Christmas is fast approaching which means Christmas in a Box lesson preparation is in full swing! We’re starting our first lessons next week and we can’t wait!

Our volunteers are and will be folding, counting, cutting and sorting all the resources so we are ready to go!

On Saturday 18^th November, we had our Walk Through The Bible OT Live day with visiting speaker Tom Greene. We had a great day! Nearly 40 people joined with us to learn the Old Testament story line and dive into Bible stories. We’ve had some really positive feedback and people keen for a New Testament day too! Watch this space! Here are some pictures from the day.

Following on from that, Tom stayed on island to train up 3 new OT Mini presenters; our very own Mark Le Tissier, Rev Jacky Cotterell and Natasha Luggar. They will be joining our current wonderful team of OT Mini presenters and be supported as they begin the journey of teaching in schools.

This week has also seen a Prayer Spaces event at Blanchelande, this time for their senior students. Tom Saddington was invited to host an event and asked PACE to assist and together we ran a two day event for those in Year 7 -11. We looked at self worth, conflict in the world, worries and being thankful for those who lift us up when we are down or need protecting. There were some really deep responses to the activities and all students were amazing! We pray that it was a helpful time for the school and students.

Last week Lisa, Tom Saddington (Catholic Youth Leader) and Howard Davenport (Eldad Elim Minister) were very busy delivering a variety of lessons in schools. They delivered 3 lessons to Year 9 students at Blanchelande on ‘Christian Views on Creation’ where they discussed at length whether you can believe in God and in The Big Bang Theory. The students engaged well in all aspects of the lesson, particularly enjoying the game involving Play-doh! 

They also delivered 3 lessons to Year 8 students at La Mare High School on ‘The Problem of Evil and Suffering’. The students had so many questions about Adam and Eve, Who Jesus was, the afterlife and much more that the sessions weren’t long enough to get to the bottom of all their questions! It was an incredible opportunity to share on a really difficult topic and to see the students grapple with some big questions. They particularly enjoyed the ‘playing God’ activity where they got to pretend to be God in different situations to see what they would do. For example, ‘a car is speeding down the road’ – what do you do as God? The answers ranged from ‘stop the car’ to ‘bring in the superheroes’ to ‘create a hole for the car to fall into’!! They let their imaginations flow! 

It is a real privilege to go in and represent the Church in Schools and these sessions remind us of what a great opportunity we have to communicate Christian beliefs with students in schools. 

We have two events coming up that we would love to see you attend if you are able to! The first is our AGM on Monday 26th June, 7.30-9pm at Trinity Church. Here we’ll be presenting what we’ve achieved over the last year and updating you about our partnership with SWYM. Plus there will be cake! This is a fun, informative evening, a must for any PACE supporter!

We also have OT Live coming up in November. It may seem a while away but book now to avoid missing out! This course will guide you through learning the whole storyline of the Old Testament, so you’ll be able to confidently retell it. It’s a very enjoyable day! If you would like to expand your Bible knowledge this is perfect for you! Book online here https://www.bible.org.uk/wtb_event_tickets.php

We’re now into December and that means Christmas Lessons!! We have started this years run of Christmas in a Box lessons this week! So far we have been into Hautes Capelles and La Mare. Over the next few weeks we will be delivering this lesson to about 265 Year 3 children across Guernsey!

We have also been busy delivering lessons in secondary schools! Lisa and Howard Davenport (Eldad Elim) have been teaching sessions on ‘A Christian World View’ looking at the fundamentals of what makes someone a Christian at La Mare with Year 7. The students have been asking some great questions like ‘How do we know God exists?’ and ‘What happens when we die?’. We have enjoyed teaching these sessions and are looking forward to our last one next week!  At Blanchelande Lisa and Tom Saddington (Catholic Church) have been leading lessons on the ‘Christian views on Creation’ focusing on the question ‘Are Science and the Bible compatible?’. Again these sessions lead to some very interesting discussions.

Finally we have our next message from Eleanor about SWYM!

In the last blog, I mentioned that we are very excited about a new partnership between PACE and SWYM (South West Youth Ministries).

SWYM’s vision and passion is that every child and young person in the South West (and now obviously, in Guernsey!) would encounter Jesus, know him and make a choice to live for more.

That means reaching out to children and young people in all their diversity, whatever that looks like; for example, ethnic diversity, different socio-economic backgrounds, children and young people who have additional needs. My family has moved around quite a bit and so I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in a variety of churches in the UK, NZ and now in Guernsey. I’ve observed that welcoming ALL children and young people can throw up challenges for churches and there have often been times when I would have loved more help and support in this area.  

It’s fantastic that SWYM have the opportunity to partner with PACE in Guernsey because what PACE is already doing is completely aligned with SWYM’s vision. For over 30 years PACE has worked in Guernsey schools. Lisa and Sarah and the volunteer team do such an amazing job and they aim to reach every child in every school, every year.

Back soon to tell you more about what the partnership will look like in practice.

Love Eleanor  

We’re very excited to have started two new OT Mini courses at La Mare Primary with Lisa and Bryan Pill making their debut and at Notre Dame with Tom Saddington, Frances Ogier and Sarah. It’s great to be able to start new partnerships within our presenter team and be able to continue with what Phil started. Next week Sarah and Eleanor White will also be starting a course at St Mary and St Michael too.

We are also just starting this half term’s primary school assembly. We have chosen the theme “Heroes” and look at how we can be everyday heroes. We use the story of Gideon and discover how he was a hero, not by his own strength but by God’s. Even though he wasn’t sure, he followed God’s instructions and went on to be a hero! We encourage the children that even though we don’t have the tech of Iron Man or the strength of the Incredible HULK, we can still be a hero everyday:

• By developing your character so that you’re helpful and respectful in the things you think, do and say.
• By overcoming challenges and not giving up when things look too difficult or too hard.
• By being enthusiastic in trying to be the best person you can be.

At the beginning of the week, Lisa was joined by Howard Davenport (Eldad Elim) to lead an assembly to the Year 7s at La Mare High. The assembly is one we’ve done before looking at not letting the past dictate your future. This includes the popular toothpaste challenge where two students have to draw one for our presenters. They are they challenged to put they toothpaste back into the tube – which they can’t do! Who do you think they drew? And whose drawing was better?