Marije Nastu works for London City Mission’s schools team, partnering with local churches across the capital. She has run Life for three consecutive years.
I work for London City Mission, as part of our schools’ team. We partner with local churches across the city to reach children and young people who are disconnected from church. In London today, we estimate that just one in twenty children go to church, and around half don’t even have a Christian friend who could invite them to church activities. And yet our experience shows that children are incredibly open to talking about Jesus, and to exploring who He is.
Teaching on Christianity is compulsory in every school, but not every school has a Christian teacher. So we partner with churches to encourage and equip their members to build relationships with their local school, and to have the opportunity to share their own experience of being a Christian and teach Bible truths, whether through assemblies, RE lessons or clubs.
My colleague Charlie met Kevin Baldwin, the Life exhibition coordinator, at a conference, and one thing led to another. At London City Mission we already have lots of connections with local churches, so Kevin was keen to partner together and bring Life to London more regularly. It fits well with our goal of having a Christian witness in every school in the city, and it gives churches a great opportunity to explore schools’ ministry and learn how to communicate the Gospel effectively with children. This is my third year running Life exhibitions in London. I lost count long ago of how many churches we’ve worked with.
Getting a church ready
At London City Mission, we focus on certain ‘priority boroughs’, where people are less likely to hear about Jesus, and we approach churches that are well placed in these areas, though sometimes churches approach us. Once a church is interested, we agree to partner together: I do a presentation during a Sunday service, and we gather volunteers from within the congregation and train them. Together we invite all the local schools, often through connections the church already has, whether teachers or parents in the congregation. Once schools sign up, I put together a schedule for the week, pairing those who are new to schools’ ministry with someone experienced, so they can watch, learn, and then try it for themselves.
The wow moment
When the children walk in, there is always that initial ‘wow’, sometimes from the teachers and staff too! Most children already have some knowledge of Jesus, which they get to share in the introduction tent. I love watching the journey they go on from there: their surprise at learning there are more than 300 predictions about Jesus in the Old Testament, discovering His miracles, working out what a parable is, heads bobbing along to the music, clapping at the end of the Life Giver video. Children often ask really good, deep questions about God, or want to know, quite sincerely, why we became Christians ourselves.
One moment has stayed with me: a boy at a recent exhibition blurted out that he’d never known Jesus wasn’t just killed, but that he actually chose to die, willingly, as part of God’s plan.
Stories that stay with me
Seeing hundreds of children come through the exhibition at different churches across London always gets me buzzing, but it affects the adults just as much. One teaching assistant was so moved that she started asking our team for a good local church in her area. Just last week, a Muslim mum asked questions at every pod as she went round with her child, and kept talking to me even as the children were lining up to go home.
The children’s questions and comments stay with me too: a girl asking whether the church holds services on a Sunday, and what time; another asking if they do baptisms there. Plenty saying they want to come back. A Year 6 boy with special educational needs commented several times on how amazing it was that Jesus died and came back to life. One girl explained, really clearly, why Jesus had to die and how it restored our relationship with God, articulating the Gospel better than some adults could. And when the other children got a bit noisy in the Life Giver tent, one Year 3 boy turned round and told them: “This is my religion, show some respect!”
Some children come in with a bit of an attitude: “I don’t believe Jesus is real,” or “Jesus isn’t God’s Son,” or, most recently, “My dad says Christians are weird people.” But as they go round, they often soften, and by the café session at the end, they are fully invested in getting the quiz answers right. I remember one boy who couldn’t care less in the introduction tent, but who, by the end, was the one demanding to carry the Action Bible we give out for the classroom book corner back to school himself.
What teachers tell us
We always get very positive feedback from teachers. Last year, one school brought every class except Years 1 and 2, so I offered to come into the school and run an RE lesson for them instead, which they gladly accepted. A few weeks ago, a teacher asked, at the end of her class’s visit, whether the church does weddings, since they were studying marriage in RE. I put her in touch with the church’s children’s lead, who arranged a separate visit and lesson on the subject.
Would I encourage other churches to host the Life Exhibition? Always, yes. It’s a fantastic way of connecting with every school in your area, and a brilliant introduction to schools’ ministry. Just seeing your church transformed, and hundreds of children walk through it, is hugely encouraging for every church member.
The Life exhibition is a multi-media experience designed for primary school children that complements and works alongside existing RE teaching. It is often free to schools thanks to the sponsorship of local churches and Counties. Email the Life exhibition team here to find out more or click below: