Growing Younger: Developing Faith Journeys in Schools. Andy Wolfe Vice Principal The Nottingham Emmanuel School

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1 Growing Younger: Developing Faith Journeys in Schools Andy Wolfe Vice Principal The Nottingham Emmanuel School

2 everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story. (Patrick Rothfuss)

3 Why would the church invest in schools? Understanding mission/kingdom? Influencing ad-missions? Developing the whole child?

4 Molly?

5 Mehreen?

6 Why would the church invest in schools? Understanding mission/kingdom Influencing ad-missions Developing the whole child Engaging in discipleship?

7 What might be central to the mission of a (Church of England) school? Improving achievement = social change? Flourishing of every individual seeing the child as God sees them Growing Younger? 1811 Joshua Watson The National Society for the Education of the Poor Making faithing normal

8 Evangelism vs. Social Action? Where any community deteriorates, the blame should be attached where it belongs: not to the community which is going bad, but to the church which is failing in its responsibility as salt to stop it going bad. And the salt will be effective only if it permeates society, only if Christians learn again the wide diversity of divine callings, and if many penetrate deeply into society in order to serve Christ there. (John Stott, 1975)

9 Evangelism vs. Social Action? if we love our neighbour as God made him, we must inevitably be concerned for his total welfare, the good of his soul, his body and his community To sum up, we are sent into the world, Like Jesus, to serve. For this is the natural expression of our love for our neighbour. We love. We go. We serve. And in this we have (or should have) no ulterior motive. (John Stott, 1975)

10 Journeys of Faith ONESTORY 16 stories staff and students Published each year Celebrates faith journey

11 Journeys of Faith This is a language of faith development that is: Inclusive Expectant Dynamic Accessible Communicative Believable Engaging Empathetic Attractive

12 Journeys of Faith People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it s the other way around. (Terry Pratchett) Building on James Fowler (and by implication, Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg) the adolescent s religious hunger is for a God who knows, accepts, and confirms the self deeply (Fowler) Dynamic and non-linear Chaotic and unpredictable Co-travelling

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19 Journeys of Faith our current students do not know a world where life is not negotiated at least in part through the twisting, turning, transient multi-logue of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. In these worlds, meaning is relentlessly significant yet trivial, permanent yet gone in a moment, utterly individualised yet inherently interactive. It cannot be tracked, predicted or controlled, and yet our students are interpreting this world, frequently seeing it as just as important as their real-life interactions with one another.

20 Journeys of Faith They are natives to this way of creating meaning and of intertwining narrative, where short epithets summarise life-changing feeling and comment streams uplift and encourage as quickly as they cut down and betray. This is a world where the drama of the story is fast-paced, unpredictable but intensely valuable. It is the world in which our current students are taught about values, narrative and play their own part in creating a community that is constantly changing and adapting to itself and its needs. (Wolfe, 2016)

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22 Developing the approach further Wrestle with the theology Evaluate your provision moral messages vs. faith development? Faith journey as expected element of school life Use narrative to celebrate Model the approach with staff sharing stories

23 Why would you get involved? Pragmatically What is the biggest youth service in Nottingham each month? Where is the biggest kids work provision in Nottingham each week? How many people can you connect with through an average primary/secondary school?

24 Why would you get involved? Missionally What part can you play in the Kingdom coming through education? How important are young people really? Could the school be the church?

25 Why would you get involved? Theologically Whose story could you support/encourage/challenge/journey with? How many teachers could you stand alongside and believe in? What kind of stories will be told about the church in this Diocese in 5 years time? 10 years time? 25 years time? Should it be a factor in faith development of young people?

26 everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story. (Patrick Rothfuss)