More than 700,000 children are regularly hearing Bible stories at school – and you can become part of Open the Book’s next chapter at CRE 2017.

Using props and costumes to re-enact Bible stories during assemblies, some 14,800 volunteers from a variety of local churches currently access about 2600 primary schools. As a result, children are hearing Bible stories, many for the first time.

Major people and events are presented – Noah, Daniel and the life of Jesus, for example. The project comes at no charge to schools and often involves children and staff. Part of Bible Society, Open the Book’s vision is to bring the Bible to life to every child in every one of the 18,280 schools in England and Wales – reaching 4.5 million pupils.

As an independent charity in its infancy, the organisation took part in its first-ever CRE in 2012.

‘We had a smallish stand but were five deep in visitors for most of the day,’ recalls Val Ralston, Open the Book’s promotion and training officer. ‘My colleague and I were on the verge of losing our voices. Our chairman had to wave at us from afar!’

‘The exhibition provides a great platform to spread Bible storytelling into new parts of the country,’ explains Julie Jefferies, Open the Book’s development and training manager. ‘We meet storytellers, find out local news and receive helpful feedback. Good news travels fast and Open the Book is exactly the type of news people like to pass on. Consequently, the more people who take part, the more people they tell. It’s like passing on a tasty recipe – it’s easy to prepare, cooks quickly, tastes delicious and everyone likes it!’

• Open the Book is on stand S24 at CRE 2017

Photo: Linda Russell, Lynn Castillo and Wendy Bird, part of the Open the Book team from St Bartholomew’s, Wednesbury, performing The Wise Men’s Visit at St John’s C of E, Wednesbury.

Positively recycled is how Charlotte describes her life since coming into contact with CRE exhibitor Nicodemus.

‘I had an awful childhood, became homeless with a 13-month-old baby and felt beyond lost and alone,’ she recalls. ‘Then I met some people from Nicodemus, received a mentor who became a God-send and over time, just an incredible friend.’

Today, Charlotte is involved in Nicodemus’ youth leadership programme and creates presentations for schools and networking meetings.

‘My hope is to one day work for Nicodemus full time and use my own experiences to help others like me,’ she says. ‘I have been positively recycled and Nicodemus has done incredible things for me. I am excited about my future!”

Homeless and temporarily losing custody of her daughter, Rhiannon also came into contact with Nicodemus.

That was 18 months ago. Growing in confidence, she has started using her own personal experiences to write and deliver a course on domestic violence for other young adults. What’s more, with help from her mentor, she is now working on moving from supported living to her own accommodation. A passionate ambassador for Nicodemus, Rhiannon recently said: ‘I am limitless with this kind of support.’

Founded by Alastair and Debbie Welford, Nicodemus began with the the couple’s passion to rescue, restore and rebuild the most marginalised, overlooked and abandoned young people – empowering and equipping them to become change agents within their communities.

They embarked on a youth leadership and community action programme with the street children and young people of Latin America. There are now 60 young adults being supported through their youth leadership programme in Guatemala.

In 2013, they realised that there were many young adults in the UK with a similar profile to those in Guatemala. They were just ‘more hidden away’.

‘Young people face challenging circumstances growing up in poverty,’ explains Debbie Welford, who with Alastair will lead a seminar at CRE entitled ‘How your church can meet the needs of broken and marginalised people’ (11am, Thu 19 Oct).

‘We identify the need and work in partnership with others to bring solutions and an outcome that leaves a lasting legacy. We aim to equip young people to develop life skills, build up trust, stabilise and gently progress them to take leadership and ownership of their own lives. We love to partner with churches so pop by our stand at Sandown Park. Charlotte will be there and we’d love to meet you!’

• Nicodemus are on stand C14 in the Youth Zone at CRE 2017

At 78, Richard Ferguson can still recite the whole of Mark’s Gospel by heart – though he might need ‘a bit of prompting’ these days.

The retired rural clergyman took nine months to write his own translation of Mark from the original Greek, published in a 190-page book Rock and Breakers. Available at Richard’s Making Sense of the Gospels stand FC9 at CRE 2017, the book includes his translation, comments to help the reader and two CDs containing his own reading of the gospel.

At the time, as area dean of Morpeth, he performed live recitals of the entire gospel in churches, halls and community centres throughout Northumberland. It took him two hours to recite the entire gospel with a short break in the middle. By his own admission his memory is not what it was – but he doesn’t need much prompting.

Now retired from his final job as vicar of Kirkwhelpington, Kirkheaton and Cambo united benefice, he has produced another five books to aid those who have never read the gospels or who find them difficult to grasp. His subsequent books include:

Footsteps – following on from the original book, this is written to help those who know nothing about Jesus Christ.

The Great Gospel – an introduction to Matthew’s gospel, helpful to anyone reading it for the first time.

Listen to the Gospels – explaining why the four gospels are so different and why it is important to understand the differences.

A Reading of John – a new translation of the gospel with each chapter followed by explanations on why the text was written.

The Journey of Prayer – a short booklet to help those who have never prayed or whose prayer life is experiencing difficulties.

‘They will all be available at CRE and I look forward to meeting people there,’ said the man whose burning vision is simply to help those who struggle with reading the Bible.

• Making Sense of the Gospels is stand FC9 at CRE 2017

Photo: iStock/amenic181

TED-style talks on school missions, worship for all ages and intentional discipleship are among a host of subjects covered in the Youth Zone at CRE2017.

Open all day for three days, the zone will feature a range of speakers including:

Rachel Gardner (pictured above), Relationships Lead at Youthscape and president of the Girls Brigade, who will share from her long experience in engaging with young people in tough-to-talk-about topics.

Jamie Sewell of Message Trust, who will outline his work with young people in mission. Jamie has many years’ experience as a youth pastor and is developing the trust’s mission teams, reaching and discipling young people.

Laura Hancock of Youth for Christ, who will explore current youth culture in relation to the local church.

CRE’s Youth Zone comes at a time when new figures show one young person in six self identifies as a practising Christian. The statistics show that 13 per cent of 11 to 18-year-olds say they are regular churchgoers and more than one in five (21 per cent) describe themselves as active followers of Jesus.

The study, commissioned by the HOPE Revolution partnership and carried out by ComRes, suggests that a commitment to Christianity is much higher among young people than previously thought. Another study, Youth for Christ’s Gen Z: Rethinking Culture research, showed similar results, suggesting that a surprisingly high number of young people still describe themselves as Christian.

‘We will look in depth at the results of our survey and take time to explore what it means for local churches in their attempts to engage with current youth culture,’ said YFC’s Laura Hancock, who will also lead the zone. ‘We will consider how best to take the good news of Jesus to a fresh generation of young people.’

Youth Zone exhibitors include:

Bible Education Services
Sandyholme
The Treasure Box People
Discover Archery
iSingPOP
Pulse Ministries
Hope Now
Nicodemus
Youth For Christ

‘My own thinking from more than 40 years as a teacher and working with churches has been challenged,’ said Messy Church team leader Martyn. ‘Like many, I used to accept that the best way to nurture children and young people into faith was to have separate groups for their learning and fellowship. Today, I am increasingly uncomfortable with this inherited proposition.’

He points out how research into children’s spirituality and how adults become rooted in the Christian faith, reveals that both family and other significant adults really make a difference. In other words, a multigenerational approach to faith nurture is something the church needs to rediscover!

‘Of course it was there in the Bible all along,’ continued Martyn, ‘where faith was passed on at festivals as well as family gatherings and definitely not in some special Sunday school arrangement for children or youth group facility for teenagers. The young need to be alongside the old, the old the young – arguably even more so today in our fragmented communities.

‘My own grandparent generation needs to be in touch with how young people and children are thinking – to be stimulated and refreshed in faith through their questions, wonderings and sense of adventure – every much as the young need to see for themselves that God remains faithful throughout all the stages of life.’

Martyn remains excited about Messy Church, which offers a successful model for bringing the generations together on a shared journey of faith.

‘This isn’t the traditional Sunday school way of things with children,’ he says. ‘In fact, were I to be asked to start a new church, I would definitely not include a Sunday school in my plans! There is an argument for some separate age and interest groups but not for the main church gathering, where for me the default must be togetherness. It might be messy but it is certainly the best way to form healthy Christians.’

Photo: Cremetti Commercial