Praying for schools...

As an active member of Pray for Schools steering group, I am pleased to be able to share these prayers and links from them, with you, as lockdown eases… to help see us through these challenging times… Thanks, Sara Iles (FCG Media Support Officer)

Join with us and pray together… and feel free to share with schools, teachers and those in your church community….

Dear praying friend,
We know you'll be praying over the current situation as we are all painfully aware of the effect of this crisis on our children. 
We hope these prayers are helpful.
- Lord, please help school heads and staff as they manage the many complicated logistics involved as children come back. May they find ways to adapt and reconnect with them. Amen.
- We remember children affected by poverty, unhappy family life, abuse of any kind, lack of stimulus and mental health problems. Help them to begin to thrive again. Amen.
- O God, please grant wisdom to those in authority as they plan ahead and make decisions on many issues. We intercede for children to be able to make up for what has been lost.

Amen.

Check out these brilliant Scripture Union resources!
Moving to a new school:   https://content.scriptureunion.org.uk/story/its-your-move-lockdown 
Mental Health and Wellbeing   https://content.scriptureunion.org.uk/mentalhealth 
Join us at '10@10'
Chaplaincy Central is inviting us to be part of an online 'Prayer Gathering for Schools and Colleges in partnership with Pray for Schools. It will be at 10am on 10th July. Please email Jane (see below) if you're interested in joining us. 
Keep praying!
The PFS team
  
Jane Newey  england@prayforschools.org
Claire Wall      wales@prayforschools.org

(photo courtesy of https://www.prayforschools.org/ )

Free Churches Group Moderator offers support to universities

The Free Churches Group Moderator, Revd Dr Hugh Osgood, recently wrote to 110 university Vice-Chancellors in England and Wales to thank them for the important contribution universities make to society, and to offer support and prayers as they deal with the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis.

A number of Vice-Chancellors have replied and expressed their gratitude for the support.

Hugh’s letter can be seen HERE.

If there is a university in your area, perhaps your church could think about writing in support of the work of all those who work and study there?

There may be ways in which you could offer practical help too. Our leaflets (see link here, in HE section) offer suggestions of ways in which you can support students, and we’ll be publishing more ideas about how you might offer help to universities soon.

(Photo courtesy of https://www.hughosgood.com/bio - Hugh pictured on the right)

Ministry on the edge: a free webinar for chaplains in higher education on 15th July

The Free Churches Group are hosting a free webinar for chaplains in higher education on 15th July from 2 p.m. until 3.30 p.m. This is entitled: Chaplaincy: ministry on the edge - Exploring and communicating the value of chaplaincy in today’s universities.

Exploring the value of Higher Education chaplaincy in the context of

the COVID-19 crisis and in an environment where budgets are being cut.

Please register HERE

Universities, like all other parts of society, have had to implement rapid change and are facing enormous challenges. Higher Education chaplains have had to work out how they can continue their ministry when campuses are empty and students and staff are operating online.

Some chaplains have been furloughed, and many are feeling vulnerable. Some have been busier than ever, whilst some have struggled to know what to do.

The COVID-19 crisis has had a huge impact on university finances, and managers are faced with big decisions about whether to cut some services.

In this webinar, we will explore the value of chaplaincy from the perspectives of research, university management and churches. There will be an opportunity to think through how your ministry is part of the missional life of the church, why the continuing provision of chaplaincy is essential for the life and health of the institution, and how to communicate the value of chaplaincy to different audiences, including management committees and employers. Presentations from our speakers will be followed by group discussions.

The webinar is for Higher Education chaplains. The emphasis will be on the Free Churches, but chaplains from any tradition are welcome to join. It will be recorded and available on the Free Churches website as some chaplains may wish to invite their managers to watch the webinar at a later stage.

Further further information and to register for this event (through Eventbrite) click HERE

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(photo courtesy of Sylvia Zhou at Unsplash)

Be yourself....

Be yourself… At the beginning of the Bible, we are reassuringly proclaimed to be made in God’s image…: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, NRSV).

I wonder if you have felt more yourself in these strange and turbulent times we have been going through? …or perhaps you feel like parts of the old self, which you appreciated are missing now, due to lockdown?

It can be hard to work out who we are sometimes, especially when we are under pressure or our circumstances are changing beyond our control… our relationships with friends and family might be shifting. We might need help with supporting children in our care to think about how we can all best be ourselves… help is at hand…

BeSpace activities to bring a sense of peace and identity to your life...BeSpace has created a worksheet to work, play and pray through… They say, “Christians believe that we are called to be ourselves... that we all have different gifts,are made differently and are totally unique and God thinks that we are totally awesome.” You can download this free resource HERE.

You could also use this worksheet to support children’s activities with families in your church.

As part of our partnership work for the Free Church Education Committee, we are members of the Pray for Schools network, working alongside lots of other dynamic and engaged Christian organisations. One of the other groups who are also on the Pray for Schools network is BeSpace… BeSpace is a Christian charity who encourages churches to work together to see prayer and reflection spaces happening in all areas of the community. Their vision to see every child, young person and adult connect with God in their daily lives from the school into the home.

(photo courtesy of Inga Gezalian at Unsplash)

Chats with chaplains and managing the maelstrom...

Like others, chaplains in schools and colleges are facing changes and challenges in the way they work. Instead of face-to-face meetings and conversations (except, in some cases, with the limited number of students and staff in schools), they are finding new ways of supporting and encouraging their communities.

Maggie Everett, Lead Development Officer for the Centre for Chaplaincy in Education, was joined on Zoom by chaplains from a range of schools and colleges to record some ideas for chaplains to use in their work with staff and students.

Additionally, Toni Coulton (Chaplaincy Central) joined Maggie to share some thoughts about the usage of metaphors to frame conversations about this time of pandemic, as well as some lessons we might learn from chaplains who have been in extreme situations. In this recording we were delighted to include some pupils from Abbey Grange Church of England Academy in Leeds, who told us what they would like to say to their chaplain and something they would like their chaplain to do for them. Powerful stuff in ‘Moving through the Maelstrom’.

There have been some interesting and helpful conversations going on to support chaplains in schools and colleges in these challenging times, facilitated by the Centre for Chaplaincy in Education and partners. We are pleased to be able to share a range of short films with you.

During a week in May 2020, Maggie Everett, Lead Development Officer for Centre for Chaplaincy in Education, was joined on Zoom, by several chaplains (FE College /Church School and non- church school and primary school) to record some ideas they have found have worked with staff and students in the past few weeks.

Do take a look (the links are both on our website and below). ‘Chats with Chaplains’ 1 and 2 are around 15-20 minutes long. These videos emerged from discussions with St Peter’s & Saltley Trust, the Free Churches Group, Chaplaincy Central, the Methodist Church and the Church of England and Maggie is grateful for their interest and continued partnership.

Managing the Maelstrom [ password 7G%&?=^# ]

Chatting with Chaplains #1 [ password 3J$E86?$ ]

Chatting with Chaplains #2 [password 5K?.RhQS ]

Centre for Chaplaincy in Education has also been gifted the privilege of being a partner organisation with the Church of England, in their recently launched initiative: #Faithathome. This really exciting collaboration involves a diverse range of organisations who are all working on supporting families, schools and churches by delivering high quality resources and opportunities for exploring faith at home. The Centre are facilitating the Chaplains’ Stream of this and will be letting you know what is planned as soon as possible.

Other exciting developments in the field of chaplaincy in education can be read about here, along with the Centre’s newsletters.

(photo courtesy of Abigail Keenan at Unsplash)