Council for Christian Education in Schools

The Council for Christian Education in Schools is an Australian religious organisation which also operates under the name of Access Ministries.^[1] Its stated mission is "to reach students and school communities in Victoria and beyond with the transforming love of God and His Son Jesus Christ."^[2] The organisation is funded through 12 Christian denominations: Anglican Church of Australia; Australian Christian Churches (Assemblies of God in Australia); Baptist Union of Victoria; Christian Brethren Fellowships in Victoria; Christian Reformed Churches of Australia; CRC Churches International; Churches of Christ in Australia; Lutheran Church of Australia; Presbyterian Church of Australia; Salvation Army; Uniting Church in Australia; and the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia.^[3]

Access Ministries is the largest provider of Christian Religious Education (CRE) in Victoria and is authorised to provide it under the regulations of the Victorian Education Act. Around 3,200 Access Ministries volunteers provide religious instruction to over 120,000 Victorian school children each week.

Controversies

There have been a range of controversies regarding Access Ministries' provision of Christian Religious Education in Victoria, including:

• Accusations of negligible training to provide education services. Volunteers complete six hours of initial formal training before teaching CRE to children compared to the one to four years of training required for teachers.^[4]
• A statement by the CEO of Access Ministries that "we need to go and make disciples", which is directly against government regulations which prohibits evangelising in schools.^[5]
• Providing a comic book for school students which was interpreted as suggesting that teachers were either too lazy or callous to help them unless God intervenes.^[6]

Following the controversies in September 2011 the Uniting Church declined to vote on a proposal to continue supporting Access Ministries. Instead they decided to form a new task group to discuss how to best teach Christian education considering that the law prohibits proselytising in public schools.^[7]

References

1. ^ Introduction
2. ^ Mission and Statement of Belief
3. ^ Church Support
4. ^ O'Brien, Susie (May 24, 2011). "Religious education instructors in schools after just hours of training". Herald Sun. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/religious-education-instructors-in-schools-after-just-hours-of-training/story-fn7x8me2-1226061577933. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 
5. ^ Topsfield, Jewel (May 13, 2011). "School religion classes probed". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/national/school-religion-classes-probed-20110512-1ekr9.html?from=age_sb. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 
6. ^ Topsfield, Jewel (May 6, 2011). "Teacher fury over God comic". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/teacher-fury-over-god-comic-20110505-1ea5a.html. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 
7. ^ Zwartz, Barney (September 17, 2011). "Church to probe Access". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/church-to-probe-access-20110920-1kjlz.html. Retrieved 21 September 2011.