NEWS
Webinar 14th December - student mental health & the pandemic
We will be hosting a free webinar on Monday 14th December on the vital and timely topic of student mental health and the pandemic.
This is a free event aimed at supporting university chaplains and anyone else who is interested in this topic. It will take place from 10.30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Our speakers will be Dr Ruth Caleb, MBE who is Chair of the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education (MWBHE) Working Group and Pete Gaffney who is Student Engagement Officer from Student Minds.
The event will be chaired by Revd Dr Stephen Heap, Chair of the Free Church HE Working Group.
Please register for the webinar using the link below
(photo courtesy of Deniz Altindas at Unsplash)
FCG Privacy Policy
FCG’s privacy policy has been updated and comes into effect from the 1st December 2020.
New statements have been added to cover Higher Education Chaplains, the use of Zoom/Eventbrite and cookies.
Should you have any questions about the updates, please contact FCG at info@freechurches.org.uk.
New report about integrating Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural teaching and learning in FE
Over the last few years, the Free Church Education Committee has been actively engaged with discussing and developing ways in which our member churches might become more fully involved in the life and times of our local further education colleges. This has been the mission of the Further Education Working Group, chaired by Dr John Wise - a group which includes teachers, governors, chaplains and pastors (pictured below). You can read more about this here.
We are delighted to announce that Dr John Wise, our working group chair and long standing member of the Free Church Education Committee, has penned an important report, with his colleague Dr Ian Jones (Director of St Peter’s Saltley Trust).
This report is a vital and timely contribution to the teaching and learning of SMSC in further education. The reports begins with asserting: “All good further education providers are passionately committed not just to the delivery of high quality courses, but to the development of their students as whole people, able to make a positive contribution to society through their work and the rest of their lives. This means attending to learners’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC), as well as to their subject knowledge and skills.” You can read the full report and find out more on the link below.
Chair of the Free Church Education Committee, Professor Graham Handscomb, wholeheartedly commends the report.
“An impressive piece of work and such a valuable resource”
From left to right: Pastor Lester Freckleton, Rev Alistair Smeaton, Professor Graham Handscomb, Rev Sara Iles, Dr John Wise, Anthony Alderman
(cover photo courtesy of Bernd Klutsch at Unsplash)
Praying across the UK for all of our schools tomorrow!
We are delighted to share with you all news of the forthcoming Pray Day for Schools coming up on Tuesday! Join us as we pray together - there are 3 different events across the day to join in with (timings below) - if you are not free at those times, you can still get involved and use this sheet as ten ways to pray for our schools…
Here at the Free Churches Group, we play an active part in the dynamic prayer network of the Pray for Schools steering group. For further information and how to get involved, here is an extracts from their recent newsletter:
“If you're new to Pray for Schools (PFS), welcome!
We've been keenly aware - as I'm sure you are too - of the importance of prayer over this Covid period. It truly is the key to revival and prayer for our young people is particularly significant.
Please read our newsletter for more thoughts on this.
Tuesday 17 November is Pray Day!
Please join Celia Bowring of CARE and Jane Newey from Pray for Schools for a Zoom Prayer Session
** 9.30am with Lisa Jones from Scripture Union and Bev Smith from Youth For Christ
** 5.30pm with Ebony Fennell from Prayer Spaces in Schools and Toni Coulton of Chaplaincy Central
Please register using this link
Worcester Diocese is also hosting a Zoom Prayer session at 1.45pm with Julie Jeffries from Open the Book - register here for this meet up.
Let's keep on praying!
Jane Newey , Pray for Schools England Coordinator”
(photo courtesy of Fa Barboza at Unsplash)
Pray Day for Schools on 17th November
Here at the Free Churches Group, we play an active part in the dynamic prayer network of the Pray for Schools steering group.
We are delighted to share with you all news of the forthcoming Pray Day for Schools coming up next Tuesday, 17th November.
For further information and how to get involved, here is an extracts from their recent newsletter:
“If you're new to Pray for Schools (PFS), welcome!
We've been keenly aware - as I'm sure you are too - of the importance of prayer over this Covid period. It truly is the key to revival and prayer for our young people is particularly significant.
Please read our newsletter for more thoughts on this.
Tuesday 17 November is Pray Day!
Please join Celia Bowring of CARE and Jane Newey from Pray for Schools for a Zoom Prayer Session
** 9.30am with Lisa Jones from Scripture Union and Bev Smith from Youth For Christ
** 5.30pm with Ebony Fennell from Prayer Spaces in Schools and Toni Coulton of Chaplaincy Central
Worcester Diocese is also hosting a Zoom Prayer session at ** 1.45pm ** with Julie Jeffries from Open the Book
Let's keep on praying!
Jane Newey , Pray for Schools England Coordinator”
(photo courtesy of Jon Tyson at Unsplash)