Easter Experience 2018: Who Killed This Man?
At a time when it seems few young people know the basics of the Christian faith; it has been an amazing privilege for crossteach to be able to lead and support many ‘Easter Experience’ sessions.
Run for pupils in years 6 and 7, they take part in a murder mystery style investigation to work out who is responsible for the death of an unnamed victim. The portable experience has moved between many of the local churches we partner with, turning their buildings into a set of four crime scenes. This year, our Easter Experience was hosted by over 15 churches, with each building transformed in to a crime scene. Some others where run in schools.
We immediately challenge misconceptions with ‘Police Do Not Cross’ tape and people in strange outfits. A long way from the singing and praying many students were expecting during a church visit.
The pupils get to visit 4 zones where they engage with part of the Easter story, but in a new way. The Experience is highly interactive and enables pupils to see the story from the view of those involved. The pupils re-enact the victim’s last meal, they overhear him being betrayed in a garden, they take part in the victim’s trial and finally they visit the victim’s grave and speak with the guard there. They then get to review the evidence they have collected and decide who they think is most responsible for the death of the victim. The majority of pupils decided Jude (AKA Judas The Betrayer) was the person most responsible.
Pupils then learn why Christians celebrate Easter and why it is such a significant festival in the Christian calendar. They learn that many people had a role in the death of the victim, but that the Bible teaches it was God’s plan and Jesus went along with it willingly and never tried to change what was happening. It is was a great way to bring the story to life and the pupils thoroughly enjoyed taking part.
“The twist that Jesus knew and let it happen came out of the blue”
“You get to know the Easter story in a fun way.”
Not only is the Easter Experience a great educational experience, helping students learn about the Christian festival of Easter through interactive critical enquiry and thoughtful reflection, it is also delivered in an engaging way that makes it enjoyable and memorable.
The feedback from staff and pupil gives us great confidence that pupils who took part in the Easter Experience have a better understanding of why, every Easter, so many people in our community celebrate events that happened over 2,000 years ago.
“A wonderful way to access learning about faith, Christianity and the role of the church.”
“It was like a different level of learning – much deeper than anything I’ve ever taught or seen taught. The children were completely absorbed and involved in the acting out of the run up to Easter and all the different happenings.”
Easter Experience is provided and run, free of charge, by crossteach , a Christian educational charity supporting schools as they teach pupils about the Christian faith.
Why not get involved in crossteach Experiences?
If you live in an area where there is a crossteach team, there are many ways you could get involved;
Pray for our work and the Experiences specifically
Speak to your church leadership about being a host church for a local school
Volunteer to help at an Experience
Give financially to our work so we can carry on running Experiences for local schools.
If there is not a crossteach team in your area, you still have the opportunity to get involved;
Speak to your church leadership about running an Experience for your local school(s)
Contact crossteach to request the resources and to discuss training and support.