Our Theologically Rooted Christian Vision
"Love God, love yourself love your neighbour."
LUKE 10:27
Rationale of our Christian Vision
“Love God, Love yourself, Love your neighbour” adapted from Luke 10.27
As our community is richly diverse we want to ensure we explore and share faith to cement relationships, foster acceptance of all faiths and celebrate the uniqueness of all. We will live out our vision through our collective worship, RE curriculum, pupil leadership, visitors and all aspects of the life of our school. We will explore faith from various perspectives, global cultures. We will be rooted in biblical teaching having a deeply Christian foundation, “Love God, Love yourself, Love your neighbour” (adapted from Luke 10.27) with at its heart.
In our unique Bishop Bridgeman community; due to context, low socio economics, poverty, SEND, low aspiration and impact post pandemic we have a moral duty to enable our children, parents and families to love themselves. Through our vision we enable our children and families to see themselves as God sees them, unique and wonderfully made. Mental health of our children and families is a constant challenge, our belief is that our children must learn to love themselves in order to then love their neighbours. We then translate our faith in action on a day to day relational basis, within the local community and the wider, global community.
We will always value and care for each other as an expression of our vision and Gospel values of faith, hope and love. We will ensure we respect one another, our diverse culture and show love and care to one another. We aim to show God’s love to one another showing compassions for all children, families and those in our local and wider community, irrespective of race, religion or background. This is the rationale to base our vision on the parable of The Good Samaritan.
To read more about our rationale click here
The Five Elements of our Vision
We are all very familiar with the Bible story of The Good Samaritan, but why does it mean so much to our school community? What makes this story so important is that Jews and Samaritans are historical enemies. Jews didn’t talk to Samaritans as they considered them enemies, and this was returned by the Samaritans. Like any parable, Jesus used this story to teach us lessons about life and about God. To help us understand the meaning of the parable, and how we can take action ourselves, we have broken the story up into five meaningful components: More than Intent, Speak Up Speak Out, Courageous Advocacy, Servant Leadership and Prayer. We have chosen these areas because the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us:
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to take action and not ignore those in need
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to speak up and speak out about injustice in the world
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to treat others who are different from us with equal compassion and kindness
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to be brave and stand up for what is right
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to serve others before serving ourselves
Each component of our vision is broken down further so that it helps our school community to understand what we stand for as a church school.
We try at all times to live out with action, to love, help and support each other. The Good Samaritan’s intent didn’t save the wounded man. It was his actions that ultimately saved the man’s life. The Samaritan put his business on hold to tend to the needs of an injured stranger. The Samaritan was taking action to show that he ‘loved his neighbour’ because in Jesus’ mind, to love God is to make anyone who needs your help into our neighbour. The parable teaches us that it is easy to love our friends and family, but much more difficult to love those who we might not get along with. Jesus wants us to be moved by exceptional compassion and take action – and show a love to all that does not discriminate.
Don’t be a Bystander! We must go beyond compassion and become concerned for justice and inequality. By doing this, we can make a difference. The Good Samaritan showed mercy and compassion. The parable teaches us that we should “love our neighbours as ourselves” and when other people need us the most, like the injured man on the road, that is when our love for our neighbour is truly tested. Jesus tells us to be like the Good Samaritan and help others in need, not to ignore them like the Priest and the Levite who ignored the Samaritan. Winston Churchill said “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak.” Let us go back to Proverbs 31. “Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless.” Who did Jesus speak up for? In Luke’s gospel he spoke up for the women, children, tax-collectors, the poor, the outcast and the foreigner. We encourage our children to take action and speak up and speak out for those who might need it the most.
When you are courageous, you must be brave. If you are an advocate, you are helping someone. Jesus told us that the Father would send an advocate to be with us. In St John’s, gospel Jesus says “And I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.” In being courageous advocates, we speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. The Bible says in Proverbs 31:8-9. “Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Being a courageous advocate isn’t always easy, but speak up even if your voice shakes. Think back to the story of the Good Samaritan – it was about helping and speaking up for others. The Samaritan takes a risk to help the injured stranger as he was at risk of being robbed or injured himself. However, he was happy to take these risks because he acts as if his own life were the one in question – he was courageous enough to put the injured man before his own needs. Through the parable, Jesus teaches us that this is the best example of what it might mean to “love your neighbour as yourself”.
We aim to encourage everyone to become servant leaders, to provide opportunities for children and adults to lead and serve, therefore raising the quality of life for all. Martin Luther King Jr. said “Everybody can be great..... because anybody can serve. You don’t need a college degree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. And a soul generated by love.” We have the ultimate example of servant leadership in Jesus, he was a great leader, but firstly a great servant. In the Bible there are over 1300 references to servant/ service or serve.
Servant leadership is about:
* Serving others, not yourself.
* Servant leaders are called to a purpose, not a position.
* Servant leaders listen.
* Servant leaders build a community.
* Servant leaders focus on the needs of others.
We must remember the commandment that Jesus gave us: “A new commandment I give to you: love one another, as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The Good Samaritan showed great love for God and love for his neighbour by taking care of the injured man (neighbour). He used his own material wealth to support the man by paying for his care at the Inn. He also put on hold what he was doing to help the stranger. He put the needs of the vulnerable stranger ahead of his own. Matthew 25:40 says “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” This shows that the actions of the Samaritan shows that he ‘Loves God’ and ‘Loves Your Neighbour’.
We are passionate about prayer! Through prayer we can individually and collectively support and care for those who need it and give thanks for all that our community brings. We can use prayer to help us with our well-being, to show that not only do we ‘Love God’ but we ‘Love Yourself’. Philippians 4:6 tells us “Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks”. We can use prayer to pray for those who are in greater need than ourselves.
Our Vision in Action
Our Christian Vision is rooted through Luke 10:27 “Jesus said; Love God, Love yourself, Love your neighbour.” The Parable of the Good Samaritan underpins that vision and symbolises what we stand for as a school. We use this vision to develop our school community into a place of love; where people put kindness and others first. The vision is broken down into five key components that help our school community understand how they can live and breathe the vision through daily life at school and at home.
This is how our Christian vision is lived out in the wider life of the school:
Our Vision in Action by Bishop Bridgeman Ethos Groups
Ethos leadership groups have looked at where our vision can be seen in action in every day life at Bishop Bridgeman. Click on the document to download.
To look more closely at the work of our Ethos leadership groups click on the button below.
