Many concerns in schools and churches overlap and there is a lot of common ground. However, many staff and pupils in schools are not Christians, they may belong to another religion, have no specific religious faith or will identify themselves as humanists. So, church contacts can play a useful role in helping those in schools understand more about people of faith, specifically about Christians and the Christian church.
Churches are rightly concerned about supporting people who are Christians to grow in their faith. They also have a role to play in helping people understand the Christian faith better. Schools might see these matters as relating to religious education, or personal, social, health and citizenship education, all of which helps the school with its responsibility to promote community cohesion.
Once your church has established a relationship with a school, the school may ask you, or you can offer, to help the school community understand how faith communities, and particularly churches, work. You can explain what is important to people of faith, to Christians in particular, and the reasons why Christians believe and do certain things and not others.
Remember - the intricacies of different denominations will be irrelevant to most people outside the Christian church, so be clear about what is distinct about what Christians believe in relation to people of other faiths, or of no faith.
From the church’s point of view, this could involve you in re-evaluating the key truths of the Christian faith and how best to communicate them to the wider community. Remember that the majority of people in schools won’t have much contact with churches and many will have been brought up with very little understanding of the Bible story, or Christian festivals and beliefs. So learning how to communicate about Christian faith in a meaningful way is vital.
Courses such as Alpha can be extremely beneficial and are an excellent tool for understanding more about sharing faith issues with others.