Putting Out the Welcome Mat

Chris Hudson

Graffiti and ownership

Does your church have a problem with graffiti? It's an odd question but it connects with the way young people relate to the church. Graffiti, you see, is a form of territorial claim - a stab at ownership. If I can put my tag here, it shows I have the power to be here - and so in a way, it belongs to me. This place is... mine. It's a very negative way of 'owning' a place, but you see it often in places where there are a lot of disaffected young people. Graffiti is all they have to make a common space 'theirs'. But church buildings can also be 'theirs' if they understand how these buildings work and that they are here to serve the whole community, including the young people themselves. Sometimes Christians of my evangelical persuasion can be guilty of getting a bit tribal when it comes to welcoming outsiders - we turn Jesus' 'with me or against me' comment (see Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23) into something about being either 'with us or against us'. But the church and its buildings are not 'ours' - they belong to God, and they are there to be shared with the community.

Spirituality and sacred space

Young people can be introduced to spiritual issues from a very young age and will quickly gain a valuable sense of 'sacred space' that stays with them for life if the introduction is done well. Church buildings form a veritable goldmine of resources for teaching spirituality in a custom-built venue, and schools will be interested in bringing pupils to your building if you can create the right 'package' of activities for them.

This article isn't about explaining why churches should be involved with schools - that's a much bigger topic, and something Barnabas is actively exploring now. Let's suppose your church is interested in making links - so where do you start? By asking yourself why. I suggest three reasons: firstly, to provide children with crucial and memorable first-hand experiences of the living church. The church is not a building - it's about people and God. Secondly, to enrich learning in RE and other subjects. This is active learning based on first-hand experiences, at its best! Thirdly, to foster positive, authentic community relationships. Your visit has the capacity to generate a whole new set of friendships between church and school. Welcoming children into church is good for everyone, because it generates friendships among the church, the pupils and school staff, and it feeds positive attitudes both into the parish and the wider community.

Where do we start?

Begin with developing your vision for inviting schools in. That will involve your congregation, your church leadership and your verger. You will need to be praying about it regularly and discussing it, recruiting a team who are willing and able to commit their time and creative energy and enjoy working with children. ( Former teachers are gold dust...) These are the people who will help you host a visit, so they will need to be CRB-checked, and that may take months. You will also need to start making contacts with local schools, especially head teachers, and to start asking if they are interested in using the local church as a resource. Plan at least six months ahead before the set day or week - and pray! Discover God's heart in all this.

Next, start auditing your church with a schoolteacher's eye - and you may need help from a few teachers to do it. Look around the building. All those examples of crucifixes and stained glass: how do they tell the Christian story now? (Of course, it's also worth asking whether your church building appears to be obsessed with dead people - and whether that needs to change!) How will you connect your school's weekday visit with what happens in church on a busy Sunday? Next, find your 'living stones', the local people with a heart for the children who can speak from the heart about what Jesus and the church mean to them, and have a feeling for the local community's ups and downs. (They may get you out of hot water, too - one lady steered my graveyard visit away from one section of the cemetery, because she knew a pupil's father was buried there... Phew.) Oh, and spend time on the nuts and bolts - think about the issues that could make the visit fall apart (more on this below).

Think about creating a package of activities that will catch the teacher's attention. Teachers need clear, open objectives that serve the school's needs, not yours. Have no hidden agendas (such as 'get 'em in and evangelize 'em') but don't sell Jesus short either - they will hear the 'J' word during their visit, won't they? Research your local school's needs and priorities, and that includes their spiritual needs, too. Decide on the age range you're going to start with: primary, middle or senior school? Then plan a series of open days for schools that fit their academic year. (A tip: avoid exam weeks...) Your 'open day' is best served with a nicely open-ended theme that allows for spiritual development and connects the child's own experiences both with the living church and the living God. A tall order? Here are a few ideas.

Festivals Signs and Symbols Celebrations World-wide church Christians today Special places Worship and Prayer The Bible Telling the Story Swirling Words Getting the Message Sacred texts The Last Word (epitaphs) Time Lord (life stories on tombstones and epitaphs) Sacred Shapes and Spaces The Love of Money Data Handling the Graveyard British History, Our History War and Peace Remembering Designing for Worship, Designing for People Music with Passion Words and Music Stories in stained glass Pictures that tell a story Colour and light Sketching and Drawing Whose World? (natural environment) Upon this Rock (Living Stones) My local community Living Things Connecting with the world Contributing to my community

Four Smart Ideas

Offer to host a staff meeting from a local school. Provide yummy refreshments, a short guided tour - and ask the teachers to suggest ways of using the church building as a teaching resource in different subjects.

Create a shared church and school project, in which pupils are set the task of creating a children's guide to the church. This could be a very useful IT project with a clear goal and achievable outcome. Projects like this can also achieve additional funding - children could also be writing application letters.

Create a church 'reflective' trail with local pupils - their task would be to create display labels explaining and reflecting on what they see in the church. 'This stained glass window is about... It reminds me of... It makes me feel...'

Does your church have a website? Pupils could contribute to it. The website could also contain all sorts of useful details for teachers planning visits, including pupil worksheets or information sheets. For a good example, visit this church website.

Nuts and bolts

Which key issues need to be addressed to prevent everything falling apart? Here they are, in no particular order...

• Ensure your church leaders are aware of what's happening and be kept onside!
• Set a clear timetable during the day, including time for preparation and clean-up.
• Have child-friendly, hygienic toilets.
• Who has the keys? Who turns off the security system? Sort it before the day.
• Refreshments for everyone. Who does it?
• Lunch facilities - are you providing an appropriate space?
• What if it rains? (Crucial for outdoor planning!)
• Health and Safety: no preventable nasty accidents are going to happen, are they?
• Contact details: you need the school's and they need yours. That includes mobile phone numbers.
• Ensure your diary is kept free for that day. And you are not going to let any other parish or pastoral 'emergencies' call you away from hosting a planned visit, are you?

Remember your priorities - what's this all meant to be achieving?

So you've created a stunning package. It's time to contact your appropriate local schools, who shouldn't be totally surprised because you've already mentioned this to them, haven't you? Here are some pointers for working with schools. The more informed preparation beforehand, the easier this stage will be!

• Establish shared objectives with the school, but don't allow your agenda to be 'secularized'. Jesus will get a mention because it's a Christian place of worship, so there!
• Assume no prior knowledge of Christianity or the church on the part of the school staff - and don't assume it's their fault, either. You are here to serve.
• Offer a guided tour of your building for the school staff before the day. They may have useful ideas to share.
• Ask them to prepare the children for the visit with some basics about what the building is and who uses it for what. It will help them if you can provide a welcome pack which includes age-appropriate, photocopiable, jargon-free information sheets for staff to use with pupils. If appropriate, there are virtual 'church visits' available on the web to help them get a feel for the place: see Educhurch for more details.
• Clarify the timetable for the visit, allowing for journey times.
• Establish what they need to bring: clipboards? Pencils?
• Swap everybody's contact details.
• Find out the school policy for taking photographs of children. It's good to keep a record, but permission slips may be needed.

What happens on the day?

It's 10 o'clock. You hear the sound of excited chatter outside. What is going to greet those young people as they come in? Here's a clue: feed their senses. The heating will be on and you might have special lighting, music, candles, smells. What will make it special? What is the first thing you are going to say to them? How does it relate to your chosen theme? What is the first thing they will be doing? Plan a short welcome talk, allowing one minute for every year of their age. (Giving them a minute of shared silence after they've sat down really gets their attention, too.) As for activities, plan with your team a series or a carousel related to your main theme, the school's objectives and the pupils' ages and ability. What could they be doing? How about...

...researching, role-playing, drawing, constructing, calculating, designing, making, learning, singing, playing, retelling ,discussing, planning, performing

Remember the old proverb? 'I hear, and I forget. I see and I remember, but I do and I understand.'

When you finish, aim to round things off with a voluntary act of worship, which doesn't assume belief by all but respects the integrity of all. (For example: 'We're going to be quiet now. I'm going to use a prayer that Christians use. If you agree with it, quietly say 'Amen' at the end.') Make sure it relates to the chosen theme. Allow for a few questions and answers if they haven't already been done. As they leave, give the pupils a gift to take away, even if it's only a pencil with the church's name on. That will make an impression in itself.

Afterwards?

Elicit feedback from the staff and pupils. What went well? What could be improved? Keep the church informed. Let them know the results of their prayers, and encourage others to help. Celebrate what's been achieved. It won't have been perfect, but God will have been in it, and you will have made an impact. Also, ask if you've learnt any new things about the church and its connections with the community that the congregation needs to hear. And then pray - what are you going to do next?

A few further tips for your helpers when explaining things to young people:

Use child-friendly language for their age, and don't assume any prior knowledge of church life. For many, church is just a place for weddings and funerals. Expect some noise as they talk about what they see - it shows they're thinking. Try to predict some of their questions, and have a good answer ready. Near Christmas, a Muslim child asked me 'Was Mary God's girlfriend?' (Well, how would you answer?) Respect the children, treating them in a way you would want your own children to be treated if they were visiting a mosque or a gurdwara. Use the language of invitation, not demand. When explaining things, don't say, 'We believe' but 'Christians believe...' However, you should say 'I believe'. That makes the experience personal and real to your visitors.

See other feature articles