Our bold outcome matches the Church of England's aim to double the number of young believers nationally. Some on how to achieve this are available on the national website.
Our vision is to ensure that:
» every child and young person in our diocese is at the heart of mission
» they have the opportunity of a life enhancing encounter with the Christian faith and the person of Jesus Christ
» they reach their God given potential and are an integral part of church life.
Our 105 Church schools remain at the heart of mission in our diocese. To share this vision more widely, we led an open session ‘Seeing the Possibilities’ for Diocesan Synod in March. The focus was to encourage and equip parishes to make transformational connections and work meaningfully with children and young people, wherever they are.
In 2023 we were successful in a funding request for up to seven additional youth ministers across our diocese. We also recruited our new Lead Officer for Children and Youth Ministry who has developed the support and training for youth ministers and volunteers carrying out children and youth ministry.
Our new matrix for children and youth ministry outlines progression for churches’ children and youth ministry. Churches can identify whether their ministry is grass roots, emerging, growing or established, and what support they might need to move forward. The aim is for established churches to offer support and guidance to other churches earlier on in their journey.
Our support offer for school leaders expanded to include ‘Heads’s Space’, an informal, sacred space for connection, friendship and support for headteachers and we continued to offer support and development to RE subject leaders through a specialist course, the annual RE Leaders’ conference and shared good practice and ideas with other dioceses.
We continued to work alongside our Growing Faith Hub based in St Mary Bredin, Canterbury where diocesan officers and the church’s Growing Faith Pastor offered training on faith in the community, home and school.
Case study - Youth ministers employed
As part of our Bold Outcome to double the number of children and young people by 2030, our diocese employed a number of youth ministers in 2023. One such youth and children’s pastor is Karen Gillett, who has started her ministry at GK Church, Goudhurst. Having been a member of the church congregation, Karen is an example of how ‘home grown’ ministry can present opportunities and open doors for Kingdom building within a church family.
Since the start of her ministry at GK Church, Karen has continued to nurture and grow the six children and youth ministry groups. With this focused approach towards children and youth ministry, there has been an increase in children, young people and family engagement, with over 70 under 16s in attendance on Easter Sunday. The commitment to providing ministry and growing discipleship for varying ages means that every age group has a spiritual pathway which takes them deeper into their journey and relationship with God. Karen runs a group specifically for sixth form aged young people, which enables them to transition towards young adulthood with confidence and a sense of belonging. This group in particular has seen an increase in young people attending church independently, with some coming from a non-church background.
The young people are keen to develop with Karen more frequent youth events, youth services and look into how best to continue their spiritual journeys after finishing school and as they enter their 20s.