Hope during lockdown

Emma Pfahlert, a teacher and chaplain at Danebank Anglican School for Girls, runs the senior lunchtime CRU Groups each week. Like many other Sydney teachers and students, Emma and her CRU Groups found themselves needing to tackle the challenges that came with being in lockdown during the second half of 2021. Although difficult, the unusual circumstances encouraged Emma as she recognised God’s work in her students and received support from CRU’s Schools Ministry staff.

During a regular term, the Year 7-10 CRU Group, Focus, usually hosts around 50 students and the Year 11-12 CRU Group sees 10-20 attending each week. However, remote learning during the Term 3 COVID lockdown meant that lunchtime Christian groups at Danebank could not meet in person. Instead, Emma ran the Focus CRU Group online over Zoom.

Given that the students were “so over Zoom” she wasn’t expecting many girls to join. But to her amazement, around 25 girls consistently joined each week. She shares, “I think they really appreciated the opportunity to keep connecting with one another in a more relaxed way. It wasn’t a formal class.”

Pictured: Emma hosting a virtual CRU Group

Continuing to meet during lockdown was crucial for Emma, especially with only one-third of students in the group regularly attending a church or youth group. “Two-thirds of the group don’t attend anything. They don’t go to church, and they don’t go to a youth group, but they’re coming along to the CRU Group,” explains Emma. “They’ve been brought along by friends, and I think they just enjoy it. They hear about the Christian faith in chapel and Christian studies, and they want to know a little bit more.”

Emma believes meeting online during lockdown has helped her students continue in their faith during these difficult times. “I think it’s kept God on the agenda. It was a time of uncertainty, and girls were feeling quite anxious about the future, but meeting helped them to keep thinking about God and the hope that we have in Jesus. They know that this is not what life is going to be like forever and certainly not into eternity,” she reflects.

“We kept encouraging them that God is sovereign and in control over all things. Even though we don’t know what’s ahead, He does. To keep being reminded of those things during COVID was really helpful. Everyone was quite isolated, but for them to be reminded of God and to meet with other Christians regularly was a great encouragement.”

During COVID, the CRU Schools Ministry team has been working hard to support teachers and students with video talks, resources, and in prayer. Emma is particularly thankful for the support she’s received from Schools Ministry Worker Kellie Thomson. She recounts, “It’s just been wonderful. Kellie is always willing to help out in any way she can. During COVID, Kellie and the Schools Ministry Associates were willing and able to do a couple of video talks for me. They were fantastic, and I was able to use them for our chapel.”

Even before the COVID lockdown, Emma and her students were thankful for the CRU staff who visited their lunchtime group. Emma explains, “Kellie, Naomi and Laura all came along at various times, and it was just wonderful to have their support and encouragement because it can be exhausting, week in, week out, doing chapel talks and lunchtime groups. To have that support was terrific.” Emma also mentioned that “the students love hearing the personal stories of CRU ® staff. They find it so encouraging to hear from other Christians who aren’t their teachers, but other young women of faith.”

One of CRU’s Schools Ministry initiatives during COVID was to release free digital resources to assist teachers in running their online lunchtime groups. In Term 4, Emma was excited to use CRU’s Romans 8 digital resource. “There’s a game, Bible verses and high-quality video talks, and then you have discussion questions and encouragement to pray at the end. It’s a really nice structure and has just saved so much time,” she shares.

CRU praises God for the privilege of being able to support teachers and chaplains like Emma and hear about the fruit that comes from students attending lunchtime CRU Groups. As a new year begins, we pray that God will continue working through CRU to encourage students in their faith and help them rise above unexpected challenges.

“By coming to CRU Group, the girls have been encouraged in their own faith journey to keep praying and to keep reading the Bible. Having that time structured in the week where they were being reminded of the hope that we have in Jesus has kept God on the agenda for them.”