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WE ARE GROWING YOUNGER

Children and Youth Ministry Support in the Diocese of London

For 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 within our church communities.

We provide direct support and guidance, create online resources and develop partnerships with ministry specialists to help churches reach their full potential 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.
More info

Youth Ministry

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

WHO WE ARE

Our team has a wide range of expertise and skills, which we apply to many projects and scenarios. Several of the team are also assigned as contact points for Episcopal Areas, to help us support and stay up to date at a local level.

Sam Donoghue
Head of Children and Youth Ministry Support

Katie O’Conor
Children’s Ministry Advisor,
Apprenticeship Programme Coordinator

Kathryn Kane
Schoolswork, RE and Collective Worship Advisor

Joy Faulkner-Mpeho
Youth Ministry Advisor (CONCRETE)

James Fawcett
Youth Ministry Advisor (CONCRETE)

Alex Taylor
Children and Youth Ministry Trainer

Levi Phillips
Creative Lead, Capital Youth

Jacob Holme
Administrator, The Spark Fund

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COVID-19 response support

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 section is your go-to source for key information specific to working with children, youth and families.

Last update: 19 July

We advise you refer to the National Youth Agency’s guidance for timelines on restarting in-person activities – these are helpful guidelines for staying within legal and appropriate restrictions on work with children and young people. For working with 0-4s, read the Early Years Alliance guidelines.

For any support or questions around working with children and youth, feel free to email our team at youth@nulllondon.anglican.org and we’ll respond within 72 working hours.

Step 5: From 8 September (Confirmed)

Summary of permitted activites at level GREEN:

  • Activities and groups can happen as normal. 🙌
  • Follow your church policy (e.g. if you’re wearing masks in the service, then young people over 12 wear masks too)
  • Review your risk assessments and ensure you are maintaining Covid-awareness, continuing to encourage general hygiene measures and reducing the risk of community transmission.
  • Ask us if you have any specific questions!

Read the full guidelines on the National Youth Agency website

Tips for staying 'Covid responsible'

Follow Covid guidelines:

  • Have an action plan in place (roles and responsibilities)
  • Update risk assessments with children and young people, parents & team
  • Outdoor activities in public spaces – think through how to manage hygiene, risks, groups sizes
  • Groups should be manageable (and age appropriate)
  • Hygiene should be robust – continue handwashing etc. No shared equipment between people – clean in-between uses
  • Venue is clean and surfaces kept clean (e.g. door handles)
  • Face coverings strongly recommended in enclosed or small spaces
  • Social distancing – aim to stay 1m+
  • NHS test and trace information gathered


Key messages:

  • Hands: Wash hands regularly and thoroughly
  • Face: Everyone 11-years-plus should use a face covering indoors in small or poorly ventilated spaces. This includes leaders. Can be removed when eating/drinking or playing team sports. Choose your activities appropriately.
  • Space: Be mindful when planning your activities – continue creating space where possible.
  • Ventilate: Outdoor work is preferable if it can be done safely.

The Learning Hub

We’ve launched a new online space for learning, where anyone can sign up and develop key skills required for children and youth ministry.

Courses now available for free:

  • Academy Basics: Children’s Edition
  • Academy Basics: Youth Edition
  • Develop Your Vision, Values and Strategy
  • Building a Volunteer Team
  • Working with Families
Go to The Learning Hub

Resources for working with children, youth and families

Whilst our team’s remit doesn’t involve producing curriculum resources, we spend a lot of time curating and signposting resources we find across the internet, and develop our own when there is a particular focus or objective. Below you’ll find a mix of these – be sure to check out our ‘database’ for a growing library of stuff we approve of!

Safeguarding guidance for working online

Safeguarding guidance for working online

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.

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.

Amplify Academy - open for applications for Sept 2021

Amplify is an evangelism mentoring scheme for 11-17-year-olds who are actively living out what it looks like to share their faith; confidently speaking with peers, inviting friends to church, setting up Christian Unions and generally taking any opportunity to share Jesus. Applicants must be put forward by a youth pastor or church leader, having identified in the applicant a gifting and a desire to share their faith

Amplify aims to deeply invest in these young people – helping them to develop a greater understanding of the gospel as well as confidence in sharing their faith. We’ll then offer opportunities for evangelism in a variety of settings – offering accessible models of what it means to share faith in this contemporary youth culture.

Amplify will seek to journey with 60-100 hand-picked young people aged 11-17 for each 8-month long programme, from many different churches and denominations right across the UK (no more than two young people per any one church). The programme begins in September 2021.

More information can be found on the web page please follow this link www.amplifyacademy.co.uk

Resources database for children & youth ministry

Resources database for children & youth ministry

We are compiling 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.

Online activities for young people, children and families

Online activities for young people, children and families

Various churches have developed online alternatives to their normal children and youth activities, which may be appropriate for people from other churches to join in with. If you are looking for great online activities to point young people to, HTB Youth, Virtual Sunday School and Worship for Everyone have been consistently producing live and recorded content.

If you’re making things specifically for children and/or youth, email us!


Online content for youth

Online content for children/families

Games to play online

  • The Methodist Church published this handy little PDF with lots of ideas for games you can play on Zoom
  • If you have a small number, Jackbox Games have some good games. You buy packs, then each player uses their phone to play. Make sure you select “family friendly” in the settings, as some games have some adult material.
  • If you want to hop aboard the hype train, Among Us is a free-to-play game on mobile (or £4 on PC) that young people generally love playing at the moment. It’s like a murder mystery, but you control the characters in a game (check with parents if you’re unsure about suitability).

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

Resources on diversity, racism and racial injustice

Resources on diversity, racism and racial injustice

This is a small collection of resources to get you started on having informed conversations around the topics of race, diversity, and justice. This is by no means exhaustive, so if you would like to recommend something for those specifically working with children and youth, let us know at youth@nulllondon.anglican.org.

 

Books for children and young people

Books for adults

Articles

Extensive curations of resources

Websites and social media channels

A letter to children from Bishop Sarah

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.

Supporting children and youth through grief

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

Other resources related to COVID-19

Contact us at youth@nulllondon.anglican.org

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