God Making a Difference. By Judith Rust
During my 13 years or so as a Spinnaker Schools Worker, it never ceased to amaze me how God really does “move in mysterious ways”!
Week after week, I used to go into schools, full of fear and trepidation that somehow my songs and style of delivery wouldn’t hit the mark, and come out with faith renewed , amazed at how God would work amongst those children and staff, and the twenty or so minutes that I had there really had made a difference!
Ours is really not to reason why! God has His plan, and all we have to do is to faithfully keep on going into schools and deepening the relationship, which is very precious. Every single session, somehow God always comes through in a natural way, tailoring the assembly to what the children need that week. North Lambeth is a difficult area: children come and go, there are high levels of poverty and deprivation, problems with language and culture differences, and schools are incredibly diverse. Yet God transcends all of that and His message of love for each individual somehow gets through in a way miraculously suited to each individual.
Countless times since leaving Spinnaker three years ago I have been stopped in the street by a now young teenager at Big School and told how much they loved Spinnaker assemblies, and the way they helped them believe that they weren’t alone when things were tough, and inspired them to reach out to others who were having a hard time. People in the Bible like Daniel (and boy did life get tough for him) were able to overcome their problems and show true resilience whilst always managing to do the right thing!! If he could do it, they could too…… (with God’s help!)
Teachers have a difficult job to do. Spinnaker Assemblies touch them too. Teachers would often come up to me after assembly to say that the message seemed to be made just for them, and was exactly what they needed to hear that day. (A total surprise to me, of course, but the Lord knows what He is doing!)
Finally, it still astounds me when a total stranger approaches me on a bus or tube journey (as one smart-looking young man did not long ago) and says: “Excuse me. But are you Judith who used to come into my school and do assemblies for Spinnaker?” I nodded, somewhat warily, and he continued:
“I just want to thank you for all those assemblies – they were really important to me, and helped me more than you can know”. He then got off the bus, leaving me open-mouthed and somewhat humbled!
Spinnaker workers don’t need to know the outcomes or individuals. God knows and loves them all. The Spinnaker Worker is the voice and physical presence He uses to let all those children know that in a difficult, ever-changing world, His love is the one thing which never changes and is utterly reliable.
Keep going Spinnaker: you are affecting the world more that you can possibly know.
Judith Rust, former Schoolsworker