A Comfy Kingdom
When my three children were very young, they loved to drag all the duvets, blankets, cushions and pillows they could find into the lounge. They made a den from them and called their structure a ‘comfy kingdom.’
Statistics about children and young people’s relationship with the Kingdom of God do not make for comfortable reading. A staggering 95% of under 18s don’t have contact with a church.
I wonder whether we have made faith - or God - too comfortable or too uncomfortable for them? Perhaps they don’t want a God who is smaller than their life, their difficulties, their hopes/dreams, and their fears. Perhaps they want to be introduced to an authentic God who excites them and challenges them to take risks and step out of their comfort zone?
Each generation has its own unique challenges and characteristics. Our young people today have their own difficulties to grapple with. For example: cyber bullying, sexting, pornography, poverty, self-harm, knife crime, loss, post pandemic anxiety, stress, and mental health issues. Are we walking by, like the priest or Levite, and leaving them wounded at the side of the road? (Luke 10.25-37)
How can we help children and young people, show kindness to them, be good news to them, be present with them and serve them?
Christians and Sheffield Schools (CaSS) believe to be servant-hearted and to do life with the next generation we need to be where they are – in schools. Schools are amazing places full of learning, life, potential and possibilities. We need to take the Kingdom of God ‘into their midst.’ (Luke 17:20-21) We need to be the word of God with them, moving as ‘flesh and blood into our neighbourhood’ schools (John 1.14 The Message.)
CaSS also believes that after parents, it is teachers who are on the front line with our children and young people. The expertise, enthusiasm, and commitment that teachers show in classrooms each day is incredible, spending many hours per week with them - children, and young people spend around 6 hours a day in school and about 190 days per year. if a child spends 14 years at school this adds up to 15,000+ hours. This is many more hours than any youth worker or church leader could hope to spend with the next generation.
The statistics surrounding teachers also make for uncomfortable reading. An increasing proportion of teachers quit within a year of qualifying (Financial Times 2019), a third of newly qualified teachers quit English classrooms within five years (The Guardian 2019), four out of 10 teachers plan to quit in next five years (BBC 2019) at least 70% of teachers say their workload is unachievable within contracted hours (TES 2019) and almost half of headteachers plan to leave prematurely after Covid (The Guardian 2021).
We need to take care of the teachers who stay. As the Duchess of Cambridge observed: “It is clear that the positive development of our children is directly linked to those who care for them: teachers, carers and parents...it is therefore vital that we support teachers with their own well-being, so that they can provide the best level of care for all children in their schools and communities in which they work.”
If we take up this challenge to serve schools it is important to make any contact carefully: there is a cost to getting it wrong, for you and any subsequent or potential visitor. Christians do not have a right to go into schools, it is a privilege. We visit by invitation - we are guests and not the host. So, we must conform to and respect the ethos, culture, and expectations of the school, as their guests. Our presence must be negotiated. We need to (metaphorically) ‘take our shoes off’ if that is what is done by our host regardless of what the rules are in our own ‘home’. We can not just plan to do church in a different building; when entering a school, we enter a shared, public space.
CaSS sees itself as an armour bearer - taking what is needed to those on the frontline in schools. It aims to help Christians make positive, productive, and professional links with schools, through encouraging concern for schools, offering training and resourcing. Examples of our work include an annual school ministry and school chaplaincy training course, The Joined Up Conference (www.joinedupconference.com), prayer cards and a website (www.cass-su.org.uk) full of links and ideas.
Many Christians are already serving South Yorkshire schools. We hope to explore some of the ways they are doing this in the next edition of Arise. Their stories are inspiring!
For now, may I challenge you with a few (perhaps) uncomfortable questions?
What is the difference between a God of all comfort and a comfortable God?
How often do you pray (individually and corporately) for children, young people, teachers, school chaplains and other staff in schools?
How do you support and encourage the teachers in your congregation?
What difference could you make in a school?
Fiona Walton has 3 part-time jobs. She works for Christians and Sheffield Schools, Open the Book and as a teacher. She is a mother and a granny. She enjoys walking long distance trails with Chutney, her chocolate Labrador, and listening to Springsteen.