REinspired: engaging children in their schools 

We all have a challenge - the challenge of attracting children into our churches and nurturing their faith, writes Julia Jones. REinspired, a project in Berkshire now branching out in other parts of the country, suggests some ideas for turning aspiration into reality.

I hope that by analysing the journey we’ve been on, it will offer some insights to others seeking to develop their own response to the challenge we all face

Our initiative is called REinspired. We approached the challenge of engaging with children from a different direction. Twenty-five years ago, rather than start from the position of a church looking to attract children, a small group, led by a Baptist minister from Reading, responded to a request for help with some input into an RE session from a local primary school. It was well received, and more work followed, leading in 2005 to the formal establishment of REinspired.

These beginnings are crucial, embodying a key feature of REinspired. We are very much responding to what schools would like us to do for their pupils, rather than seeking to persuade them to adopt our agenda. All schools have an RE syllabus to deliver, we simply offer support to them to fulfil this obligation.

We now hear from the Revd Judith Wheatley (pictured), minister of Anderson Baptist Church in Earley, Reading.

'I have been connected with REinspired for 22 years and during that time I have been excited and amazed at the opportunities for local Christians to work together to serve the schools and share the Christian message.

'When I began working as Anderson’s youth minister, I was quickly included in the initiative to support the local schools with provision of the Christian content of the Religious Education syllabus. It was exciting to be part of such an exceptional project which has grown from the mustard seed of an idea to a large tree that has branched in many directions offering help and opportunity in local schools, building relationships across schools and churches, reinvigorating local churches in their mission and providing training and resource both locally and nationally.'

So how successful has REinspired’s construction work been? For many years we’ve been delighted in our area of East Reading to have face to face contact with every pupil in all twelve primary schools (and expanding work in our three secondary schools) at least once every year. Sometimes this is a team from REinspired going into school, sometimes pupils coming into church, always it is delivering an agreed element of the school’s RE syllabus.

Our journey over the last 25 years combines our joys and challenges, the fun of sharing our videos when we couldn’t get into school, the reactions from the teachers and children when we returned – they had missed us – it was so heart-warming to hear!



When the pandemic hit we were thrown at first. Schools didn't want us to come in. We drew on our creative and collaborative nature and adapted to change quickly. Like so many other folk, we had to lean into our IT skills and created prerecorded sessions, as school visits were not possible. Whilst we concede they are not as an immersive experience as when we teach in person, they have been so worth it and are a huge hit with the pupils and teachers. We continue to use them to supplement our schools offering, volunteer training and teacher support - additional benefits we did not anticipate at the time.

It reminds us that nothing is ever wasted. It is amazing what God can use.

Our sessions cover the full range of the Bible content, from Creation, through Parables, the life and death of Jesus and more pastoral topics such as our approach to death and grief and addressing Big Questions that pupils ask. All are delivered with an emphasis on engaging the young people through interaction and hands on experiences - though we leave it to our leaders to demonstrate full immersion in the baptistry, as the picture at Anderson Baptist Church shows! We can deliver over 170 sessions and schools are asking for more. What an opportunity.

Some of our volunteers called time on their involvement too, post pandemic. Some are returning, and new ones being recruited, numbers are lower than pre-pandemic. I don’t think we are alone in this.

Judith continues her story in the way her church has participated with REinspired. She says, 'Anderson Baptist Church has been involved from the outset of the project and has remained a firm supporter through prayer, finance and team support with members of the church getting involved in the delivery of the sessions over the years.

'Each year there are opportunities for the children to come into the church building to find out about who we are, what we do and why – sessions of ‘Wander and Wonder’ for Foundation, Yr1 and Yr8 pupils.

'The Baptism session is always well received as we compare believers baptism and infant baptism. I have loved the collaborative approach, the creativity and the challenge of serving the schools together. It is a very positive way for churches to work across denominations and to get involved with their local community.

'The most rewarding aspect for me has been to see the children and volunteers engage so enthusiastically with the Christian faith. So, if you are wondering about how your church might engage with children in the coming year why not have a chat with someone from REinspired!'

We received this Teacher feedback from one of our Yr4 Baptism sessions tells us that the pupils love the way we deliver this session:

'Excellent session – children really enjoyed it and were really engaged. They learnt a lot about baptism. They loved seeing and taking part in a dramatisation of an infant baptism and they were amazed to see what a full immersion baptism is like too. You gave them opportunity to ask lots of questions.'

The head of year at one of our secondary schools gave us this outstanding feedback from a Yr12 session on Evil and Suffering:

'Philosophy and Ethics students in Year 12 were joined by REinspired this week who led a challenging and fascinating session on the problem of evil and suffering alongside an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God. Students were asked to respond to the enquiry question ‘is there an adequate explanation for the existence of evil?’

'The guest speakers helped students to compare Old Testament Texts and also creation stories from the Abrahamic faiths. … Students debated the success of each theodicy and asked our visitors, as practising Christians, how they reconcile the problem of evil alongside God… Many thanks to the REinspired team for spending time with us and for helping us to explore the complexities of the problem of evil.'

REinspired is active not just in Earley and East Reading, our home hub, but in other parts of the UK too. December saw the launch of two new groups: Llanharry (S.Wales) and East Surrey (Reigate & Redhill), with new projects in the pipeline for 2023.

If you'd like to join this expanding adventure, then our website, www.reinspired.org.uk is a good place to start.  

 

Julia Jones is Project Director at REinspired 

• Judith Wheatley in a BigQ group
• The Easter story, online
• A baptism at Anderson Baptist Church
• A Yr12 session on Evil and Suffering