​A tribute to "Bible in schools" teacher John Cox ​(1928 - 2019).

​

​John Cox was a committed "Bible in schools" teacher for over 30 years, convening classes at Papakura Normal school and Papakura South school (now Kereru Park) as well as taking classes at Takanini, Cosgrove, Kelvin Road, Edmund Hillary, and possibly other schools.

I first met John in 1993, shortly after I arrived from the UK. I heard about the work of Churches Education Commission and was keen to get involved. Papakura area coordinator Pastor Bevan Whyte passed my name onto John who had a vacancy for a teacher in his team at Papakura Normal school. I expected John to contact me - but he didn't! Looking back, that was a typical reaction from John. He was always careful to ensure that Bible teachers at "his" schools were all of an acceptable standard, and thus was probably reluctant to take a chance on an unknown Englishman! However, about six weeks later, John did invite me to join his team. I am not sure whether the delay was because he tried but failed to get someone else before deciding to take a risk on me, or because he spent time "checking me out." I suspect the latter. I remained in John's team until about 3 years ago. John, himself, continued convening and teaching for a further year, finally stepping down at age 89!

John Cox was quite a remarkable storyteller.  Many would say that he was old fashioned, usually using flannelgraph to illustrate his Bible stores - but the children were always intrigued by it. Working with assembly type classes of around 100 children, we worked as a team with each teacher taking a designated part of the lesson. John would usually teach the Bible story as the conclusion. Unfortunately, we other teachers sometimes took less or more of our allotted time slots. This meant that John had to expand, or more often, contract his story at very short notice. But he always did so seamlessly. Even if he had to cut his story time in half, he could always do so in an unhurried way and manage to cover all the relevant points. 

John always began and concluded his lessons with prayer for the children, and he would always find time to read "the Word of God." Usually, about half way through his Bible story, he would pause from adding figures to his flannelgraph board, and say "Now, let's see what the Bible says about this." Having read from the Bible, he would go on to conclude his story.

Occasionally there would be a little too much background noise coming from the children. When this happens, I am sure that most teachers will raise their voices a little so as to be heard. John actually would go in the other direction and began to speak very quietly. And on nearly every occasion, the children would quieten down so that they could hear him!

John Cox was a very generous man. Every year, with the permission of the schools, he would give out Easter eggs at Easter and copies of Gospels (in rotation Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) at Christmas to over 200 children.

John Cox worked tirelessly for the Kingdom. As well as his work in the schools, he was always very active in the different Papakura churches he attended over many years, namely First Presbyterian church, Rosehill Presbyterian, and Harvest Christian church. John was also heavily involved with the Sunday school union and the Peter Snell Youth camp.

I am sure that John will have enjoyed hearing the words "Well done good and faithful servant" in his new glorious home.

Maurice Sweetsur