Year Book 2013 - page 38

Religious Studies
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Year 11 and 12 Religious Studies for 2013 focused on three units of work including the
History of Christianity from 1400, Encountering Ethical Issues, and more recently, a
Christian Service unit. These units were designed to develop student understanding of
thenatureof faithand spirituality and to respond to concepts and issueswithina context
of religious literacy.Welookedspecificallyat thepast600yearsofChristianityandvarious
developments in the churchandalsoat a rangeof ethical issues andhowethical thinking
hasdeveloped throughWesternphilosophy topresent times. Studentswere thenasked
about their Christian worldview perspective on issues such as Biotechnology, ethics in
the media and ethics in times of war. Students undertook a unit of Christian service in
Semester 2which had a practical service component, requiring 20 hours of service in the
community. We read fromMark 10: 44-45 -”And whoever wishes to be first among you
shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life a ransom for many.” Students used the semester not to be served, but to
serve, and we saw students volunteering in a range of capacities including the Lifeline
Book Fair, the Yellow Van initiative, Missionheart, Meals of Love, various church run
programs, refereeing soccer games for disabled children, supporting struggling family
members, running healthy breakfasts for students, hospital visitations and providing
support for the elderly. We are proud of the way students have engaged with this
practical componentof thecourseandhaveheardmanypositive reports fromthosewho
were blessed through the work of our College students in modelling the way of Jesus.