We were so excited to be invited into a new school last month! Our Latchford worker Kim shares how it went…
“Youth for Christ were recently invited into UTC to deliver a day of lessons on the subject of Religion and Tolerance. We thought this was a great opportunity to connect with a new school, so Steve and I spent the day with Year 10 and 11 classes leading discussion activities, hearing their thoughts, sharing about faith and answering some big questions.
Addressing the topic of religion and tolerance, some young people thought that the world isn’t very tolerant towards people of faith, and others thought that people of faith weren’t very tolerant of each other! They were concerned about wars and conflicts that have taken place in the name of religion.
Others thought that this only represented the minority, and they shared many ways that faith had a good impact on society – they thought that faith brought hope and direction for people in tough times, and gave people community. It was so encouraging to hear that this was their perception of faith in society.
This lesson was a great opportunity to share about Jesus and how he treated people, including the story of the Good Samaritan and how he taught us to love others as ourselves. So many young people have the belief that Christianity is about intolerance and judgementalism, and we felt it was so important to focus our thoughts on the person of Jesus – his character and his teachings – and why he is absolutely central to us as Christians.
This led to us being asked many questions about our beliefs, the Bible, why we believe in God and what difference it actually makes in our lives. It was a great opportunity to listen and to share the impact of having faith, and we look forward to having a Town Centre Youth Worker who will continue to connect with these wonderful young people!”