Schools welcome the input from external sources to enhance the curriculum, and church congregations have a lot to offer.
Naturally it's areas such as religious education and collective worship (or religious observance in Scotland) where Christians can be involved. But let's not limit it to just those areas. There is scope for the church to 'think outside of the box'. Often members of the church congregation will have interests, expertise and knowledge in other areas of the curriculum and they are then able to contribute and help to bring the subject alive.
History is often an area where older members of the congregation can share their life experiences and show pupils relevant artefacts - this will have the pupils enthralled.
If your church members originate from, or have travelled to, other parts of the globe, they, together with visiting missionary links to the church, can also enrich the pupils' learning. Offer to the school for them to visit to talk about where they work or were born and live. Some schools will be willing to make a link with a Christian missionary as a focus for their charitable projects. For older pupils, this may open up opportunities to travel to work with a Christian aid or relief agency.
Doctors, nurses, health professionals, engineers and scientists may all have things they can contribute to science lessons. Church members may also have expertise that can be of use in art, music, sport and design lessons.
The religious education syllabus include topics such as 'What do Christians believe', 'Sacred texts', 'What Christians believe and how that informs ethical and moral choices, including forgiveness and issues of good and evil', 'What Christianity says about human rights and responsibilities, social justice and citizenship' and 'What Christians think or believe about global issues, including health, wealth, war, animal rights and the environment'.
As you see there is a vast scope for Christians to contribute to a religious education lesson. Some schools invite a group of people from a variety of religions to contribute to a 'Face the panel' type of lesson and answer questions about their faith. A variation on this is 'Grill a Christian'. This is a challenging opportunity to be involved, as the pupils can ask some very searching questions.
In addition, the church could offer to purchase some resources that fit in with specific curriculum areas and leave them with the school as a reminder of the special visitors.