Dear Friends,  

7-year old Florence presented our ‘patience’-themed prayer activity in this week’s #faithathome episode. Watch it if you have a few spare minutes – she was amazing!
“Patience is about waiting well,” she said. “To practice being patient, sit in your den for two whole minutes. Try not to think about what you’re going to do next!”
(You can watch the whole episode here)

In some regions, schools are beginning to reopen to certain year groups. Pupils (and staff) are adjusting to strange new rules and routines, and it’s not clear how long these will need to continue.
While reports suggest that children and young people are less vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus, it’s important that we recognise that they are being deeply affected in other ways by the crisis itself, as well as by recent events in America and around the world. Some are anxious and fearful. Some are angry. Many feel insecure – the world doesn’t feel particularly safe right now, and the future looks uncertain to them.

Creating safe spaces for children and young people to pause and be still, to ask questions, to reflect on what they’re experiencing, and to connect with God in prayer, has never felt more important. There’s never been a greater need for prayer spaces in schools, but we will definitely need to rethink how we host them over the next few months.
Thankfully, Liz Ogborne and the brilliant BSC team have been working on the first series of prayer activities for use in a ‘socially distanced’ classroom, which we’ll post on our websites next week. If you’ve been working on anything similar – if you’ve developed guidelines or adapted prayer activities – please let us know. Let’s share the best of what we’re all doing.

In the meantime, the Prayer Spaces in Schools teams are continuing to create new resources for families and households who are still at home. You can find them here.

And we’ve also begun planning our first online conference, which will take place in September. We’re incredibly excited to be hosting this with our friends at Youthscape. But more on that soon.

I’ll leave you with the closing words from Florence’s ‘patience’ presentation;

“In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, ‘But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.’ Romans 8:25.”

Peace be with you all,

Phil Togwell

Director, Prayer Spaces in Schools