Even by our Baskerville family standards, these last twelve months have been dramatic! Up until March last year I was team leader at Shiloh Church, having served for 3 and a half years, following 5 years as vicar at St Sampson’s church. After a roller-coaster of a journey, however, we sensed God calling me to leave church leadership for a time to work full- time with PACE in our local schools. The vision was to build on the remarkable work that PACE have done for over 25 years by further developing the partnership with our local churches, along with deepening our commitment to supporting schools with their teaching of RE and to provide opportunities to explore spirituality and faith – as our mission statement says:

‘Connecting schools and churches; Communicating Christian beliefs and values and Creating space to explore faith’

Having started with PACE in July 2017, this last year has flown by…..and I have loved it! Meeting and talking to school heads and RE coordinators (and representatives of the States’ Education committee) along with local church leaders has been an exciting experience as I hear the enthusiasm there is for the work to develop and expand.

So many highlights over the year – visiting and connecting with ‘new’ churches that have not been supporting PACE before; being invited into schools where previously we have had limited opportunities; achieving one of my long-standing goals to be teaching our Walk through the Bible programme in every primary school on the island (almost 5000 Guernsey children have now taken part in at least one of these 5-week courses); having increasing opportunities to share in not just the teaching of RE but also in helping schools to explore their whole delivery of RE across the school; hearing some children (in their own words) ‘talk to God’ for the first time; meeting and supporting many excellent, committed and enthusiastic teachers in every school; the privilege of working with our wonderful PACE team and the many volunteers from a wide variety of our local churches.

This first year has confirmed my initial observation that Guernsey really does offer a unique opportunity to share in the life of every school on the island – unlike anything I have seen in my previous 40 years of schools’ ministry in the UK and overseas. Unlike the UK, all our island schools are not just ‘open’ to this work but are really enthusiastic about our working together. We pray that God will continue to keep the doors open – as Jesus said: As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me’ (John 9:4) – we cannot just presume upon this openness.

A huge thank you to all of you who have grasped this opportunity to share in this vision for the work of PACE in helping our local churches more deeply to connect with their local schools – by your prayers, your work as volunteers and in your financial giving which has enabled this new chapter to begin. We are deeply grateful!

The PACE puppets make their way around the primary schools of Guernsey a couple of times a year. This summer they did not disappoint students and made an appearance where they talked to the students about changes. Oscar the puppet, is going to be moving to a new school and he is nervous about what people might think of him. With some help from his friend Amy and the PACE presenter Oscar learns he doesn’t need to change his outwards appearance it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Take a look at the whole performance below.

PACE, the final frontier?

My connection with PACE began during my time as a student at Elizabeth College, where I attended a Christian Union which was run by PACE’s first schools’ worker, Keith Le Cheminant. As I got older I saw the value in the work being done and seeds were sown in me, which grew into a passion for youth work during my time at university and as a volunteer youth worker. As a result I applied for a job with PACE when one became available (around 1998) but was not successful. However Mark Le Tissier (the chairman of PACE) soon realised his mistake… (no, actually it was more a question of God’s timing!) and when another vacancy appeared in 2002 I jumped at the chance to get onboard with PACE. The extra experience I’d had as a youth worker and teacher set me up well for the demands of working with children and teenagers in schools across the island.

I have many fond memories and have made many friends during the last sixteen years. Perhaps the most memorable thing I did was to become a superhero for a month every year and visit primary schools wearing my underpants over my trousers and a golden cape as part of my Lightning Lee outfit. This chapter of my PACE life ended several years ago, just in time to spare the blushes of my daughter as she started school, but I am still reminded of it occasionally by students, now well into their High School years, who call out “Hello Lightning Lee!” as I make my way to an assembly or club, or just walk by in town!

One memorable alter-ego who has stayed with me to the end though, is Oscar the puppet, a favourite among primary-age children, who helped teach many life lessons and stories from the Bible, ably supported by his puppet colleagues.

But the last sixteen years has not just been about the 2000 or so assemblies I have done with the team. It has also been a great privilege to spend time with students in lunch clubs and lessons and get stuck into discussions on serious (and sometimes not so serious) topics. In recent years I have thoroughly enjoyed PACE’s increased focus on lesson support and the way we have brought a creative, interactive and Bible-based approach to R.E. lessons. I have realised that we don’t need to have all the answers to be a good Christian witness in these situations, but we need to be honest about our faith, including the questions that we might still have. This is where the Church in Guernsey can have a massive impact; just being real with people, showing we care enough to engage with schools and taking opportunities to serve and share our faith in appropriate ways.

When I look back at my time with PACE I can see that much has been achieved. The work has developed and expanded, in both volume and variety, and we have sought to plan strategically in line with our mission statement. I have seen team members come and go; I have had twenty-three PACE colleagues if my memory is accurate! But despite all of these changes the heart of PACE has remained: a desire to faithfully represent Christ in Guernsey schools, sowing seeds wherever we go, much like that seed that was sown in me back in the early 90s when PACE started out. I pray that PACE will continue to sow into the lives of young people for many years to come, supported more and more by local churches and individuals.

So as my adventure with PACE draws to an end and I begin a teaching role at Elizabeth College I will take some great memories (and hopefully some transferable skills) with me. It could take some time to get used to being called ‘Sir’ rather than ‘Lee from PACE’ and it will feel strange, but I trust that in this new chapter I will be able to make a positive difference in the lives of many young people. I believe God has plans for each of us, even if he leads us into unexpected places.

God bless

Lee

The final week of term is now here and we started the week by reflecting back over the term. We have had so many great opportunities to share and communicate the Bible to so many students across the Island. We are very thankful for all the clubs, lessons and assemblies we have been privileged to lead this term. Please take a moment to look at our Newsletter where we share some of our highlights from the last few months. Find it here: 2018 Summer Newsletter

This week we have our final transition lessons as St Mary and St Michael’s, Castel and Vauvert. These sessions have been well received by the students who openly discuss the changes and challenges they are going to face at they move to their new schools. Many of the teachers have fed back that the lesson is great and fits in well to the foundation the school has already laid as they prepare the students for their move.

Finally, we had our end of term lunch on Monday but this marked the end of an era. It was Lee’s last team lunch and we were able to celebrate all that Lee has done and brought to the team over the last 16 years. He will be missed by the team and I am sure the schools and students as well. We wish him all the best as he takes up his teaching position at Elizabeth College in September.

As we approach the end of term, our week is mostly consisting of transition lessons for pupils in Year 6 who will be moving on to new schools. Feedback so far on the lessons has been very positive and we’re looking forward to delivering more this week. So far we have been to Notre Dame, Vale and Hautes Capelles. Later in the week we’ll be at La Houguette and Amherst.

Sarah and Sian have just finished their presentation assembly at Forest for the OT Mini course they did with Year 5. They delivered a quick summary of the 5 lessons they taught before the Year 5’s presented the 40 signs to the rest of the school. Well done to all the Year 5’s! We’ve already talked about booking in for next year!

Phil will be visiting St Mary and St Micheal to deliver the last session in their OT Mini today.

Please keep praying for the team as they approach the end of term, and in looking for a new school’s worker. We also ask that you continue to keep the 650 Year 6 students of the island, who will be approaching their last week of primary school and may be feeling mixed emotions about moving to Year 7.

So far this week the primary team have delivered our puppet assemblies to Le Rondin and Notre Dame schools. Later on in the week we will be visiting Blanchelande and Hautes Capelles.

Sian and Phil delivered the final OT Mini to the Year 5’s at Forest. We are looking forward to going in for an assembly in a few weeks to show the rest of the school what we have been learning about and perform all 40 handsigns.

Our BOLT clubs are into their final teaching week, where we sum up all that we have learnt over the last 10 weeks and look at how “We Can Be Friends With God”.

Last week we delivered our final senior lessons of the year, and we enjoyed the chance to discuss the Christian approach to poverty. We were able to share Jesus’ heart for the poor and how many Christians respond by supporting charities that help those in need. The lessons were well received and one student even offered to make a donation in the lesson!

This week the senior team are visiting La Mare de Carteret and presenting our popular assembly on ‘giving of ourselves.’ This means we will have visited all the Secondary Schools with the important message of being kind to others. Then at Ladies College we will be speaking about ‘Using our time well,’ when we will encourage the students to make the most of every day, whether at school, work, or relaxing during the summer holidays. Each day is a gift from God and full of opportunity.

Senior lunch clubs continue to be full of fun and this week we explore empathy. This is at the heart of Jesus’ life and teaching; he said we should love our neighbour and illustrated the point with the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). We are looking forward to finding out how much the students consider the feelings of others using our empathy test!

Finally this week we will be starting an exciting new series of transition lessons for Year 6. We will be using resources from Scripture Union including their book “It’s Your Move”. Multiple churches around Guernsey have “sponsored” these books for their local schools, meaning that every Year 6 pupil will receive one to take away. These books offer helpful advice and guidance for children moving from primary to secondary schools. We will be visiting most primary schools with our secondary team to deliver a lesson looking at Changes, Challenges and Choices and to introduce them to what PACE does in secondary schools.

Please continue to pray for the team as we approach the end of term and for the students of Guernsey, particularly those moving to new schools in September.

Thank you to everyone who came to our Presentation Evening and AGM last Monday. We had a great time although it was sad to announce another change in our team. Sadly Lee will be leaving us at the end of this term to go into teaching. We celebrated his time at PACE with a poem written by Lisa, accompanied by lots of photos from over the years. Please pray for the team as we prepare for this change and for new members of the team. Also pray for Lee as he prepares to start his new job in September.

This week our primary team will be visiting Castel, La Houguette and Vauvert to deliver our puppet assembly. Our OT Mini courses will be going into Week 3 at St Mary and St Michael and Week 4 at Forest.

BOLT clubs are now into their ninth week looking at “Jesus Rose Again”.

The senior team are visiting St Sampsons High for a set of lessons on the Christian view on poverty. They explore questions such as: What is poverty? What does the bible say about poverty? And how are Christians responding to the needs of those in poverty today? The lesson is centered around several interactive activities to engage the students in thinking more deeply about this important topic.

In senior lunch clubs this week we are discussing being brave. Taking inspiration from the film Paddington 2, where Paddington bravely confronts someone in order to make the lives of those around him much better. Further to this we explore the disciples’ change in attitude before and after Jesus has been raised from the dead. They went from being terrified that they would be next to die, to going out and proclaiming the good news of Jesus. In life sometimes it might be easier to follow the crowd but often standing up for what you believe to be right can make a massive difference.

This week we will be taking our puppet assembly into Amherst, Hautes Capelles, Beechwood, St Mary and St Michaels and Acorn House.

Our OT Mini course at Forest is going into Week 3, looking at Joshua, Samson, Deborah, Gideon and Ruth. At St Mary and St Michaels we’re going into Week 2 with Moses.

BOLT clubs this week will be looking at the theme Jesus Died for Us.

This week in senior lunch clubs we are looking at the characteristic of self-control. Firstly exploring stories from when we were little and what we would do if we didn’t get our own way!! Then discussing what Paul has to say in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 about the importance of running the race to receive the ultimate prize and that takes self-control. Athletes are a good example of the importance of self-control in order to achieve your dream and goal. Things may not happen over night but patience and determination are key to seeing dreams become reality.

We have our Presentation Evening and AGM tonight at 7.15pm for 7.30pm at Les Camps Methodist Church. We would love to see you there and would really appreciate your prayers for the evening.

We hope those of you that had a half term break enjoyed it! Our team appreciated some time off but still visited a few schools. Phil organised some students from Melrose to visit Spurgeon Baptist Church and our senior team took an assembly looking at teamwork at Ladies College.

This week we are starting our puppet assemblies in primary schools. This will be looking at changes, with Oscar wanting to fit in as he moves to a new school in September. He ends up changing his hairstyle, before completely changing his looks. His friend Amy makes him realise that he doesn’t need to change the way he looks but that it’s how he acts that will help him make friends and fit in. The assembly finishes with this summary:

“We often have things that change in our lives, and it can be scary, but it doesn’t mean we need to change who we are to fit in with other people. It says in the Bible that God made us and he loves us just as we are, and he will look after us no matter what happens in life.  So I’d like to encourage all of us to be brave when changes come along. Maybe, right now, we could all think of a change that’s coming up. Maybe it’s a new school, or a new class next year.”

We will also be visiting Vale Year 1’s this week for an RE Inspired creation lesson. We have loved delivering this lesson in the past and are looking forward to taking it to Vale. Phil will be starting a new course of OT Mini at St Mary and St Michael with Year 6, whilst Sian and Sarah continue into Week 2 at Forest.

This week in senior lunch clubs we are looking at the characteristic faithfulness. We look at the story of Daniel and the lions den and how Daniel remained faithful to God. We discuss different areas of life where being faithful is important and how following through on things we agree to or say is important. Being faithful in the small things will help us to be faithful in the larger commitments we make as we grow up.

Also this week we will be visiting Le Murier for an assembly on teamwork, taking inspiration from the story of Jesus healing a paralysed man (Mark 2:1-12). The friends of the paralysed man are determined that their friend will meet Jesus and they work together to make sure this happens. We encourage the students that teamwork is about listening and communicating and how each person has a unique set of talents and abilities to bring to a team.

Next Monday (11th June) is our Presentation Evening and AGM at Les Camps Methodist Church. We would love to see you there! It’s going to be a great evening. Please come along at 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start.