Maya Pilbrow
20 October 2023
Parishes trying to engage with children and young people will be supported by a newly legislated steering committee for children’s and youth ministry, experts say.
This may be through helping parishes put in place tailored models for better engaging with young people in their communities.
Synod passed a bill legislating the establishment of the new steering committee for children’s and young people’s ministry.
The Reverend Graham Stanton, who moved the bill, said he was encouraged by the legislation of the steering committee, saying it indicated that people correctly saw children’s and youth ministry as a significant area of ministry in need of focused attention.
Dr Stanton said thriving children’s and youth ministry was necessary to fulfil the diocese’s mission of making the Word of God fully known.
He said the steering committee would provide long-term consistent support for children’s and youth ministry in the diocese for the first time.
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Dr Stanton said the steering committee’s establishment was a small but crucial step in the long process of encouraging more young people to engage with church life.
He said the new steering committee would mean more people’s time and expertise was being spent on addressing the challenges in maintaining healthy children’s and youth ministry.
Until now, most of the diocese’s strategic and effective youth ministry work was being done by the Diocesan Youth Ministry Consultant team of Brian Holden and the Reverend Karen Winsemius, Dr Stanton said.
The sheer volume of work involved in supporting children’s and youth ministry was an unreasonable workload for just Mr Holden and Ms Winsemius, Dr Stanton said.
He said the new steering committee would be able to make sure Mr Holden and Ms Winsemius’ work was supported and deployed sustainably across the whole diocese.
Mr Holden said the steering committee would be able to help parishes put in place tailored models to effectively connect with youth in their communities.
He said models to increase children’s and youth engagement in church life were already in place in some churches across the diocese, including food and music programs aimed at young people.
Mr Holden said the new steering committee would support the implementation of existing plans and resources across a broader range of parishes without having to adopt an ineffective one-size-fits-all approach.
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The legislation of the steering committee comes after a 2021 synod motion which called for Archbishop in Council to establish a Children’s and Youth Ministry working group. The working group was to review strategies for making the Word of God fully known among the next generation of young people. In 2022 a motion requested the development of legislation governing a permanent authorised standing committee for children’s and youth ministry.
The working group established in 2021 found that diocesan support for children’s and young people’s ministry was precarious, with no established requirement for the diocese to give any attention to children’s and youth ministry.
A review conducted by the working group in 2022 found children’s and youth ministry needed stronger centralised support to thrive.
