Religious Education in Year 4

For our final week of the Pentecost topic in Religious Education, Year 4 learnt about the life and work of St. Paul, who was an apostle of Christ.

We read Acts 9:1-19 about Paul’s conversion to Christianity. Paul was originally called Saul. He was a Jew who came from Tarsus. He grew up in a Jewish home. He was a Pharisee and did everything he could to be a good man. He kept every rule there was to keep, but he did not like the followers of Jesus. He did his best to wipe them out; however, God filled his mind and heart with the light of truth as he was on his way to Damascus, and he recognised who Jesus was. He knew he owed everything to God’s love. All he wanted to do was spread the Good News of that love all over the world.

We looked at a map of all of the places which St. Paul visited in the Mediterranean including Corinth, Philippi and Ephesus. When St. Paul got to each new place, he would start a church and establish Christian community in the town and then move on to another place. He would often write to the people of the town where the Christian community had been started, offering them advice and encouragement. Sometimes he sent one of his friends to help them. We looked at how the epistles after the Acts of the apostles are addressed to some of the communities on the map and matched them up.

Year 4 then explained why Paul chose to travel around the world spreading the Good News and what these journeys tell us about the new life Paul received tell us about his desire to share this new life with others.

Next week, we will be studying Islam during our ‘Other Faiths’ week! I am so excited to learn more about the Holy Qur’an and the Islamic faith with you!

What did you enjoy learning about in our Religious Education lessons this week?