A Church for Children and Young people

We have always been very keen to provide a relevant experience of the gospel to young people (some of us began in this way ourselves) and we have a strong tradition of combining religious teaching and a call to faith with an emphasis on personal development.  We try to involve our children and young people as much as possible in the life of the Church and value their contribution and opinions.

Currently we offer:

  • Tuesday Playgroup (0’s – 5’s)
  • Kids Club: ‘Wacky Wednesdays’ (7-11 year olds)
  • Youth Club: ‘Thursday Youth & Thursday Youth Plus (11-18 year olds)
  • Sunday morning ‘Childrens Church & Youth Church’ Groups (4 to 14 and crèche)
  • Messy Church – monthly (a popular and loyal part of our church family)
  • Assemblies and school visits to the church at major festivals
  • All Age Worship/’Altogether Worship’, once a month, other services that young people will find relevant and are encouraged to lead and to participate in, through drama, dance, music, and speaking.
  • Residential experiences
  • Mental Health and self-esteem work within the local secondary school.
  • Holiday clubs for ages 5-11 year olds
  • Young Leader Training Programme

We have the privilege of watching our children and young people grow up, from learning to walk at our creche or playgroups through to choosing which university to go to and beyond. We strive to celebrate the big and small events our children and young people go through whilst they are within our church community.

We employ a Children, Youth and Families leader to oversee and be the ‘face’ of our children, youth and family aspect of church, the link between what happens throughout the week, in the community and on a Sunday morning, helping make the transition from mid-week groups to Messy Church or Sunday morning worship/groups. We also support a student youth worker, providing a three-year placement for them to develop their practical skills working with children and young people whilst studying theory and theology.

Some of our older young people are growing up and moving away and others naturally relocate to other parts of the county and country. It is clear we need to continue to attract more young families to Church so that we can continue to grow this important part of our work. We have already achieved much, but we know there is much more that can be done. We are looking, therefore, for a Minister who can help us, and all those involved in this work, to extend this work and capitalize on all the progress that has been made.