Get ready for Education Sunday - coming up next week!

Join us as we get ready for Education Sunday which is held this year on 12th September!

For well over one hundred years there has been an annual recognition of Education Sunday in England and Wales. It is a national day of prayer and celebration for everyone in the world of education. This year the theme is - A Word in Season.

There are lots of inspiring and helpful resources and materials to help you in your church to celebrate this day. This year, we are delighted that a preacher, who was one of the Sermon of the Year contest* (in 2020), has written a sermon for this year’s Education Sunday. You can download and share Jan Thompson’s dynamic and inspiring sermon HERE.

As well as this thought-provoking sermon, there is a theme introduction from FCG Moderator, Revd Dr Hugh Osgood, a Commissioning Prayers for Education Sunday and lots more to come! We hope that you enjoy using and sharing these resources which you can access at the Churches Together in England link below:

EDUCATION SUNDAY RESOURCES

*Sermon of the Year is an annual competition held by Preach magazine.

(cover photo courtesy of Tamanna Rumee at Unsplash)

Education Sunday is on 12th September: lots of inspiring worship materials to share!

For well over one hundred years there has been an annual recognition of Education Sunday in England and Wales. It is a national day of prayer and celebration for everyone in the world of education.

The theme is devised by an ecumenical steering group representing different Christian denominations and organisations - the theme this year is “A Word in Season”. There are lots of interesting worship materials to share, including a new hymn written by the URC Minister, Revd Anne Sardeson.

To help you get ready to celebrate this day in your church and community:

This year, the resources have been inspired by: Isaiah 50. 4-9a, Psalm 116. 1-8, James 3. 1-12 & Mark 8. 27-38

(cover photo courtesy of Markus Spiske at Unsplash)

Involved in teaching RE? Anti-racist RE resources at the start of the new academic year

Are you or someone you know involved in teaching Religious Education? If so, these anti-racist RE resources for teachers may be helpful as plans develop for teaching this coming year.

The Free Churches Group and Methodist Schools are delighted to be able to offer these resources free of charge to teachers. They have been written and developed by Lat Blaylock from RE Today Services, and a team of teacher-volunteers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds has provided valuable contributions.

In our society it is no longer sufficient to be non-racist, but we need to be equipped to be anti-racist. Many members of the Free Churches Group are engaged in their own conversations about how to combat the inequalities in our society. These resources are a tangible expression of that concern and a contribution to engage with the issues in the public square. There are materials for teaching in both primary and secondary classes. You can download these materials here:

We are grateful to the Westhill Endowment for providing financial support, without which this project would not have been possible.

(cover photo courtesy of Naassom Azevedo at Unsplash)

Commissioning Service for Chaplains in schools and colleges - 12th September

We are delighted to announce that Centre for Chaplaincy in Education are hosting a Commissioning Service for Chaplains in schools and colleges (online) on 12th September at 4 P.M.

This is an annual global commissioning service for all chaplains who work with schools and colleges, (on the same day as Education Sunday) is being organised by the Centre for Chaplaincy in Education.

It’s taking place online at 4 P.M. and you can register here.

You don’t have to be a chaplain to attend, so please join if you’d like to support and pray for chaplains in these settings – but do encourage any chaplains you know to join the service. Our very own Hugh Osgood and Sarah Lane Cawte are taking part, representing the Free Churches.

(cover photo courtesy of Anton Sukhinov at Unsplash)

How can your church support students

How your church can support students….

The A-level results are out, and many young people are looking forward to starting their university career in a few weeks’ time. For some of them, this will be the first time they’ve been away from home without family or friends, and it’s a big step. Whether you have young people in your church family who are starting university for the first time, or others who are returning, you might be wondering how you can support them.

If your church is in a place where there is a university nearby, there will be many new students in the area in the next few weeks. We have produced a series of 4 leaflets to help you think about what you can do as a church to support students in universities.

Branching Out offers suggestions about how to support those who are part of your church and who are going away.
Keeping in Touch explores ways in which you can maintain contact with young people who are starting student life.
Making a Difference is a collection of ideas about how to support university students in your community.
Home from Home will help you think about supporting students who come to your church.

These leaflets are free to download from the Free Churches Group website HERE.

We do have a limited number of printed copies available if you would like to circulate them around a group of churches, for example. Please contact our Education Secretary, Sarah Lane Cawte, if you would like us to send some to you (sarah.lane.cawte@freechurches.org.uk). We are only able to send these in quantities of 10 or above for each leaflet and would be pleased to receive a donation towards the cost of postage.

(cover photo courtesy of Redd @ Unsplash)