Mission doesn’t always mean travelling to the other side of the world. Sometimes it means helping at home, noticing the person who needs a friend, caring for creation or simply sharing a smile with someone to show that they are loved. That was the message at the heart of a special retreat day in July for Year 6 pupils at St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School in Ripon.
Mission Together were delighted to lead the day, alongside the school’s new headteacher, Mrs Ali Hakes, giving the children an opportunity to look back over their years at primary school and look forward with confidence and courage as they prepare to start new schools in September.
For Year 6 children across the country, this next step can bring a mixture of excitement and nerves. Taking time to pause, reflect, thank God and pray together gave the children space to name those feelings and take a deep breath before the school gates closed for the summer.
The day began by exploring what it means to be ‘sent’ on a mission. The children heard that, as Christians, we are all called to share God’s love with our global family.
Fr Jonathan Hart, parish priest, shared stories from his time as a missionary priest in Peru and helped the children see that being a missionary is not always about going overseas. We don’t all have to travel great distances to be missionaries – our mission begins wherever we are. We can be missionaries in our families, schools and local communities, sharing God’s love through small acts of service and kindness every day.
Prayer games led by Maria from Mission Together and parish volunteers Celia and Denise, helped the children explore this idea in practical ways. Fruit Salad Prayer invited them to think about the sweet and lovely things in their lives. As they ate grapes, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, they gave thanks to God for family, friends, teachers and happy primary school memories. Favourite foods and pets also featured, alongside gratitude for the world and all God’s wonderful creation.
Mission Together’s logo shows children holding hands around the globe, representing unity, solidarity and friendship. The huge inflatable globe brought that image to life, helping the children appreciate both the size of our world and our responsibility to care for it. Working together to pass the globe around the circle, the children thought about ways they could be good stewards of creation: picking up litter, reusing and recycling, saving water and caring for bees.
Their mission, they discovered, does not have to be something grand. It can begin with what is right in front of them.
The morning ended with Blanket Prayer, a musical-statues-style activity. When the music stopped, the children crouched down with their eyes closed and, one by one, were covered by a blanket. It was a simple reminder that wherever they go, God’s love surrounds and comforts them. The children delighted in discovering who was hidden beneath the blanket and called out, ‘God bless you!’ as each person was revealed.
After lunch, the focus turned to St Francis, another missionary who rejoiced in God’s care for creation. The children heard how he marvelled at the birds, with their feathers, wings and freedom to fly.
Birds that migrate across the world offered another way to think about mission. Just as birds travel with purpose to places where life can flourish, missionaries are sent wherever God’s life-giving love is needed. Near or far, our mission is to bring love to help life flourish.
The children folded origami birds and wrote their hopes or worries beneath the wings, creating a beautiful focal point for the Mass that brought the day to a close.
As schools return in September, Mission Together wishes all those taking their next step – whether starting nursery, Reception, Key Stage 1 or 2, or beginning Year 7 – a very happy start to the new academic year, filled with many blessings.
And for the Year 6 children of St Wilfrid’s, the message of the day is one they can carry with them wherever they go: you don’t have to go far to be a missionary. Use your gifts, notice the needs around you, care for God’s creation and, through small acts of love, help to make God’s world a better place.