Pray & Connect with Local Schools
The 28th of September is the National Day of Prayer for Schools in the UK, organised by youth ministry and schools ministry organisations; Youthscape and the Pais Movement. Wondering how you can pray and build relationships with the schools, local to your church?
Anita Gracie is the Convenor of the Board of Education of the Methodist Church in Ireland and shares some great ideas for how local churches could develop a relationship, or build on an already close relationship, with their local schools:
“The Methodist Church in Ireland has always had a heart for education and young people, both at home and abroad and over the past few years schools and their staff, Principals and pupils have all been living through a uniquely difficult time, the results of which may not be fully realised for years and perhaps decades to come.
We, as the church, want to reach out to our schools and young people and let them know that we care about and support them as they face into the year ahead. As a new school year begins it provides an opportunity for your church to think about what they could be doing to show that love and support to local schools.
Every situation and congregation will be different, but here are just a few suggestions you could explore:
1. Phone all the local schools or send an email telling the school that you will be praying for them on a specific day and asking what they would ask you to pray for as the year begins. Name the Principal in your prayers and any other significant individuals (perhaps the P1 teachers).
2. Depending on the numbers in your congregation you could pray (by name) for all those involved in education or, if there are too many, those beginning or moving to a new phase in their education, Principals, teachers, classroom assistants or caretakers.
3. Send a gift or care package to the staffroom with treats or personal items (hand cream, pens, biscuits, jam) and a card telling the staff that they were/will be prayed for at your church either on a specific day or regularly throughout the year.
4. Invite the Principal / Senior Leadership team to coffee or lunch in a local café or your church hall (when Covid regulations allow) and ask them if there is anything practical your church members could do to benefit the school community. This could be anything from a clean-up of the school car park and surrounds, to painting a wall or mural, to donating books for the school library or providing volunteers for after-school clubs or playground supervision.
5. Organise a prayer walk around your local school / schools and pray protection and safety over all who teach, learn and work there. If this takes place at the weekend, maybe you could take a photograph and send it in to the school on the following Monday with a card telling the school what you have prayed for them.
6. Ask if you could put a prayer request box in a public place within the school which will be emptied regularly, and the requests given to prayer groups within the church who could pray for individuals in the school community or their concerns.
7. Over the next academic year, the Board of Education would encourage you to explore with your church councils the possibility of running a Prayer Space in your local school / schools. Training for church members will be provided for each District in the next couple of months and Prayer Spaces have been shown to be a wonderful opportunity to build relationships between church and school communities.”