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Support: Children & Youth

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COVID-19 response support: Scroll down for resources and information

The Diocese of London employs a team of people whose role is to support those working with children and youth in local communities. We provide direct support and guidance, create online resources and develop partnerships with ministry specialists to help churches reach the full potentional in engaging children and young people.

If you are interested in developing children or youth work in your church, have a look around the webpages here, then talk to your vicar or safeguarding lead or email the children and youth support team at youth@nulllondon.anglican.org or children@nulllondon.anglican.org.

Double the number of young people involved in local Christian community

Children's Ministry

We are committed to support those who work with children in our churches. Click below to view what support we can offer.

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Youth Ministry

We offer help and advice to support the church in engaging young people, through Capital Youth and our partnerships with specialists.

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COVID-19 response support

Recent updates:

  • Updated upcoming events
  • New summary of guidance added from national CY Advisor group
  • New curated list on engaging children and youth on racial injustice and inequality

In our aim to support those working with children and youth, we’ve been curating resources and guidance that will be helpful and practical for those adapting their regular activities. This page is your go-to source for key information specific to working with children, youth and families.

If you have any suggestions for what can be added to this section, please feel free to email us at youth@nulllondon.anglican.org.

Official guidance on COVID-19 response for churches

The most direct advice we can give at this time is to continue to follow government guidelines. Please review the guidance from the Church of England, who are updating their guidance daily based on direct conversation with those providing the national guidelines from our government. You can find guidance specific to the Diocese of London here.

New guidance: getting everyone back together safely

A group of diocesan children and youth ministry advisors from around the UK have been working hard to dissect national government, church and youthwork association guidelines, in order to provide those working with children and youth a quicker summary of what is expected as we return to face-to-face meetings. This document and flow chart should be used to help you make informed decisions locally, in conjunction with the full guidelines.

Please note, where ‘creche’ is referenced this typically refers to children aged 0-5.

Download the PDF

Online meetings for those working with children and youth

We have started gathering anyone working with children and youth online using video conferencing to provide community, encouragement and a platform for exchanging ideas to those feeling isolated in their roles. To receive updates, subscribe to our email list and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join via Zoom (one-time registration links below) or watch the livestreams on our Facebook page.

We have enabled registration to deter any spammers from joining. Please join us 5 mins early if you can so we can go live on Facebook quickly!

Morning Meetup

Tuesdays 11:30-12:30

Our weekly catchup on all things new, hearing from you, praying together and encouraging one another. Wherever you’re from, you’re welcome to join us. Throughout August we’ll be running a ‘summer fun’ series!

4 August: Summer fun bake-along with Alex Taylor

We’re going to be making gingerbread, live! Join us on Zoom or watch on Facebook.

Ingredients you’ll need:

  • 350g plain flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 125g butter or spread
  • 175g light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 4 tbsp golden syrup
  • Writing icing or icing sugar and a piping bag
  • Any decorations you’d like to use

Equipment:

  • Kitchen scales
  • Teaspoon and tablespoon
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Smaller bowl
  • Fork
  • Rolling pin
  • Biscuit cutters or knife
  • Baking sheets
  • Baking paper
  • Cooling rack
  • Oven

11 August: Summer fun craft with Mina Munns

18 August: Summer fun creative prayer with Susy Dand

Click the link to register once for every Tuesday Meetup.

REGISTER

Intercession for children and youth

Wednesdays 09:00-09:30

Join us and the team behind With (All Hallows Ditchingham) as we pray every Wednesday morning for children and young people. There will be a simple liturgy and space for silence and personal prayer.

REGISTER

Evening Hangout

Thursdays 20:15-21:00

Each week we invite one or two guests to join us for a chat on a specific theme or event relevant to those working with children and youth.

6 August: Teenagers and grief with Madeleine Davis

Madeleine Davies is deputy news and features editor at Church Times. Lights for the Path: A guide through grief, pain and loss is her first book and draws on her own experience and interviews with others who were bereaved as teenagers. She’ll be joining us to explore how we can support children and young people through these most difficult of times.

20 August: Messy Church with Ven. Moira Astin

27 August: Family session 3 with Vicky Coneys and Liandra Odiasempa

Click the link to register once for every Thursday Q&A.

REGISTER

A letter to children from Bishop Sarah

It is our joy to share this letter to children from the Bishop of London. Please circulate to parents and carers in your communities and encourage them to send their names in for prayer.

Resources for children, youth and families on racism

We have compiled a short list of resources that are suitable for helping you engage children and youth in discussions about racism. Download the PDF and let us know if you come across any other resources that are particularly helpful with younger age groups.

Safeguarding guidance for working online

Our safeguarding guidance during the COVID-19 crisis remains the same. Follow the Diocesan Safeguarding Guidelines and talk to your vicar or safeguarding lead if in any doubt. Any concerns raised in parishes should be brought to the attention of the Church Safeguarding Officer, who can seek advice from the DST. Other areas of the Diocese (e.g. chaplaincies) should contact the DST directly.

For guidance around online video conferencing with young people, see this guide from the Diocese of Worcester – we will release our own version soon.

Safeguarding concerns can be raised by phone or by email. Concerns raised via email should be sent to our Safeguarding Inbox in the first instance: safeguarding@nulllondon.anglican.org. Alternatively, to speak to a member of the DST, please call our Safeguarding Helpline on 020 7932 1224.

Online activities for young people, children and families

We are currently in the process of discussing what online offerings could be created for young people at this time and have a few plans underway. If you have expertise in online broadcasting and would like to help, please drop us an email.

Various churches are starting to develop online alternatives to their normal children and youth activities, which may be appropriate for people from other churches to join in with. HTB Youth and Worship for Everyone have announced online activities and we’ll add more as we find out about them.

If you’re streaming something specifically for children and/or youth, email us!


Online content for youth:

Online content for children/families:


Online resources for families:


Ideas for activities to enjoy together:

  • Go on a virtual museum tour whilst on a video call
  • Have a group Netflix film night (everyone needs a subscription)
  • Have a “3,2,1, play” YouTube watch party on a video call
  • Record a video together to share with your church
  • Write a song together
  • Have a poetry slam contest

Supporting Children and Youth Through Grief

No two people grieve in the same way. In this time where support for children and youth is increasingly important during a loss of loved ones, those who work or volunteer with them should feel confident and knowledgeable on how they can help.

The Diocese of London’s Children and Youth Support ran this online workshop to cover the key areas of supporting people through grief. The session used additional breakout groups throughout to create a more comfortable environment for sharing from experience. These were not recorded but are noted so you can reflect for yourself.

LINKS TO RESOURCES

Other resources related to COVID-19

Resources database for children & youth ministry

In recent months we have been developing an online database of resources for working with children, youth and families, to save a bit of time on the discovery process. We’ve added a column to flag resources you can use or adapt remotely. Below you can filter and sort the resources we’ve added, and if you think any are missing, submit one here.

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