Be encouraged by stories from parishes across Derbyshire and see how you can pray for children, young people, families, schools, and church communities across the Diocese of Derby.

If you have any quesions regarding resources or funding mentioned in the below stories, get in touch at GrowingYounger@derby.anglican.org

04.08.2025 - Interview with Revd James Lee from the North Wingfield Team

Q: Hi James, can you tell us a bit about yourself? 

James: My name is Revd James Lee and since last September, I’ve been Team Vicar in the North Wingfield Team, which is a team of five churches just south of Chesterfield.

Q: What was your motivation for starting your new service? 

James: Of our five churches, four meet on Sunday mornings, but St Barnabas Danesmoor has been a small afternoon congregation for many years, meeting at 5pm. Soon after I started I had a strong sense that there was a brilliant opportunity here for a family-friendly afternoon service for the many families who access the St Barnabas Centre throughout the week. I found that others I spoke to felt the same – and the scale of opportunity was confirmed by seeing 92 people (including nearly 50 children) come to our Christingle service last December.

And so a small team of us began working to launching this new service, which we decided to move to 4pm (as a better time for families) and call ‘St Barnabas@4’.

Q: What does the service look like now? 

James: We launched St Barnabas@4 in February and it’s been a fun roller-coaster ride ever since. If you were to walk in on a Sunday, you’d find us sat round tables in a relaxed style, with paper for drawing/doodling covering each table, with pens, fidget toys and a craft available, as well a play area at the back.

But as you stay, you’ll find that we seek to incorporate many of the normal parts of a regular service – songs, confession, Bible reading, prayers and a short talk – but with a very clear communication that it is ok for children to make noise, run around and play. This has been the most frequent comment from parents – that they’ve been able to come and relax and enjoy it, because they’re not constantly stressing about the noise their child is/could make.

Q: How have you seen your ministry grow? What do you think was the catalyst for this? 

James: We were blown away by having 71 people there on our first week, though I was always aware that ‘regular numbers’ would likely fall off from that. We’ve settled into an average of around 40-45 people each week, about half of whom are children, which is great.

But more than just numbers, it’s been really exciting to see a sense of community and belonging begin to grow – we’ve recently seen our first baptism, with interest in thanksgiving services too. We’re looking to grow our team as well, encouraging people to consider how they might be able to get involved.

As to a catalyst for growth – I think the excellent connections developed over many years at the St Barnabas Centre have been a big part of it, as well as the importance of sharing food together at 5pm each week too! It’s been really encouraging to see people start to invite their own families and friends to come along too!

Q: What is your recent success? 

James: Aside from the blessing of having a baptism a few weeks ago, we’ve had some big highlights over recent months, particularly having a live donkey (and a horse) with us on Palm Sunday and having a big Easter Party with over 100 people coming along!

Q: How has this impacted your wider church community?

James: It’s been an encouragement within our Team of church to see so many children and young people coming along, with St Barnabas going from our smallest congregation to nearly the largest, and is helping us think through what more we can be doing to engage with children and young people across the team.

It’s also given us a closer connection point between the brilliant work of the team at the St Barnabas Centre, and all they do for the community, and St Barnabas Church.

Q: Do you have plans going forward for your current ministry, or anything new starting? 

James: My key watchword for St Barnabas@4 is ‘sustainable’ – it’d be very easy to come in, do a flashy new thing and then fizzle out after six months, but  we’re determined to build something stable and faithful to last for many years to come – still looking to make things good quality and staying fresh, without going in for gimmicks etc.

Our focus at present is building something to last, though we are always considering how to adapt and make things better. Our hope is, in time, to introduce a simple celebration of communion, and explore whether those who attend might be interested in a smaller bible study group. There’s lots of other possibilities too – the challenge is being patient to see what God is calling us into next!

Q: What has challenged you or your team, or continues to challenge you?

James: One of the challenges has been starting with a relatively small team, without a long lead-in time before we launched. But alongside that, it’s been encouraging to see people getting involved in helping out in lots of different ways too.

Also, building community takes time! Many of those who come along have little history of attending church and there are weeks where the number of people there fluctuates a lot, which is normal – I have to keep reminding myself not to judge things solely on numbers!

Q: How would you encourage churches who are thinking of starting out with a children’s or youth ministry? 

James: I would encourage all churches to have ‘Growing Younger’ as a key part of your discussions at PCC and as a church team – to think through what will best enable you to reach children and young people in your area.

Also, have courage to try things! We had no idea how things would go with St Barnabas@4, no idea if anyone would turn up, but we felt this was the opportunity God was leading us towards – so we went for it!

Q: We would love to pray for you, what specifics can we pray for? 

James: Please do pray for us as we continue to get established, for God to be at work to bring more people along, as well as building us into a loving, caring, welcoming community of people who are getting to know Jesus better together. 

Please pray as well for us to continue to find creative and engaging ways to help both adults and young people to be engaging with God’s Word, and to be able to build something that is sustainable for the long term.

25.06.25 - Interview with Kim Golding: Children & Families Ministry at St Ed’s Church, Allenton and Shelton Lock

Q: Kim, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at St Ed’s?

Kim: I’m Kim Golding, Children’s and Families Pastor at St Ed’s Church in Allenton and Shelton Lock. I was part of the team that moved from St Werburgh’s in the city centre to help revitalize St Ed’s in the summer of 2023. I initially began leading the kids' group in an unpaid capacity simply because I was passionate about it—and when the role officially became available, I jumped in with both feet!

Q: How did you begin the kids’ ministry, and what was your initial approach?

Kim: Because intergenerational church is central to our vision, we asked nearly every member of our planting team to serve on the kids team. This meant we had a really large and committed team from the get-go. On our very first official Sunday, we welcomed 23 children—an incredible encouragement—and we’ve been growing ever since.

We started off meeting in the coffee area of church as one big group, but we’ve since split into two age-specific groups and a parent- and carer-led creche. We were also blessed with ownership of the old Scout Hut at the back of our church, which has been a total game-changer. It’s given us room to grow and space to play and engage in deeper ways.

Q: How do you structure your ministry for different age groups?

Kim: We now tailor our sessions to better suit the children. For our primary-aged group, we open the Bible together, pray, and talk honestly about real-life faith. For our younger group, ages 2–4, we introduce Bible truths through messy play, songs, and storytelling.

One amazing moment happened recently in our 2–4s group—we were learning about prayer and healing, and the children prayed for three adults in the church with long-term health issues. Within a week, two of those people had experienced significant healing. It was incredible and such a faith-builder for all of us!

In our older group, we recently explored the idea of chatting to God when we feel scared. Many of our children had been having nightmares or struggling to sleep. Since then, they’ve been praying aloud at bedtime and have been seeing those prayers answered.

Q: How do you engage with your wider community?

Kim: We’ve made it a priority to run non-committal, low-cost or free community events to simply bless families. And we’re beginning to see the fruit—many of the same unchurched faces are returning and even starting to attend our more regular community services, where the gospel is shared clearly.

Take our Light Party, for example—around 75% of attendees were non-churched families from our local school and wider area. We shared that Jesus is the light of the world and how we can shine His light to others. Events like our Eastery Mystery, Christingle, and others are designed to be intergenerational and engaging for all.

Q: Tell us about Eddy the Elephant!

Kim: Eddy is our larger-than-life, grey church elephant—and the kids love him! I go into schools as Eddy, alongside our vicar Jeff, and we bring a fun, faith-based message. For instance, one time Eddy was packing for his holiday and nearly forgot to listen properly, which led into the story of Mary and Martha and the importance of slowing down and listening to Jesus.

Eddy also turns up at church events and has become a lovely way to build continuity between church and school ministry.

Q: What new initiatives are you excited about?

Kim: There are a few exciting things happening! One is Muddy Church, which I’ll be trialling this summer. It’s designed for the fidgety, hands-on learners in our groups and offers a really physical, outdoor way to engage with God. I can’t wait to get stuck in—literally—and explore God’s nature together.

Another is Eddy’s Tots, our toddler group that launched in April. We wanted to create a warm, welcoming space where parents and carers could feel refreshed and cared for, while their children had fun. We received a generous setup grant, which meant I could go a bit wild with ideas—a mini bouncy castle, tuff tray stations, and lovely touches like fresh coffee and nice mugs to give it a real café feel.

Each session includes a little God story followed by nursery and God-themed songs. We’re praying this will become a strong connection point between families and our wider church community.

Q: What advice would you give to other children’s pastors starting or growing their ministries?

Kim: Start where you are with the children you have. Don’t wait for perfect resources or a big team—just begin. Relationships are key, and so is letting your love for the kids and Jesus shine through. Get the whole church excited about the role children play in God’s kingdom.

Never underestimate children. There’s no junior Holy Spirit—just the Holy Spirit, full stop.

There were two things that really helped me grow in my leadership. The first was Rachel Turner from Parenting for Faith—her insight and resources gave me so much confidence and clarity. The second was attending the Worship for Everyone conference. It helped me see how worship and discipleship can be intergenerational and spirit-filled without being complicated or overwhelming.

Q: What can we be praying for you?

Kim: My biggest prayer is that God takes over—that He leads the charge, not us. That He sends revival amongst our littlest to our eldest. That our kids dream dreams, pray big prayers, and see them answered. That they are brave and share the gospel with those around them. That our church grows to be a church that people from all walks of life can come and be a part of. And that we would be ready—prepared for what God has in store for us!

10.04.25 - Interview with Anne Wilkins, Priest–in–Charge of All Saints and St Mary’s Sawley

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! 

Q: How long have you been in your role? 

Anne: I was licensed to Sawley parish in October 2023.  

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

Anne: 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.  

Q: Describe how the group looks today 

Anne: 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.  

Q: How have you seen your ministry grow? 

Anne: 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.  

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

Anne: 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.  

Q: Do you have plans going forward? 

Anne: 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). 

Q: Can you describe one highlight? 

Anne: The youth led service. And seeing them slowly begin to pray for each other.  

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

Anne: 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.  

Q: Any advice for other churches? 

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

Q: How can we pray for this ministry? 

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

If you have a story to share and encourage others, please get in touch at growingYounger@derby.anglican.org

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 over 800 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. The placements on offer for 2025/2026 are:

• Christ Church Cotmonhay and Shipley -  A growing friendly church with developing children's and youth ministries in a strong community that is facing significant socio-economic challenges.
• St Francis Mackworth - A thriving church community in an estate community on the outskirts of Derby that has experienced rapid growth since the revitilisation church plant 5 years ago especially in its children's and youth ministries. 
• SDR Churches (Stanton by Dale with Dale Abbey and Risely) -  a semi-rural group of churches with intergenerational church at the heart of their vision and values where they help church families grow as disciples and also reach out to children and young people with no experience of Church. 

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 or to ask any questions please contact Aidan Watson

To view the role description, salary info, and terms click here

To apply to be a participant on the scheme please email a cover letter and a C.V. by midnight 20th July 2025 to mandy.francis@derby.anglican.org If we receive sufficient applications of sufficient promise then we reserver the right to close the application deadline ahead of this so please apply ASAP.

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