Sharing the Gospel in local schools
Encounter is Back!
Our Encounter youth event is back in the Engage calendar. It will take place on 2nd March 2024 at Woking United Reformed Church. It will be free to attend. Encounter will provide a central gathering place where young people in school years 7 to 13 can meet, have fun, worship, pray and encounter God. We are delighted that there is already great enthusiasm for the event amongst young people in churches around Woking as well as in the schools we visit. We are running Encounter in partnership with churches around Woking, and are also promoting it in secondary schools and college. The amazing Justin Brierley will be our speaker, with a talk called “What’s the point? Why you? Why God?”
For more details and to sign up visit this web address: tinyurl.com/encounter-free or call our office.
This Term’s Highlights
Kingdom Explorers Club
We have a new venture called Kingdom Explorers Club, running with the support of Holy Trinity & West End Church and led by Engage.
We run it at Bisley Primary School as an after-school club, and at Holy Trinity C of E Primary School at lunchtimes. The children are excited to attend! This term they are going on an adventure through the gospel of Luke, using a Scripture Union resource called Diary of a Disciple.
The children are engaged with the activities and thoughtful in their responses to questions. There are opportunities for prayer during the session which the children have been keen to join in with or even lead on occasion.
Every week we start as the children are gathering with a small paper activity (typically a word search or maze) and usually have a biscuit at this time. Then we have a short game or activity before a “bible dive” race, in teams, to find facts. This is followed by the related bible story and a group discussion about the topics raised. We then have a prayer-related craft activity and finish with some reflection and prayers.
Please pray for this club, the children, leaders, volunteers and the Church.
News in brief
There is so much exciting news to share with you so here are some highlights.
The Christian Union at Woking College has grown this year. We have 20 young people registered and more young people are interested in attending.
It has always been our heart to empower the young people who attend to take part in leading the club, as well as to guide the look and feel of the meetings. Students have been leading the teaching in this term’s sessions, supported by leaders, which encourages them to grow, develop and stretch themselves. There are some natural evangelists within the group who often encourage their friends to come.
It is a safe Christian community that where they support each other outside of our Tuesday sessions. In one session this term the young people wanted to share their testimonies.
Guest speaker events have been well received as a “kick-off” at the start of the term. In September Justin Brierley visited the college to give a lunchtime talk called “Why, after 15 years of talking to atheists, I am still a Christian”. Praise the Lord for all he is doing amongst these young people and the College.
Our mentoring services are having positive results. We continue to support young people at Woking High School and Horsell Junior through mentoring on a weekly basis. The areas in which we support young people are vast, covering anything from self-confidence, self-esteem and resilience, to supporting children in daily school routines. The children and staff value the work and it has had a positive impact on the children’s school life.
The feedback from students has been very positive. A Year 8 student said the sessions are helpful, adding: “I made changes at home, which has helped my home life.”
A Year 9 student said: “The tips on how to communicate were helpful and [it is] also good to talk to someone not involved, to let things off my chest.”
Christmas assembly for primary schools.
This term we have delivered Christmas assemblies both face-to-face and as a video. Both were well received.
You can watch them on our YouTube Channel: @engagewoking.
The Christmas story this year was told by the Angel Gabriel who comes to Mary and Joseph declaring news of the birth of Jesus.
It is always a joy to take this message of hope and good news into schools.
Our “sub brands”: Faith, Hope and Love
As the portfolio of our work has grown, we spent time this year examining how activities fit into our Vision. We discussed how our activities fit into the three strands of our work, which we call our “sub-brands”: faith, hope and love. This enables us to fundraise for specific works and also enables you, our supporters, to specify that you would like to support a particular area of our work through your donations.
Prayer Prompts
Please pray:
That the faith of all who work for Engage (paid and voluntary) continues to grow and be strengthened.
That the young people Engage work with are filled with hope, even in difficult circumstances, and God’s love is deeply felt.
That the new Kingdom Explorers Clubs continue to go well.
For the smooth running of all the assembly programs.
For the staff team and Trustees as we look to expand our work and recruit new Trustees.
Rest and refreshment for the whole team this summer, as well as for staff and children at schools.
The activities we are planning for the next academic year.
The overall vision of Engage: “Enabling the Christian message to be heard in schools and college”
School Assemblies, Christian Unions, Prayer Clubs, Prayer Spaces and Mentoring.
