Please consider giving your support to the Sunrise Christian School in Glasgow, Scotland. Here is a recent communication from Stephen McCollum, a teacher at Sunrise and a licentiate of the RP Church of Scotland and an elder in Airdrie RPC.
“Our school began in August 2014 and I was the first and only teacher. The school is overseen by a Board with representation from the Reformed
Presbyterian Church, Free Church (Continuing), and Reformed Baptists. All teachers must subscribe to a Reformed confession of faith, such as the Westminster Standards or Three Forms. During our assembly when we worship, we exclusively sing from the Psalter, although we obviously sing other songs at other times in the day. This practice of singing from the Psalter is protected in our constitution. At present, we sing from the Scottish Psalter to promote unity. We now have three teachers, two from the Reformed Presbyterian Church and one from the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The children learn the Westminster Shorter Catechism as well as learning all subjects from the Reformed worldview.
“Although Scotland has a heritage of Reformed worship, this has died away largely. We also had a heritage of Reformed schools, but this is long gone. Scotland is a secular country with an aggressively liberal Government. Sunrise Christian School is one of only a handful of Christian schools in Scotland, but there is only one other Reformed school besides us. Since the Reformed church is so small in Scotland we have had to struggle financially, receiving no support from the Government. We began not thinking we could pay salaries. That being said, our school has developed tremendously in the past two and half years. We see this as a sign of the Lord’s blessing. My first day in August 2014 had only three pupils, but we now have 26 pupils!
“Although we are a Reformed school that sings the psalms in assembly, most of our families do not come from a Reformed background and very few of the children sing the psalms in their churches or families. Some of our children even come from non-Christian backgrounds. We are so excited that we can train up the next generation in the ways of the Lord, and especially that we can instil in them a love for the Psalter at this young age. We memorise a metrical verse each week and the children are always so excited when I tell them that they have memorised another chapter of the Bible!
“Even yesterday some older pupils asked if they could sing some psalms during break and it wasn’t long before others came and joined them. You can check out a video of it here:
https://www.facebook.com/SunriseChristianSchoolGlasgow/videos/ and you can listen to some of our psalm singing on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/user-736031721
Further information can be found on our webpage
www.sunrisechristianschool.org.uk
“Should any be willing to donate to our school, this can easily be done online at here. We have been able to increase our income in various ways so that we are financially stable. But due to our quick growth we must soon employ a part-time administrative assistant and we have also outgrown our current building which we rent. We hope to be able to buy our own building as soon as possible and look for all the help from those who are supportive of the Reformed faith. These factors mean that we will have to stretch a little bit more financially. However, we are so pleased to have come to this extent.
“If you would be interested in more information, please feel free to get in touch with me.”
Every blessing,
Stephen McCollum
Teacher, Sunrise Christian School
www.sunrisechristianschool.org.uk
Registered Scottish Charity: Charity Number SC045287
Exclusive Psalmody 