Skip to main content

Education - Christian good sense: courteously, courageously

Read time: 2 minutes.

We were invited by the Chaplain to visit a large independent boarding school to talk about the Falklands conflict as a Christian who had been there.  We went last week - and had a good time. The atmosphere was welcoming and the Chaplain, helpful and enthusiastic. We did a lower school chapel, an RS class, a lunch event with 2 scholarship groups and a number of teachers, then a couple more RS classes.

The chapel talk was a set-piece at 5 minutes so covered a number of topics to tell the story but also to focus on God's perspective - with a good number of slides.

Why visit

I agreed to do this visit as I felt it was more than just a Christian's experience at an event, but should also reflect larger themes about God's action & sovereignty in the world: 'what does God think about all this?' (Prov 14:34), God's role for the State to keep good order (Rom 13), being courageous, God giving us wisdom when we ask (James 1:5) reflecting the audacious Goose Green call to surrender, and summing up with the school motto, 'Keep your faith', making this about trusting God as you come to know him - which is open to all. But not too heavy!

In the classes (mostly yr 10) there were additional sections on Just War, role of the press (important but problematic in that conflict), how servicemen & families feel.

In peril

The chapel next day was for the senior school. I'd been asked if I prayed for protection, so I included a quote from the Fiery Furnace account in Daniel. This was how I felt about God's protection.  'The God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not ... we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.  - ie we'll continue to trust God.

It also has a challenging context (worshipping state ideology) - though I didn't comment on that!

We met and chatted with the Headmaster after the service.

Despite the presence of wokism, it seems most teachers just keep their heads down and try to teach their stuff.

If Christian good sense is spoken courteously & courageously, I think it will be welcomed by many. 

Go Christian Concern!

The gospel

I realised how easy it is in our words to move from the core of the gospel to moralising, 'doing the right thing', and also I recognised that teaching/learning RS can seem rather sterile when you're learning facts, but the core: recognising where we stand before Him, repenting, and receiving grace, is dynamite to those who have ears. I felt it can be said without cliche, and in some ways we have to relearn the power of that. We have to try to sense what can be said.  Paul: 'For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes' Rom 1:16