Children, Youth & Education
Free Bibles for public school ministry
In 2015, Bible Society provided 15,700 Bibles free for public school ministry across Australia, distributed to various churches and ministries who teach Christian Scripture classes in the Australian Public School system.
One response from Jennifer, a Public School Scripture teacher from Queensland, was that:
“The children have really liked being able to use them and are curious, they have been attentive in lessons learning how to look up Bible readings. I think they like how important the Bible is and being able to use one. For many I think it’s the first time they’ve been able to use one. Thanks again for this wonderful resource being available in their school.”
Digital engagement with the Bible
Bible Society encourages young people to engage with the Bible using digital media including the Qbla app (as in “Question, bla bla”) which is a peer-to-peer question and resource sharing platform. Throughout 2015, we gathered feedback from the hundreds of active users of Qbla 1.0, and began building Qbla 2.0 in partnership with Youth for Christ International. We also continued to grow our global team of young Christian video bloggers who respond to the questions uploaded.
Bible based school presentations across the country
Our Children, Youth and Education team also made more than 60 Bible-based school presentations across the country, and Andrew Fisher and the Jesus Racing team conducted 52 Life Choices seminars in High Schools. In November there were visits to 10 different schools and churches in Cairns (over 2000 students) with a very wide variety of multicultural and indigenous students and communities. In all the presentations, with the support of local ministers and RI teachers, staff shared the Bible through storytelling, music, illusion, games, and audio visual material, encouraging the students to engage with the Bible.
Bible Society held four Masterclass events during 2015 in Qld, NSW, SA and Tasmania. These one-day events are aimed at building biblical confidence and leadership in Christian students in years 10 and 11 at school. The goal is to encourage and equip students to trust and engage with the Bible, enabling them to live out their Christian faith. A total of 58 schools and 1,125 students attended. The speaking calibre was exceptional, with John Dickson, Patricia Weerakoon, Karl Faase, Dave Miers and Jarrod McKenna addressing the students.
Students who attended responded with comments such as: