A Day in School with a Barnabas RE Day

Lucy Moore

From the moment I staggered into the school, peering over a tub full of silly hats, a steering wheel and a false cigar (don’t ask), everyone warned me about Josh. ‘Don’t worry if he... well, plays up,’ said the head, somewhat unreassuringly. ‘Or if he’s... well, rude. His mum hates Christianity and it’s rubbed off on Josh. We’ll take him out if he... misbehaves.’

I didn’t meet Josh’s class until halfway through the day—plenty of time to build up misgivings about this lad with special needs. In fact, I was told, he has Asperger’s Syndrome. The Lord definitely had his hand in bringing us together on this, my first Barnabas RE Day, as it’s a condition with which I am intimately acquainted. It’s a form of autism, in which social skills, empathy, imagination and listening skills tend to be lacking—not the most promising participant for a drama workshop.

Josh arrived with his class, his helper hovering anxiously in the sidelines. He joined in the warm-up games without dominating. He threw himself into the activities in pairs, exploring ‘Compassion’. He watched and listened with great concentration to the presentation of the Good Samaritan performed as a rap, and to the monologue of the man with leprosy. And he took part in the final assembly of the day, brandishing my fake cigar to destruction point, such was his enthusiasm. Josh thought for a while when his helper asked him what he had thought of the day. ‘She wasn’t bad, for a Christian,’ he replied.

Josh is, in a way, typical of many children in primary schools today—indifferent or even hostile to Christianity; unaware of even the bare essentials about our faith, coming from homes where the Bible is never mentioned, let alone opened; and with their ears shut from being constantly bombarded by conflicting messages from TV. And yet, through BRF’s Barnabas RE Day programme, children who never set foot in a church have the chance to experience and own the dynamite of God’s word as it leaps off the page through drama, dance and storytelling.

In case you haven’t encountered it before, Barnabas RE Days is a programme that brings the Bible to life for primary-aged children. Each presentation and workshop day is run by professional performers who offer a variety of creative arts skills. A day I ran recently in a primary school in Surrey included a whole-school assembly about the Bible itself. Then I worked for half-hour slots with two infant groups on ‘Creation’, two 45-minute slots with lower juniors on the ‘Story of Love’ and ‘Our Uniqueness’, and two hour-long slots with upper juniors on ‘Compassion’.

In this case, the Barnabas RE Day was part of a week focusing on writing, so plenty of opportunity was given for activities which would lead into writing projects back in the classroom. As you can see, a hardworking day, but great fun.

Each member of the Barnabas team has different skills: Bob Hartman is, of course, a much-loved storyteller—the roars of his lions in Daniel echoing up through the roof. Fru Bird, Rhonda Sparrey and Dominique Bernadin can do things with dance that you wouldn’t believe possible. Certainly the jaws of parents of children at a holiday club in Essex were dropping as they watched their offspring perform a moving mime on Creation after a day with Fru.

The message is as thrilling as it has ever been, but in our computer/video/DVD-orientated world, simply offering a printed page of the Bible is not enough for most children. Barnabas RE Days bring the Bible to life, giving the children a day and a message to remember.

I shall have to find a new fake cigar, though.