“Sometimes teaching SRE feels like mining in a dark mine … but then you get some awesome diamonds.” - Jaedon Scott, Special Religious Education (SRE) teacher at Oak Flats High School.

With your help, Jaedon’s SRE class has become a safe place where students can ask their questions about faith and grow deeper in their understanding of God.

Who knew a gap year could last 20 years? Thankfully, the Year 13 Christian gap year has – and that’s worth celebrating! Because of generous friends like you, more than 1,000 school leavers have experienced a year of deep Bible teaching, service and mission with Year 13.

As you read through this newsletter, I hope you see the wonderful ways your generosity is shaping young lives for eternity.

Because you invest in SRE, young people like those at Oak Flats High School are discovering Jesus – often for the very first time.

Thanks to your support, more than 2,000 young people recently gathered in Wollongong for the Hope for the Illawarra youth event – a night full of worship, connection, and gospel hope from the speaker, Dave Jensen.

Your support of SRE is quietly changing lives – even when you least expect it.

At one school, with the school's permission, the SRE teacher Heather distributed flyers for a church kids club to her Year 4 class. As Heather recalls, “One particular girl accepted the flyer, and the following week she turned up to Friday kids club. A few weeks later, she came to church with her mum. Apparently, she’d been asking her mum about coming along, and so there they were!”

Imagine being a kid and receiving your first-ever party invitation.

That joy became real for children with disability at Robertson Anglican (‘Robbo’) in the NSW Southern Highlands.

Thanks to your support, Bec Baines, Youthworks’ Accessibility Ministry Advisor, guides churches like Robbo to open their doors wider – to every child, every family.

The Child in God’s Church is a new resource from Tim Beilharz, former Youthworks Children's Ministry & SRE Advisor for the Wollongong region. Tim’s book sets out the biblical reasons for including and nurturing children as precious members of the body of Christ, then provides a framework for practising children’s ministry in the local church.

From Craig to you