2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the publishing of the King James Bible in the United Kingdom. The Bible has played a significant role in shaping our nation. It provided the basis for our laws and statutes, it inspired so much of our visual arts, and it massively influenced our literature and music. Its message so gripped the hearts and minds of people that they spent their lives introducing social reform and education movements – the foundation blocks for society as we know it today. So it’s right that we mark this Anniversary and champion the Bible, God’s Word, to the next generation. That is what we hope to do.

For the last few months we have been developing ideas for this new project. It had to be mobile – easily transportable to schools, and if possible independent of school space and facilities. It had to be cross-curricular. RE only takes up 5% of the timetable and for us to achieve the maximum impact, we want the story of the Bible to be expressed within other subjects too.

It had to be creative. We want to work to our strengths and express something of the creativity and innovation that God has placed within our team. It also had to be interactive. We want young people to be engaged and inspired by what we do and cater for different learning styles.

We decided that we needed a double-decker bus. We wrote to some big companies requesting the gift of a bus. And we are pleased to say that Mr Brian Souter, the boss of Stagecoach, looked favourably on our request and gave us this vehicle. For the last few years it has been used as a school bus in the West of Scotland but interestingly we discovered that it began life as the number 51 in Sidcup!

We brought the bus down from Scotland this month and have now set about the task of getting this exciting project up and running. You will be hearing about more about it in the coming weeks. If you are in Erith you will be able to see the bus – you can’t miss it.

Thanks for your continued support!

With love, on behalf of the team, Gordon Raggett
 

News from the Team

After-School Clubs

This term we have been in three schools doing After-School Clubs: Royal Park, Belvedere Junior and Belmont. We are doing these mainly with children aged 8-11 but in Royal Park this club is run for 6-11 year olds (which makes it a bigger challenge).

It is a real privilege to work in this type of setting: we can be much more open to telling the good news as the children all have parental permission to be there. In a book called “Effective Schools Work“ by Lee Jackson it says that assemblies are ‘quantity’ not ‘quality’ - whereas doing small group or individual work is ‘quality’ not ‘quantity’. So this has really fuelled my desire to work in these settings.

Gordon, Carole, Mick, Wendy and I are leading these clubs. Whilst Wendy and Mick have been having a well-deserved 3 week break in China/Hong Kong, I took on their commitments, thereby giving me an over-view of all the clubs.

We generally have some games, a bible story, an application and an activity (generally making something that they take home). We know that every child is loved by God and in these sessions we try to instil this truth in these young minds and hearts. Some of the children go to Church, but I guess the majority do not. The children seem very keen to come each week and sometimes encourage their friends to join us. I guess we see 35 children each week and we pray that a difference is being made to God’s Kingdom, even by sowing of seeds that will blossom in the future. Please pray for these clubs as they could make an eternal difference in these young lives.

On the weekend of 7-9th May we will be taking some 25 children away for a residential break at Halls Green in Sevenoaks (a Barnabas Trust site). This will be for the older children in all three of the above schools. To me these weekends are fantastic time where the Holy Spirit always seems to work. We have worship and teaching times along with games, swimming, challenges etc etc. Please pray that each school gets on well with the others and that weather and safety are on our side.

I have also been doing a lunch-time club at Parkway School in Thamesmead. This is open to one class for each half term we are in the school. From one particular class we were regularly having 12-15 children coming (almost half the class !!). It has been great doing this club (for which parental consent is not needed) but always a challenge to fit a song, story and activity into a brief 20-25 minute slot. But each child takes home something they have made, and also the excerpt from the Bible that we were looking at. Life with CRIBS is challenging, fun, heart warming, eventful, tiring but never dull.

Craig Coston
 

In the Classroom

When Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and destroyed it, he carried many of the people away into exile. Later, back in Babylon, some of those captives were chosen to serve in the king’s palace. However, it was only those ‘without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning’ and ‘quick to understand’ who were chosen for this. (Daniel 1:4). 

Last term, I was able to tell this story in school, under the banner of ‘Bible Explorer’ (a branch of Walk Thru The Bible Ministries). Brandishing a sword (plastic!), I played the part of Nebuchadnezzar. When it came to ‘taking some prisoners’ I chose two children, but a third child, a boy sitting nearby, also stood up wanting to be involved. Now, children love to take part in interactive storytelling as a rule. However, this was unusual in that it was a child with special needs (possibly autism) who usually has a teaching assistant sitting with him, and even with such close care, he sometimes struggles to remain in the classroom throughout the lesson.

So, I had three prisoners to take back to Babylon instead of two. The prisoner I felt a bit uneasy about behaved excellently, responding appropriately to every command from his make-believe captor. I’m sure the special care of his assistant (who remained close by throughout) contributed to this outcome, but perhaps it was also due to the thrill of being chosen, of finding himself right in the centre of a story, and what a story to find oneself in the centre of, ultimately God’s story, the story of a King, the King. This king loves us all no matter what!

Jason Vaughan
 

Further prayer points

Please pray for:

The Easter Play 'Easter Unwrapped' - to meet the need (62 performances), two teams will be performing from Weds 17th Mar - Thurs 1st April.  The teams are Jason, Carole & Andy; Craig, Wendy & Paul.  Props need to be made and lines learnt.

Easter lessons - we are currently teaching 'Easter' to a variety of yeargroups in 9 schools

Alive After-School Clubs  - we currently have three clubs running.  Some of these children will be taken to Halls Green by the CRIBS Team 7-8th May.

3:16 Bus project - we require finances and resources to complete the refit.  We are in need of a project manager and fundraiser.  The CRIBS Team are planning to climb Snowdon and walk the 'Mary Jones Bible Walk' (26 miles) in July to raise money.

Carole - her contract ends in August and we need to raise financial support for her to continue with CRIBS