Everyone I have spoken to recently feels tired and say that their resilience is declining as the Pandemic goes on. Many people are juggling so many things-trying to do their job well under demanding circumstances; trying to manage supporting their children with schoolwork from home; trying to help their children(or grandchildren) cope with the continuing frustrations of lockdown and not being in their normal routine of school or college; supporting children and young people in their church from a distance; and on top of that, all the fear and worry caused by COVID, including worries about job security. Hebrews 12:14-15 says, 'Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.'
I think this passage is apt because it is encouraging us to keep on looking after each other during the challenge of COVID; to model holiness with God's help through his Spirit; to seek peace and to live in harmony with one another; in short to demonstrate God's love even at this most difficult of times.
Lent:
As we approach Lent, the impact of what we have lived through in the last year needs to be considered. Many people feel that they have repeatedly had to sacrifice so many things in the last year that the thought of the traditional 'giving up' of something else for Lent this year may be inappropriate. The converse is also true; many people feel that they have had to do a lot of new things, learn a lot of new things and do things differently, therefore a Lent with a 'new challenge' every day might be unrealistic.
There are some great resources you might want to consider using! The Church of England has produced the LiveLent app which includes an activity for families each day; Together at Home (TatH) is offering Love Yourself Through Lent focusing on self care and promoting good mental health; and the United Reformed Church are offering an intergenerational resource Walking Towards Easter Together.
Grief & Bereavement
Many of us have experienced grief and bereavement in the last year. Bereavement in Children and Young People offers a variety of approaches to help support them through grief and bereavement and a list of organisations and further resources are here: Resources for Bereavement
PS: Resources below are denoted in green if they have been offered previously-new resources are in white.
Authorised Lay Ministry in the Church of England is a ministry opportunity for lay people in churches who, with the agreement of their PCC, undertake a period of specialism training and on successful completion, are authorised by the Bishop to minister within the area of their specialism to that specific church for an initial period of 4 years. This years' training course has been updated to include ministry to children in all sorts of contexts; online, outside, within COVID restrictions and to the whole family(not just the children) and is being delivered online for the first time by me along with a number of experienced practitioners from across the Diocese.
The course starts on Wednesday 24 February but there is quite a bit of preparation to complete before beginning. If you think this may be an area of ministry God is calling you to, why not discuss with your incumbent and then get in touch with me to find out more. Places can now be booked on the website . We'd love you to join us!
Rev Becky Dyball has been using Minecraft to help deliver Collective Worship in her local church primary school. If you'd like to find out a bit more about how she has done it, join us for this one hour Zoom session when Becky and Alex will share what they have done and how they have done some of the 'basics.' Booking
Mission and Ministry work closely with the Education department which supports church schools in the Diocese of Ely. There are resources for Collective Worship and Class Collective Worship which follow the Lectionary available to download.
For Messy Churches ... Messy Church master classes Wednesday 24 and Friday 26 February. Booking opens 2 February. A session to help Messy Church teams and leaders feel confident in reimagining their Messy Church in a Covid secure way. Other sessions to be offered are Starting a Messy Church and Messy Church Discipleship. Messy Thomas-Is seeing believing? At Home session Messy Good Friday At Home session
Safeguarding... If you hold any position of responsibility in the church it is imperative that you have 'due regard' to safeguarding guidance. Booking open online for all courses(including C3 Responding to Domestic Abuse) Safeguarding Courses. New dates are being added regularly so please keep checking if the course you want is full. *Recent Safeguarding alert* Avakin Life There is evidence this online game has been used to groom young people. It is easy to access the game if a young person lies about their age (game originally designed for 17+ but now allowing 13+)
Want to keep up to date with other developments in social media platforms that children are using? INEQE safeguarding group have a series of explainer videos including safer use of TIkTok and Instagram and a warning about Omegle.
Please make sure whatever you are doing with children, young people and families is safe for all concerned. If you are online with children and their families, please make sure you have put a thorough risk assessment in place with parental/guardian permission forms completed. Templates can be found at Safer Working online
Please regularly check, read and follow the recommended guidance from the Church of England when working with children and families. The latest version is 3.0 This can be found on the Church of England Coronavirus page The overarching principle must be one of safety for everyone. The position in Tier 4 for out-of-school settings is broadly the same as the November restrictions, meaning that registered wraparound childcare and supervised activities for children, such as out-of-school settings, should only be accessed where the provision is necessary:
to allow parents / carers to work, seek work, undertake education or training, or attend a medical appointment
for the purposes of respite care; or
where the provision is being used by home educating parents as part of their existing arrangements for their child to receive a suitable full-time education
A good source of guidance is from the NYA which updates rapidly following government updates. Tier 4 is currently designated Code Red for both over and under 18s activities.
Debbie Hill
Development Officer for Children & Families Diocese of Ely
Working hours 9-5pm Monday to Thursday debbie.hill@elydiocese.org 07837 699016
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Ely Diocesan Board of Finance
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