Michael Newton, Principal of Leppington Anglican College shares how he values CRU’s partnership in the gospel.
In the heart of southwest Sydney is Leppington Anglican College. This new Pre-K to Year 9 co-educational school opened 2 years ago in the growing, multicultural community of Leppington, 20 minutes from Liverpool and Camden. Founding principal, Michael Newton, is so thankful for God’s gracious hand. “We feel incredibly blessed with the way the school has grown so rapidly. It’s been a lot of hard work building a school from scratch but overall it’s been terrific” says Michael. The college is set to expand to Year 12 by 2028.
Leppington Anglican College really values CRU’s partnership in supporting Christian students and teachers in their very multi-faith community, and is particularly thankful for the support received from Schools Ministry Worker, Dan Perrott, who regularly speaks at their CRU Groups and chapel services.
Michael explains, “CRU Groups are so important to us because we want young people to understand that life to the full only comes through being in Christ. We want to support those students who are exploring faith, and those who are already committed Christians, so they have a place to continue growing within the school community context, and also building them up to reach their friends. Michael continues, “I think that’s a very powerful way to share the gospel, they can hear it from teachers but when they see the transformation in their friends, I think that’s probably more powerful.”
“Our goal is to present the gospel in a loving community in a way that gives God the opportunity to knock on the door of their heart.”
Leppington Anglican College now has 4 CRU Groups with approximately 20 students attending each group every week during a regular term. These lunchtime groups are on an encouraging growth trajectory with the number of groups and kids increasing. Many of these students are also going to local youth groups and the college is seeing whole families in some cases becoming Christian.
Non-Christian students are attending CRU Groups as a place outside the classroom to be able to ask questions about life and faith. Michael recounts the story of a Year 9 student from a Hindu family explaining, ”you can just see God working in her heart, by the questions that she is asking, and the connection that she’s making. The fact that we’re providing a lovely community for them to feel safe to ask those questions I think is wonderful.”
Leppington Anglican College chapel
Leppington Anglican College also partners with CRU Educational Camps to run several of their school camps. Michael reflects that “they were the best camps I have ever been on and I’ve done a lot of camps over 20 years of education, we’ve shifted more of our camps to be with CRU from next year, after starting initially with the camp at Galston Gorge.” Michael adds “I was impressed with the staff, facilities, food, the way the activities were run, and particularly the engagement of the staff. It felt like an above and beyond approach, the way that they share their faith and the manner that was kind and gentle was terrific.” This year they will be going to Lake Mac for the first time too.
Michael explains, “our goal is to present the gospel in a loving community in a way that gives God the opportunity to knock on the door of their heart. We know we’re playing a long game here, so we don’t want to lose sight of the vision of the school which is a quality Christian Education that points young people towards Christ”.
Please join us in thanking God for Michael, the staff, and the students at Leppington Anglican College. We are really thankful for our partnership in the gospel with this new collage and the new opportunities provided for the students to explore faith and consider the good news of Jesus.