God at Work
If you are struggling to see God at work at your place of work, then, hopefully, this will encourage you.
Earlier this year in June I invited Mark Sunderland and Ben McAvoy to come into the school where I teach and play during the assembly. Being an
Independent
School there is a tradition of singing hymns in assembly, but not much else. I thought a bit of variety would broaden the student’s appreciation of ‘religious music’.
The day before the band came in I taught the songs they were planning to use to all the students and the instant reaction was positive, which was very encouraging. Later in the day, I heard that the whole school – including the primary school on site – would attend the assembly on the following day, which was also great.
Mark, Ben and the band came in on the following day, did their stuff and blew the minds of teachers and students alike! They sang ‘Great is our God’, ‘Faithful One’, ‘Our God is an awesome God’, ‘Amazing Grace’ and a few others. Here is some of the fruit:
- Later that morning during break, several teachers said they thought the band and the music were fantastic; two teachers asked me for CDs, one teacher who was moving on asked for an email address so she would invite the band to her new school and another teacher simply exclaimed, “Jesus rocks!” None of these teachers, as far as I know, would describe themselves as Christians.
- Before lunch on the same day, I taught a group of Year 8 students. They came into class, sat down and then spontaneously burst into song: “Great is our God, sing with me…”
- My Year 10 GCSE group came to class and we had a great discussion about Christian music – it turns out that one student had just started going to church in
York
and the assembly gave her a great opportunity to talk to her friends about her experience and the Christian music she enjoys listening to.
- A group of international students from the school went on a trip on the next day. Whilst in the mini-bus they started singing, ‘Faithful One’. They didn’t understand all the words so asked the teachers what the words and phrases mean. We then had the teachers, who aren’t Christians, explaining Christian worship songs, words and phrases to the students – not a bad evangelism model!
- One year 7 girl who has no or minimal church background told me that she loved the song, ‘Great is our God’ because it made her feel “very emotional” when she sang it.
- Earlier this week, a sixth form student who again has minimal church experience, asked me when we are going to do some decent songs in assembly. She then sang me an example: “Great is our God, sing with me…” At first I thought this was amazing as she had only sung this song twice in her life and the last time was in June this year. However, then I thought maybe she has sung this many times since June, maybe she sings this song regularly?
- Earlier this week I taught the school the old classic (!), ‘Be still and know that I am God’. Later in the same day one of my colleagues told me he couldn’t get the words or the tune out of his head for most of the morning. Do you think God may have been speaking to him?
We are so blessed to sing the worship songs that we do. We love them, God loves them, but when we unleash them on the world, we discover that non-Christians love them too! I am just arranging for the band to come in again – and praying that God develops this work further and raises up a new generation of people who love to worship the God who loves them.
Tim Farnhill, 06/11/2006