Showing the Church’s Love in Action
Perhaps one of the most important questions when serving in a school community is this: how can we be showing the church’s love in action? Karen Stangoe, the children and families worker at Uddingston Park Church, reflects on the different activities that churches can run in schools, and how sometimes it is through serving in the more mundane school activities that we convey this love the best. Sometimes the bigger image of the church supporting the local school can be seen by really simple acts such as running the football club or helping to run the student credit union.
Often the main impact we can have in a school community is through the support and love that we show the staff. Simple acts like checking in on the teachers when you’re in school can go a mile, and just having a presence in the school is important for showing this reliability. “It is important that we build good relationships with the staff as well as the children” Karen reflects, and these relationships with staff have at times produced opportunities where young people are given more space to explore faith. Karen remembers a time when she was leading an RME lesson with a primary 4 class, and after the story had finished the students just sparked and they started asking question after question. When the teacher of the class saw this, though the time for the RME lesson was soon to be over, she assured Karen to take her time with answering their questions, “she said she was happy for their knowledge to be expanded and for me to take my time with their questions”.
However, getting involved with the local community has also meant providing a variety of services based on the need in the school, and therefore being able to read what the school needs. Karen talks about how it has been more of a challenge to be involved in the high school as this is a “harder environment to break into”. For example, support for the local grammar school has involved being a kind of ‘on-call chaplain’ to provide a listening ear for young people who are struggling a bit more. Though this may seem small, this is exactly what the school requires at this moment in time.
Karen shares this story with the understanding that it often takes making the actions out of love first, before being able to build the relationships. In some ways, school involvement takes a lot of trust and patience as you navigate acting out of love, without the guarantee that it will take you to the destination you want. But it is so important to show this love in whatever way the school requires it, because in doing so, we are able to show Christ’s love in really practical ways in our community.
