God’s world
The Pais Project is writing a series of workshops that will culminate in a ‘wild place excursion’ where pupils will discover, share, conserve and share their experiences of the wild life they encounter. Their work will gain a certificate with the John Muir Award - a conservationist trust setup to encourage school pupils to be proactive in their care for the environment. Although the John Muir Trust isn’t specifically Christian, I believe that their aims are also concerns for the God of the Bible.
Our aim is to provide schools with: a workshop that will teach them about the God who we believe created the world that we share with love and design; then a trip to discover a wild place that will lead to various campaigns to protect, conserve, share and create wild places in urban places; Assemblies on recycling, gardening projects and litter picking on the schools campus.
we hope to achieve the following:
[1] teach children about the God of creation
[2] demonstrate practical day to day ways that a child can participate in helping to create a better world
[3] help pupils [especially those in urban areas] discover the wonder of God’s creation
[4] give schools a way of developing their environmental agenda
What do you think? waste of time, missing the point, creating ways of joining the voice on big issues, fulfilling the heart of God?
I think this is a brilliant idea. Not only would this fit in well with PSHE but as from September new guidelines within OFSTEAD will mean that schools must show that they are working towards social cohesion. This could therefore be a good way of creating a joint schools venture. Although Wokingham could not exactly be referred to as an ‘urban area’ I think that many young people here are prone to developing a lethargic response to the beautiful areas around them and may never have even considered God’s part in it all. I think if the workshops are produced sensitively keeping within the requirements of the education system then schools would be very interested.
The John Muir Award is certainly sympathetic to the Christian faith as Muir was himself very influenced by his Christian upbringing. There’s debate about whether he was or not, as he seems to mix up God and nature together and doesn’t always distinguish between the two. I did a project last summer with the John Muir Birthplace Trust and I found that there were many opportunities created to discuss faith against the backdrop of environmental issues. One of the things Muir himself used to do was to get people to look at a familiar view upside down. By doing so you will notice things you previously missed. The conversation then can focus on how if you have faith in God, then your view of the world changes and you can see things very differently.
Here is a link to some films we made whilst we did the project.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=m0zzJyX3X6I
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=30JScImjkfw&feature=related