One of our aims is to share our Christian faith with those around us.  Many members go into schools to bring Bible stories to children on a regular basis, through Open the Book.

Lion Story Bible

Perhaps one of the saddest church statistics is that only 4% of children nationally attend a Christian church regularly. This means that 96% of today’s children and tomorrow’s teenagers and adults are growing up completely ignorant of the riches held within the . They have no idea who Moses is and the name of Jesus is known only as an expletive! The great commission makes it clear that it is our Christian responsibility to tell successive generations about God’s love. Our responsibility is not just to bring our own children up in the knowledge and love of the Lord; but to bring such knowledge to those who are spiritual orphans. Since they do not come to our churches, God, in His mercy, has given us access to them where they are, in their schools.

 It is a true wonder in these days of political correctness, that the government requires every state school to teach about Christianity and hold a Christian school assembly every week. Praise God! He has kept a door open for this generation of children to receive Him and through this door, in many primary schools in this diocese and in others, walk a small, quiet, army of evangelistic story tellers called the “Open the Book” team. Armed with a copy of the Lion Story teller , story plans and prayers, homemade costumes, some very unusual props and the willingness to sacrifice dignity, these teams, of between 2 – 6 members, present whole school Christian assemblies once a week, working through a three year rolling program of stories.

 “Open the Book” originated from a church in Bedford and relies heavily on the Lion Story Teller (by story teller ace; Bob Hartman)Bob Hartman for basic story telling material. Approximately ten years ago St James, Styvechale in Coventry decided to run with it and significantly increased the visual impact by increasing the number of props and introducing full costumes, as well as more scripts. The program became so successful five years ago, that the props were used at maximum capacity, with 15 teams going into 15 schools in Coventry. That is when St John’s Kenilworth decided to make their own set of props to enable more schools in the diocese to be reached. The St John’s props now go into 4 schools, so if anyone feels inspired to want to bring “Open the Book” to a school near them, there is capacity!open the book session

Year one of “Open the Book” presents the chronologically, from Genesis to the Ascension. The subsequent two years present the stories in themes, e.g. parables, people like us, with each year presenting Christmas and a full Easter series at the seasonal time. Each week there is a brief introduction, often setting the context in which the story is relevant today, followed by the story itself, a brief conclusion and a prayer which is sensitive to the multi faith nature of many schools.

 A variety of visual means are used to present the stories, including acting with or with out full costumes, the use of imaginative props such as a large foam whale, a life sized Goliath and a tree, hand puppets, power point, OHP, sounds, audience participation, food and the liberal use of costumed children to help act out the stories. In fact in one school, Open the Book was cited by the children as a significant way in which they participated in drama when speaking to an Arts Mark Inspector!

It is amazing how well Open the Book is received by the schools, school inspectors and most of all the children. The children learn an enormous amount, most of which is retained from one year to another, we have found. They so look forward to it week after week and are extremely eager to be involved, We have lost count of how many times the children have thanked us personally for coming in to tell them the stories. The fields certainly are ripe unto harvest! In fact in one school it has paved the way to enabling a lunch time Christian enquiry group called “Question Time” where KS2 children are free to come along at lunchtime and ask their spiritual questions, with the expectation that they will receive a Biblical Christian answer. That club has been running successfully for 4 years now with a second started several months ago regularly attracting 15 children. The older enquiry group have moved on to listening to God for themselves and are constantly amazed at the loving things He says to them.

For many schools the Open the Book program has relieved them of the burden of coming up with a Christian assembly each week. They are more than happy to have a team come in and do it for them. Some teams come from the same church; others are made up from people from different churches. The scope for this format to reach children is enormous. The schools love it. The children love it and the teams find it very rewarding and sustainable. The limiting factor however, is how many teams are available. The commitment is no more than 2 hours a week term time which includes rehearsal, performance and planning for the next week. Many team members are retired, or parents working part time.

 As someone who whole heartedly supports the aims and objectives of Mother’s Union, but has never had the time to be involved with branch meetings, being involved with Open the Book is an important way in which I seek to live out my own commitment to the mission mandate of the MU. Whilst the stories are vitally important, we realise that we witness to the children just as much in the way we interact with them and their teachers as we go about our business in school. We know that God is working amazingly in the lives of each child in the schools we attend as they hear about Him for the first time through the stories, but we are also aware that we have the privilege of being the first Christians that many of these children meet. Our aim is that in meeting us they should meet with Jesus, as we seek to model Christ to them in the way we serve. We work to ensure that the children have a positive first encounter with Christianity and taste the excitement, sense of adventure and endless possibilities there are in choosing to trust in God, follow His ways and embrace Jesus as their Saviour as they hear about the eternal Love Story from heaven.

If anyone would like to join us, there is always space on an existing team to learn the ropes, and props and scripts waiting to go in to a school near you. Call me Jackie Gardiner on 02476 466253

 To find out more about this project click on  Open the Book