The Diocese of Leeds is expanding its support for Children, Young People and Families ministry thanks to recent funding awarded by the national church.
This work builds on existing projects, including our work on Growing Faith.
Growing Faith in the Diocese of Leeds is part of our Encouraging Confidence strategy.
The national Growing Faith movement is committed to putting children, young people and families at the heart of the church.
This culture change is reflected in our confidence in the witness strand of our overall Barnabas approach, looking to encourage and empower people to share the Good News of Jesus.
The Growing Faith movement has been instrumental in helping us to remember that whilst we can work with children and young people in church, they spend much more of their time in school and at home.
Growing Faith work seeks to bring these three places together.
As part of this, we are launching the Prayer Spaces in Schools Growing Faith Hub on Tuesday, May 12.
Prayer spaces in schools provide opportunities for children, young people and school staff to be still, reflect and pray in creative and accessible ways.
They have been run as part of wellbeing weeks, transition programmes, and as standalone days built around themes such as Remembrance.
Our new hub will explore how to run prayer spaces in local schools and consider the benefits they bring to schools and their wider communities.
It will also cover how to communicate the opportunities with staff and parents, offer training on setting up prayer spaces and building volunteer teams, and create space to reflect, learn and share experiences together.
Alex Burbidge, Growing Faith Lead in our Children, Young People and Families Team, said: “I am always encouraged by the testimonies from prayer spaces in schools, particularly by how surprised staff often are at the depth of engagement from their pupils.
“I look forward to seeing this work grow and these stories shared more widely.”
Canon Liz Morton, Diocesan Children, Young People and Families Team Leader, said: “I am delighted that we are adding the Prayer Spaces in Schools hub to the range of learning communities.
“It’s brilliant to see volunteers and leaders learning together and encouraging each other in their mission and ministry.”
The hub will launch with an introductory Zoom on Tuesday, May 12 at 7.30pm.
To learn more about the Prayer spaces hub and other Growing Faith hubs in our diocese, please click here.
For information about all our learning communities please click here.
Our recently awarded funding will also include investment in sustainable youth and children’s ministry through the employment of a number of workers in our parishes.
This programme aims to establish new, sustainable children’s and youth ministry projects, develop leadership pipelines and help churches become places where younger generations can explore faith and grow as disciples.
We have been awarded some £3 million to set up 22 projects across the diocese over the next four years, with two projects targeted to start in 2026.
Our Children, Young People and Families Team are currently working with our Episcopal Area leadership teams to identify places across the diocese where these projects will make the most difference in ministering to children, young people and families.
The Revd Canon Jude Smith, Diocesan Director of Mission and Revitalisation, said: “We have seen approaches like this work in dioceses like ours, and we are confident these projects will be important steps in our work to help churches grow children, young people and families in discipleship.
“We’re incredibly grateful for all the work in this area already going on and all those who give their time to make it happen, and hope these projects will be a further way to support you all.”
The diocese will be taking part in RECOGNISE, a national week of recognition for everyone involved in ministry with children, young people, and their families.
The week runs from Monday, July 6 to Sunday, July 12, which will be a day for churches nationwide to celebrate and thank those involved in this vital ministry.
Please do keep checking back for more about how we will be getting involved.
We shall also be sharing more on how we will be supporting ministry with children, young people and families in the coming months.
To find out more about our recent funding award, please click here.