Rebuilding Strong Towers

You may have attended one of our Building Strong Towers events and might be keen to know how you could do more with this resource. We are pleased to announce that the partners who worked together on this are offering a one day Consultation event in Methodist Church House on Tuesday 30th October 2007. We aim to present the resources developed for Building Strong Towers so that others can use them in both similar and new contexts. The consultation will address how we can best equip the Church and its workers to walk alongside children in difficult times and ensure that as a society we function effectively in support of children. We will look at regional co-operation and at strategies to resource colleges and training schemes.
A free pack will be available on the day, including a version of the DVD to use in your own events, programme suggestions, contact details for national and local groups who helped or might help and a resource list.
The event is aimed at

• regional and local trainers of children’s workers,
• those responsible for initial and ongoing training for clergy and specialist ministries,
• people developing new work in churches or extended schools,
• leaders of children’s work in regions and denominations,

You are warmly invited to attend or be represented at this presentation and consultation and we look forward to sharing ideas with you and hearing your views in this important area. Please let us know by post or email who will be attending, children@methodistchurch.org.uk

STOP PRESS - for those of you in the Leeds area you have another chance to attend a Strong Towers event on the 27th September - download the information here!

New session, New challenges

Many churches are looking for new challenges and new ways of ensuring that they are inclusive communities for children and families. We have heard about two initiatives which we think are fabulous and are worth looking into and we thought we would share them with you!

Read all about fc2 and the Child Friendly Church Award on our new webpage all about challenges!

11 million Takeover Day

The Methodist Church is one of the first UK denominations to sign up for the 11 MILLION Takeover Day. On Friday November 23, children and young people will take over at Methodist Church House, finding out about the different work that goes on to support the national Church and offering their own thoughts and insights.

The 11MILLION Takeover Day is an initiative of the Children's Commissioner for England that invites the 11 million children and young people in England to take control of businesses and organisations. Individuals, groups and institutions are being encouraged to demonstrate a commitment to listening and recognising the talents of children and young people across England by handing over the reins for one day.

Work is under way to transform Methodist Church House into a child led building for a day and we hope that local churches, circuits, and districts will also have some ideas! You can read all about it on the website and also in the upcoming edition of FUN! Get in touch with your ideas for Takeover Day!

Upcoming training for children's workers

Scripture Union and Wesley Owen present - An evening to equip and refresh those working with children and young people
October 2 - Cambridge, October 3 - Watford, October 4 - Southampton, October 9 - Cheltenham, October 11 - Carlisle

Download Information here (pdf)

Are you ready to make a difference?Two opportunities to receive and participate in a choice of weekends to enable you to grow your ministry, and equip you to disciple children and young people more effectively. Key practitioners from the Scripture Union family drawn from specialist volunteers and expert staff will lead the weekends.

9-11th November, Swanick and 30th November -2nd December, High Leigh

Download the leaflet here (pdf)

Step by Step launches

Methodist Conference 2007 saw the launch of the latest edition of Step by Step 2 -a good practice guide for those involved in youth work.
This resource offers practical advice and information to anyone considering or currently working with young people. Step by Step 2 updates the basic policies & procedures affecting work with young people in the Church & wider community. It looks at several current issues in ways that enable people to gain a general understanding of the topic and to determine how to apply theory to practice.  It includes a set of fourteen pocket size Fact Cards for young people on topics ranging from Self Harm, Bullying, Sex, Eating Disorders to Questions about Christianity.

There will be a series of regional introductory/training events for this new edition during the autumn this year.  It is hoped that there will be a venue which will be able to be reached by anyone interested.

Sat 6 Oct 07  Preston Fulwood Methodist Church
Sat 13 Oct 07 Bristol St Andrew's Methodist Church, Filton
Sat 10 Nov 07 Darlington Elm Ridge Church

All will take place 11am - 3pm  Refreshments & a light lunch will be provided. There will also be a chance to purchase copies of Step by Step 2

To book a place please contact lovettv@methodistchurch.org.uk

Every Disabled Child Matters have been chosen by the Chancellor, Rt Hon Alastair Darling MP, as the charity for the Chancellor's 2007 Christmas card. EDCM have launched a competition for disabled children and young people to design the Chancellor's Christmas card. The winning entry will become the official card sent out from No.11 and two runners up will be chosen to be the EDCM and CDC Christmas cards. The competition will run until 5th October and is open to all disabled children and young people up to the age of 25.

For more information about how to get involved please go to www.edcm.org.uk/chancellorschristmascard

Other bits n'bobs

Country Holidays for Inner City Kids is a registered UK charity that provides free respite breaks for disadvantaged children from all parts of the UK. The children they assist must meet the required criteria, which includes not having a break anywhere else and they must be referred by a professional person e.g. Minister, doctor, school teacher, social worker etc. As part of their own expansion plans over the next 3 years they aim to help over 1000 children a year and they hope to assist the most needy children from all areas of the country – whether from rural areas, where pockets of deprivation have increased tremendously, or from the poor inner city areas. More information is available on our website www.chicks.org.uk

Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service  will be touring the country in October with the Red Balloon Theatre Company (part of Saltmine) with a performance called ‘Out of the Box’.  See http://www.ccpas.co.uk/Out%20of%20the%20box.htm
The roadshow will be visiting 11 centres (see web-link above) between Monday 8 October and Saturday 20 October.  From the sublime to the ridiculous, this evening of light entertainment looks at what we can do to safeguard children in our care without going to extremes.  The programme is designed for children’s and youth workers and other leaders.  After the performance a discussion will take place on the issues raised. 
Last month the government published ‘Staying Safe’ to promote discussion on how best to keep children safe.  Views expressed at the event will be used to help inform government thinking as part of the Department for Children, Schools and Families ‘Staying Safe’ consultation process.

Godly Play Network

Godly Play UK has become a registered charity and is growing in popularity all over the country. A Godly Play celebration is scheduled for later this year and we at MethodistChildren are delighted to be involved in the planning of this event. To consolidate Methodism's commitment to Godly Play we want to have a networking opportunity for all those who have become devotees of this way of working. Our first stage is to get a list of people who are using Godly Play, have trained in Godly Play, or are connected with Godly Play in any way. Once we have a list we will then be in touch with everyone and set up a day here in Methodist Church House where we can be together and share our experiences and plan how to keep people in touch with each other and with developments and resources.
If you would like to be on the network list then please send us your details at children@methodistchurch.org.uk

If you require any further information please contact us on children@methodistchurch.org.uk 

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