We’ve made these videos short, accessible and engaging for people with a lot to do and not a lot of time! We want as many people who would benefit from watching to be able to use them easily and engage with them, so we thought we’d offer you some further suggestions of how to use How YC…
Watch them on your own, on the go! Our short videos lend themselves to micro-dosing on advice for children’s and youth ministry! You can try and watch them between your commitments, on journeys (a bus or train… not while driving!), waiting for anything… appointments, children to pick up, phone call meetings. You could even watch them on the loo, should that help the time pass.
Watch them together! You may be in a team of people working with children and young people or trying to help people in your church think about starting new children or youth ministry. You can watch these videos with a group of people and then discuss them, to develop some easy group training or learning together. After the video you could ask them questions like:
· Which tip was most useful to you?
· Which tip did you find most surprising?
· Did you disagree with anything the video participants said?
· How could we apply any of these ideas to our church/work/group?
You could even help the group continue to share their wisdom and experience by asking them ‘What would you have given as your answer?’
The videos are available to watch and stream online, but if you want to watch them in a place (like a church building!) that doesn’t have Wi-Fi, you can download the videos to watch at a later time.
These videos may have given you a taste for learning more about work with children and young people. If that is the case, here are a few resources and ideas to help you keep growing and developing in your skills…
1. Ask the children and young people that you know or work with!
One of the fantastic things about working with children and young people is that they can be our best teachers.Engaging with them about what kind of support they need, or what kind of activities they like doing is the best way to grow in your skills for children’s and youth ministry.
Sometimes it’s difficult for children and young people to come up with ideas if they haven’t been given the opportunity to say what they want in church before, so you could make it easier by giving them options! Pizza or pancakes? Bowling or crazy golf? Talking about prayer or talking about friendship? Which parts of the Bible are you interested in getting to know? What parts of church don’t you understand or think we could do better? What kind of refreshments after church make you feel welcome here?
2. Talk with each other and share ideas
Making time to learn and reflect in the teams that you work in is always a great way to develop your children and youth ministry. Take time where you can (maybe once or twice a term) to meet together, pray for the children and young people that you know, and take some time reflecting on what is working well.
3. Take a look at other 30K Project resources!
This project has been funded by30K Project. This is a project that has been developed by the Church of England while they are putting serious time, energy and money into helping churches across England (and beyond!) to get excited about ministry and mission with children, young people and their families.
4. Talk to Ridley Hall, or other theological colleges about training opportunities in the field of children, youth and families’ ministries.
How YC has been delivered in partnership with the team at Ridley Hall. In fact, many of the people you’ll meet in the videos work at Ridley Hall or have trained on one of our many courses!
If you are sensing a call to commit to this work and feel that you would like some more training and support, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team at Ridley Hall.You can find out more about the courses we run at pre-degree, undergraduate degree and postgraduate study here
If you would like to go deeper and find out more about training opportunities in Children's and Youth Ministry, take a look at other courses that are supported by the CofE's 30k Project. Or, if you are struggling to recruit volunteers with children and youth, check out the JOIN resources.
There are several people to be thanked for bringing this project together. Like all good CYPF ministry… this project was a team effort! We have had so many people sharing their wisdom for ministry (as well as their lovely faces), and we are so pleased that they did!
In alphabetical order (to be diplomatic!) we want to thank…
Aaron Nayagam
Abby Newland
Barbara Brazier
Becca Dean
Becky May
Becky Parnham (Rochester Catalyst Year 1)
Ben Barton
Bhavani Devi Rokham (Catalyst Leicester year 1)
Cas Moyo
Carly Prescott
Charlotte Tayler
Chinyere Chikwem
Darren Hill
Dave Newton
Deladem Fudzi
Dominic Mitchell-Claire
Desarie Nayagam
Emma Marriot
Emma Sergeant
Emily Townsend
Gabrielle Clark
Hannah Evans
Hayley Challoner
Heather Martin
Helen Simcock
Honour Smith
Isabelle Hamley
Jacob Kutschera
Jenni Whymark (SU)
Jess Farrant
Jo Griffiths
Joel Preston
Jon Sanders
Jonathan Richardson
Jordan Cousins (SU)
Joyce Imarhiagbe
Justin Lewis
Karl Lewis
Kate Ladd
Kay Morgan-Gurr
Kim Donnelly
Lizzie Russell
Liz Lee/Prigg
Lou McGoldrick
Mandy Green (Leicester Diocese Catalyst 1)
Mark Scanlan
Mary Withers (B’ham diocese year 1)
Matt Cooper
Matt Lewis
Megan Creamer
Michaela Copsey
Mike Kelly
Mike Palin
Nadine Brown- Peterborough Diocese
Nat Stiles
Nick Gurney
Pat Smith (Ely Diocese Catalyst year 1)
Patrick Craig
Rachel Retallick-Cheel
Raine Thorrold
Robin Barden
Ruby Wild
Sally Nash
Sam Graham
Sandi Khumalo
Sangeetha Malladi (Leicester Diocese cohort 1)
Sarah Dunlop
Sarah Rittman
Sarah Ward
Steve Prescott
Tom Currie (Lichfield Diocese year 1)
Zac Britton
Zoe Mathias
Zoe Smith
We also really want to thank the30K Project board, Carolyn Edwards and Katharine Otley for their investment ofmoney, time and insight throughout this project.
HowYC is part of the 30k Project. It aims to bring about change and to raise up 30,000 new children and youth leaders by 2030
