Your support is opening doors to 1,350 SRE teachers!
Because of your faithful partnership, the SRE Conference in February was the biggest yet —1,350 teachers gathered across 10 locations in a single week, ready to bring Scripture into public school classrooms. Among them were more than 100 brand-new teachers completing their Module 1 training, a significant step towards the vision you’re helping make real: 1,000 more SRE teachers across New South Wales.
Behind every number is a person with a story. Victoria is one of those new teachers. She’s the children’s pastor at the local parish, and she’s also spent 35 years running a swim school and volunteering in a girls’ surf riders’ community. She already knows half the parents at her local schools. Victoria says,
“I realised that I could combine my various community interactions to step into a classroom as a trusted face in the community and bring those kids SRE.”
After years of watching her own children benefit from their schools, she’s excited to give something back.
Then there’s Grace, a seasoned SRE teacher of a kindy class in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Three years in, she still lights up when something clicks for her students:
“I believe I’m planting God’s seed for them, and if they remember those verses for more than the three weeks that we memorise them, it’s a great seed.”
Grace keeps every student’s name written on a card on her desk. Whenever she finds that card, she stops and prays for them.
Your support is also strengthening SRE behind the scenes. In late January Youthworks leaders met with the NSW Education Minister as part of ongoing advocacy for SRE access. That meeting produced immediate results — the Department issued a memo to every public school principal in the state, reminding them to start SRE early in the year and to update their school websites so parents can find the online SRE consent form.
More teachers. More classrooms. More children hearing about Jesus for the first time.
That’s what your generosity is making possible right now.