Tim Abbott

Sanctum prayer room - day 5

Thanks to Marie for reminding me to finish the Sanctum story.

Friday was another good day with just the right number of peole visiting at break time and lunch time. We also had quite a few staff through during the quiet moments, including most of the office staff, who loved it! At the end of the day we had four young people come, some for the first time, and the ensuing conversations meant it was well past 4pm before we could begin packing up.

We had over 150 visits during the week, loads of conversations about God and prayer, and many opportunities to share our faith naturally in response to questions. So what have learnt from this, our second Sanctum prayer room in school?

Young people accept and respect what's going on, even if they struggle to engage with it beyond the superficial. There's no doubt that just about everyone recognised it as a 'special place'.

Most young people struggle to articulate the spiritual because they do not have safe opportunities to do so. But when presented with something like 'Sanctum' they readily speak up about their thoughts and experiences. Some expressed a genuine gratitude to us for running Sanctum in their school.

An obvious point, but students get greatest benefit from the activities when someone explains it to them and then chats to them about it afterwards, developing a greater depth of understanding and reflection.

If we're to do a Sanctum 2, as some staff and students requested, we're going to have to work on some new material. This is also true of the possibility of taking a version of Sanctum into the Sixth Form College.

We don't yet have any further bookings, beyond previous expressions of interest. But from our experience of two very different schools I know we're doing the right thing.

Sanctum prayer room - days 3 & 4

Wednesday was another exciting day in the Sanctum prayer room as over 25 young people visited including some returning for a third time. The day felt somehow calmer than the first two, as if the novelty had worn off and the young people were beginning engage with the place in a more thoughtful way.

During the day we researched the idea of running Thursday as a Year 10 & 11 day, but drew a blank when it came to an effective way of promoting this with just a day's notice. There's still a lot of interest from staff who say they want to pop in.

Today, Thursday, we met as a team to pray before opening for break time. After three days when we've typically had about 8 in each break time we were staggered that no-one came! However, after break our prayer that Year 10 & 11's would find us were answered when two Year 11 girls came in to take some pictures for the school as part of a project. Although they couldn't stay for long, we chatted to them about what Sanctum is all about and they promised to send all their friends at lunch time.

At lunchtime about 18 Year 11's poured in and got stuck in to the various prayer activities. As we had suspected, they engaged really purposefully in the different activities and we ended up in some very honest and open conversations about God and faith. They absolutely loved it and made some very thoughtful responses. By way of contrast, after school one girl came in on her own and did the whole sequence of nine prayer activities, was very grateful and then left to go home.

Tomorrow is the last day in this school. I'm reminded that it was on the last day of the feast that Jesus stood up and made himself known to the crowds. May it be so on Friday. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

[Photo: by me and with permission of the school]

Sanctum prayer room - day 2

Although break is only effectively 10 minutes long here, we still had five young people visit briefly to take part in one or two of the stations, some picking up from where they left off yesterday.

At lunchtime we had 18 in, which is pretty much the limit. More than this and there's too many people trying to do any one prayer activity and it all feels a bit frantic. It already felt mildly frantic but we had myself, Tom, Joel (a local church youth worker) and the four members of Collective which meant we could each spend a bit more time with some of the young people guiding them through the different activities and chatting to them further about the possibility of a relationship with God.

Whilst the nine activities themselves create space for spiritual reflection, it's this personal contact with the Prayer Room Guides that makes the real difference. One lad opened up from not speaking to enthusiastically engaging in the different activities thanks to the sensitive nurturing of one of todays helpers.

A couple of girls came in after school and spent about 15 minutes catching up with sections they'd missed earlier. To end the day friends from the Colchester Boiler Room and Andrea from 24-7 Prayer joined us and took some time to try out the Sanctum experience. We prayed together for the young people and the school.

One thing we may try is to make Thursday a Year 10 & 11 day. We've seen a lot of KS3 students, but only a few KS4 students have poked their heads round the door so far. The different stations have been designed with them in mind, and although we've been impressed with the way the younger students have interacted with Sanctum, we'd like to test it with the older students.

Sanctum prayer room - day 1

This week we're running the second 'Sanctum' prayer room in school. The first week was at another school back in July.

I'm really interested to see how this week goes. The first went amazingly well; students responded well and Sanctum made a real impact on many of them - something that came through both from their written comments and conversations afterwards. So it's always fascinating to try the same thing out somewhere different - I have a feeling we'll learn a lot more about engaging young people in spirituality as a result.

Compared to last time the school we're in this week has a different demographic, is much smaller and we'll have students from Year 7 to 11. Last time we only had Years 7 to 9 because Year 10 were on Work Experience and Year 11 had left after exams.

Anyway, we set up this morning, including being able to pop into assembly to remind students Sanctum was happening. We're in a slightly bigger room than last time, but away from the main thoroughfares upstairs in an old RE room. Would people find us?

We opened at lunchtime and no sooner had the bell gone than four young people were bursting in to get started. Followed by another five shortly afterwards, then a load more. In all we had 17 students taking part and they all loved it, in a slightly hectic sort of way. Which got me thinking.

We know from Sanctum in July that for many young people slowing down a bit and taking even a little time to be still makes a real impact on them and for some connects them to a better understanding of God. But what of the ADHD generation? I think we had a few in today. One of the narrated activities on an mp3 player lasts only 4 minutes and includes something to do as part of the activity, but even this challenged the attention span of some young people! Between the obvious extremes of adapting entirely to an attention deficient generation or holding out for the few who can engage with a more reflective spirituality, we're attempting to strike a balance with a generous variety of activities that engage young people where they are but stretch their experience into a new place that has the potential to surprise them. We shall see.

Prayer Rooms in Schools & 24-7 Prayer

Yesterday I popped into London to meet up with Phil Togwell at the City of London Boiler Room, part of the 24-7 Prayer network. We were there to discuss prayer rooms in schools and I was updating him with what we are doing here in Colchester with Sanctum, our school prayer room project. I'm meeting today with another Deputy Head to finalise details of Sanctum in her school during the week beginning 22nd September.

We shared some of our respective stories and what we know of the few situations where something similar seems to be happening. We're aware of groups who have done prayer rooms for schools in Chichester and Ryton on Tyneside, but that's about it. However, there's definitely something new going on and we're wondering if anyone else out there in the UK has had a go at running a prayer room of any sort specifically in connection with a school. If that's you, or you know someone who has, please get in touch with me or with Phil. We might sort out an opportunity later in the autumn to get together to share stories and maybe reflect a bit theologically and educationally.

Sanctum - day 5

I think we can honestly say that Sanctum has matched our expectations in terms of the way it worked and exceeded our expectations when it comes to the response of the students.

We had several return visits this morning at break time, along with some new people. In fact, it was our busiest break time of the week. Lunchtime the sun was shining and most people were out on the field. However, a deft bit of detached work by myself and Tom (we're known to all as "Tim and Tom") meant that a few students who hadn't realised Sanctum was happening got to visit just in the nick of time. Again we had just the right number in the room and some great responses - a clear growth in awareness of the spiritual.

We also had a steady flow of teachers coming through to see what had been going on during the week. The general consensus was that Sanctum should happen here again next year.
Icing on the cake was a visit from a member of staff from another school who decided there and then that they need to have this happen in their school too.

As a team we'll review how it went and see if there's any fine tuning to do before we launch it again in September in the next school. For now we're deeply grateful to God for this incredible project, for those within the school who worked with us to ensure it linked with their priorities, for all the young people who amazed us with their responsiveness and proved it's worth doing, and for all those who helped to make it happen.

Sanctum - day 4

As expected, interest keeps growing and with it the numbers. We had more in at break time than ever before and, once again, 15 in at lunchtime, which is our capacity. In an amazing answer to prayer, we've never had to turn people away because the room is already full - it's like God is controlling the numbers!

Today we've had more girls in than before. There are also a few (boys and girls) who are making second or third visits and spending more time on activities they've appreciated before. A few staff have popped in for a look, but not as many as we still hope for.

Those visiting are in Years 7, 8 and 9. Year 10 are out on work experience and Year 11 have obviously left after GCSE's. It's this reduction in numbers that's freed up space for us to do Sanctum in the school. The activities have really connected with all three of these year groups often in a genuinely spiritual way. Some of their reflections, observations and prayers are very moving and reveal a formative spirituality. It still amazes and encourages us that the thing they appreciate most is the opportunity to be still.

The room also seems to create its own atmosphere. People are hushed, even though nowhere are they instructed to be quiet. Sometimes we're accidentally noisier than the students. There's a tangible reverence and respect in everyone who comes in.

Tomorrow we've got a member of staff visiting from at least one other school that's interested in hosting Sanctum (it's already booked for a second school in September). And I'm still praying that a few more staff from this week's school will pop in and see what the buzz has been about.

Sanctum - day 3

At break time we're tending to get a few people who pop in for a look and promise to come back at lunchtime. So this lunchtime numbers were again higher than on any previous day with 15 young people in the room at one time, which is our limit. This is to ensure that everyone gets enough space.

Although there's lots of activity it's amazing to watch many of the students totally absorbed in whichever bit they're doing. A group of 5 rather boisterous boys came in and I got them started on the first activity (listening to a reflective meditation on MP3 players and headphones) and helped them to stay focussed! By the time they'd moved on to the second activity they'd become absorbed and proceeded to stay for the whole thing.  We're still staggered at how well it's all working and how engaged the students are.

As before, we had more boys than girls, about 11 to 4, with two or three lads back for a second time after enjoying it so much yesterday.

With lunchtime now effectively full we're hoping that some young people will choose to come along after school as we're open until about 4. I had to leave straight after lunch so I missed out on any after school visitors. My afternoon was spent back at the office in a meeting about the CYO budget for next year. That went surprisingly well too!

Two more days. I'm praying that staff from four other schools that have expressed an interest will be able to see Sanctum before we take it all down on Friday evening.

Sanctum - day 2

Things stepped up a bit today with double the number of young people coming to visit the prayer room. If this keeps up we won't have room for them all.
One thing that has surprised us is the number of boys who are coming. At lunchtime we had 11 boys in the room, and no girls, which is nearly the maximum capacity at any one time. These lads are really engaging with the different activities and especially the 'holy of holies' quiet space. After school we had a couple of girls who spent about half an hour in the room.

The feedback we're getting from the students is very positive and points to a spiritual awareness of God's presence which is the whole point of the room. Also, today we overheard their name for the prayer room - "The Jesus Room". Which is kind of interesting as although "god" and "God" get a mention in some of the written refections, Jesus doesn't. I love it that young people give these things names that we wouldn't touch with a barge pole. We ran a football project locally called "Xtra Time". We made it clear that we were Christians but that was about it. So they called it "Christian Football"!

We've decided not to open up before school tomorrow - people are in too much of a rush, there's not really enough time (only 15 mins between being allowed into school and registration) and they tend to go straight to their form room.

Sanctum - day 1

This morning we set up Sanctum, a prayer room in a local secondary school. This followed a weekend of much last minute writing, designing and printing. The day also included a trip to buy huge quantities of white muslin for the "Holy of Holies" area and cutting down two bargain basement gazebos from Woolies to make them a little smaller and in proportion to the rest of the room. There's not much market for a 1.5m x 2m gazebo!
We were finished in good time for lunch time when the first students came in. The impact was immediately felt in a tangible peace that fell on the room. The young people completed all the stations and declared the Holy of Holies" space the best bit. One lad said, "it would be great to spend time in after a day at work."
After school a group of girls came in to check it out did one of the activities and said they'd be back tomorrow.
A good start - we were encouraged by their openness and willingness to participate, and particularly by their response to the various activities. Looking forward to tomorrow.