Developing a good working relationship between the school and the local parish is one of the age-old questions in chaplaincy. At Hutchins we had tried to do it for years in various different ways. But never quite struck on the right model.
In 2023 an ex-student approached me with an idea. Jeff had become a Christian at school and continued as a chapel leader throughout his school years and was the school’s Chapel Warden in Year 12. As part of this he saw his role, and gifting, was to spend his time getting to know each student in the school and remembering their names and their stories. So Jeff was incredibly well-loved and respected by all students and staff. During his time at school he saw his school as his faith community, not attending a local church.
Once leaving school, Jeff commenced attending Wellspring Anglican Church, our nearest parish. He noticed, however, that his friends who also called themselves Christians drifted away from any Christian connection. The idea he came to me with was to introduce the students from a young age to a local church so they can see a live and active faith community where they could get plugged into, so that when they leave school they can continue in a Christan community.
The program we came up with was to take a different Junior School (Years 3-5) class each week on an excursion to the church on a Friday afternoon, during school hours, from 1:30 to 3:00pm. This is just before Wellspring run their youth group for Years 3-6, so it’s not a big ask for the youth leaders to come along a bit early and help with the program.
Over the space of a year each class goes on an excursion to the Wellspring 3-4 times. They meet the church staff, participate in activities, games, and Bible talks on the church premises. This culminates in a service project on the final visit. Last year this was making Christmas ornaments to include in our Anglicare food donation at Christmas time. This service element means the program ticks a few of the boxes loved by school leadership! The students also wrote thank-you cards to take home and give to someone they don’t usually thank.
The program has so far yielded some surprising fruit. During one of the excursions, the students had a time to ask open questions of either the church staff or myself. Taking the students out of the classroom meant they felt they could ask questions that they hadn’t had the opportunity to ask in the normal cut-and-thrust of school life. We had such a diverse range of questions asked, including some real curly ones!
Jeff also helps lead Wellspring’s Friday afternoon youth group for Years 3-6. This connection has resulted in a few of the students starting to attend Wellspring’s Friday afternoon youth group.
While this model might not be replicable in other chaplaincy situations, waiting on God’s timing to provide the right people at the right time is.
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