Many will remember Angela from her time with Springboard and as a missioner in Gloucester diocese. Now in Cornwall, she sends this reminder of a great resource:
The thin end of the wedge?
Never underestimate the power of some of the simplest tools to create a new interest in and awareness of the gospel!
For years I have used “Open the Book” Assemblies in my Parish Junior schools but since coming to Cornwall to retire I have been overwhelmed by the welcome it has received in my new Deanery. (Things take a long time to reach Cornwall!)
In the space of 6 months it has kicked off in a Rural benefice of 4 small churches when 24 people responded to the invitation to volunteer to read & act out the Bible stories from the Lion Storyteller Bible following the guidelines set out by the “Open the Book” organisation. They now work in teams of 4-6 going to three schools on a Monday morning, one after the other, which means that volunteers only have to do one morning a month. We have seen hitherto inexpressive or uninvolved volunteers wanting to do more (and sometimes getting carried away with their props or acting!) and children who now greet Church members in the street and have even been known to cry because they missed a week! The children are telling their parents about “Open the Book” stories and the Churches are beginning to report new attitudes in people turning up for Christmas or Family Services and we now need to work with those Churches to see how they can develop other activities or interest which lead on from this initiative.
Now in January we have rolled it out into four Newquay Junior/infant schools with the help of 32 volunteers from across all the Christian denominations. Because of the size of this effort we have had to organise them into 8 teams – 4 covering 2 Monday assemblies and 4 covering 2 Tuesday assemblies. We have, again, been surprised at the welcome it has received in at least a couple of schools who have been hitherto cautious about things “religious”. Overall this means that in total over 2000 children are now getting weekly Bible stories and reflections.
I feel sure I’m not alone in singing the praises of this simple tool for Schools. The “Open the Book” project provides everything on a plate from the introductions to the prayers at the end and ideas for presenting the stories. Their code of practice means that it should be acceptable to schools and it ticks a number of their Ofsted requirements for Religious education. Used carefully it can lead to all sorts of other things which we will certainly now be helping the Churches to look at. If you haven’t taken a look at it recently go to www.openthebook.net
Angela Butler
