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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

Last updated 18 May

  • Updated upcoming events

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.

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 Meetups

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!

Next event: Estates and Trauma

This week we’re joined by two special guests: Jamie Fletcher from Church@5 and Anna Robinson. Jamie will be sharing about the work they’ve been able to do with young people in the church’s local community during lockdown and Anna will be talking about what might be happening for children experiencing trauma at this time.

REGISTER

Evening Q&A

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. Join us right after the Clap for Carers!

Next event: The End of Youth Ministry? Follow-Up Discussion

We’ll be breaking down what we learned in the afternoon session with Dr Andrew Root – join us to share, learn and reflect together.

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.

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.

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.

WEBINAR CONTENT

  • Basic theory of loss and bereavement: understanding the terms and challenging our assumptions about how to grieve well
  • Lockdown: the effects, what losses children and youth might experience and how this will effect the process
  • The London Underground analogy: how the effects of grief/loss hit a person and affect their needs
  • Things you can do to practically help
  • Self-care and self-awareness when supporting others 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.

JOIN THE FOLLOW-UP Q&A

Join our team and professional counsellor, Will Taylor, for a follow-up session where you’ll get the chance to ask the questions that have cropped up after the workshop we ran on 23 April. Register for the Q&A here.

LINKS TO RESOURCES

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR

William Taylor is driven by his passion and purpose to support children and young people, especially through issues of loss. Having set up and successfully run LOSSuk, a charity mentoring young people for five years, Will went on to train as a counsellor, recognising that some of the issues the children and young people faced needed a higher level of support. More recently, Will now offers therapeutic, transformational coaching, supervision and training for those wanting to develop their understanding and clarity of themselves and the work they do.

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

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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