SU starts again

We started the Scripture Union group at the school again today.

In the Library. Over lunch.

Which makes it sound a bit like an old game of Cluedo or something!

There must have been some 20 or so of the pupils who came along, which was a great start. A good number of new folk who've not been along before as well. And a good spread of children across the different year groups (P4-7).

The basic pattern's the same as ever.

They arrive in dribs and drabs from 12.30pm onwards to eat their packed lunches. There's chat and chilling with them.

Then the ones who've been having a school lunch slowly drift in as well. More chat and more chilling, 'til by 12.50pm or so we'll have a game of some sort (Pass the parrot today - which reminds me, I left the parrot in school!)

And then the part for the last 15 minutes or so when I'm teaching them from the Scriptures - in a fairly interactive sort of way.

There's a lot of extra work, of course, preparing each week for that short three-quarters of an hour with the children. But I can see how important it is.

I'm building relationships, getting to know the children a little bit better. And that's always vital. Truth flows through relationships. Almost always.

I'm feeding them biblical content. It may not be much in the time that there is. But it's something. A bit more than nothing. The more of the bits of the jigsaw you have, the more you'll be getting the picture. I want to help them see what it's all about, and how it all fits together.

I'm shaping their world-view perspective. How we view the world in which we live dictates the way we live. I'm keen to ensure their perspective on life has the Lord as the heart of their outlook.

Some of the most remarkable tales which the Bible records begin while the person's a child.

I'm praying, therefore, that the Lord would do far more through these brief Thursday lunch-times than we could ask or even imagine! And it'll maybe only be 50 years and more on down the line before the fruit of this work is really seen.