We spoke to Anne Wilkins, Priest – in – Charge of All Saints and St Mary’s Sawley to learn more about the recent success with their youth group.  

Anne wanted to provide young people in her church a place to develop their faith. Having never done youth work before, she found the Urban Saints Energize resources a useful tool, and over time has seen the young people growing in faith, even leading services together and praying for each other. 

How long have you been in your role? 

I was licensed to Sawley parish in October 2023.  

How did it begin/what was your motivation for starting this project? 

I came to the parish hoping to start the Growing Faith initiative and build links with children and families and the local schools. While a lot was being done with children’s work in the church and in schools as well as a community youth café, there was nothing for young people in the church to develop their faith.  
We started with doing Youth Alpha last year with 10 young people attending (the majority from within the church, one from another parish and one new young person who is now part of church). We met on a Sunday at 5pm, starting with a simple meal and then watching the video. There are breaks in the Alpha videos which enable discussion. After Alpha finished, I asked them if they wanted to continue, and they all said yes. We then did a questionnaire as to what they liked and what they wanted to do next. This helped us plan the next term.  

Describe how the group looks today 

We have 3 plus myself as a team. 
The group is now called Youth Saints (or churchies as they also call themselves). 

I had never led Youth work before and was directed to use Urban Saints Energize material. This is accessed by a monthly subscription of £21, which the PCC fully supported. I can highly recommend using this material – it is varied, Biblical, fun, multi- media and they really enjoy it. All members of the team are able to access it too. We still start with a meal which is provided by different members of the team. The group has bonded very well and work well together.  

How have you seen your ministry grow? 

Yes, I think so. They have become more involved in Sunday worship. They are growing in faith and have become more open with each other about life issues. They are very committed to the group.  

Last November 5 of them were confirmed at All Saints.  

What is your recent success (with youth or children)? 

Last autumn they led the whole morning service which was well received. This Easter Sunday they are doing a dance and a drama in the service.  

Do you have plans going forward? 

The next challenge is to try to build a bridge between our Youth Café, which is for young people in the community and Youth Saints. I am hoping that they become even more involved in church life and take on roles of responsibility (some of them already are). 

Can you describe one highlight? 
The youth led service. And seeing them slowly begin to pray for each other.  

What have you learnt? Would you do things differently next time? 

To be honest I’m not sure I would use Youth Alpha as it didn’t enable them to get to know each other and have fun. They started to gel and open up when we started using the Energize material.  

Any advice for other churches? 

Start with who you have. Have food. Use Energize. Get them involved in worship. Ask them what they want.  

How can we pray for this ministry? 

Pray that the group grows and that as the young people get older, we can continue to equip them for adult life, moving away. 

Our Diocesan Vision is that the Kingdom of God is good news for all, and that fundamentally includes Children, Young People and Families. A key priority of our Parish Support Team strategy is to support and enable parishes to Grow Active Young Disciples. The Growing Younger team has been put together around this priority and a lot of our work is based around the national Church of England movement that is Growing Faith.

Growing Faith is the movement that exists to change the culture of the Church of England, so that everyone instinctively puts children, young people and families at the heart of all the ministry and mission of the Church.

Growing Faith involves churches, schools and households working together to help children, young people and families have life in all its fullness.

As a diocese we are adopting Growing Faith as the basis for our strategic plans to grow younger.

Why is Growing Faith needed?

Jesus (Matt.19:14) and the early church (1. Tim 4:12) placed immense value on the place and role of children and young people in the kingdom of God.

Children, young people and families are vitally important to the church, not merely for our survival into future generations, but because a church that cares about children and young people is indicative of a healthy church.

In this report from the House of Bishops in 2019, there is recognition that ‘it is not always clear that the church is sufficiently focused on the engagement in ministry with children and young people.’

This is despite it being well acknowledged that the vast majority of Christians today have come to faith before the age of 18.

As a church and as a diocese, we have to confess that historically and at present children and young people have not always been intrinsically part of our ministry and mission.

There needs to be a cultural shift.

Growing Faith envisions children, young people and households coming to faith, growing in discipleship and contributing confidently to the Kingdom of God through the community of faith.

It is about how, as members of the whole people of God, children and young people are encouraged and how the whole Church is equipped to think intergenerationally. (A useful summary can be found here )

The Growing Faith Principles

Growing Faith provides a helpful lens for assessing our current practices and potential opportunities.

As we, as churches and as a diocese, seek to give children, young people and families a chance to explore and deepen their faith, it is helpful to look for the meeting places between churches, schools and households.

Alongside our diocesan vision, "The Kingdom of God – good news for all" we are inviting church communities to ask themselves what it would look like to be good news for young people in churches, schools and households.

Three principles are shaping our approach to Growing Faith:

Connected Communities - looking for the meaningful connected community of faith in the intersection between church, school and households.

Spiritual Encounters - engaging in conversations about and expressing faith as people encounter God as individuals and together.

Imaginative Practices - searching for 'a new way of being church' and creating new thinking and new doing in relation to children, young people and households.

FAQs

The Church of England’s Ministry Experience Scheme (MES) has been running for ten years, with 700 participants and involving 35 dioceses.  It offers a year of experience and training in a range of settings for people aged 18-30 to help them discern a call to ministry.

This has been largely focussed on ordained ministry, however MES has expanded in line with the Church’s Vision and Strategy for the 2020’s, to include a stream focussed specifically on ministry opportunities amongst children, young people and families (CYPF) – the Future Youth Ministry Experience Scheme. 

In the Diocese of Derby we have been a part of the first two years of the pilot, and are looking to invest in at least two young adults aged 18-30, to join us as Future Youth MES workers. These 11-month training and experience gaining posts will seek to help participants discern a long-term possible vocation to Christian ministry with Children, Young People and Families.

The successful applicants will gain a diverse experience of mission and ministry with CYPF within one of our specially selected placements as part of a wider process of discerning God’s call on your life. These exciting roles will involve working closely with the ministry team of the church or mission community, to play their part in the Kingdom of God which is good news for all, helping to see transformation in the lives of CYPF, the church grow and communities built.

The FY MES scheme has also partnered with Aurora, and participants will join together with others across the country to complete the nationally run course. We will also work with participants to build in optional further training modules to their year through our Diocesan lay ministry training programme.

Placement contexts

Participants will be placed in one of our carefully selected context parishes/benefices. After successful applications and interviews, the Diocesan team will work with the candidates to work out the placement where they are most likely to flourish. This decision will be based on location, church tradition, ministry interests and where there is most likely to be the best working relationship with placement supervisors. This allocation will be a conversation where successful candidates will have a chance to meet with placement supervisors and agree focuses for the placement.

The range of placements will offer as diverse a range of opportunities as possible, across differing contexts including urban, post-industrial and rural contexts, as well as differing traditions and theological backgrounds. 

Whilst accommodation is not provided as part of this role, we will work with successful candidates and the local church to explore affordable lodging options with hosts from the placement churches.

To find out more and apply for your church/context to be considered as a placement context, please apply here by Monday 19th June.

To find out more about being a participant on the scheme, please contact Aidan Watson

For more information, contact Revd Aidan Watson Aidan.watson@derby.anglican.org | 01332 278144