YOUTH & CHILDREN NEWS - Diocese of Edinburgh · School with God Sunday marks the start of a new...

Diocesan Youth & Children Officer: Claire Benton-Evans

Facebook page: Edinburgh Diocese Youth and ChildrenTwitter: @EdinDioYouth

Email: [email protected] line: 0131 346 9081 Mobile: 0747 372 8148Office: 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL

YOUTH &CHILDREN NEWS

� PLAY CHURCH NEWS� THY KINGDOM COME - at St

Anne’s Dunbar� ACTIVE YOUTH REPS - at General

Synod and the Palace� A NEW LABYRINTH - at St Mary’s

Dalmahoy� SCHOOL CLIMATE STRIKES� RESOURCES AND TRAINING� Upcoming summer events

for toddler group leaders,including workshops on ad-ditional needs, working withdads, supporting volunteersand helping parents nurturefaith. Organizers say you willcome away with:● Creative and fresh ideas

for teaching and unpack-ing Bible stories in yourgroup

● Renewed vision to em-power you

● Insight on how you canshare faith with families inyour group

● Encouragement frommeeting other toddlergroup leaders

Details and tickets here.

PLAYTIMENATIONAL

CONFERENCE

https://www.careforthefamily.org.uk/faith-in-the-family/playtime/playtime-conference-2019




NEW LABYRINTH

I was delighted to be invitedto Canada Day celebrationsat St Mary’s Dalmahoy,where an exciting newproject was unveiled in theRectory garden: this beauti-ful labyrinth has been lov-ingly created, and much ofthe grounds cleared andlandscaped to reveal beau-tiful trees. It is the vision ofRector Christine and herhusband, Ben, and it is stillunfolding. They hope it willhave potential as a resourcefor youth retreats. If youwould like to know more,please contact the churchoffice:[email protected]

Phoebe Pryce is one of our new under-18 diocesan representa-tives to the Provincial Youth Committee. Her official duties haveso far included speaking at General Synod (see overleaf) andrepresenting the Scottish Episcopal Church at the BeatingRetreat and Reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Quite astart for a new youth rep!

“I want to talk about some of thethings that I enjoy doing withchurch and how to create moreopportunities for young people inyour church so that they can playtheir role in the church communityand develop their faith. I can speakfor myself – but realise that teenag-ers are as diverse as any othergroup in our churches.

The first thing is … we are not thechurch of the future … we are thechurch of today! We enjoy havingour voice heard as much as thelong-standing church warden.

But you don’t need lots of teenag-ers to involve us. Since we are partof the wider church, we can serve,and read on the rota, wecan pray in the intercessions andbe part of the welcoming team …some may even wish to sit on ves-try!

We don’t need you to change theservices completely – but modernteaching at school means that be-ing told what someone else thinksand not being given a chance torespond can be a bit boring! Giveus time to think about your ideasand give us questions to ponder.

Last year at our church, we ran aGlen-style service – it was still rec-ognisable as our normal service,but we asked questions to the con-gregation, we put together a pow-erpoint on the readings, we usedour own frames of reference forhelping people pray – using Jenga

and Hula Hoopsto explore ourinterpretation ofCreationtide.

Interactiveprayer is easyand gets usmoving, givesus a voice, andforces us to in-teract, evensomething assimple as thisweaving ofprayers into thealtar frontal during the interces-sions.

We’ve got a small group of youngpeople at our church – but by join-ing with our Catholic and Baptistneighbours we have a monthlyyouth group of nearly 20– meaningwe have good friends in all thelocal churches. On the back ofthat, we were missing our close-knit group and so we set up amonthly bible study during service- sort of café style with chai tea,treating us like mini-adults andmoving away from colouring-in!

Finding ways to help teenagersstay connected to the church fami-ly and to their faith when it can bedifficult to get to church on Sundayis important – just as you woulddevelop ways to include thehousebound, what about thinkingof ways for that connection with usto be nurtured. The social side ofchurch remains important if we

have friends – so that weekendsaway are good places for us to beaccepted and loved.

Obviously Glen plays a huge rolein our lives once we’re at highschool, developing our faith andgiving us a group of people toshare with during the year.

So .. in short … we are part of thefamily, we enjoy our faith, we wantto interact – whether in the sermonslot, or in prayers, or at home, wewant some spaces for ourselvesand some that we share withadults on an equal footing.

We are the church … and we caredeeply about living our faith in ourgeneration.”




PHOEBE PRYCE




FUNDINGAVAILABLE

Premier reports on an excit-ing new funding opportuni-ty: “Thousands of pounds isavailable to help churchesto connect better with youngpeople.

The struggle for manychurches to connect withyoung people has been re-vealed in a new survey.

A poll of more than 800churches by AllchurchesTrust has shown that morethan two thirds have five orfewer young people in theirworshipping community;but 96% would love to pro-vide more support and activ-ities for them if they had theright skills and resources inplace.In light of these find-ings, the Christian charityhas launched a new grantsprogramme, Growing Lives.

It launched this week andmakes grants of up to£25,000 to help churchesand Christian organisationsto connect with children andyoung people and forgelasting links with families intheir area.”

For more information, visitthe Allchurches GrowingLives website.

Rev Christine Barclay writes:

“This photograph was taken onSunday at our Pentecost at StColumba’s - a family servicewhen we used the Play Churchaltar. Bishop Callum’s grandadis Bishop Douglas Cameronand he was in the congrega-tion! The second photo wastaken at our Mothering Sundayfamily service when we usedthe Play Church altar. Some-one asked me if we could havePlay Church back again atsome time in the future… Ihope we can!”

The answer is yes! Play Churchcan certainly make return visitson request. For all up-to-datePlay Church information, visitits website page here.

ST COLUMBA’S BATHGATE

ST PETER’S LINLITHGOW

https://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Charity-offers-thousands-of-pounds-to-churches-to-connect-with-younger-generation

https://www.allchurches.co.uk/growinglives

https://www.allchurches.co.uk/growinglives

https://edinburgh.anglican.org/play-church/

“Being on the vestry at my churchhas given me insight as to whattype of decision making goes intorunning a church. I’ve been in-volved with discussions on main-tenance; planning events; amongother things and it’s given me anew understanding of what issuesrequire focus. However, I’ve no-ticed that the issues that fail to getaddressed are the ones that playa larger role in the community andin society as a whole. Is ourchurch doing enough to helpthose in need? If not, what morecan we do? Do people know thatthey can come to us for help?

One of the main purposes of thechurch, in my opinion, is to be aplace that people can go to forhelp. To be a source of charity andsupport. What we need to look atand spend hours discussing ishow we can better fulfill that pur-pose. I’m not saying that nothingis being done. As I mentioned be-fore: on vestry I’ve been present indiscussions about local organiza-tions and how we can help themthat have taken a long time… butnot as long as we’ve spent dis-cussing the colour of radiators.

What I would ask of you is to lookat current issues in your own com-munity and in society as a wholeand how you can address them.Climate change – are you takingenough green initiatives? Poverty– do you know about local sheltersand groups that can give advice to

people who have hit a tough time?Refugees – can you do more toprovide a welcoming environmentto newcomers? Look at the people– not just in your congregation oryour area – that need help. If youcannot find any, look harder. Ifyou’re unsure about how you cando more than you currently arethen get in touch with non-profitorganisations and ask them whatneeds to be done.

I’m aware that this may sound likea teenager grumbling about bor-ing meetings. And I’m also awarethat issues like the colour of radia-tors do also have a place in beingpart of a church. But if we onlyfocus on issues like that thenwe’re sticking our heads in thesand and becoming wrapped upin our own little world, while com-pletely ignoring the bigger picture.And if we want to remain relevantin a modern society then that issomething we cannot afford to do.So we must set aside time to thinkabout the important issues facingour world today and what Godwants us to do about them.”

OLIVIA SMITH

It seems like a long way off,but here’s something fromScripture Union: “Back toSchool with God Sundaymarks the start of a newschool year. We want tohelp churches mark thismilestone in the lives of chil-dren and young people,school staff, parents, grand-parents and the whole com-munity through providingresources for an all-age Sun-day service which aims to:● make children, young

people, teachers and oth-er staff aware that they aregoing back to school withGod;

● demonstrate that thechurch family values them,prays for them and caresabout their daily life atschool;

● challenge Christian pupilsand staff to live out theirfaith in the school context,supporting any Christianwitness in the school(such as an SU Group orsimilar).

● raise awareness of an on-going need for prayer forlocal schools.

There is no set date for Backto School with God Sunday– pick a date at the end ofAugust or early September(or whenever your new termstarts) that suits you.”

Lots of resources are availa-ble here.

BACK TO SCHOOLWITH GOD

https://www.suscotland.org.uk/pray/back-to-school-with-god-sunday/?fbclid=IwAR1Xs_OWT-cdsoGWNWjSKFfDyrA29XYaubE1I8c_rHHGgiq3KrVMnFhq0oA




AT ST ANNE’S DUNBAR

It’s great to see new chil-dren enjoying Play Churchwith its latest host, StAnne’s Dunbar. Visit thechurch Facebook page fora great video of threeyoungsters conducting aplay church wedding!

“For the next few monthswe are hosting PlayChurch! Here are somephotos of this morning'slaunch party, where theyoung people had severalmarriages, baptisms andall sorts of other fun! PlayChurch will be at St Anne'sfor the next few months -the church is open everyday, so do pop in to visitand let your young folk ex-plore!”

https://www.facebook.com/StAnnesDunbar/




ALPHASCOTLAND

A message from Alpha Scot-land Director, Dez Johnston:

Eilidh Proudfoot is the ScotlandLead for the charity Home forGood, which works to inspire,equip and resource people andchurches to play their part in caringfor vulnerable children.

We discussed the training whichshe can offer churches in how bet-ter to support and nurture fosteredand adopted children and theirfamilies. I can thoroughly recom-mend this training, which inspiredand challenged me; it also left mefeeling much better equipped torespond to the needs of the fos-tered child in my Sunday school, orthe adopted teen in my youthgroup.

Let me know if

you are interested, and I can organ-ize a diocesan training event. Alter-natively, fill in a request form andthe bookings team can try and finda time and location to suit yourchurch.

Keynote speakersare Krish Kandiah and Kay Cathcartand there will be a range of semi-nars which are designed to inspireand equip those who currently fos-ter or adopt, those who are consid-ering fostering or adoption, thosewho are keen to support families,Christian social workers and teach-ers and Church leaders. There is afree kids and youth programme sobook up fast! Follow this link fordetails and booking.”

https://www.homeforgood.org.uk/resource/cyltraining

https://www.homeforgood.org.uk/events/conference




Rev Diana Hall writes: “During the Thy Kingdom Comeprayer initiative this year, at St Anne’s Dunbar we held 24hours of continuous prayer. A team including mixed-mode ordinand Beki Cansdale and volunteers from otherchurches as well as St Anne’s transformed the churchnave into an immersive interactive prayer space, filledwith creative resources for all ages.

Resources for 24 hour prayer spaces often encourage usto pray with all of our senses, as well as our bodies andour imagination. They very often lend themselves toparticipation by people of varied ages and abilities, aswell as by those with little or no experience of church.What better environment to invite young and old to en-counter God’s presence together?

With this in mind, we allocated threehours in the 24 specifically for youngpeople to come and explore the spaceon their own terms. Some of what hap-pened… typically children’s activitieswere well-used: building Lego prayertowers; having quiet time with Godreading a book of prayers for childrenin a cosy prayer tent; playing “thankyou, God” three-in-a-row with a friend;but so too were resources not de-signed specifically with children inmind: youngsters walking the Laby-rinth and being still at its centre; watch-ing a “burning bush” installation, andasking God important questions (“Canyou demolish sin from the world?”;“Are other religions real?”; “Can wehelp you?”).




SCHOOL CLIMATE STRIKES

Inspired by GretaThunberg, these protests aregrowing and spreadingacross Scotland. Someyoung people in this dioceserecently approached me tohelp them find adult stewardsfor one of their marches, atthe request of the police.Thank you to all those of youwho volunteered.

The organisers of ScottishYouth Climate Strike aremostly in S2 and S3: they areyoung but learning fast aboutorganizing themselves, liais-ing with the police, co-ordi-nating their communicationsand social media, and more.Please continue to supportthem in prayer and practicalways: follow their protests af-ter the summer break on theSYCS Facebook page.

The invitation for people to prayin new and different ways brokedown generational divides… aswell as children choosing touse “adult” resources (such aspicking a place on a world mapand praying for its people) itwasn’t long before adults werecolouring in cut-out people asthey reflected on someone inneed of God’s loving gaze; orsticking coloured dots on car-board “prayer-spinners” thatthey could gleefully spin asthey presented their petitions toGod. Our youngest participantwas a not-quite 1-year old, whocrawled his way across the lab-yrinth on Saturday evening,and the oldest was well intotheir 80’s.

Parents said their childrenwere captivated; older peo-ple said they experiencedGod in ways they had notanticipated… the spacewas truly sacred. The pres-ence of children at theheart of our prayer life is areminder that we areGod’s children.”

https://www.facebook.com/syclimatestrike/




PLEASE PRAY...

of this summer’sevents for children andyoung people: may they begiven all the wisdom, inspi-ration and energy theyneed!

attending theProvincial Youth Week atGlenalmond, Soul Survivorand Holiday Clubs acrossthe Diocese: may the funand friendships, playingand praying, wonderingand worship strengthentheir faith. May they learn tolove God and each othermore truly.

andall the ways in which it isseeking to engage with chil-dren, young people andfamilies.

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