July 2019

How do you share the good news of God's love with your community?

Making disciples is not a course, it’s a lifestyle and we can all have a heart for those who don’t know Jesus and a life of following Him, explains Malcolm Dyer, pastor at Elim Ryedale.

“Many teachers have limited resources, limited training and limited time to teach Christianity, so our children’s worker started to put interactive boxes together to support teachers on key syllabus themes such as creation, Christmas and Easter, also covering topics like evil and suffering, and personal identity.

“These were initially delivered to over 40 schools in North Yorkshire and were designed around the Education Authority curriculum.

“The plastic boxes include quizzes, story sheets, Q-cards and dressing up clothes for juniors, to make them as user-friendly as possible for teachers to use. We even made a crown of thorns and sent these out in the boxes to prompt discussion around Easter.

“The ‘Lift the Lid’ project was launched nationally this year with different types of boxes available for secondary and primary schools, as well as Christmas and Easter Experience boxes.

“One Yorkshire church had no children’s work, so they took the boxes into their local school and now put on the Christmas and Easter experience in their church building every year, and now have many openings to school assemblies.

“At Elim Ryedale we aspire to be a church for all generations, passing on our experience of God to the generations below us. Two-thirds of the population have no interest in church, but our challenge is to engage with them.

“We must do this in our daily lives, showing people the relevance of Christianity, being a follower of Jesus and finding followers.

“We also recognise the need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. It’s about picking up the mantel of George Jeffreys and many other Pentecostal pioneers, making their experience real in this day and age.”

For more Elim stories, view and download Elim's Annual Review at elim.org.uk/annualreview

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