crossteach is collegiate: we have joined the Evangelical Alliance

crossteach is collegiate: we have joined the Evangelical Alliance

We are delighted to be able to announce that we are now formally members the Evangelical Alliance (EA).

The EA has at its heart a desire for unity among evangelical Christians; “We are the largest and oldest body representing the UK’s two million evangelical Christians. For more than 165 years, we have been bringing Christians together and helping them listen to, and be heard by, the government, media and society.

From Skye to Southampton, from Coleraine to Cardiff, we work across 81 denominations, 4,000 churches, 600 organisations and thousands of individual members. And we’re not just connecting Christians within the UK. We are a founding member of the World Evangelical Alliance, a global network of more than 600 million evangelical Christians, and we work in partnership with Global Connections, the UK evangelical Christian network for world mission. Unity is what drives us – but not just for unity’s sake.”

You can read more about EA here: Evangelical Alliance

In the last 12 months we have also joined the Midlands Gospel Partnership (MGP) (Midlands Gospel Partnership) and Affinity (Affinity). Two other non-denominational organisations seeking to unite churches and Christians.

These memberships reflect our desire to be collegiate: working in partnership with other Christians to teach about the Christian faith in schools.

We have recently rewritten our mission, vision, aims and approach (*You can see the new statements here – crossteach). The commitment to be collegiate was re-established and emphasised. In every area where we work we seek to build strong partnerships with local churches, local Christians, other Christian organisations and local schools. Some of the ways this is seen include;

Volunteers from churches assisting with lunch clubs and Experiences.

Our Local Support Teams, made up of representatives from local churches.

Churches hosting our Experiences and events.

Joint activities with other organisations

Attending church prayer meetings and services to inform people about our work

We have increased work with larger organisations and other non-denominational groups. (A list of some of the groups we work with can be found in most recent Annual Report.) The ways in which we work with these groups does vary, but will include;

Training others about Christian schools work (e.g. Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Big E Day)

Providing resources (e.g. Christian Teachers London and Sorted)

Leading youthwork (e.g. Bible by the Beach and Word Alive)

As with EA, MGP and Affinity, some of these partnerships are through formal membership and others are more informal agreements.

We have a desire to grow the work of crossteach and recognise that memberships, affiliations and close partnerships with these larger organisations is a way to increase awareness of our work in a way that might lead to more professional, distinctively Christian schools work happening across the country.

Not only are these relationships mutually beneficial, they demonstrate our commitment to unity in the gospel and a sincere desire to work collegiately with as many of our brothers and sisters in Christ as we can.

If you would like to find out how you can work more closely with us, please do get in touch with your local team.