SCHOOL EVANGELISM

How do you impact 2,000 students in our local schools with the message of Jesus Christ?
How do you win favour in the schools to share such a message which many consider out-of-date?
These are the questions Hawkesbury Valley Baptist Church (HVBC) and all the other Christian churches of the Hawkesbury area have to face.
We are thoroughly convinced that God has given us a wonderful opportunity to do evangelism in our local schools, but to do this the Christian churches of our district have to become more than mouths.
So, through God’s revelation to our church community as we have prayed and watched for God’s activity over the years, we feel he has revealed a fourfold strategy to reaching these 2,000 students with the good news of Jesus Christ.

On our knees

God does nothing but in answer to prayer.
So there is a prayer meeting every Monday morning at Maccas with multiple churches.
The Senior Pastor and Youth Pastor go prayer driving around the district and around the schools at 5:30am every Tuesday morning for an hour.The Church Leaders and the Ministry Team are primarily a people of prayer.
We hold to the words of E.M. Bounds who said, “The gospel moves with slow and timid pace when the saints are not at their prayers early and late and long.”

By our deeds

HVBC will continue to evangelise by deed, simply by placing school working bees as a priority over church working bees. As has already been found over the years, generous acts of service in the name of Jesus lay a wonderful foundation for generous words of life. We have had annual school working bees as a gift to the schools for the past four years and will continue to do deed evangelism at the same schools we do word evangelism.

With our words

Our country gives us a great opportunity to do SRE in schools and we must take it.  HVBC believes there are few opportunities where you get to speak openly about Jesus Christ to an unreached audience every week.
So we at HVBC are going to take it and follow the pattern that the apostle Peter gave us, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”  1 Peter 3:15

Through our giving

Not-for-profit organisations such as churches do have some opportunities to create tax-deductible giving.
HVBC has put time and energy and resources into establishing such a fund to empower our school evangelism.
We will create an environment where volunteer missionaries and financially supported missionaries will work side-by-side with this massive task of reaching these 2,000 students.
Jesus taught us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21.
At HVBC we treasure the lives of these 2,000 students. So we will give financial and people resources to this mission.
We are already starting to see results in our schools and we have only just begun. Every strategy is essential, because each of the strategies we feel we have been led to by God.
At HVBC we are eagerly believing for a revival in our schools and across our region.
If you would like to support us in this endeavour in any way, we encourage you to contact us.
If you feel we may have something to offer you in any way, we equally encourage you to contact us.

Did you know that:

Scripture, now referred to as SRE (Special Religious Education) is taught in most public schools in NSW for about half an hour a week.
Any religious faith (eg Baptist, Roman Catholic, Muslim etc.) can teach SRE. However, they must first be approved by the Department of Education.
Local churches provide the teachers, most of whom are volunteers without prior teaching experience.
Approximately 80% of primary-aged children in NSW attend Christian SRE classes, while church-based children’s programs reach about 2%.
In the past, the bulk of Scripture teaching was done by women from local churches. More recently, women are returning to work and thus the number available to teach has been reduced.
Discipline in schools is becoming more challenging and teachers need more experience in dealing with large classes.
Churches are seeking to keep the opportunities to teach Scripture open by employing more qualified teachers to teach SRE, particularly in high schools.
A tax-deductible Scripture fund has been set up to give ongoing support to SRE teachers in this local area.