Summary of Key Events from the District Team

District Council (October 2011)

The following is a short summary of what was presented to District Council October 2011, for use in local churches and circuit meetings as a short brief.

If you have any queries regarding the content of this paper, please contact our District Development Enabler, Helen Boardman

Enabling Younger Christians (EYC)

The group meets every 2-3 months, starting rom May 2010, the purpose being to share stories and experiences of working with young people (11-18) and young adults (19-35) in and around our churches. The EYC team are there to identify common issues/areas that support is needed for, and also to share resources and promote best practice around the district for others to access.

There are four key areas of focus:

  1. Supporting - how are we upholding those already doing work with younger Christians in our local churches and projects. Saturday 21st January 2012 there is a one day retreat for youth and childrens workers to attend called ‘Time and Space’. If you have a paid or substantive youth or childrens worker who would be interested in attending, details are available here.
  2. Listening - how we hear from younger people about their needs and how the church does/doesn’t meet them.
    • Listening to Young People: We have set up a facebook page called ‘Youth Voice’ to encourage online conversations where we connect several of our youth groups together ‘virtually’ and allow discussions to develop. [Note: this is aimed at the 13-18s age group]
    • Listening to Young Adults: We have called a group of workers engaging young adults (18-35) to a lunchtime conversation at Café Nexus, on Mon 5th Dec 2011. If you are working with young adults and wish to share in this conversation or to be included in onward communications, please let our DDE know (contact).
  3. Learning & Sharing - how we capture the stories of the work already going on from the 14 areas we have represented within EYC (plus others if they are made known to us). We are doing a film of as many local groups as possible - to make available for all circuits and churches to access from Spring 2012. This will contain useful stories and ideas of what is capturing the imagination of our younger generations around the district. If you have a story you wish to share, please let us know!
  4. Resourcing - we are expanding our online resources facility on the district website www.mandsmethodists.org.uk so you will soon be able to select all resources relevant to working with younger people within our areas. If you have a resource (Book, film, link, etc) you would like to see included in our online resource store, please let us know ! EYC have some funds allocated to them to support their work where monies are needed to support further connections and developments with our younger generations. Six young people from two circuits attended ‘3Generate’ recently (youth assembly 2011) and this is one area where the district offers support where needed to enable young people to share in this national event.

(please note the district team are also developing strategies for further engagement with older people. This was reported to be available for the spring District Council)

Being Rural Church in the Present Age

A day was held in Buxton on Saturday 8th October for all those working within rural areas to gather and share in worship, workshops (held in various small chapels around the area) and fellowship together. Over 60 people attended from five circuits in the neighbouring areas and the feedback was very positive. Full details of what happened on the day and to access key resources provided are now available.

8-tivity

On 8th September 2011 we invited all those who worked within ‘creative arts’ to attend an evening at Nexus, with keynote speaker Ric Stott (pioneer minister in Sheffield, specializing in creative arts). The event was well attended with 40 people present, and several experts from the 5 core creative arts themes. Full details of what happened at ‘8-tivity’ and key resources provided are now available.

The Big Society

Following on from our discussions at Synod in September, a short booklet has been prepared by the district team in partnership with CiC (www.c-i-c.org.uk) to assist local churches and circuits in their understanding and potential application of some areas to do with the Big Society. As well as decoding some of the jargon around Big Society, there are key developments and discussions underway around Cheshire East, Derbyshire & High Peak and Greater Manchester - details of which are included in the booklet which you can download (pdf).

If you are interested in learning more about the implications ‘Big Society’ has on our local churches and circuits, please get in touch with John Wareham from CiC or our DDE, Helen Boardman.