has been speaking at assemblies, chapel services and lunch-time meetings, encouraging Christian students in years eleven and twelve to choose subjects that could be turned into teaching degrees at a later date.
At the university level he is co-operating with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students to encourage Christians to consider a career in front of the blackboard.
"It's all about sowing an idea that may not come to fruiting for a few years," he says.
But Mr Keast also has his eyes on this year's harvest as he prepares to launch a series of meetings across Sydney targeting the mature worker.
"An increasing part of my job is to be in touch with people who are thinking of a career change. I’m getting about three or four emails a week from people who are thinking just that."
Mr Keast says Christian teachers can be influential gatekeepers for young people at a key time in their development.
"I was a teacher for 32 years in a variety of state and independent schools," he says.
"And I guess my passion is that I can see the opportunities that present themselves to a Christian teacher to speak about Christ or be a role model for him."
People interested in taking the Gospel to the city's classrooms can email Ian Keast for more information.
