SU Scotland News




Monday 5 January, 2009

Home

General

Prayer

Events

Centres

International

Feature Articles

RSS Feeds

Wireless Access

SU Home Page

Prayer

Printer-Friendly Version

Going Back to School With God

Images

On the Web

• SU Scotland - Prayer

By Martin Boyd

Tuesday, 29 August, 2006

With the summer over it was time to change the focus and think about a new school year. A great deal of SU work goes on in schools up and down the country throughout term time, but there is nothing more important than praying for the children and young people and staff particularly as they head for another year in the classroom.

This brand new initiative in the SU calendar got off to a flying start this year, with over 100 churches signing up to recognise the back to school moment. Some churches chose to use the material a week or two earlier, just depending on what fitted with their programme.

This was an opportunity to pray for children, young people and school staff at the beginning of the school year and to commission them as they live and work in the school environment.

As more people hear of this initiative we hope to see an even greater number of churches taking part in Back to School with God next year.

Andy Bathgate, Chief Executive:  “The idea behind this event was to provide an opportunity for churches to demonstrate their commitment and prayer support for children, young people and staff in schools. We want to see regular prayer for people in schools, but this kind of annual event is also vital for raising the profile."

Colin Sinclair, minister, Palmerston Place Church, Edinburgh:  "We had our Back to School with God service on the 20th and it went very well. We used the video about school and the Ian White song as well as doing the Daniel script and relating Daniel to school. We used the readings about young people and had 5 young people take part. Gregor Innes (teacher) interviewed teachers and pupils during the service. We had a prayer of commissioning and dedication at the end.”

Gregor Innes, teacher in Edinburgh:  “I, personally, have felt encouraged during the planning and the service itself. It was wonderful to have people come up and say how much they enjoyed finding out about school and hearing from other teachers and children.

It is encouraging to me that people in the congregation have an idea of what I (and other teachers do) and remember us in prayer. I am privileged to work with fellow Christians at school and this is hugely significant to me too. I hope the children also feel encouraged and dare to be a Daniel - knowing that they have support at church and at home.”

Stuart Nicol, Inverness:  “We used your materials on Sunday and framed the service around the ‘back to school’ theme. It all went extremely well, was very well received and the video presentations were excellent!”

Jim Turrant, minister in Inverness: “One of our tasks as a church is to prepare and equip people for their work Monday to Friday. The resources that were provided for us to use made this a really effective service. Please be encouraged. Please provide more of these resources.”

Scripture Union Scotland