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Even if you’re at the start of a relationship with your local primary school, it’s more than likely that some input around Christmas and Easter will be welcomed by the school. Here are some stories of what people have done…
Sarah Smart
Sarah is a development worker for Scripture Union in South East England. For many years, she has been working in the region with two presentations: ‘Why Christmas?’ and ‘Why Easter?’ These are a mix of challenges, quizzes, craft, multimedia resources and discussion. Children are encouraged to think about what they know of Christmas or Easter and what it means to them. They encounter the Christmas story and interact with it through storyboards and small groups, before giving children time to reflect on what they have discovered.
‘At times in the year when everyone’s asking questions about what Easter or Christmas really mean, the Church is able to give a relevant answer,’ says Sarah. ‘Teachers welcome it because as well as being something a bit different, it fits perfectly with the needs of the curriculum.’
Rev Ricky Rew
Ricky is youth minister at Spurgeon Baptist Church in Milton Keynes. He and his team put on Christmas and Easter presentations in the church for their local primary schools. Using resources provided by Bridgebuilder, the local schools work trust, they help children engage with these most sacred of stories, as well as helping schools fulfil their curriculum responsibilities.
‘These presentations are great, interactive and challenging sessions for the students with little required by the teachers,’ Ricky says. ‘They cover parts of the curriculum schools might not adequately be able to cover (teachers have said this themselves). The children also get to visit a church – another curriculum requirement for many.’
Feedback from teachers has been good, with many able to continue the learning and engagement after the presentations. One teacher said: ‘Our year five / six topic has been “Sacred / Secular Christmas” and it fitted in perfectly. It also helped with our class debate “Should people who are not Christians be allowed to celebrate Christmas?”’
Nathan Norris
Nathan is centre manager at Ovoca Manor, Scripture Union Ireland’s residential centre. He has been leading Christmas presentations for local schools. ‘We wanted to share more than just tinsel and gifts at Christmas. These presentations allow us to build relationships with local schools and makes good use of our facility at a quieter time of year’, he says.
Schools are invited as part of a strategy for developing relationships. ‘They come to our Christmas presentations for the first two years of their schooling, year three is a day activity trip and in years four, five and six they get invited to come for the weekend,’ explains Nathan. ‘We are seeing a steady stream of children from little or no church background regularly attending our camps. Not all schools are opting for everything, yet the offer builds trust, reputation and allows us to feedback into our community.’
So how does it work?
The following description is about Christmas, but the same format applies to Easter! The presentations are a mix of up-front and individual or small-group work (depending on the number of volunteers you have available). The up-front element is where the children hear the biblical Christmas story and some of the meaning behind it. They might also hear stories from Christians about what the message of Christmas means to them.
Children are then helped to explore the story further through the use of storyboards and questions – the narrative is broken down into a number of episodes, each with a storyboard to open that episode up. There might also be storyboards which help children understand how and why Christians celebrate Christmas. Alternatively, if the volunteer team is large, this is done in small groups.
There’s also a craft element, with many presentations giving the children the chance to make and decorate mince pies, or create biblical Christmas decorations.
Where does this happen? Some presentations take place in schools, while others happen in church buildings. When you’re setting this up, you need to select the best venue for your context.
How do I find out more?
Contact your local schools work trust to see if they’re already running something you can be a part of. Otherwise visit scriptureunion.org.uk/yourcommunity/eastercracked for more information about seasonal presentations (in this case, Easter). Other resources CWR and Scripture Union also produce resources that might be suitable to give away to children who attend your presentations. Have a look online for Scripture Union’s Christmas Bible Comic and Professor Bumblebrain’s Absolutely Bonkers Christmas from CWR.
