Young people aged 14-18 from our diocese led a service of thanksgiving on Saturday 20 April to celebrate their achievements during the Growing Young Leaders programme.
The service, at St Paul’s church, Canterbury saw the young people do readings and lead prayers and music. The service included an address from Bishop Rose who congratulated the young people who had taken part in the course.
Growing Young Leaders is a course aimed at equipping young people with the confidence to become leaders, whilst encouraging them to recognise their identity in Christ and grow their discipleship. It also acts as the foundational training for a young person’s pathway towards various forms of church leadership.
The cohort of young people participated in monthly sessions from September until April.
As part of the programme, the young people were encouraged to think about servant leadership in their own church settings. One young person saw a need for a space and provision within her church for those members of her church family with additional needs. Reinforced with the skills developed during the course, she was able to write a proposal, successfully present it to her PCC for approval and then implement the vision by adapting the space.
Other examples include;
- a young person sharing her passion for crochet with residents of a local care home,
- another delivering a linguistics lecture to other young people to encourage them to embrace their gifts in languages,
- a cookery course being delivered for children,
- organising a car wash fundraising event,
- the development of a youth service
- and another young person supporting children who experience medical anxiety.
Speaking about the course, Lead Officer for Children and Young People’s Ministry, Jen Tobin said: “It has been wonderful to meet with the young leaders for the past eight months. They have grown in confidence and fellowship throughout the course, and we have been so blessed to witness them progress in their discipleship during this time.
“We continue to pray for them as they utilise the skills they have gained to continue to support the mission and ministry of their own churches.”
The course will run again from September 2024. For further information about the course and to register your interest for the next cohort, please contact our Youth Enabler, Georgina Hedley-Smith.