Yesterday we made our final visit of this school year to the Integrated College, Dungannon; we have been working with pupils from Year 8, 10, 11 & 12 RE Classes once-a-month at the invitation of school staff and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the students this year. Yesterday was our much-anticipated Q&A session with Year 11 students, mentioned in a previous post.

Several weeks ago we received a long list of questions from pupils, relating to different aspects of the Christian faith and this session was our opportunity to provide some answers, guidance and direction for these young lives who are clearly searching for truth, meaning and purpose. What an opportunity and what a great privilege for us! In order to serve these students in the best way possible, and because of time constraints, we chose to focus on 3 main questions, looking at them in some detail, whilst also providing shorter answers for another 3 questions. It was simply not possible to cover all of the 20 or so questions we had received in a 60-minute session but the areas we were able to focus on were:

• WHO IS GOD?
• HOW DO WE KNOW THE BIBLE IS TRUE & ACCURATE?
• WHY DID JESUS DIE?

The shorter answered questions we looked at were:

• IF MARY GAVE BIRTH TO JESUS HOW COULD SHE STILL BE A VIRGIN?
• DID MARY HAVE ANY OTHER CHILDREN?
• DO BABIES WHO DIE AT BIRTH GO TO HEAVEN?

Trying to serve the students behind these questions was really hard work and the session itself felt quite intense, but we could see the pupils were following our every word and clearly hungry to hear what kind of response we would offer to their questions. We pray that our words would not simply be an academic style answer but more of a Spirit-led thought-provoking invitation to them to step closer to God and continue to bring their questions with them.

The rest of the day felt like a bit of light relief in comparison to some of the heavy, difficult topics we were covering in the Q&A session. In our remaining classes throughout the day we took 2 x Year 8 and 1 x Year 10 RE Classes through an end of year inspirational style programme entitled LIFE STORIES. The aim of this session is to send pupils off into their summer holidays with some words of encouragement, inspiration and guidance. To do this we had chosen a selection of video clips from well-known movies which the students were all familiar with (‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs‘, ‘Big Fish‘, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness‘ and ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader‘) and we used them to illustrate some points we wanted to share as part of the programme. With each point we made reference to a bible verse, keeping things in context for this end of term RE Class and encouraging pupils to think about their relationships with God.

To keep things nice and relaxed and to emphasise our desire to make this lesson fun, we gave each pupil a cup full of popcorn to enjoy as we watched the video clips and talked together. This went down really well with the students (and staff!) and really added to the cinema-style feel we were aiming for. Here’s what we covered in these sessions:

• Think big; Dream big (linked with Ecclesiastes 3:11)
• Choose Wisely (linked with Matthew 7:14)
• Keep on Runnin’ (linked with Proverbs 3:5-6)
• Make it Count (linked with Hebrews 9:27)
• Live the Adventure (linked with John 10:10)

At the end of the LIFE STORIES programme we handed out evaluation forms to the pupils, to try to get a glimpse into their thoughts and feelings about the session and generally all the comments were really positive. Two of them stood out from the rest for us:

“They made it interesting and kept us involved” (Christy)

“The videos made it good and it wasn’t boring like RE usually is” (Lauren)

As our time in this school came to an end for the year we reflected on another great day with the students; we started off surrounded by questions and ended up surrounded by popcorn!

Last week we visited Laurelhill Community College (Lisburn) for three sessions of storytelling workshops with pupils from Year 9 and 10. These sessions are always great fun and well received by staff (who enjoy the English-R.E. cross curriculum link) and pupils alike (who love receiving a free hot chocolate with marshmallows). In these sessions we begin by taking a look at the history and use of storytelling, noting how it is an art form and a communication tool that spans national, cultural and geographical divides, being used by many different people groups throughout the world.

Thanks to our good friend Bryan Thompson, who is an instructor with Simply the Story we then go on to share some information about literacy rates throughout the world and how storytelling is used successfully with oral only / preference learners. Bryan has also provided us with a great illustration of how storytelling saved lives during the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.

Once this theory side of the session is over we then introduce the Greatest Storyteller; sharing with pupils about the frequent use of parables by Jesus Christ throughout the Gospels. In the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John Jesus is asked a question 183 times. In response, Jesus replies with a story, another question or a combination of the two on 180 occasions.

Moving into the practical half of the session we then begin our storytelling workshop by sharing a biblical story with the students; yesterday we spoke to them about the time Jesus calmed the storm. After we have shared this story with the pupils we then ask them to take it in turns to re-tell the story with the person sitting next to them. This always goes down really well and gives the students a chance to get involved and become really familiar with the story. Once pupils have had a good amount of time on this activity we then share the story with them again, only this time we throw in some deliberate mistakes, asking the pupils to correct us when they think we have got the story wrong. The pupils love this challenge, having the freedom to speak out in class and correct the person at the front is a rare opportunity indeed, and most grab it with two hands! This is not only great for giving the session a relaxed, informal atmosphere (as barriers between facilitator / teacher and student are broken down) but it also gives pupils another opportunity to hear the story. This means they will have heard the chosen story three or four times at this stage in the session.

We ended our sessions yesterday by explaining some of the content within the account of Jesus calming the storm, which we had looked at together, and by asking a few questions that allowed the pupils to discover some incredible biblical truths for themselves. It is such a source of joy and wonder for us when this takes place and it is really powerful for the students. Yesterday with the pupils…

• We noticed how in our story Jesus is seen leaving some special time with the Father (he was praying on the mountainside) in order to come to His disciples, who were facing difficulties battling with the storm.
• We noticed how Jesus arrival was mysterious and miraculous (as He came to them walking on the water) and how He wasn’t initially recognised.
• We noticed that Peter was invited by Jesus to come to Him and do what He was doing, but that doubt and fear left Him in trouble needing to be rescued – and Jesus saved him.
• We noticed that this amazing rescue led to the disciples worshipping Jesus as the Son of God.
• We noticed that once the disciples had Jesus with them they experienced peace as the storm passed

This is the Gospel isn’t it?

Jesus leaves a beautiful special time of communion with the Father, to come to people. He comes by virgin birth and most don’t understand who He is. He comes to rescue us from sin and its consequences, inviting us to experience life to the full and to follow Him, His people receive Him as the true Son of God and His presence with them brings a peace that defies analysis.

We got to share this with around 70 pupils yesterday. What an honour! In a really special moment during our second session, in discussion with the pupils we talked about prayer and praying and one student turned to her skeptical peer and said: “I know God answers prayer, because I prayed about something recently and He answered”. Wow!

May you know the Greatest Storyteller and may you know the greatest truth: that He came to rescue man, demonstrating the extravagant love of God to us.

In a couple of weeks time we will be making our once-a-month trip to one of the schools we are working in this year, for one final visit this term before the summer holidays begin. We’re really excited about this visit because we are going to be having a bit of a Q&A time with our Year 10 and Year 11 RE classes.

The teacher from this school has just emailed me some of the questions which the pupils would like us to look into with them, here they are:

Who is God?

How do we know God is real?

Why does God forgive people who do bad things?

How do we know that everything in the Bible is true?

How do you know the bible stories are accurate?

Why are there so many different religions?

Did Jesus die because of us?

How did God create the world?

If people were created on the same day as dinosaurs then why were dinosaurs here before people?

How come some people say God created the world while others say it evolved starting with a big bang?

If Mary had a baby, how could she still be a virgin?

Did Mary have any other children?

If God loves us why is there suffering in the world?

Why do so many bad things happen in the world if God loves us e.g. natural disasters, sickness, death?

Why did God create humans for his purpose if he knew they would sin in the first place?

Why are homosexuals not allowed to be Christians if God loves everyone?

If one of God’s commandments was “do not murder” why did he ask Abraham to kill his son Isaac?

Can gay people be Christians?

What happens when we die?

How do you know the devil is real?

Do babies who die at birth go to heaven?

Twenty questions which reveal much of the deep thoughts and feelings that these young pupils have, even before this Q&A exercise begins it just goes to show that people are surrounded by questions. We feel that this upcoming session is a real privilege and a wonderful opportunity for us to speak about faith and living as followers of Jesus Christ. As Christians we are called to give reasons for the existence of the hope that we live with, to make the most of every opportunity that comes our way and to contend for the faith that has been handed down to us. We obviously want to do this faithfully and lovingly when we meet with these pupils.

Please pray for us.

Our visit is on 22nd June and we have much prayer, study and preparation to be getting on with between now and then. We pray that God’s Holy Spirit will lead and guide us in our response to these students and that He will reach out and touch their hearts through our discussions with them.

Isn’t it funny how a person’s driving changes on the motorway as soon as the presence of a police car is known? There are folks who go flashing past you in the fast line leaving you in their wake, but once they notice those blue lights everything changes…it’s 70mph tops and mirror signal maneuver all the way…unless those blue flashing lights are after them, in which case it could be a whole lot more than 70mph and move out of my way, but that’s a different story!

Behavior changes because the presence of authority has been identified; the police are present and they can see what people are up to. I was in India at the start of the year and during my time there I was serving on a teaching team as part of a programme including a series of leadership seminars for local pastors. During my sessions we looked at the resurrected Christ’s letters to the churches in Revelation 2 & 3. There is much that challenges us from these chapters of scripture, as in every chapter of scripture (!), but two words in particular really jumped out at me in my seminar preparations: “I know”. Nine times Christ declares: “I know” in His challenge of Revelation ch2 and ch3. Whatever the circumstance was, whatever was happening Christ knew about it, because He is indeed the self-proclaimed searcher of hearts and minds. He see’s and He knows. Whether we are aware of His authoritative gaze, perceiving all things, or not; it is present, He see’s and He knows. The Bible tells us that the Lord’s eyes are in every place; His vision is omnipresent, keeping watch on all.

He searches hearts and minds. More than that, God tests hearts and minds.

Wow.

I wonder how our lives might change if we had the knowledge of His ever-present eyes firmly stamped into our hearts and minds? Like the driver who suddenly notices those blue flashing lights in his rear-view mirror and changes his driving style I wonder what alterations we would make?

Nothing I do, say, or think is hidden from His gaze.

That means NOTHING; that selfish attitude of mine when it comes to changing another of my baby daughter’s nappies but I opt out leaving it for my wife to deal with; those sharp and hurtful comments that come flying out of my mouth towards those who are closest to me….He see’s it all.

Thank you Lord for your watchful gaze, may it call me to act in loving obedience to your Word and ways; prompt me to change where change is needed, thank you for your grace.