Holding an all-age Back to School with God church service is a fantastic way to pray for and support young people and school staff at the start of a new school year.
Back to School with God is an initiative of SU Scotland in collaboration with SU Northern Ireland and CVE Scotland. Each year we come together write resources to enable churches to mark a date which is very significant for children, young people, teachers, parents, grandparents, in fact everyone in the community - the return to school! A Back to School with God church services provides an excellent way to remind everyone that they go back to school with God.
Our 2023 theme is Be strong and brave, exploring Joshua 1:1-9. We aim to explore what it means to step out into something new, trusting in God and in his word, rather than ourselves.
All you need to hold an All-age service is provided free of charge. Register below!
You will be sent a link to our resources. PLEASE SAVE THE LINK. Please also note that we are still working on the videos, prayer postcards and Bible Study questions and they will be posted up as soon as they are ready.
Back to School with God is all about marking the new school year - a huge milestone in the lives of individuals in our churches and communities - on a Sunday that suits you. We want to help churches send children, young people and staff back to school with God through providing resources for an all-age Sunday service which aims to
- heighten awareness that God goes with us into school
- reassure that the church family cares and is praying
- challenge Christian pupils and staff to be lights for Jesus in school
- raise awareness of year-round schools prayer.
Back to School with God is an initiative of Pray for Schools and we hope that if you haven’t already done so, you will consider registering your ongoing commitment to pray for local schools on the signup form.
We provide all you need to hold an all-age service with accompanying PPT slides. Also provided are children's prayer activities and crafts, Bible reading, Prayers for Schools, Video Testimonies, and new for this year - Bible study questions for use with a youth or adult Bible study group.
If you haven't used our resources before, take a look at the sample 2022 all-age service. If you would prefer to use this one, get in touch to let us know, so that we can still register your Back to School with God service.
Meanwhile, if you live in Scotland and have been blessed by Back to School with God resources, why not consider being an SU Ambassador in your church? You would receive a monthly email informing you of other SU Scotland resources, events, training opportunities, vacancies and local events to share with others in your church family. Find out more and register here.
All resources are free to download upon registration of your service. Please save the resources once opening the link, or retain the link so you can retrieve the resources at a later point!
We promise to look after your data in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation. See suscotland.org.uk/privacy for more details.
For further information on Back to School with God Sunday or enquiries about schools prayer, contact Elizabeth McDowall. We would love to hear what Back to School with God Sunday looked like in your context, and suggestions for future resources.
For information on Back to School with God in Northern Ireland, check out the SU Northern Ireland website.
For information on CVE Scotland, click here.
