Church helps!

Did you know that the average student spends 35 hours a week in school for just under 40 weeks of the year. That is 1,400 hours a year in school and despite the amazing jobs our schools do, some young people still need more support to thrive. On a recent church visit we discovered that they would like more help specifically with:

• Health - mental and physical (esp. regarding sleep)
• Workload and Stress
• People and relationships - connections with friends and teachers, peer pressure and behaviour
• Bullying and Harassment - bullying, racism and sexism
• Starting a new school
• Coping with feeling scared (of the future, environment, being judged)

What a menagerie of concerns. Sadly, for some it’s enough to prevent them leaving their homes. Step is keen to demonstrate that Jesus emphases and equips students to thrive - especially through church, the bible and having an active faith.
Paul says in Ephesians 3:10 “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” With that in mind we are creating resources focussed on how the 104 hours a year (if we are keen) we spend in church equips us for the 1,400 hours we spend in school.  We can’t think of a catch name for it, can you?
The bible is rich with stories of struggling, striving normal people  and full of God’s wisdom to manage day to day life. Take stress for example - Adam and Eve would have experienced huge stress having being discovered in their rebellious curiosity and the resulting autonomy as they fended for themselves, Cain and Abel embodied the stress of sibling rivalry, King David is publicly exposed and labelled, whilst Jesus sweated blood in deep anxiety the night before his arrest. They are all deeply familiar with stress but the bible doesn’t just show us God empathises, it also shows us a way forward. We are exhorted to:

• Fixing our eyes on Jesus and asking ourselves in Ignatius fashion - ‘where is Jesus in this situation’
• Love others as you love yourself, which reminds us to firstly actively care for, look after and love ourselves
• Be still and know that I am God, which may involve developing practise of healthy breathing and becoming more present in our current situations
• Cast your anxieties onto Him, which may mean recognising what we can and can’t control and giving the latter to God

I could go on, but the point being - church helps! It prepares us for the 35 hours a day, 40 weeks a year of school. It is rich with all the resources and relationships to thrive. It is a place of empathy, where we know we are not alone and it is also directs us to the ultimate rescuer and the answer to every problem - Jesus.