Every week Christians from churches around Sydney teach SRE in their local public schools. We are so fortunate to have this opportunity to teach children about Christianity. Many churches are looking for other ways to connect with local children and their families.

Here are three interesting approaches that churches are using:

Education Week Service

Many SRE teachers are involved in Education Week services at their local schools, but some churches are also running these services on a Sunday. I recently went to a Sunday Education Week Service in a church that teaches SRE in five local schools. It was encouraging to see so many students, parents, teachers and two school principals in the church that morning. During the service one of the school’s choir sang two songs, the principals were given gifts to thank them for their partnership with the church, the schools were prayed for, and children’s ministries were showcased. Finally, the parable of the unforgiving servant was told while giant pictures of the story were coloured in with chalk. As families went out for morning tea there was a positive and welcoming atmosphere that beautifully ended the service.

School Excursion to Church

Churches can invite teachers from their local public schools to bring students on a school excursion to the church. This is possible because within the Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) syllabus there is time made available for General Religious Education. In stage 2 (years 3 and 4) of the syllabus, students are able to learn about ‘places of religious and spiritual significance in the local community’ and ‘traditional and religious stories about significant people and entities of major world religions; while in stage 3 (years 5 and 6) students can learn about ‘traditions, belief systems and practices of Australia’. A school excursion to a local church can therefore easily complement a school’s HSIE program.  One inner city church invites year 3 and 4 teachers from the local school to bring students to the church for a morning excursion. During the excursion, children explore the church and complete a worksheet about the church building and its activities and bake biscuits to be given out to the breakfast for marginalised people living in the suburb. For some children, this is their first time in a church.

Mentoring Students

Many churches in Sydney develop strong relationships with their schools through mentoring students. World Vision’s Kids Hope Australia is one such mentoring program that supports and trains participating churches so that they can mentor school students. Each trained mentor goes in to school as an adult friend for one child for an hour a week. In that hour, the mentor and student do school work, play games and talk together. Schools see the benefits of mentoring straight away as these children’s school work and social skills are supported, and a positive and strong relationship develops between the school and the church. Although mentoring is not a place for evangelism, it does give an opportunity for churches to show God’s love in a purposeful and non-threatening way.