News Archive
Moving on
Perhaps you've been aware that over the last 18 months Jen and I have made a significant journey with God.
In this time I have developed a deep rooted passion and interest in education and in particular the teaching of RE/RS (Religious Education/Studies).
A few weeks ago I discovered that I had been accepted on the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) which is an employment-based route into teacher training.
In September, this year, I will be joining Longbenton Community College as a trainee-teacher of RE and am very very excited about it.
Here is a bit more info on the last 18 months if you're interested...
In my current role at HBC as Youth & Schools Worker, Jen and I have
hosted countless youth meetings in our own home and have enjoyed
bringing a relational edge to our ministry with many teenagers. Over the
last few years, however, I also developed a passion for working in
school communities and have struggled with the demands of being both a
youth worker and a schools worker and giving each of the areas of my
work equal commitment. I’ve been known to have assemblies, lunch time
meetings, after school clubs, dinner with youth group members and late
night youth clubs all in a day. It all got a bit odd when I started
emailing my wife simply as a volunteer on my youth team rather than the
lady who lived with me!!!
There has been something more significant, however, than tensions with
the day to day rhythm of being a youth and schools worker. In recent
years I have had the privilege of working in various school communities
and have gradually anchored my faith in education. I have been able to
deliver many RE lessons, lead extra-curriculum activities and have led
a number of quality assemblies (along with some that could have gone
much better!). In this time I have felt a growing sense of the need to
be an ambassador for God in the sphere of education and become a
teacher of Religious Education.
Many have already asked me why on earth I would want to ‘hang up’ the
boots of being a youth worker and become a teacher – thus signing
myself up to exams, Ofstead inspections and positive behaviour
strategies! My wife and I attended several seminars last year at a youth work conference held in Southport. The seminars were being led by
Trevor Cooling (director of Transforming Lives) under the title ‘Faith
in Education’ and focused on the biblical life of Daniel. The seminars
reminded me that Daniel was a man who immersed himself fully in the
foreign culture around him and yet maintained his sense of Jewish
identity and tradition. Here was a man who inspired the culture around
him to acknowledge his God and who was challenging me to consider how
effective I was as a Christian youth worker on the ‘outskirts’ of the
school cultures I encountered each week in my job.
Driving back from a
rainy Southport my wife and I agreed (very rare when driving together!)
that God had placed it firmly in my heart to seriously consider
becoming a teacher and immersing myself in the culture of today’s
education. Shortly after this I applied to the GTP here in Newcastle
upon Tyne.
I approach teaching with great enthusiasm and some anxiety at the
challenges ahead of me. This year I would have attended a ministry
selection committee and have been ordained as a youth ministry
specialist by the Baptist Union. Instead I will be replacing
flexi-breakfasts with early morning coffee, hoody jumpers for shirts
and ties, a passion for young people in school for a passion for pupils
in my school community. The words of Proverbs 19:21 make much more
sense to me now when they say ‘you can make many plans, but the Lord’s
purpose will prevail’.
I am looking forward to sharing more of my story over the year ahead
and immersing myself in Longbenton Community College as a
trainee-teacher of RE in September this year. It's also great that Jen
and I feel so much home at HBC and in the north east - we look forward
to making our journey with our friends and family in both the church
and beyond.