Top Tips for Collaborating in SRE - Part 1
Know the importance of collaborating with other local churches through SRE
An Anglican Youth Minister, a Presbyterian Pastor, and a Uniting Church lay-preacher walk into a café. It sounds like the set-up to a joke, but what they’re up to is serious business: They’re meeting as members of the local SRE board.
All across NSW, SRE Boards, which are groups of local church representatives who work together to employ High School teachers and Primary SRE coordinators, are key cross-denominational partnerships that help SRE flourish in local schools.
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Top Tips for Collaborating in SRE - Part 2
Helpful tips to create a better support network when working alongside and collaborating with other SRE teachers and providers
I was personally blessed by the first SRE board that was established in NSW in 1976. At the time, the local churches in the Jannali Area got together and pooled their resources so that Jannali Boys’ and Jannali Girls’ High Schools could have SRE taught by the one, employed teacher. Fast forward to 1995, and I was a year 7 student at the then-amalgamated co-educational “The Jannali High School”, and blessed with regular SRE from year 7-10 with termly seminars in senior high.
In addition to lesson delivery, collaborating for SRE is a great way to highlight how God is at work through these lessons. Earlier this year (pre-COVID), I was invited to speak at an SRE Sunday service at a local Presbyterian Church. In addition to me, (representing Youthworks), we heard from a Primary SRE teacher, a High School SRE teacher, and a representative of Generate, an organisation which supports combined churches’ high school SRE Boards and employs their SRE Teachers in New South Wales government secondary schools.
Skip forward a few more years, and I was employed to work in the same school where I was once a student, teaching 25 SRE classes a fortnight and supporting the student-led, thriving ISCF Lunchtime group which had more than 30 students from years 7-12 in regular attendance.
All of this came as a result of the collaborative work of one scripture board, united with a singular vision: to see high quality SRE teaching in their local high school.
Boards aren’t the only way churches can work together to support SRE. Below are some other ways you might be able to partner with other churches in your local area through SRE.
1. Recruit and Train teachers together
In the Primary SRE space, it is always so wonderful to see teachers from many different denominational stripes working together as a team to teach in the local primary schools. Many of these teams meet once a term to pray and encourage each other, sharing stories and supporting one another in how best to deliver their lessons. Does your Primary SRE team have members from other local churches? When you’re looking for new recruits every year, have you reached out to the other like-minded churches in your area to see if they’d like to partner with you?
2. Celebrate and affirm SRE
Top Tips for Collaborating in SRE - Part 3
Deciding a particular model of SRE, partnering with SRE boards and other SRE organisations will allow your ministry to go a long way
In addition to lesson delivery, collaborating for SRE is a great way to highlight how God is at work through these lessons. Earlier this year (pre-COVID), I was invited to speak at an SRE Sunday service at a local Presbyterian Church. In addition to me, (representing Youthworks), we heard from a Primary SRE teacher, a High School SRE teacher, and a representative of Generate, an organisation which supports combined churches’ high school SRE Boards and employs their SRE Teachers in New South Wales government secondary schools.
The organising minister also managed to get the local Mayor to attend. It was a fantastic way to communicate to the Mayor about the value and importance of SRE in his local community. How can you work with your local churches to raise the profile of SRE in your local communities?
3. Connect students with the churches their friends attend
Another fruitful partnership between different churches in SRE happens in the classroom. I once taught a boy, James(*) who was keen to learn more about Jesus by joining a local youth group. I knew that another boy in the class, Luke(*) went to a local youth group – although not the one from my church. I encouraged Luke to invite James along that week, and he did! More than that – James became a regular member of Luke’s youth group!
In my experience, these connections between friends are much more likely to see interested students attending youth group than any Power Point slide I can display ever could (although, I still would do that, too!). Do you know which of your students are connected with local churches? Have you provided these students with opportunities to share about their experiences at church? The Department of Education’s spiritual wellbeing framework states that a school with a successful wellbeing culture will see students “connected with their cultural, religious or spiritual backgrounds“. What better opportunity for connection than through their friends and peers!
In my next two articles, I’ll share some tips and tricks I’ve seen to make SRE collaborations run smoothly in Primary SRE as well as High School SRE.