All in a days work

So today I returned to teaching, in a completely different capacity! Still secondary, still teenagers but as a visitor: a Christian visitor, there to tell the class what Christians believe about God. And I quickly discovered that although there were times when I really enjoyed my job when I was teaching, I was always frustrated by the inability to talk about my faith with the kids I was teaching. Now I can teach RE and say ‘Because I am a Christian I believe this…’ and it is GOOD!

Today I started a 6 lesson block on The Christian Faith, based on a fantastic resource written by YFC. It’s a scheme of work based on the Alpha course material so is very accessible and YFC have done a great job in making it ‘school friendly’. I and my colleagues are teaching 11 classes of both yr 7 & yr 8 up until Easter.

 I love working with young people, they are amazing especially en masse and in school uniform! So be prepared for some anecdotes and random quotes from a bunch of yr 7 & 8’s in the next 6 weeks. And whilst enjoying the stories, pray for these kids and us!

Here’s a selection of today’s comments:

“I believe in God because I prayed for an Xbox 360 and got one!”

“Gravity is what holds us together”

Me [to a volunteer who had been blindfolded outside the classroom at approx. 9.10am]: All your classmates have gone home. They’ve all left every one of them. Do you believe me?

Volunteer: Yes [wrong answer!]