“How do we nurture faith in those children, young people and families whom God has put us next to?”

Meet a group of Baptists dedicated to answering just that. 

The CYF (Children, Young people, Families) Round Table is made up of representatives from around our Baptist family, who have a regional or association responsibility in these areas. All of these leaders have experience, training and a passion for working with children, young people and families. 

To contact the Round Table please contact Mike Lowe.

We have a variety of titles and roles (eg Youth Specialist, Minister, College Tutor, Children’s and Families Worker, Associate Minister, Regional Minister) but we all share a desire to engage in resourcing and equipping local churches. To that end we envisage having a wider national conversation in the future with all those who are working and ministering in our churches amongst Children, Young People and Families. Watch this space!

When we first gathered it was a common question that brought us together... how do we nurture faith in those children, young people and families whom God has put us next to? We felt John Westerhoff described the sort of faith or gift we would want to be part of giving: ‘a faith that is living, imaginative, curious, provocative, beautiful, seeking, peace-loving and healing’.

But how? What does that look like?

Our aim and interest is around how we can be a part of nurturing faith – from a CYF perspective – inviting conversation, offering support, giving and receiving encouragement, networking, sign-posting of resources and making a place of theological reflection. 
What has emerged so far? There seems to be a link between how we do stuff in the household of faith (the church) and how we reach out in mission to the many children, young people and families who are ‘not-yet-Christian’.

Some key pieces of research and writing and resources are emerging: about children’s spirituality, grubby faith, inter-generational (messy?) church, faith-full generation? and the changing face of family ministry - to name but a few.

It’s old news that in our context families are often 3 or 4 generations distant from hearing the good news of a Saviour who loves them and is for them. It seems that the Spirit may already be at work planting new (messy) congregations, opening up prayer spaces in schools and forming schools pastors’ teams, drawing us into mentoring young people especially with the decimation of local youth services. Is this the refreshing and reviving that we have been praying for?!
 
Our next meeting is 23-24 March 2022.

To read the CYF Round Table reports, click here. Please view our dedicated resource 
The CYF Round Table Toolkit for churches - Joining the dots between church, home and school
To contact the Round Table please contact Mike Lowe