Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Weekly Blurb

Local schools — a ministry vacuum

Sunday 3 August, 2003 · Posted by Neil Atwood

Many Christian families have taken the step of enrolling their children in one of the many Christian schools available now. This is a very understandable priority for many families. Education doesn't take place in a moral and ethical vacuum, and the strong humanist/pluralist focus of the public education system means our kids can be exposed to lots of thinking and philosophies that we - as followers of Jesus - would strongly disagree with. The choice of education is a personal decision each family needs to take after much thought and prayer, but we must be very careful to avoid a particular trap:
We, as Christians, as a church, mustn't desert our public schools in a ministry sense. In many ways, our local schools present a 'golden gateway' for ministry to our local community.

First, there is Scripture (SRE). To have free access to teach kids in our public schools is an almost unbelievable privilege that we very much take for granted. Virtually no other country in the world allows such involvement by churches. Yet we fall far short of staffing the available classes in our local schools.

Second, there are many other ways churches and individual Christians can minister in schools. Being part of P&C organisations, offering skills to supplement school staff, such as tutoring, remedial reading, sport coaching and so on. The opportunities are endless, and schools welcome 'community involvement' from people.

Third, Pendle Hill High School, in particular, is a 'ministry vacuum' waiting for something/some people to fill it. As a church, we financially support an SRE teacher (Wayne Botting) to teach their one day a week, but there is so much more we could be doing. There are more SRE classes to be taught, a lunchtime Christian group to establish, relationships to build with kids and staff, contacts with parents to be made, and more.

So how can we move forward with these ministry opportunities and challenges at Pendle Hill High and the other schools in our district? First, must be prayer. Are you a parent of a child at one of our public schools? Do you know of any Christian parent of children at our schools? If so, why not arrange to meet and pray with them for the school and ministry opportunities?

Pray for and support our SRE teachers.
Pray that God you show us the way ahead to make a real impact for the gospel in our schools.

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