Christian Education
As you know I recently attended two school chaplaincy conferences. The first was ecumenical with Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist chaplains present. The speakers covered subjects such as “Speaking to this generation”, “Stories of biblical women”, “Creating space for questions”, “Creating space for contemplation”, “Creating space for AI”. The speakers were brilliant with the constant theme of how to engage and encourage students to actively explore and grow in their faith, as disciples of Jesus.
The second half of the week was with the Anglican Schools chaplains including those from Polynesia. The conference theme was “Reimagining Anglican/Mihinare Identity in our Three Tikanga Church”. Once again there were some wonderful speakers who shared their wisdom on “Te Tiriti - a Deeper embrace of our Three Tikanga”, “Advancing Safety and Wellbeing” within our schools, “Theology and Service - the questions young people are asking and how they engage”. There were also student presentations from the Christchurch Anglican schools focussing on the Five Marks of Mission. The three students from St Marks School spoke incredibly well on how their lives were being “transformed”.
Throughout the week the speakers were great and the I found the opportunity to hear how other schools are running their Christian Education programmes both in structure and content was of real value. Each school’s context is different but for any teaching programme to be effective the engagement of the school Principal and teachers is vital. At St Marks School this is very strong and for this I give thanks.
God bless you
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