Work programmes

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Next - well, some replies to the last blog indicated that there is an interest in the work that has been going on - as well as the holidays!
So, here goes.
Most of the focus for my work here for the Diocese has been in the area of Religious Education , or rather Christian education/Christian nurture. Having travelled alongside the Global Citizenship programmes as well as Church linking programmes up until this year, this new focus has been both narrowing and insightful. Christianity here is a minority faith - Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist, 17% Hindu, 8% Muslim and 8% Christian - so this is Christianity in a post-colonial,south Asian context of pluralism and multiculturalism - a Christianity which lives in the context of religious plurality, multiscriptures and also in the context of poverty, struggle and suffering. Yet, Christian perspectives have developed from the way in which colonial countries were christianised by western missionaries. Within the churches, there is a sense of domestication, and even an alienation from the surrounding culture and society.
The teaching of Christian Education and Christian Nurture reflects a separation of theology and education as in most churches in Asia. Education focuses on instruction and the establishment of the Christian faith - yet the goals of Christian education and Christian nurture should not be seen as necessarily different. Religious Education is taught in Day/Boarding Schools, in both Church and Government Schools, each child learns his or her own faith and in his or her own language. The religions are taught separately.
During my travels, I visited with Sunday Schools which take place after the main morning service, for up to one hour, depending on the age and grade. The children are taught separately in grades for the most part, except where numbers are low. The teaching is more formal than in the UK, and there are yearly Sunday School exams and Bible Quiz competitons.
Sunday School teaching is supplemented by Vacation Bible Schools which are residential and run usually for about 100 children, during holiday times. The subject for this VBS at Hewadiwela, a community based project attached to the church, was 'Children of the Kingdom'.
Formal teaching is expected alongside games,singing and camp fires etc.
The Diocese also manages four Children's Care Homes, and many of you will already know about the link and support from St Peter's Church Thorner with the Church of St John the Baptist in Kegalle, and the Boys' Care Home there. During my visits, I have spent time at all four of the Homes and worked a little alongside them all.
I have also spent some time at Trinity College Kandy , especially with the Scripture School and have visited with CMS partners, Becky and Shemil Mathews in Colombo and heard a little of their work at St. Thomas's College, where Becky is the Chaplain, and Shemil does some teaching - including some Godly Play. Also, there has been some contact with the Theological College of Lanka where Methodist CMS partners Rosemary Fletcher and James Bewerely are well established. They have a wide network of friends, mostly in and around Kandy and help to keep in touch with events of interest, especially in the Kandy area.
The whole year has been one of exploration and new perspectives on 'the Christ we share' and the contexts in which we might find Him.

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Photos

Buddhism and Christianity side-by side
St. Paul's Church Kandy situated next to the Dalada Maligawa - when worshipping at St. Paul's, the side doors open onto the Temple.

Thalampitiya
a sunday school group

Bible Quiz
Quiz master's table

Christodaya Boys' Care Home, Kurunegala
an evening session