Who is SUSA?
Scripture Union South Australia is a Christian organisation with over 145 years’ experience working with children, youth and families in over 120 countries, and is well known for producing educational material and Bible resources for churches and individuals. In co-operation with volunteers from local churches, we train and resource volunteers to conduct classroom and seminar programs in primary and high schools, as well as voluntary student groups during lunchtimes or after school. SUSA also runs popular holiday and camping programs for families and young people.
It is a founding member of the Schools’ Ministry Group (SMG), established by the Heads of Churches in South Australia. This group co-ordinates the Christian Pastoral Support Program (Chaplaincy) in schools throughout South Australia.
Scripture Union in South Australia is affiliated with Scripture Union organisations in each Australian State and Territory, and in over 120 other countries. Scripture Union in SA is run by a small professional team working with volunteers from all major church denominations.
Find out more by reading Who We Are and What We Do.
Visit Our History, Our Aims and Beliefs, and Our Working Principles pages for further information.
A Parents Concern
Many Parents have fears about the inclusion of ‘Religious’ groups into their community and school curricula. However it is important to point out that all SUSA programs operate within the boundaries established by the Department of Education. These boundaries prohibit any organisation, whether faith based or otherwise from ‘proselytising’, which can be defined as ‘efforts to induce or coerce a person to accept a particular religion, belief or way of life’. Our school programs teach about the Christian faith from an historical, cultural and values basis. They do not proselytise.
At SUSA we believe that the spiritual aspect of humanity is important and often overlooked. According to Australian polling data, over 60% of Australians identify themselves as Christian and around 80% state that they believe in the existence of God. SUSA recognises this, and believe that religion still plays an important part in Australian lives. As Australia is predominantly a Christian nation, SUSA seeks to teach the basic history, beliefs and values of Christianity. It is of course up to parents to guide and educate their own children as to what they want them to believe, and with any school program parents can choose for their children not to participate in the programs SUSA conduct.
Staff and Volunteer Checks, Training and Requirements.
At SUSA we strongly believe that children are precious. They’re also the most vulnerable members of our community. Which is why all SUSA school staff and volunteers must be approved through the Department of Education requirements of a DCSI (Department for Communities and Social Inclusion) Employment Screening Check, undergo the Responding to Abuse & Neglect training course, and do the ChildSafe training program.
Our volunteers also undergo referee checks to make sure they are suitable people to be involved. So you can see at SUSA we go above and beyond the legal and DECD requirements in order to ensure the safety of young people and suitability of volunteers and staff.
Visit our ChildSafe page for more information about this training program.
Read our ‘Process, Procedure and Protocol’ page to see the necessary hoops that we put applicants through BEFORE they can become a Scripture Union Volunteer.
Our Promise
Our method of engagement, practice and materials are designed to educate and present information in a way that young people can easily understand. None of our programs are designed to indoctrinate students into the Christian faith, nor to promote any one approach into it.
They are not designed to build up the faith or knowledge of those students with a Christian background, but are intended to allow all students to become aware of who Jesus is, and what he teaches. They aim to broaden students’ options, as they consider the major questions of life, in an informative and educational way.
While some of our programs and resources are produced from Scripture Union interstate, the overwhelming majority of our curricula and materials used in our programs have been designed by South Australian educators, specifically for use in the schools of this state. They reflect current educational practice, and are designed to complement other religious education courses.
SUSA’s programs are taught by trained teams, made up of local people, drawn from a variety of local churches, working in partnership with Scripture Union personnel.
We thank you for taking an interest and for visiting our site.
Please read the more commonly raised questions (FAQ) we receive. It is our hope that any questions you may have are answered. If not, please contact us with your question.