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Join the Youthworks Ministry Support Team as they discuss how to have an effective youth and children’s ministry in every church in conversation with local ministry workers as well as national and international voices.
Get in touch - effectiveministrypodcast@youthworks.net
Growing HS SRE
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[00:00:00] . welcome back to the Effective Ministry podcast. My name's Al James, and today we're gonna be talking about growing SRE in public high schools, how to help give more students and parents in more schools the opportunity to have Christian education in public high schools.
And we're gonna be talking with Katie Stringer from Christian SRE, who is also an SRE teacher and SRE coordinator in the Inner West of Sydney. But before we get into today's conversation, it's worth taking a moment to explain what we mean by SRE, Special Religious Education, particularly if you're listening from outside of Sydney or outside of, , New South Wales.
SRE is a distinctive part of the New South Wales government school system, where schools provide time during the school day for approved religious providers to offer [00:01:00] religious education to students whose parents or carers have chosen for them to participate. And importantly, SRE operates within a really clear policy framework, very clear guidelines.
Religious providers need to be approved, the people delivering SRE need to meet the relevant requirements, and providers use an authorized curriculum. And that curriculum is available for parents, carers, and schools to see, and so that means that there's lots of transparency about what's being taught.
Everybody understands what's going on. Parent and carer choice is also central.
Speaker: Parents can choose for their child to participate or withdraw them at any time
And so as we talk about growing high school SRE, it's just really important to know that we're talking about growing this ministry within a really clear policy framework and so if you're listening from outside New South Wales, hopefully that gives you enough context to understand the conversation.
And with that in mind, we're gonna get stuck into the question: how do you grow high school SRE? Enjoy this conversation with Katie Stringer
Al James: [00:02:00] welcome back to the Effective Ministry podcast.
Al James: Today, we've got Katie Stringer, and we're gonna be talking about how do you grow high school SRE. Hey, Katie. How you doing?
Katie Stringer: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. It's
Al James: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. It's good. It's nice to be talking about this. It's, like, a really important topic. Uh, I know it's one that you're very passionate about. , Katie is
Al James: a high school SRE teacher, but also a high school SRE coordinator in the Inner West.
Al James: Tell us a little bit about that role. Like, what, what does that look like?
Katie Stringer: Yeah. Uh, well, it's a really special job. I feel really privileged, uh, to have got the chance to do this.
Katie Stringer: Uh, basically what it means is I coordinate a team- Mm ... of volunteers, youth pastors, moms and dads, university students, uh, so that we can get together and provide excellent SRE classes, seminars, and lunchtime groups, uh, in all the high schools, public high schools in the Inner West. So
Al James: that you- the provision for that comes from a, like a board or a couple of boards. Is that
Al James: right?
Katie Stringer: that's right. And- So there's a couple of church boards involved
Al James: [00:03:00] whereas in some cases, um, a board will employ a teacher to just do the teaching, you've kind of taken the, the, the approach of, um, actually, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna-- Yes, I'm gonna teach, I'm gonna be in schools, and you're, you're in schools a lot, but you're also trying to recruit a team of people to grow SRE.
Al James: So, uh, is that right? Like, is that a
Al James: fair~ ~
Katie Stringer: ~fair-~ Yeah, that's a, that's a really fair estimation of what happens. Um, I think it's because when I first started, I was just going into the, my local schools- Yeah ... and teaching, and then I started to see friends send kids off to different high schools, 'cause after primary school people go lots of different places.
Katie Stringer: Yeah. And I was like, "This should be everywhere." Yeah. Like, the provision's there- Yeah ... in the Education Act. Every child and family deserves the right to have access to this. So that just sparked an idea in my mind. What if we could actually switch on all the high schools in the Inner West? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Katie Stringer: That'd be incredible, and that's not a project that one person can pull off. Yes. Like, I need, um, we need all the saints [00:04:00] in the local churches working together for that to happen.
Al James: And I'm really interested, like, I mean, that, that, that's an amazing vision and it's, it's something that you're pretty close to having
Katie Stringer: Yeah, we have one more high school to go.
Katie Stringer: Yeah.
Al James: Wow. And so, and so like, you know, I'm, I'm not gonna ask you what's next, like what's ...the next vision, um, because we could, we'll get stuck and, and that it would be a great conversation.
Al James: But what I do wanna ask you, um, and it came out of what you were talking about before, is you, you, said how good would it be if every child or every, you know, every high school student had access to SRE? Like, why? What's good about SRE?
Katie Stringer: That is a fantastic question. I'll probably answer it in the words of students themselves. Mm-hmm. Uh, on Sunday night we had a special thing at my church called SRE Sunday- Mm-hmm ... and we had some s- Which
Al James: Uh, on Sunday night we had a special thing at my church called SRE Sunday. Mm-hmm. And we had some- Which is where you focus on SRE at your
Katie Stringer: Yeah, we celebrate it. Yeah.
Katie Stringer: And, uh, we invite students in the local classes and their families to come along to church, and we had some students share up the front about SRE, what they like about it, and, uh, the thing that I took away from it was them saying, "We [00:05:00] really appreciate hearing the stories of Jesus at school."
Katie Stringer: Mm-hmm. "We really appreciate being able to learn things out of the Bible in class time." Mm-hmm. I think that is unbeatable. Yeah. And so valued from the students themselves. Like, they- Yeah ... that's the words that they're using. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That they really appreciate learning this, seeing Jesus at school.
Al James: Yeah, yeah. And so, I mean, so what, I mean, what they're kind of verbalizing there is this idea that actually they can learn about, understand, um, even get to know.
Al James: I mean, it's, it-- the, um, the, the autonomy is all on them, right? Like, that they can decide to get to know Jesus, that kind of thing, personally. Um, but it's, but it's happening in schools because, you know, your team, you and your team are going in there, um, and you're bringing the word of God, the stories of Jesus, that kind of thing, to the school.
Katie Stringer: Absolutely. And, uh, that's helpful what you've said there about autonomy because as we all know, teenagers are definitely autonomous beings. Mm-hmm. But yet SRE is part of the school curriculum, so if a [00:06:00] parent or a carer has signed up their child for SRE, uh, that's a subject, a course of study that they've been enrolled in, the same as maths or biology or English.
Katie Stringer: So, um, yeah, that, that's a, gives a fantastic, I suppose, educational opportunity to the child there to engage as much as they would like to with that subject as a course of study.
Al James: ~They've been enrolled in, the same as maths or biology or English. So, um, yeah. that, that's a, gives a fantastic, I suppose, educational opportunity to- Mm-hmm ... the child there to engage as much as they would like to with that subject as a course of study. yeah, yeah, yeah. ~which means that we've gotta do a really great job of engaging students-
Al James: Absolutely
Al James: um, which
Al James: I know is something you're very passionate about. Um, love to keep talking about that. But before we kind of go further into, um, you know, uh, the, the stuff that we're gonna be talking about today, ...um, I would love to kind of, to know how did you kind of arrive at the place that you're at now? Like, you obviously, you know, you've, you've arrived at a place where the vision is to switch on every, every, um, school in the inner west.
Al James: Um, you're very close to achieving that, but where did, how did you get to that?
Katie Stringer: That's a great, that's a really great question, Al. I think-- I'm trying to think of a short way to answer it.
Katie Stringer: I think that God [00:07:00] doesn't waste anything in your life. Mm-hmm. Like, He uses all the different things that you end up doing, uh, and finds a way to weave the threads together. I've got a background in teaching English as a foreign language. Mm-hmm. I've got a background in drama and performing arts. Um- I love English.
Katie Stringer: Uh, it was probably my favorite subject at school, and so I probably quite naturally enjoy, um, Bible studies and being in the Word. The way, my way into this ministry was simply through a tap on the shoulder by my minister. Mm-hmm. Uh, I was looking after my kids full time, and I was coming out of Bible study, and he just literally tapped me on the shoulder and said-
Al James: Like lit- he literally-
Al James: Yeah ... tapped you on the shoulder? Okay. He, yeah, I was
Katie Stringer: it l- yeah, I was going to my car in the car park. It's not a metaphor. It's not a metaphor. And he said, "Um, would you consider teaching SRE in the local high school?" And kind of pointed towards it. I think, I think I cracked up laughing. I was like- Mm
Katie Stringer: "What?"
Al James: this so [00:08:00] funny to you?
Katie Stringer: I- Why was this so funny to you? Uh, a few reasons. I think I thought, number one, that's a bit of a rough school. Mm.
Katie Stringer: Um, and I thought, why, why would I be qualified to go and do that? Uh, yeah. Anyway, um, maybe my natural instinct is often to go no to requests. Mm-hmm. But, um, in a sort of perverse logic, I've tried to challenge myself as a Christian that when I feel really strongly that I want to say no, maybe say yes.
Katie Stringer: Mm-hmm. See what happens. Um, so I ended up saying yes to that. Mm. And I can see how God has used every kind of skill and job that I've had before- Mm ... very usefully in this space. Like, teaching English to young adults is r- highly transferable skill to teaching teenagers- Mm ... because you gotta be really clear.
Katie Stringer: Mm-hmm. Uh, and you've got to, uh, change your language a little bit to match the language, uh, level that they have. Mm-hmm. Uh, same as drama. I mean, what's drama about? It's about making stories come alive. [00:09:00] What am I trying to do every single time I'm in an SRE class? I wanna
Katie Stringer: make the stories- You wanna make Jesus come alive
Katie Stringer: of Jesus come alive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah,~ ~
Al James: ~yeah, yeah.~
Al James: ~yeah. yeah.~ Yeah.
Katie Stringer: So yeah, that's, that's really kind of God to, um, tap on those different threads and interests and, um, to be able to use them in the service of this ministry. And I'm sure in my team everyone's got a similar story like that. You know, I, I see people that work in a bank during the week- Mm-hmm
Katie Stringer: deliver awesome lessons. Yeah. Uh, we're using the skills and background that they have. Mm-hmm. So yeah, the Bible is so rich like that, and different people's backgrounds inform the way they're able to communicate it.
Al James: So just, just while we're talking about your team, like give us a bit of a picture of the, the makeup of your team.
Katie Stringer: Yeah. Uh, well, that, that's a th- again, I feel like I've benefited so much from seeing my team teach. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, you learn how to teach by doing it, and also I think by watching other people do it. Uh, so I've got an engineer in my team.
Al James: Mm-hmm.
Katie Stringer: He is so [00:10:00] organized uh, and so well sought out, but yet tries so deeply to connect with the teenage girls in his class.
Katie Stringer: I've, I've heard him using Taylor Swift things to explain Bible stories. I'm like, "This is really going above and beyond." Mm-hmm. Uh-
Al James: not his, It's not his
Katie Stringer: not
Katie Stringer: really his natural environment, I wouldn't say. Yeah, and I've got a s- young guy who's a small business owner. Mm-hmm. Uh, so his business is m- doing corporate cleaning, and windows, and things like that, and he's giving up time to come in and help with the lunchtime group and SRE classes.
Katie Stringer: Mm. Even just his testimony of, "Yeah, I'm a, I'm, I'm a business guy, but I think this bit of my week- Mm ... is just so important. Uh, there's no way I wouldn't reorganize my schedule for that."
Katie Stringer: Mm.
Katie Stringer: I have, uh, people training to be teachers, to be, um, uh, teachers in public schools. Mm-hmm. So they're currently at university, and then they give up some time to be able to come into high schools.
Katie Stringer: I [00:11:00] also have a lot of youth pastors- Mm ... in my team, and that's a great delight because they're real experts, right? Mm. Like, they're doing Friday night youth group. And also, it's just a really beautiful thing to see the teenagers in the school realize, "Oh, my SRE class is being brought to me by my local church."
Katie Stringer: Mm-hmm. Mm. "My local church actually loves me."
Al James: What I'm hearing is that there's, there's not, there's not one size or that, you know, there's not one kind of person that's an SRE teacher.
Al James: You've actually, you've got engineers, you've got small business owners, you've got young, you've got old, you've got kinda people that are at university, you've got people that are, you know, um, well and truly in their kind of career- Mm
Al James: um,
Al James: making time for this. Um, and I mean, it sounds to me like you value all of those different kind of experiences.
Katie Stringer: I absolutely do. I, I think it makes it, for me personally, one of the most special ministries that I've got to be a part of because it is so broad-ranging. Mm. You know, [00:12:00] um, I absolutely loved my time being in a Bible study with young moms. Yeah. That was so special and fabulous. And then this ministry is so different because of the range.
Katie Stringer: Mm-hmm. Uh, I love having young moms in my team too. Mm. Yeah, but I just, I think that's the picture of the church, right? Like, it's so unique and eclectic, uh, the way that the gospel brings all these people together from all walks of life. And so to me, that's quite a natural expression of that when we're going out
Katie Stringer: why would we not use everyone that's in the church- Mm ... to do that? Mm-hmm. Like,
Katie Stringer: of course we would, 'cause that's what ch- that's what our church is.
Katie Stringer: Mm-hmm.
Al James: Now, Katie, you've been on this podcast before. You spoke with Josh about, um, you know, SRE in local high schools. Um, we wanna kinda, I guess, um, we wanna kinda hone in on one particular aspect of SRE in high, in local high schools, and that is on, on growing [00:13:00] SRE in the local high school.
Al James: Um, and part of the reason that we- we're kinda thinking about this is that we know that there is SRE in a growing number of high schools. Um, so you know, in the Inner West, you've got one, one more school that is kind of, um, availing itself of the opportunity to have SRE, um, provided in the school. Um, I know that in other parts of Sydney, you know,
Al James: there's, there's only a handful of schools that don't have, um, high school SRE.
Al James: Um, in other parts of Sydney, so in, in, my part, in Western Region, um, you know, there's a, a much larger proportion of schools that don't have, have SRE. But we know that across the board, it's not like every year group within schools, um, have this opportunity. And so even though there are parents that have signed up their kids, um, enrolled their kids in high school SRE, it's not available to every year group.
Al James: And so how, like the big, the big-ticket item is: How do we grow SRE
Al James: in, um, local high [00:14:00] schools?
Katie Stringer: It's such a great question.
Katie Stringer: I would answer it by saying something that's was reflected to me by the high school SRE advisor for Youth Works when I first started in this role about nine years ago. I remember them constantly saying, "How can we get more SRE?"
Katie Stringer: Mm.
Katie Stringer: So just look at your local high school. So this question might be very easy to answer if, you know, as we've still got one to go, right?
Katie Stringer: If, if that was my only local high school, how could I get more SRE? Well, right now I've got zero. Mm. So my first step in that scenario would be, I need to have a chat to my minister. We need to start praying, and then we probably need to book in some coffees with, uh, some of the saints from other churches in our area, uh, so that we could, in partnership together, hold hands and go meet with the school and begin a conversation.
Katie Stringer: And, you know, because we're Anglicans here, we would definitely want to [00:15:00] contact the high school SRE advisor for our region so that we could get some input into the kind of conversation we could have, and perhaps invite them to come along with us to the meeting so we've got that s- professional support there.
Katie Stringer: Uh, so yeah. So that, that would be kind of step one, but, um, I always really appreciated being asked that question because in my context, I was just providing SRE at two local high schools, and those schools had not had SRE for something like 20 years- Mm ... prior to local churches getting together. But when they asked me that question, it made me go, "Oh, hang on a second.
Katie Stringer: There's one more school that these two schools feed into for year 11 and 12. What if we could get SRE there?" Mm. And so started praying and dreaming about that and talking to more churches That process actually took about eight years. Mm. But we now finally have SRE for year 11 and 12 at that feeder school.
Katie Stringer: Mm. And we also have a really thriving [00:16:00] lunchtime group where students have come across from the other two schools having enjoyed the lunchtime ministry, and are now taking heaps more ownership, making posters, inviting their mates, even starting a little Christian library and sharing books amongst each other.
Katie Stringer: Mm. So that's a great example of if I hadn't been asked that question-
Katie Stringer: is,
Al James: is, how can we get more
Katie Stringer: SRE in here? Exactly. It would not, uh, you know, those little brain cells would not have been triggered.
Al James: Yeah,
Al James: because you would've been focused in on your classes, the
Katie Stringer: That's right
Katie Stringer: you were doing- ...that week. Exactly,
Al James: in, in
Al James: one sense, that question, uh, flips our mind from kind of just what we're doing to what we could be doing.
Katie Stringer: Exactly. Yeah. It m- it made me hungry for how could this grow? But also too because, you know, that's a beautiful thing about ministry, y- you make a personal connection.
Katie Stringer: Like it sounds silly, but even though my babies are grown, my oldest baby's 19 and my littlest baby is 12- Mm ... I think of my local high [00:17:00] schools as my babies. Mm. Like I l- I love those schools. Mm. And I, I love the students in my classes, and so it made me go, "Well, hang on a second. When they get to year 11, they're not gonna have anything."
Katie Stringer: Mm. Like how, how could, what could I do to enable them to have something great that takes them all the way through to university?
Al James: And going back to, you know, I asked you what's good about, um, having SRE in schools or what's good about having SRE in the, in
Al James: the high schools, is they're able to hear the stories of Jesus. I mean, this
Al James: is- Yes ... what your students were
Katie Stringer: That's right.
Al James: right. And
Al James: so to be able to kind of, um, actually deliver that, not just until year 10,
Al James: but to have that for all of their schooling journey.
Al James: Absolutely.
Al James: And that's gonna look different in year 11 and 12. You
Katie Stringer: know, Yes
Al James: there's a developmental thing going on where year sevens are very different to year 12s, and along the way there's lots of changes that, that occur, and yet the con- the, you know, that through line being, um, they're hearing the stories of Jesus and they're able to engage with them.
Katie Stringer: Absolutely. And for me personally, [00:18:00] my favorite, maybe I'm a bit weird, but I don't think I am, my favorite SRE classes is year 11 and 12.
Al James: Why, Katie?
Al James: Oh. You might be a bit
Katie Stringer: I just love it. Yeah.
Katie Stringer: Because that's, that's the pointy end of high school, right? That's when you're thinking about what am I gonna do next?
Katie Stringer: That's when you're thinking about purpose and meaning and big questions, and the pressure feels on. Mm. Maybe not for every year 12 student. I know my child didn't put very much pressure on herself. Mm. Uh, but it, you know, it's, it's the end of high s- the high school journey. Why would Jesus not be part of that picture if he has been all the way up to year 10?
Katie Stringer: Mm. Uh, it- it's just, it's so critical. The, the level of, uh, debates, questioning, conversations, and ownership of the Christian faith for students that are, like, 17 years and 18 years old- Mm-hmm ... is powerful stuff.
Al James: So, I mean, we- we- we've asked the question how, how do we ...grow SRE? The first, first step in se- [00:19:00] I mean, these aren't steps necessarily-
Al James: Yeah ...
Al James: but the first step is really asking the question, how can we get more SRE?
Katie Stringer: Yes. Yeah. I think that's the first step. There's some other ingredients that I think are really helpful.
Katie Stringer: Mm. So,
Katie Stringer: yeah, if you're going from zero to something- Mm-hmm ... how awesome. Like, that's really breaking new ground, and you'll need friends- Yeah ... to do that.
Al James: Yeah.
Al James: And that's often the hardest step, is getting from zero to one,
Al James: right?
Katie Stringer: Absolutely. Yeah. That's exactly right. I think once you're in a school- Mm-hmm ... I think, again, the same question, you know, how can we get more SRE? Look around geographically, what are the other high schools that are close by? Mm. What's going on there? Do they have the same things as this school we're providing SRE?
Katie Stringer: 'Cause we experience that all the time. Uh, we had some, uh, new students in SRE just last week, and they came to lunchtime group as well, and they said, "This is amazing. We're so thrilled that we've got [00:20:00] this, and it wasn't at our old high school." Mm. And I said, "Oh, what was your old high school?" And then I can look it up, and even though it's nowhere near my region, I can get in contact with Youth Works and talk to friends and go, "Well, the, the how c- Well, let's get this for these kids that are at that location," because that
Katie Stringer: Listen to what they're saying, like, "Wow, we would've loved this." Mm-hmm. So yeah, I think once you're in somewhere, just, just lifting our eyes a little bit to see, okay, locally, what else is not switched on? Yeah. How could we play our part to help switch that on? Mm. And, you know, we know that, um, you know, ministry is very contextual, and the great thing if you already are in a school in a particular part of Sydney, there's a certain flavor and a culture to it that means that you already will know a little bit more than an outsider of how to get something going at the next high school.
Al James: Yep. Yeah,
Katie Stringer: Yeah.
Katie Stringer: You're not coming in totally
Al James: Yeah. So you're, you're, saying that there's a, [00:21:00] the, you know, if you're in a particular area, it's not that unlikely that the next school over is gonna be somewhat similar. Might not be exactly the same, but you're at more of, more of an advantage than if you're gonna, you know, head over to, um, an hour and a half away.
Katie Stringer: Absolutely. Like, it's been my experience that when I've sat with new schools that we've opened SRE in- Mm ... sometimes I will hear this kind of a conversation, uh, with the exec where they'll say Did you realize it's the inner west and, you know, we don't really have any Christians here?" That sort of conversation.
Katie Stringer: And I'll say, "Oh, absolutely. I, I'm a local. I, I love the inner west. I'm also a Christian, and it's been my experience that there's Christians in every school. There'll be Christians in your school. You just might not realize it." Mm-hmm. Yeah, and but I can say that with truthful confidence because I know it.
Katie Stringer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I couldn't say that if I'm flying in from- Yeah ... somewhere else. Totally. Yeah,
Al James: yeah. love that,
Katie Stringer: Yeah. Love that. So that, that's a really important ingredient, I think, just the culture. Uh, but the other two in- very important [00:22:00] ingredients, I think, is we wanna deliver something truly excellent. Mm. And we have something truly excellent to deliver.
Katie Stringer: Mm-hmm. Uh, and that is the Bible. Mm-hmm. And it's been packaged up beautifully in the curriculum Think Faith- Mm ... which is the main, uh, SRE curriculum for high school- Mm ... that, you know, travels through the Gospels, uh, sets the scene with great biblical theology in term one, really gets into, like, worldview and just meaty, fantastic topics to cover a full 10 weeks of lessons, seminar ideas.
Katie Stringer: It, it's all there. The ingredients are all there for us to deliver something truly excellent.
Al James: it, it's all there. The ingredients are all there for us~ to deliver something truly excellent So if~ you're asking the question, "Well, what am I gonna teach?" You've actually got something.
Al James: Absolutely.
Al James: Like, it- And you, you're saying you've, you've got something that's, that's gonna be usable.
Katie Stringer: That's right. Yeah. It's got quality of in there, um, and it's really, really biblical.
Katie Stringer: Uh, and the, the final ingredient I think there is [00:23:00] being consistent- Mm-hmm ... uh, and showing up every week. Like, this sounds like a funny thing, 'cause I'm, I don't really think of myself as very sporty, but I, I guess I grew up in a family that watched a lot of football.
Katie Stringer: Every-
Al James: what kind of football? union. Okay.
Al James: All
Al James: right.~ ~
Katie Stringer: ~of football? Rugby union.~
Katie Stringer: Okay. All right. Oh, and soccer. You know, there'd be watching the World Cup.
Katie Stringer: ~Uh,~
Katie Stringer: I just think in my head every week that it's SRE, I think, "It's game time." Mm-hmm. Like, let's go. Let's, let's go and bring the best lesson of the week to these guys. Like, I, I have caught up with a girl that graduated, um, from our SRE classes.
Katie Stringer: She's going off to uni, and she, uh, met up with me and she said, "I know this sounds so funny, but I actually do miss school a little bit." And I said, "I don't think that's funny. I missed school for the whole first year of uni. I enjoyed school." And she said, "I actually really miss SRE."
Katie Stringer: ~ ~And I thought, wow, that is a real beautiful reflection.
Katie Stringer: And I was like, "Oh, what did, what do you, what do you miss about it?" And she said, "Just the chance to see my friends at school that were believers. [00:24:00] Just that injection of, ah, what's the word? Like, just that reminder of this is actually the stuff that's important." Mm. "And then how am I gonna try and share this with my friends for the rest of the week?"
Katie Stringer: Like, it made her feel like she was like- On the edge there as a Christian at school, like, you know- Mm ... trying to share this.
Al James: I mean, in some ways, um, you know, it, what, the way you're sort of describing SRE at this point is kind of, you know, there's the church environment, and so for some kids in SRE, there is no church environment.
Al James: That's right. But
Al James: for some, there's the church environment, and SRE is an opportunity, as lunchtime groups would be an opportunity as well, to help their Christian faith to not just be a Sunday thing, but an, uh, uh, and a, a, it's, it's a p- it's a opportunity to actually express their faith in another environment.
Katie Stringer: Absolutely. And I, I came across this piece of research which, uh, really speaks to that, and I thought this was so interesting. It's from the Center for Bible [00:25:00] Engagement. But just this idea that for Our young people, it might apply to old people as well too, I don't know. But
Katie Stringer: For young people to persist as Christians, there's this idea that you actually need to connect with the Bible or other Christians four times a week. Mm-hmm. And I find that really fascinating because, you know, uh, if you think of children that are in Christian families- Mm
Katie Stringer: the hope would be that they're either going to a kids club or youth group- Mm ... and going to church. So there's two at least during the week. Uh, if they go to a public high school that has excellent SRE and a lunchtime group and they connect with both of those, there's four. Mm. Uh, so I just think, you know...
Katie Stringer: And, uh, included in that, uh, tally could be a great conversation about Jesus with a friend, or it could be a dinnertime conversation with your family. There's so many ways and touchpoints that we could have those engagements. But the idea, you know, if you think there's seven days in the week- Mm ... well, [00:26:00] there's, there's, there's something that makes a lot of logical sense there.
Katie Stringer: We're supposed to be interacting with the Bible, interacting with these people more times than we're not. Yeah. And if we're not doing that- Mm ... more times than we're not, the world is just getting in there- Yeah ... and it's, it's getting us down and it's eating away at our faith.
Al James: Yeah. And I mean, in our, our faith, our worldview, our understanding of Jesus is, is it is coherent, but to have that opportunity k- to kind of reflect on it, think about it, kind of interact with it multiple times, it enables it to kind of find its coherence.
Al James: It's an opportunity for that. You know, I'm, I'm, I'm thinking about this in the school environment, and so I can be answering school questions with my faith. I'm thinking about this in the home environment, so I can be answering home questions. I'm thinking about it with my friends, so I can be thinking about, you know, what am I gonna do after school.
Al James: Like, there's all of these opportunities. The gospel is coherent, and so to provide these opportunities for that coherency to find itself is really... It's powerful, isn't
Al James: it?
Katie Stringer: It's so powerful because being a Christian, i- it's an all [00:27:00] of life
Katie Stringer: experience. Right. And so that's why, you know, uh, it literally breaks my heart when I drive past a school and I know that there is nothing, there's nothing there, uh, that's set up inside the school day for children to actually be able to interact with the truth from the Bible.
Katie Stringer: I just think- As an Aussie, I think that's not fair. That's not fair when the provision's there. The
Katie Stringer: Yeah. it's
Al James: in, it's in the legislation
Al James: that, you know, it, like the SRE procedures provide for the opportunity for
Al James: it to happen- Yeah
Al James: should
Al James: there be
Al James: a provider to do it.
Al James: Exactly.
Al James: Yeah, Yeah, Um, now you talked about the idea of consistency. Mm. Um,
Al James: I can see that going a couple of different directions. Like, one is showing up every week, and the other is providing excellent teaching and learning, you know, uh, opportunities every week. Like, which is it?
Al James: Is it both? What, like, tell me, tell me about that.
Katie Stringer: Oh, it's absolutely both. So yeah, the consistency piece of the puzzle, that is how you grow [00:28:00] programs. And in my team, uh, you know, I said, mentioned at the start, you know, if you're gonna try and start something from scratch or you're gonna try and stretch and grow and, and, uh, lean into another high school that's close by- Yeah
Katie Stringer: you, you do need that partnership with other churches, uh, and to hold hands with other volunteers who perhaps don't have the same denomination as you. Uh, but you are united with this common goal of wanting to, uh, share a c- a common Christianity and use the approved curriculum in a school. Um, but what's, yeah, what's so valuable and important there is- First of all, we're wanting to show up every single time- Mm-hmm
Katie Stringer: that SRE is scheduled, and we can do that when we've got teamwork. Yeah. Because life happens. Yeah. People get sick. Mm-hmm. I've gotten sick. Uh, people have conferences and important, uh, life events that happen. When you've got a team, it means that the coverage can be adequate so that you can make sure that you don't let the school down.[00:29:00]
Katie Stringer: Uh, I think, you know, it's such a partnership with the school. The sh- the school is showing hospitality to us, we're guests in the school, uh, and we just wanna make sure that these programs run
Katie Stringer: consistently.
Al James: it sounds to me like you're talking about building a team that is bigger than just the number of classes that
Al James: need to be provided for.
Katie Stringer: need to be provided for.
Katie Stringer: Definitely. So my vision in my team is to have a, a teacher and a helper on every class. Mm-hmm. And for lunchtime groups, sometimes we have more, sometimes we'll have three.
Al James: And~ for lunchtime groups, sometimes we have more. But- Sometimes we'll have three ... but you don't need a teacher~ and a helper in every
Al James: class.
Katie Stringer: you
Katie Stringer: don't. Yeah. Absolutely. But
Al James: you're,
Al James: you're saying let's have a teacher and a helper in every class for, I, I imagine, tell me if I'm right about this, for two reasons.
Al James: One is so that when life happens, um, someone can step in and help.
Katie Stringer: Yes. Um,
Al James: and two, so that, um, when somebody needs to move on, life, life circumstances change, whatever happens, you've, you've actually got people that are exposed to the environment already.
Al James: You know, they've, they've got, they've got experience in a classroom. They might be able to step up into that kind of teacher role.
Katie Stringer: [00:30:00] Definitely. A- and it's, I think it's a really, uh, helpful and practical model for people that also just might like to check out the ministry- Yeah ... uh, but maybe don't wanna be thrown in the deep end and being told to teach 30 year 12 boys- Yeah
Katie Stringer: for their first class. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they might just wanna come along as a helper and a support. And, uh, when I say the word helper,
Katie Stringer: that is a really significant role. Mm-hmm. Uh, my experience has been that helpers are utterly invaluable- Mm-hmm ... especially in praying, in noticing other things going on in the room or with particular students.
Katie Stringer: Uh, and also I feel like when there's a classroom management problem- One of the best ways to begin to solve that is by putting a helper on that class. Yeah. Yeah. There's something about two adults in the room- Mm-hmm ... that suddenly, you know, can fix quite a bit of, uh, student behavior.
Al James: bit of, uh, student behavior. Yep. And so, I mean, it, it can take a fair bit of legwork to kind of negotiate with a school to add [00:31:00] another class or to grow it in some way, that kind of thing. Um, but it sounds to me like you're saying regardless of whether you have that opportunity to negotiate now or, or whether it'll be in six months or whether it'll be at the start of the, you know, uh, in term four in preparation for the start of the next, the next school year, um, add a, add a helper.
Al James: That, like, that's a practical step that anybody can do to grow SRE
Al James: is to add a helper to a class.~ ~
Katie Stringer: ~class.~ Definitely. And I think it's really great. If you're the only person teaching at your school, now's the time to think, "What friend could I invite who also loves Jesus like I do, uh, to be part of this ministry that's a local?" They might not necessarily go to your church, though if they do, fantastic. Uh, and start a conversation about the process.
Katie Stringer: Uh, I know, uh, for YouthWorx we've got a really clear model there with the different modules that you need to do to just become a helper. Yep.
Al James: Yep.
Katie Stringer: Uh, but the second h- And,
Al James: the, and
Al James: the c- like the kinda criteria for a helper is like, you know, there's less things [00:32:00] that you need to do in order to just go and be a
Katie Stringer: Exactly.
Al James: Invaluable role- Invaluable ... but, but the, but the things that you need to do in order to, to kinda get there are smaller.
Katie Stringer: That's right. Because I think, uh, b- building up, you know, in my context, I have a lot of, um, volunteers that I look after. Uh, whenever somebody is stepping out to move on, w- they might even just be moving geographically to another state, uh, they'll often go, "Oh, but I've had a chat at church because I've been so-- I really enjoy this ministry, and, you know, I'd love you to meet up with so-and-so 'cause they are keen to, to take my spot."
Katie Stringer: Mm. Uh, so that's really cool, too, just people seeing, oh, it's actually really important that this ministry continues because, hey, uh, yeah, SRE New South Wales has been going for nearly 150 years. Mm. So that's a, that's a pretty long-standing ministry, and you know, I, I pray that it will go for another- 100 years
Katie Stringer: 100 years. How amazing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That, that's, that's the goal that we want. Uh, once, once you build up your, [00:33:00] your volunteers and, and, uh, start to get that buy-in, it also means when you sit with a school and talk about, uh, other year groups that currently don't have SRE, uh, you can let them know, "We've got capacity."
Katie Stringer: Yeah. "We've got more teachers. They're trained. They're approved. They're ready to go. Uh, we really wanna keep this, uh, continuity of education-" Yep "... for all the grades."
Al James: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I'm gleaning various different things.
Al James: We've got, you know, like, in some senses you've got this overarching question: How can we get more SRE?
Al James: You, you've got the first step of just getting into a school, and so that's gonna be prayer. It's gonna be talking to lo- lo- other local churches. It's gonna be kind of, um, reaching out to an advisor. Um, and essentially it's gonna be kind of having a meeting with the school.
Al James: Um, once you're in the school, it's about raising your eyes, whether that's geographically or to other opportunities within the school. Um, and then the third thing, you talked about consistency and that four times a week, um, and, uh, a really good step towards [00:34:00] consistency, um, is adding a helper because it's building the team so that you're able to kind of fill gaps where there are gaps and, um, and kind of h- have, uh, people in place for when someone needs
Al James: to move on, that kind of thing.
Katie Stringer: to move on, that kind of thing. Definitely. And just to add on to that thing of building the team, that means that you'll then be able to add this very special ingredient, which w- I believe really helps you grow your SRE in high school world, novelty. And the novelty comes when you do special seminars for things like Christmas and Easter.
Katie Stringer: Okay. And if you can, um, build up a team, you know, generally if you're gonna run one of these special assemblies or seminars in a school, uh, if you have, you know, five or six friends that you can do that with that are, you know, regular SRE teachers, they are the most fantastic opportunity, uh, to celebrate Christmas at school.
Katie Stringer: Uh, there's great seminar material available on, I think, Faith Portal. Uh, but yeah, you're probably looking to have a conversation with your principal maybe early term three- Mm-hmm ... [00:35:00] to start that process and you wouldn't, you wouldn't wanna miss this out- Mm ... 'cause I'm telling you, it is so fun and it raises the profile of SRE and Christianity in schools.
Katie Stringer: And I'm reflecting on a school where we ran a Christmas seminar for the first time, uh, last year, and we met with the Christian lunchtime group, and they had four people in their lunchtime group. But, uh, the seminar was very popular and we had most of the school attend it, really enjoyed it. When we came back for another seminar this term, that Christian lunchtime group has grown to 20 students
Al James: Wow.
Al James: Now, I, I've gotta ask, though, um, this is not necessarily just SRE students attending these seminars.
Katie Stringer: That's exactly right.
Katie Stringer: And so that's where it might be helpful to have a little chat with your Youth Works advisor because, uh, the way that you do these kinds of special things, uh, you have a conversation with your principal, and I ... Just to keep it simple, I would, um, talk about that this is something [00:36:00] special that we do on top of our SRE classes, and it's for, it's for SRE students, absolutely, and it's for all Christian SRE students.
Katie Stringer: Uh, and we wanna be welcoming and hospitable, and if any other students would like to come just for that, we do a little permission note that goes with it. Yeah.
Al James: And so, so that, I mean, that's, um, in a sense, it's not SRE.
Al James: But
Al James: it is complementary to
Al James: SRE. Exactly. And a
Al James: principal can make a call to go, "Yeah. Look, if we, we can open this out to the rest of the school, so long as there's permission."
Katie Stringer: That's exactly right. And the thing that I've found is that schools are really, uh, grateful to have something excellent, on topic, especially at that time of year where exams have concluded. Uh, and to have an incursion that, uh, is joyful and, um, has that opportunity for a celebratory mood, uh, is, is a tru- truly wonderful thing.
Al James: Yeah. I
Al James: mean, Katie, we're recording this in week [00:37:00] 11 of, um, of term. And, I don't know if you've ever run one in, the 11th week of term in term two, but I can imagine a whole bunch of teachers very, w- who would be very thankful for an incursion right now.
Katie Stringer: Absolutely.
Katie Stringer: And funny you should say that, Al, 'cause I'm actually running one on the very last day of this term. Yeah. And we're doing it especially for senior students, and it's all about purpose.
Al James: Yeah.
Al James: Okay. Well, I mean, I, I wasn't expecting you to, expecting you to say novelty, but you said
Al James: novelty. Yeah.
Katie Stringer: Like we all have public holidays. Uh, we all enjoy the public holidays for Easter, uh, and the same for Christmas. And there, there's a reason that life stops. Mm. Uh, you know, uh, the, what's, what's wonderful about these things is that perhaps through the rest of the curriculum, students actually won't get to find out in detail what the reason for these occasions are.
Katie Stringer: But as Christians, we can explain it- Mm ... and we can really point to why Christmas is such a celebration and why Easter is such a big deal. Yeah. [00:38:00] And students really appreciate, uh, the message and the history behind that, and being able to understand, oh, there's a deeper meaning to
Katie Stringer: this
Al James: Yeah.
Al James: And I, I, I feel like I've s- I, think I just wanna point this out, like there's something, there's something important in what you've said, is I think like a lot of people listening would be like, "Yeah, yeah, we'll run a Christmas seminar," or that kind of thing. Particularly if they've been involved in, uh, the primary SRE space.
Al James: You know, typically there, there, there might be like a special Christmas assembly or that kind of thing. Um,
Al James: but often not every time, but often that will be just for the SRE students. But I think we need to point out that l- you're, you're saying with permission from the principal, you can open that out to, um, to all students.
Al James: Any student whose parents are happy to sign a permission note, essentially.
Katie Stringer: Goes
Al James: that's different. That's
Katie Stringer: to
Katie Stringer: SRE [00:39:00] unless your parent or carer writes a note and says, "Nah, I don't want them to go to that," and that's fair enough. Um, you know, we're all about parent choice. Uh, whereas now, uh, the landscape is that you have to opt in to these things. And , it has really impacted enrollment in certain locations, I think primarily due to flow of information.
Katie Stringer: Mm. I think, uh, I, I've certainly seen it in my context, when parents are aware that these programs are happening and that they're excellent and they're being taught by trained, uh, uh, trained volunteers, uh, using fantastic, uh, pedagogically rich curriculum, uh, they're really happy to opt in. Mm. And so as the word goes out, uh, people, uh, realizing that th- this is, this is a fantastic education and, and they want their children to be part of it.
Katie Stringer: And I think what's so important about the novelty aspect, I mean, I'm using that word novel because it feels kind of novel- Yeah ... um, to get to do that, uh, during class time. But the, the great thing about having a really [00:40:00] wonderful Christmas or Easter seminar is that the word goes out. Mm. People realize, "Oh, these people are coming into my school to teach SRE all the time."
Katie Stringer: Yeah. "This is a program that I can be a part of any time." And, and that's just really important. We need, we need to get that message out that SRE is so much more than what we think it is. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Al James: All right. So that's novelty. , We've looked at, you know, getting into the school. We've looking, looked at kind of just raising your eyes geographically
Al James: or what are the opportunities with- within
Al James: the school. Um, majoring on consistency, adding a helper, pulling in your friends. Um, we've talked now about novelty.
Al James: Um, anything else, Katie?
Katie Stringer: Yeah, I just really wanna encourage you, if you're listening, and you're thinking, "Oh yeah, but my high school has got some issues." Uh,
Al James: easy
Al James: for Katie. All her scores are perfect
Katie Stringer: Not at all.
Katie Stringer: , But look, I think sometimes when I just go back to that original question of how can I get more SRE? [00:41:00] Sometimes, uh, you know, your classes might be irregular
Al James: Mm-hmm.
Katie Stringer: If that's the case, literally sit there with a calculator and go, "Okay, well, l-let's see what this is actually adding up to." Mm. Like, am I hitting 1,200 minutes a year?
Katie Stringer: Mm. If I'm not hitting 1,200 minutes a year, have a conversation, uh, with your principal, get some support from Youth Werks about h- what you could do to boost that back up to where it needs to be, because that's actually the minimum. Mm. Uh, it's a, a, a range. SRE is supposed to go from either 1,200 minutes a year up to 2,400.
Katie Stringer: Mm. So if we're not even hitting the minimum, that's not great because the Department of Education actually wants SRE programs to run in line with their policy that they've set. Uh, and principals want to do the right thing. Mm. Um, I had a conversation just last week with one of my principals about that, because I, I...
Katie Stringer: Look, I'm actually pretty ordinary at maths, but I had done the maths, and he could see straight away that we weren't hitting that 1,200 minutes, and he said, [00:42:00] "Katie, have you got any ideas? What, what could we do to boost that up?" Mm. I was really appreciative that he was instantly just wanting to bring it into line, and I think most principals would feel like that.
Katie Stringer: Uh, and so I said, "Well, how about we do a Christmas seminar? And, you know, ag- this is an over-and-above thing, but what if we do it for, like, 90 minutes? Let's have a 90-minute seminar. What if we do an Easter one?" And we, we, we talked a few different ways that we could, um, improve the situation. It, it might even be the, the period of time where SRE runs, like in a high school, often they're fortnightly.
Katie Stringer: Could we boost that by 10 minutes? Mm. Yeah. Um, now is the time to have conversations like that for 2027. Yeah.
Al James: I mean, like, there's, there's some good examples of things that could be going wrong. Like, what are, what are some of the other things that y-you, maybe you might need to fix within,
Al James: um, an SRE space?
Katie Stringer: like there's, there's some good examples of things that could be going wrong. Like what are- Mm ... what are some of the other things that y- you maybe you might need to fix within, um, an SRE space? Yeah. I think the other problem that I see a lot of in high schools is, uh, all the students on the roll not coming to SRE.
Katie Stringer: So
Al James: what are the ideas we've got for fixing those kinds of [00:43:00] attendance
Katie Stringer: Yeah. Again, I... it comes down to having a conversation with the school and saying, "What do you do for other subjects- Mm ... uh, to ensure that the majority of your students are in attendance?" 'Cause this is a subject just like any other, and parents and carers have chosen it.
Katie Stringer: Uh, and us, as the SRE teachers, you know, we want to hand on heart say, "Yes, we taught the curriculum." If we don't actually see the students, how can we possibly be delivering this curriculum? Mm. Uh, so yeah, s- schools usually have a variety of different ways, uh, uh, techniques that they employ to ensure that students are where they're supposed to be.
Katie Stringer: Sometimes, honestly, that conversation can be quite powerful because sometimes schools are unaware that we worry about that. Mm. And so just letting them know, "No, we worry about that. We, we want every student on the roll where they're supposed to be." Yeah. Yeah
Al James: yeah,
Al James: yeah. All right. Any other kind of problems to fix?
Katie Stringer: I would just say, you know, SRE is a team [00:44:00] sport. You know, we, well, I, I, I don't wanna hog this ministry, I just wanna get everybody involved in it. It's just, it, it's wildly exciting. I, uh, you can't beat it for variety.
Katie Stringer: So, um, yeah, if you feel like you've got an intractable problem, contact your ministry advisor at Youthworx. Uh, reach out to Christian SRE. We'd love to help you. Uh, we just, just, just like we started this conversation, we just wanna see, um, you guys being able to have more SRE than last year.
Al James: Mm.
Al James: Katie, thanks so much for, yeah, this important conversation.
Al James: Like, how do you grow high school SRE?
Katie Stringer: Katie, thanks so much for, yeah, this important conversation. Like, how do you grow high school SRE? My pleasure. Thanks for having me [00:45:00]