Praying for Schools
Pray for the SU groups in:
Cloughmills Primary School
Comber Primary School
Connor House Prep School
Crumlin Integrated College
Cullybackey High School
Prayer Focus
Thursday 17th May 2012
Please pray for our Camp & Mission leaders as they attend a First Aid/Food Hygiene training day on 9 June at Cairnshill Methodist Church. Pray that it will be beneficial and enjoyable for everyone involved.
Better together
Better Together from Louise Irwin on Vimeo.
Getting Started
We have produced a leaflet called Get Into Gear as a guide to enable churches to reach out effectively to their local school communities. To view the leaflet and / or download a pdf version please click here.
The Great Potential On Our Doorstep is another article about how churches and Christians might impact their local schools. To read it, please click here.
For ideas on how to encourage your church to pray for local schools please click here.
Back to School With God Sunday
Sunday 28th August 2011 or whatever date suits you.
The end of August is an ideal time to have a service to affirm support for young people and school staff, and encourage ongoing commitment to pray for them.
SU Scotland produce resources each year for use on Back To School With God Sunday. These include an All Age Service outline, PowerPoint slides, a children's talk, children's activities, bookmarks and songs. The resources can be used whether you are planning a whole service or a slot in a normal service and they are available to download from the SU Scotland website.
The theme this year is "Without a doubt", taken from the story of Peter's miraculous escape from prison in Acts 12. Find out how the early believers RISKED IT to pray, how REAL THINGS happen when we pray, and how we need to REPEAT our stories so others can get excited about the wonderful things God does.
Alternatively, or in addition, please find below some resources produced by SU in Northern Ireland which could be used as part of a service focusing on schools at any time of the year.
Useful Resources
To explore further how churches can impact their local schools and support Christians involved in education we recommend the following resources which are available from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.
Supporting Christians in Education
This innovative booklet is a ‘must read' for every Christian leader and teacher. Written by Trevor Cooling, Director of Transforming Lives, and Mark Greene, the Executive Director at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, this guide lays out a compelling vision for Christian involvement in education.
Supporting Christians in Education provides a host of practical ideas for how churches and Christian organisations can provide support and encouragement to teachers, governors, schools workers, chaplains and others involved in education.
"Rarely has so much accumulated wisdom and so many practical suggestions been communicated so concisely, warmly and encouragingly. In this inspiring, extended conversation, Trevor Cooling and Mark Greene show us all how we can ‘do education' better and in a more biblical way."
Bryan Cowling, Chief Executive, Anglican Education Commission, Sydney.
You can purchase the booklet for £5.00.
The Transforming Lives DVD and Toolkit
These multi-media resources support churches and Christian organisations in exploring the vocation to teach. They provide a range of material for use with young people and adults covering:
- The vocation of teaching
- A distinctive Christian contribution to teaching
- The role of the Christian teacher in a diverse society
The DVD features three teachers at work in their school and others talking about their experience of teaching. In addition there is comment from well-known Christian figures Joel Edwards, Bishop James Jones and Ann Holt.
The Toolkit is packed full of practical ideas for using the DVD material to explore the vocation to teach in services, sermons, Bible studies, discussion groups, youth meetings, with students and in a dedicated education evening.
You can purchase a stylishly boxed version of the Toolkit and DVD for just £5.