Prayers answered? A pipe dream? A fantasy? How do local churches connect with young people?
The number of young people in our churches has been declining, yet we know that many key spiritual decisions are made before the age of 18. Schoolswork is one clear and strategic answer. By providing high-quality schoolswork that inspires all pupils to engage with the Christian faith, in partnership with local churches, crossteach connects with over 15,000 young people every year.
In today’s diverse and fast-changing world, young people still seek meaning, purpose, and understanding. Christianity can offer real answers to their questions. crossteach plays a unique and valuable role in this journey. Whether students come from a Christian background, another faith, or none, crossteach creates meaningful opportunities for exploration and reflection.
Purposeful Approach
The work of crossteach is designed to enrich Religious Education (RE), support Collective Worship, and provide extracurricular activities that go beyond the classroom. crossteach aims:
- To provide direct encounters with Christians speaking about their faith in ways that are enjoyable, memorable, and challenging.
- To teach informed RE lessons that provoke critical enquiry and thoughtful reflection.
- To lead inspiring, stimulating Collective Worship that is relevant and respectful.
- To run extracurricular activities that allow pupils to explore fundamental questions about human life, religion, and belief.
These activities are carefully aligned with national and local educational guidelines to ensure they enhance school life. In one school, pupils achieved their best-ever GCSE RE results (2024 and 2025), with senior staff reportedly “gobsmacked” by the impact, and all for free.
Professional Partners
Since its foundation, crossteach has worked collegiately, building long-term, trusted relationships with schools and churches. Every session is delivered at the school’s invitation and under its direction, reflecting crossteach’s commitment to integrity, transparency, and partnership.
Thanks to this church-school collaboration, some young people have stepped from the school environment into a church community—occasionally leading to personal faith decisions. One recent baptismal testimony began, “It all started in a crossteach club.”
Importantly, crossteach is not in schools to persuade pupils to adopt Christian beliefs. Rather, it provides a clear and respectful account of what Christians believe and why. Its staff are distinctively Christian, speaking authentically and knowledgeably about their faith, in a way that encourages curiosity and critical thinking.
One secondary school teacher commented, “crossteach brings RE to life for our students. They explain Christian beliefs in a way that is both clear and challenging, but never pushy. The students always come away thinking more deeply.”
Bringing Faith to Life
For many pupils, crossteach offers their first real encounter with practising Christians. This face-to-face interaction often has a stronger impact than textbook learning, as students see how faith is lived in everyday life. Pupils are encouraged to ask honest questions, think critically, and form their own views—helping prepare them for life in a pluralistic society.
Themes like forgiveness, hope, and love regularly feature in sessions, offering not just intellectual stimulation but spiritual and moral development. Whether through a thought-provoking RE lesson, or an after-school discussion group, pupils are given space to consider what these values mean in their own lives.
One Year 10 pupil reflected, “They don’t tell you what to believe. They just explain what they believe and let you think about it for yourself. It really made me question things in a good way.”
A Lasting Impact
crossteach continues to serve schools across the country with integrity, warmth, and purpose—building bridges between faith and education, and leaving a lasting impression on the hearts and minds of young people.
crossteach is a growing organisation seeking to connect with more young people – planting new work and merging existing work into their team. But what part do you play in this strategic work? crossteach can support you in your schoolswork through training, access to resources and sharing expertise and experience. You can partner with crossteach through prayer, volunteering and donations. Doing nothing should not be an acceptable option. By getting involved, you can make a lasting impact.