INSPIRE. Spring 2023
Setting Hope & Expectation of Goodness in Children's Lives
In this issue:
- Setting Hope & Expectation of Goodness in Children's Lives - Mike Harrowing, CEO
- Verse of the Term
- A Crafted Prayer - Emily Speed, Croydon Hub Leader
- The Spinnaker Hubs, A Virtual Tour - Clare Holl, Team Coordinator
- Branching Out in Eastbourne - Sam Oakes, Eastbourne Hub Leader
- Sponsor A Spinnaker Assembly - an opportunity for your church or small group to get involved
SETTING HOPE & EXPECTATION OF GOODNESS IN CHILDREN'S LIVES
- Mike Harrowing, CEO
The idea that Jesus’ words are a foundational rock on which to build your life will be news to, well, pretty much no-one! And yet as the year turned to 2023, I was reminded just how deeply, significantly, and radically true this is.
Throughout the last year, the name of a certain American-British social media personality rose on my radar. This person marked himself out as an influential misogynist. His comments and posts were always appalling to me, but by the time of his arrest for trafficking and modern-day slavery, he had gathered millions of followers (mainly young men and teens).
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was: I was genuinely shocked that someone with such despicable ideas and actions could be a prominent voice in the hearts of young girls and boys.
What Spinnaker does, what Christians do, is of the most supreme life-saving importance because we set a hope and expectation of goodness in the lives of the next generation: a vaccination against the present voices of hate and darkness. I’m so glad that we get to go in first and set a foundation of Christ’s message on which millions of children can build their lives.
Every term, we are inspired by a specific Bible verse. As we keep our focus on Jesus, relying on His strength, we will be able to stay steady and establish secure foundations, through His message, in the lives of children. We hope this will encourage and strengthen each one of you too this term.
A CRAFTED PRAYER
It can feel overwhelming when we hear of the challenges children face. We asked Emily, Croydon Hub Leader, to craft a prayer so that we can join our hearts in faith as we call out to God on their behalf:
Dear God, thank you for the Bible and the inspiration, creativity, teaching, & encouragement it provides. Help us to bring it to more children across the nation in an accessible way, so they can build their lives on Your goodness. Defend and protect them from the dark things in the world that aim to corrupt and tear them down.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
We know that you are good and we pray that, through our work and through Your word, every child, teacher, and parent will see that and know they are wrapped in love. It’s Jesus! The One who hears us and speaks to us. Amen.
Every term, we are inspired by a specific Bible verse. As we keep our focus on Jesus, relying on His strength, we will be able to stay steady and establish secure foundations, through His message, in the lives of children. We hope this will encourage and strengthen each one of you too this term.
"I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken" (Psalm 16:8)
The Spinnaker Hubs - A Virtual Tour
Clare takes us on a whistle-stop tour to give us a real feel for what God is doing across Spinnaker:
- Bromley – our team work together with children’s workers and ministers to deliver assemblies in schools and we love being involved in the Bromley Schools Festival each June. We have also had 3 new schools asking for our input in the last 3 months which is very exciting.
- Croydon – Emily has just launched this hub and is busy getting to grips with everything, but is enjoying developing relationships with schools and churches.
- Eastbourne – Sam and Chrissie visit 15 schools and run creative worship clubs alongside other activities, so life is busy!
- Epsom – the team here really enjoy creative RE Days in schools, having just visited schools with ’Why do Christians Worship Jesus?’ with year 4.
- Lambeth & Southwark – this is a busy hub where we do lots of assemblies and lessons. RE days with a particular focus on Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Harvest are particularly popular with schools here.
- Lewisham – Phil has brought the added dimension of live worship to Caroline’s assemblies with his guitar and the children (and teachers) have really enjoyed this.
- Orpington – we work closely with churches in the area to build relationships with schools, such as assisting with school visits to churches. We have also organised a Christmas colouring competition at 4 schools, with all the pictures being displayed outside a local church.
- Worthing – our small but faithful team have great fun developing engaging assemblies and organising occasional prayer spaces in schools.
Branching Out in Eastbourne
- Sam Oakes, Eastbourne Hub Leader
Having returned to a sense of normality in September with regular assemblies in 15 local primary and infant schools, we felt that it was time to press forward by building on what has been established and seeing what else we could reach for. So, in the autumn term we ran two trial after-school clubs: a Creative Worship Club (CWC) and a Christmas Drama Club. Both were very well received. Children who came to the Worship Club said: “The thing that would make it better is if there was more time” - and that was after a long day at school!
The Drama Club led to some in-class drama-based RE lessons, an idea described by one teacher as “fantastic!" Building on those pilot runs, we are now looking to offer drama-based Easter RE lessons to as many of our schools as possible. We hope to relaunch CWC in the summer term, as well as looking at how we can support existing worship leaders in schools. We had the opportunity to share our assemblies with a local Christian Home Educating group.
In each case we continue to see how God’s work can grow, branching out to reach more children and families, and digging deeper to help establish firm roots of understanding the Christian faith.
If you have as little as 2 hours a fortnight, starting with prayer, moving through to shadowing a Spinnaker team member and on to taking the children through a Spinnaker worship assembly - with resources fully prepared by the team - you too could become a Spinnaker schoolsworker. Contact [email protected]
COULD YOUR LOCAL CHURCH OR SMALL GROUP
SPONSOR A SPINNAKER ASSEMBLY?
AND HELP US INSPIRE CHILDREN THROUGH THE LIFE OF JESUS?
What Can Sponsors Do?
- DONATE: each assembly (collective worship) comes with a suggested donation amount. However each Sponsor, whether an individual, church or small group, can contribute as they are able.
- PRAY FOR YOUR SPONSORED ASSEMBLY: details of your chosen assembly will be sent to you so you can pray as this is being delivered in schools.
- PRAY FOR YOUR LOCAL SPINNAKER SCHOOLSWORKER: find out from us when the assemblies are being delivered in your area so that you can pray as they are happening.