‘I WAS WORKING ON THE HOLE IN THE OZONE LAYER!’
When I moved to doing full-time children’s work, I wanted to get some ‘proper’ training and a professional qualification. I wanted to be able to serve God in my parish to the best of my ability. I also wanted to do some theology around children’s work rather than just learning about ‘best practice’, which day training and one-off events often cover.
The course I chose covered key areas that I was interested in – child development, mission, faith development, theology – and was ideally set up for someone working full-time (I was working part-time as a children’s worker and part-time at Cadbury). I took one week out a term to stay at college and then fitted the reading and essays around my jobs. There were loads of helpful things on the course but the things that I have come back to most often are children’s spirituality and faith development. ‘How can I make our work more about children encountering God rather than being about how much they learn?’ was a really useful question to ask. Faith development helped me to think about how each ‘stage’ on the journey with Christ is equally valuable and important.
The course nearly drove me insane when it came to essay deadlines. The lack of sleep and speed-reading books wasn’t pleasant. I met some great people on the course and four years later, we’re still in touch. It was a great encouragement to meet people in a similar position to me and learn from them. It’s always good to know that God is using committed, faithful people in children’s ministry all across the country.
Part of the course involved reflecting on your children’s work practice so we looked at everything we did, asking questions such as: why do we do that? What’s the reason behind that? How could we better help children encounter the living God? I won’t say our work was revolutionised as a result of the course, but it certainly helped it evolve. And it also gave me a theological grounding to contribute to big issues involving children in our parish (eg children and communion).
I’m still a full-time children’s worker in Barnsbury Parish but I’m going to be leading a new church plant on an estate later this year. The main focus of the plant will be local children and families so I’m hoping that plenty of what I learnt on the course will still be applicable. Steve, London
‘I SWITCHED COURSES TO FOCUS ON CHILDREN’S MINISTRY’
The children’s ministry modules covered subjects such as additional support needs (ASN), family and community structures, children and the Church, and children at risk. I found all of it immensely helpful for developing a personal theology and professional skill set. The most helpful studies for me were on attachment theory and child development. These inform my work daily as I observe and assess children and families to see what their needs are and try to tackle the root of their difficulties.
The course impacted me personally as it helped me to become aware of some of my own personal issues, stemming from my background in foster care, which I needed to explore, and resolve where possible. This has helped me to be aware of situations which will trigger personal upset or anxiety and to identify strategies to cope with this in my ministry context.
With regards to my current work as a children and families’ worker, my understanding of children’s developmental needs individually and the role that family and school play in their development have been integral as I work jointly with families, schools and social work. The course enabled me to identify where there are involvement gaps, risk of breakdown and opportunities for partnership support.
I am currently still in my first full-time, paid post with a small Baptist church in Lanarkshire. I serve as school chaplain to four primary schools and a high school, work in partnership with social work for family support and do all the usual work within the church, such as Sunday School and toddler groups. We have three fostered children and four with ASN within the church, which my training has helped with. Amie, Lanarkshire, Scotland
‘I WENT FROM CHILDREN’S MINISTRY TO A CREATIVE AGENCY’
I felt called into full-time, employed children’s ministry, and having had no prior qualification or training, both I and the church that employed me felt that a children’s work course would provide a solid foundation of training and further learning as I grew the role.
I learnt so many things on the course: different learning styles and how to plan a programme to meet each child’s needs, some of the most respected methodologies of how children come to faith, and from that, suitable outreach and ministry ideas which suited those. Probably most crucial to my ministry was learning about children with additional needs and what faith looks like to them, and what my responsibility was in nurturing our church to support them.
Through the course I was challenged to improve my own learning, to humble myself among my peers who were of great encouragement, but most impactful was learning of my passion to preach in addition to doing children’s work.
The course impacted my children’s work through the examples I learnt from my peers. The day-to-day support we provided for each other became a tool of confidence in building teaching plans which were fun, inspiring and thought-provoking.
I left my role in full-time paid children’s ministry in 2013 as the role expanded to involve young people as well as children. I knew that my gifting was with children and families specifically and I felt that I could not provide our current youth group or new young people the best of what they needed.
I now work for a technology creative agency but have continued to support my church with the children’s work in a voluntary capacity and my heart continues to grow in this area. As I enter the next chapter of my life, I believe that children’s work is part of that. How that looks I’m not sure, but I’m excited to see what God has in store. While I can’t apply what I learnt on the course to my full-time employed role, I am about to become a mother, so I’ll be applying lots of what I learnt to that! Caroline, Buckinghamshire
‘I’LL BE WORKING WITH CHILDREN IN AMERICA’
The most helpful thing I learnt while studying was that an effective children’s ministry takes on many shapes and forms. The course helped me to become much more reflective and aware of the implications of and reasons for the decisions I was making.
Through the course, I found that my children’s work became much more holistic. I focused less on what I could do for a child in a few hours on a Sunday and more on what the church family could do for the children over the course of the week.
I finished paid children’s and youth work around the same time as my course ended, to take up a new job in a similar field to my previous work.
I continued to be involved in children’s work on Sunday mornings in a voluntary capacity, even after changing churches. I love children and I love working with them, but I wasn’t stretching my analytical, problem-solving brain and I learnt through studying children’s work that this is what really makes me thrive.
Working with children is a journey of exploration and discovery and for me, that is my ideal play time; I don’t need to get paid for that. I have now moved to America with work and am in the process of settling into a church where I fully intend to re-engage and volunteer with the children’s work.
Jonny, New York