The diocesan team supports churches and individuals across the diocese to develop their engagement through training, guidance, resources and coaching. They champion the Growing Younger priority for churches, creating and curating resources to help churches act.

This page outlines the support available for churches and individuals from the Diocese of London’s team. If you are hoping to start children or youth work from scratch in your church community, talk to your vicar / church leaders and safeguarding lead, then get in touch at youth@london.anglican.org.

Support for engaging children, young people and families

The team offers guidance, training, resources and coaching for churches looking to develop their activity, around the following areas and more:

  • Parent & toddler groups
  • Children and youth ministry
  • Listening to and empowering young people
  • Recruiting paid workers
  • Detached or community work
  • School partnerships
  • Online activities and promotion

We support anyone involved in leading a church community and their parish through:

  • Consultancy – answering questions, helping to refine strategies, signposting resources, supporting recruitment
  • The Launchpad course – short-term bespoke training for clergy in partnership with Youthscape
  • The Growing Younger Development Pathway – focused support for a church over an agreed time to help them develop and achieve specific goals

It is vital that paid workers feel supported in their role and we aim to help churches in a number of ways:

  • 1:1 support – Informal coaching to tackle issues head on and help sustain them in the role
  • Networking – Regular meetups to help people connect with and learn from others, solving problems together in person and through the online learning community
  • Cultivate – A course for anyone in a paid role without degree-level certification
  • Mighty Leaders – An online learning community with essential guidance, training and content to increase the skills and confidence of volunteers and their leaders.

Most things wouldn’t happen in a churches without volunteers. We aim to help churches in a number of ways:

  • 1:1 support – Informal coaching for volunteers who are leading others or managing a rota without a paid worker
  • Training events – In-person and online throughout the year, either run by the diocesan team or organised locally by Areas
  • Mighty Leaders – An online learning community with essential guidance, training and content to increase the skills and confidence of volunteers and their leaders.

We can support you in recruiting the right person for your community and helping them settle in. Whatever stage you’re at in the process, feel free to contact us.

Things we can help with include:

  • Refining the job scope and job description
  • Guidance on the right salary and benefits
  • Safeguarding expectations and processes
  • Guidance on what to expect and how to manage them
  • Distributing the vacancy through our networks
  • Ongoing supervision/advisory support

Email us if you’d like support with any of the above. Be sure to check the Diocese of London’s guidance for in-depth walkthrough of the safe recruitment process for churches.

If your vacancy is already online, you can submit your vacancy to be displayed on the Diocese jobs page. Make sure you’re also aware of the Apprentice Programme, which is a great opportunity to train someone from within your church.

Looking for a job?

Check the vacancies page. Some churches in our Diocese do not submit their job vacancies to our jobs page, so try searching on social media or church network job boards.

Growing Younger is a priority for churches as part of the Diocese of London’s 2030 vision to see every Londoner encounter the love of God in Christ.

We will start to realise this vision when every child within our diocese:

  • Lives in a parish that has a plan to welcome children and young people.
  • Lives near a church doing good, well-resourced youth and children’s work.
  • Lives near a church that has made a positive impact on their life as they have grown up.
  • Lives in a deanery with at least one church working to reach new young people and providing regular worship events for young people.
  • Meets Christians inside their school doing excellent schools ministry.
  • Has a clear link to a church doing excellent youth work if they attend a Church of England school

The Children and Youth Ministry Support team is focused on helping churches to prioritise “growing younger” and this is reflected through all the resources and programmes offered.

The Compassionate Communities team supports churches and chaplaincies who are involved in ministry and mission work to ensure young people have spaces to be safe; challenging youth violence, offering mentoring, and helping families in their parenting of young people.

Find out more here

Got a question?

For any questions about children, youth or family-related engagement feel free to send the team an email and the relevant person will get back to you soon.

Meet the team

Sam Donoghue

Head of Children & Youth Ministry Support

Sarah Agnew

Children & Families Ministry Advisor

Mike Rutt

Youth Ministry Advisor

Levi Phillips

Creative Lead, Growing Younger

Emma Biddle

Programme Manager, Growing Younger

Ruth Etang

Coordinator, The Apprentice Programme and The Spark Fund

Training Programmes and Events

Each year we offer an array of events and programmes to train people on the foundational and trending topics ones of children and youth work with an array of courses, seminars and events. We aim to provide encouragement, expertise and an environment where people feel safe to share their experiences and ideas.

Events coming up

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Ongoing programmes

The Apprentice Programme

Training up new children and youth workers

The Apprentice Programme aims to start new mission activity among children and youth in church communities across the Diocese of London, and raise up a new generation of children and youth workers from within our communities.

Find out more

Cultivate

A short-term development programme for paid workers

Cultivate equips people with the tools they need to have a greater impact on the community they serve. Delegates will embark on a journey with coaching, group reflection and self-guided learning. This combination of learning, practice and sharing will build confidence and equip people to thrive whilst working for a church.

Find out more

Launchpad

Contextual youth ministry training for clergy

Although some people become ordained having previously been a youth or children’s worker, most reach their first incumbency having had zero training or experience in working with young people. This course, developed in partnership with Youthscape, helps clergy start or develop youth work in their parish relevant to their context, with support and teaching from experienced practitioners along the way.

Find out more on Youthscape’s website. If you would like to attend a Launchpad course, speak to your Area Bishop.

Resources for churches

The team work with people from across the Diocese of London and beyond to create relevant, practical resources that directly address the challenges we face as a diocese. Some of these are downloadable materials, some are courses. The goal is to make things that help our worshipping communities create lasting impact.

Download the resources created so far below and feel free to email us at youth@london.anglican.org if you have an idea for a resource that every church could use.

Stay in the loop…

We develop and curate practical content and resources on a regular basis and share these with our email subscribers and social media followers. Connect with us via our these links – then share the page with your church if you want people to be equipped and inspired!

Content and updates

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