Contacts & Links

Children’s Links

Messy Church
Messy Church is an attempt to be church for families who might want to meet Jesus, belong to their local church and bring up their children as Christians but do not find traditional Sunday morning church services accessible. It's a time of creativity, worship and eating together.

Godly Play
Godly Play is a creative and imaginative approach to Christian nurture which can be used in a variety of settings and is based on long established, tried and tested approaches. Using symbols and objects, as well as words, Godly Play values process, openness and discovery and encourages people to make meaning for themselves.

BRF – Barnabas
Bible Reading Fellowship’s Children’s Ministry Barnabas provides a growing range of resources for church-based leaders and primary schoolteachers who work with children up to the age of 11. As well as books and training on offer they have an experienced team who are able to offer practical help.

Youth Links

YFC
Youth for Christ (YFC) is a national Christian charity that was founded by Billy Graham in 1946. Working with around 300,000 young people each month, they draw alongside teens from every background and culture in Britain. Their 150 fulltime staff and countless local volunteers specialise in working with unchurched youth: communicating and demonstrating the Christian faith. Their website has details of their resources, training courses, gap year opportunities and more

Oxygen
The Kingston branch of YFC working in partnership with a range of local agencies. Oxygen’s vision is to give young people an opportunity to discover and follow Jesus, by serving, building relationships and relying on God. Their relational youth work, made up of 18 weekly projects which add up to 60 hours of face to face youth work, are mainly carried out by a team of Gap year students – known as Mind The Gap.

Redthread
Redthread is a community-based youth work charity working with young people aged 13-25 throughout London, but primarily in Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham. They  run a range of positive activities for young people, and also work with partners to provide counselling, information and support in a range of health-related settings, including the Kings College Emergency Adolescent Room and the Paxton Green Group Practice.

General Links

Fresh Expressions
A Fresh Expression is a form of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of any church. Their website has a whole range of resources and information to help you learn more about Fresh Expressions and different ways of being church. If you search the stories there are examples of fresh expressions specifically for children and young people

New Wine
New Wine is a coalition of churches, leaders and ministries who share common values and partner together for the advance of the kingdom of God. As well as their major summer conference they offer a range of training opportunities, including in Youth and Children’s work. It was from their youth movement that Soul Survivor originated. Their website has a range of resources for Youth and Children’s work

Spring Harvest
Spring Harvest is a Christian event which takes place over Easter. It's for people of all ages and church backgrounds and features inspirational Bible teaching, seminars, and spirit-filled worship. In addition to this there are several satellite events and training opportunities, including specific youth conferences, details of which – alongside many other resources, can be found on their website.

Greenbelt
A Festival celebrating Arts, Faith and Justice held in Cheltenham over the Bank Holiday weekend. It has its own dedicate Children and Youth Zones

CRE
Christian Resources Exhibition. The major exhibition takes place on Sandown racecourse in May and has exhibitors and talks on all areas of church life – including children and young people.  If you can’t make it then you can check out the suppliers, order the resources and download the talks from their website.

CPAS
Church Pastoral Aid Society. An Anglican Evangelical Mission Society working mainly in the UK with a website full of church leadership resources, including Growing Leaders – youth edition and residential holiday information.

Scripture Union
A whole raft of resources on children’s work, youth work, holiday and midweek clubs and much more.