We caught up with Karen Cross from Youth for Christ about their first full year! Report from Karen herself;

The advent prayer space was the very first one we had done and just as we opened it the schools went back into wearing masks so all the pupils were encouraged to spend lunchtime outside!! We were only open at lunchtime in a small chapel space in the 6th form block which also reduced how many students came. So, first bit of learning – push for a very public space even if it isn’t that quiet so that the pupils find you!!

We didn’t have much in the way of cushions or lights but just made the room as Christmassy and cosy as possible. Each student was able to complete the activities in any order but they did sort of cover the whole Christmas story so some wanted to do them in the right order.

Activities

Wow – Mary’s magnificat is her way of saying Wow about what the angel told her. We planted bulbs so they could go wow when they flower and talked about what makes them go wow in everyday life

Sorry – no room at the inn – we used sand trays to write things we are sorry for when we have not included people or we’ve been unkind. We then rubbed the sand flat again to show that God forgives us.

Wise Men’s star – prayers for guidance were written onto stars and stuck on the black paper to represent the night.

Hopes – Simeon and Anna realised Jesus was the hope of the world – write your hopes and dreams on the paper chains and join them up choose 

Kindness – Jesus message was for everyone, including those on the edges of society –  using scratch art cards to write kind and positive messages to people we find it hard to be friends with.

We also had a school prayer wall set up using index cards. 

We have also done year 7 prayer space lessons (4 activities during a lesson in their class room) and we opened a quieter prayer space during Lent focusing on Easter.

This term we are in the same school for the last week of term (12-16th Dec) and are hoping we will be able to use the main chapel so we can have more classes come during the day and be more visibly open at lunch times.