Sharing Jesus beyond Trinity
Trinity students headed out to partnering churches and schools to put their Christian leadership skills into practice and share the Word with younger students.
The focus of Trinity’s Berea Co-curricular group is on growing students in their faith and their Christian leadership skills. Each year, the end of Term 1 sees the group going on ‘Berea Mission’, with students heading out from Trinity’s Summer Hill campus to immerse themselves in the schedules of other schools as they look to share God’s word with younger students.
Berea Mission is the perfect opportunity for students to get out of their comfort zone and put what they’ve been learning into practice as they discover what it takes to lead others and share God’s word with them.
The aims of the mission are to:
- Faithfully and servant-heartedly teach the Bible to build up the ministries of Trinity’s church and school partners.
- Recruit and train Christian leaders for ministry in schools today and in life beyond school.
- Give students an opportunity to experience fields beyond their own, to foster lifelong mission mindedness.
In 2024, 40 students from Year 10–12 headed out to Oran Park Anglican College, Macarthur Anglican School, Penrith Anglican College and Trinity’s own Preparatory School for three days at the end of first term. Their activities included leading short talks, joining Bible studies, attending chapel, joining in on fun games with other students and even stretching their musical muscles with a song or two. The five-day mission required them to prepare in advance, speak with plenty of new people and share their faith with others.
In the lead up to Berea Mission, the students weren’t without trepidation, with many students feeling conscious that they were doing something new and not wanting their inexperience to get in the way of teaching younger students about God.
“I was a little worried about whether or not we would be prepared, experienced and coordinated enough to teach successful and effective lessons, as I didn’t know many of my team members,” Toby Chan says.
But, by the end of the week, the students had learnt that their own growth depended on getting out of their own comfort zones.
“I built meaningful connections with students I would normally not interact with, and have made lasting friendships with both younger and older students,” says Jacob Michail. After Berea Mission, he says that he has a “more comprehensive understanding of how to teach younger students the word of God in a way that is entertaining and beneficial.”
“My favourite thing about Berea Mission was not only teaching the kids about the truths of the Bible, but also being able to grow my skills when it came to running a class or a youth group,” says Elliot Russell.
As they developed their own leadership, they also grew to understand what it really means to be a leader.
“I was able to learn that leading isn’t always about doing all of the stuff up front and just being able to put 100% effort into all the little things as well,” Reuben Chong noted. “Things like spending time getting to know kids and making sure people are listening.”
Leading the co-curricular group and Berea Mission, Mr Chris Thanopoulos, Assistant Chaplain and Head of Christian Studies, says, “It is pleasing to see the students use their skills as well as the knowledge and understanding they have gained to serve others younger than them.”
For many of the students, this is the first formal ‘mission’ they have been involved in and they kept Jesus’ parting words with them as they tackled the challenge.
