The local church and community
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain the role and importance of the Church and churches in the local community.
Key learning points
- Church, with a capital C, refers to the community of Christian believers, commonly referred to as the Body of Christ.
- Church with a lowercase "c" is usually used to refer to the place of worship, or a local church and congregation.
- The Church is often referred to as the Body of Christ because of unity and action among believers.
- The Church is often involved in local projects, outreach work and charity and local churches play a vital role in this.
- With the support of local churches, the Church supports local communities through food banks.
Keywords
Church - referring to a building in which Christians worship
Church - the People of God/Body of Christ, among whom Christ is present and active; members of a particular Christian denomination/tradition, eg Roman Catholic Church
Ecumenism - efforts by Christians of different Church traditions to develop closer relationships and better understandings
Food banks - places in local communities where people in need can go to collect food; often run/supported by local churches and religious charities
Common misconception
The Church is the Christian place of worship.
Church with a capital "C" refers to the community of Christian believers, and church with a lower case "c" refers to the Christian place of worship and often local churches and their congregations.
Teacher tip
You may wish to contextualise the verse from 1 Peter by sharing 1 Peter 5:1–4 with students.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Christians believe God is benevolent, which means all-loving.
Q2.Which of these shows how Christians can follow Jesus’ teaching?
Q3.What do Christians believe about Jesus’ resurrection?
Q4.What does the Apostles’ Creed say about God the Father?
Q5.What is the Christian view about the mission of Jesus?
Q6.The Holy Spirit came to the disciples at , after Jesus’ ascension.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Christians believe the Church is the of Christ, working together as Jesus’ hands and feet.
Q2.In the Parable of the and the Goats, Jesus teaches that helping others is a duty.
Q3.Jesus said, “I was thirsty, and you gave me a .”
Q4.What is one way local churches show support to their communities?
Q5.What does the word ‘church’ with a lowercase ‘c’ usually mean?
Q6.What does ecumenism encourage among Christians?
To help you plan your 10 religious education lesson on: The local church and community, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 religious education lesson on: The local church and community, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 religious education lessons from the Living the Christian life unit, dive into the full secondary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.