Support Teachers

Most church congregations contain at least one teacher. Here are comments made by two Christian teachers to illustrate how many feel.

"In my church it has puzzled me that, once a year, I am 'commissioned' and prayed for in my capacity as a temporary helper in the church crèche, which involves very little of my time and energy, but I am never formally prayed for and supported in the extremely demanding job I do as a teacher of children with special needs; a job that God has specifically called me to do."

"As a young mother I thought long and hard about how God was calling me when my children were more independent. I shared a spiritual journey with another Mum and together we sought our calling together. We started our training on the same day. I went to do my PGCE and she started on the path to ordained ministry. The Sunday before we both started training one of us was called out to the front of church to be prayed for and commissioned. Guess who?"

So what are the best ways to support and encourage Christian teachers in their ministry?

A church that has a positive attitude towards education and to teaching as a profession will be a place where teachers feel valued.

• Pray for teachers during services at significant moments during the year - at the start of a new term, if a school has had an Ofsted inspection or the period leading up to SATs or exams.
• Interview teachers as part of a service to find out about their calling to teach and their vision for their school.
• When a member of the congregation gets a new job as a teacher, pray for them publicly and commission them into their role as a way of showing that it's not just 'full-time Christian workers' who are called by God.
• Affirm the hard work and commitment of teachers - avoid jokes about long holidays and early home-times!
• Some teachers are happy to be involved in children's work at church, but not all of them want to. Don't pressurise teachers into this role just because that's what they do during the week.
• Celebrate Education Sunday, traditionally the ninth Sunday before Easter, to show support for teachers and all those involved in education in some way - which could be a large percentage of your congregation. Each year new materials are prepared by an ecumenical group representing the major Christian denominations. The materials are available from your own denomination or though organisations such as the Association of Christian Teachers or the Catholic Education Service.
• Have a sermon series on the need to integrate our faith with our working lives, and how to do it. It will help every member of the congregation, not just teachers. For materials and ideas refer to the Imagine Project based at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.
• The word disciple literally means learner. Sometimes churches give little emphasis to learning about learning. Churches that take their role as a learning community seriously and ask their teachers for advice and support in doing that are demonstrating the fact that the ministry of teaching is a valued Christian role; not simply a job.

Provide Support for Individual Teachers

• Get to know teachers as individuals. What may be helpful for one teacher may not be appropriate for another. Find out how they feel about their job and if they have specific challenges that you could pray for.
• Link teachers up with home groups or cell groups, even if they don't have time to attend very often. Encourage the home group to offer practical help and support as well as prayer.
• Make a point of thanking your child's teacher in person or by sending a card.
• Set up a scheme for teachers to have prayer partners if they want to - people that they can contact with a specific need and know they will be prayed for. This may be particularly important for new teachers or heads; both of whom often feel isolated and particularly stressed.
• As a church, sponsor a teacher to attend the Annual National Christian Teachers' Conference or the National Christian Headteachers' Conference.
• Pay for teachers in the congregation to become members of the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT), a non-denominational membership organisation that provides professional and spiritual support to Christians engaged in school and college education in England and around the world. Students and teachers in their first year can join free of charge, so all you need to do is point them to the ACT website. Teachers working in independent schools can be linked with the Independent Schools' Christian Alliance (TISCA).
• Make sure that teachers are aware of the resources available to support them in their work, particularly from The Stapleford Centre.
• Link new teachers with the Association of Christian Teachers mentoring scheme.