A project to help churches nurture young people in faith

Look for commitment over passion

We know the feeling – an announcement from the front that the youth group needs more helpers. No one comes forward. It’s easy for a church to conclude, ‘We don’t have anyone here with a passion for youth work’. Yet we discovered that commitment to the need to disciple young people is more important than feeling gifted or passionate about working with young people. As one volunteer youth leader puts it, ‘I never felt called, I simply saw a need and got involved. And God then supplied me with the gifting I needed to do the job.’

Reach out to schools

Taking assemblies and helping with lessons can feel like a job too far for stretched churches. The impact, though, can be significant, and it needn’t be a huge time commitment. One vicar in Welwyn Garden City does mentoring in her local school. Another church in Preston offer their schools a chance to hold special services in the church. Although one church we spoke to in Winchester regularly go into 27 local primary schools (!), most are engaging regularly with just one or two, and finding that being a recognised face in school made it easier for church children to invite friends to youth groups or Sundays.

Invest in year six

Most of the drop-off in participation for young people happens between years 6-8. Investing as heavily as possible at the start of this stage is something almost all the churches we spoke to focused on. The form it takes varies considerably, from getting year 6 children involved serving in church, or giving them responsibility in helping younger ones, to including them in socials with older age groups, and taking them on a weekend away as a rite of passage. One church in Watford produces simple welcome packs for their year 6 children to mark the transition point into youth groups.

“One of the Church of England’s priorities for the 2020s is to double the number of children and young people who are active disciples. This involves reaching new people and holding on to those we already have. The Growing Younger project team have done wonderful work particularly looking at the moments when churches lose contact with some young people, and made practical proposals as to how this can be avoided. Their work deserves to be widely read and widely shared.”
-Rev Dr Stephen Hance, co-head church and networks support Vision and strategy

Have a hook

Several churches include something a bit out of the ordinary to build anticipation for the moment children can ‘graduate’ into the older youth group. One church in rural Essex have pre-service breakfast waffles, complete with squirty cream, for their teenagers. Younger children see this happening and long for the day they are old enough to enjoy the same experience. Another church with a choral tradition find choir trips and socials build excitement among young people to belong to the group, and the words they sing offer a natural bridge to talk about faith.

Invest in Children’s and Youth Workers

Ah, there it is. The conclusion that says we need to employ someone to have a thriving youth work. Well, not exactly. It is true that many of the churches managing the year 6-8 transition well have paid youth staff, and if money is available spending it here can have a real impact. Yet plenty of smaller churches with no paid youth staff are excelling here too. One city-centre church in Leeds puts emphasis on public “thank you’s” to its volunteer leaders to help them feel valued, and socials to knit them together as a team. Training and equipping youth and children’s workers, both paid and unpaid makes a real difference in helping young people stick with church and we need to ensure that there are opportunities and avenues to do this in the church as a whole.

Work with parents and carers

A number of churches we spoke to say the key to retaining young people in their context is dedicated work with parents to help them disciple their own children. One church near Stockport runs ‘Partnering with Parents’ evenings to explore parenting challenges and explain what’s being taught to children at church. Another church we spoke to, which on an average Sunday has 60 adults and 30 children, expects most Christian parents to join one of the teams that run the youth and children’s groups.

Growing Younger Prayer

Dear Lord,
Thank you for Jesus and for everyone who seeks to know Him.
Thank you for the young people and those who work with them.
We beseech you to make them faithful disciples as they seek to please you,
and helping others follow Christ.
Give them the strength to understand and to obey your word,
and the power to overcome temptation and the devil.
Lord, help them to give themselves completely to you,
and to find love, hope and freedom.
May your Holy Spirit work in their lives to keep them alert and alive for you,
and to become more like Jesus day by day.
We make these prayers in the name of Jesus.
Amen