Dear Friends,
I have a friend who writes to me several times a week to remind me of how ridiculous the Christian faith is. Recently he wrote about SRE (Scripture) classes:
The time is well overdue for SRE to be removed from Schools in every state… We should have a proper State approved curriculum course on the world’s religions taught by qualified teachers – qualified by the Dept. of Education, not the Churches – and Clerics should be disqualified for this purpose. Too many are predisposed to proselytise and not teach. Lay teachers trained by the Church only should not be permitted either. We have much evidence of the harm they can and do cause.
There is consistent pressure being applied to the government in NSW to change the SRE laws and remove the opportunity to teach children from the Bible during schools hours. This happened in Victoria this year and many think we are not far away.
One of the things that encouraged me when I came to Campbelltown in 2010 was the enormous number of Schools we had a connection with – not just St Peter’s Anglican Primary School and Broughton Anglican College, but Campbelltown Primary, Campbelltown East Primary, Campbelltown North Primary Campbelltown High, Bradbury Primary, Kentlyn Primary, Ruse Primary, Briar Road Primary, John Warby Primary and Airds High.
It’s an incredible list. While SRE or Chapel will take place in most of those schools this week (and I have had the privilege of doing some this year), our church does not currently provide teachers for all those schools. We are however partners with CAHSM (Campbelltown Area High School Ministry) and are therefore involved in another 5 high schools!
It is a great work. Making connections with children and young adults who are keen to learn and often don’t have the opportunity to attend a church Sunday by Sunday is an invaluable ministry.
To this end, I want to urge you to pray. As you read this, take a moment to pray:
- Pray for our two partner schools St Peter’s and Broughton, for our Headmasters, our Chapel teams and the teachers who have daily opportunities to share their faith;
- Pray for our local primary and high schools, that SRE would be preserved in these schools and that children and young adults would deepen in their faith; and
- Pray for God to raise up more teachers for all this work, that we may have a vast army of people ready and equipped to help the next generation found their life on the rock that satisfies, Jesus.
If you want to see some of this work, join us for Chapel in St Peter’s Church Tuesday to Friday mornings at 9am for half an hour. Seeing a couple of hundred kids sing praises to God and think hard on the truths of the Bible is profoundly encouraging for the soul.
Thanks for your prayers,
Nigel