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We are now entering into a really busy time for those who work with children and families in the church. All Saints Day(or alternatives to Halloween such as Light parties), is followed by Remembrance Day, followed by Advent, followed by Christmas...
Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes:
Two people are better than one. They get more done by working together.If one person falls, the other can help him up...An enemy might defeat one person but two people together can defend themselves. A rope that has three parts wrapped together is hard to break.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12 International Children's Bible
Solomon challenged people to think about who they were doing their work for and who they were doing their work with. He suggested that it is important to draw on God as the source of wisdom, creativity and ultimate fulfillment otherwise work can become tiring, demanding and unrewarding. He also suggested that it is important to work with others; to create resilience, to bring other gifts and to support each other when things become hard.
We all know how challenging it can be when we are really busy-but thinking and deciding in advance how we are going to meet the challenges ahead can help. How will we draw on God during our busy times and who might we invite to work with us to share their gifts and to support us?
This packed mailing has information on Authorised Chaplaincy Assistant training, Children & Families' Authorised Lay Ministry training, Youth Authorised Lay Ministry training, online All Inclusive training, as well as resources for All Saints Day (Alternatives to Halloween)and Remembrance Day. Resources for Advent and Christmas will be coming soon.
If you are a new children and families leader in your church you might like to join our next monthly Children and Families Leaders' meeting, Evolve, on Monday 9 November on Zoom. The aim of Evolve is to meet other leaders from across the Diocese and to share our experiences and ideas. If you'd like to join in, email me directly and I'll send you a Zoom invite.
We will be having our second session ( postponed from September) looking at Intergenerational Worship, led by Ruth New, Children & Families' Missioner from St Mary's Ely. This session will offer an opportunity to hear the journeys of two churches, one in a market town and one in a village, with a discussion around what the challenges of an intergenerational approach are and how we might approach these.
PS: As ever, resources below are denoted in green if they have been offered previously-new resources are in white. Inevitably there will be some 'repeats' from previous years.
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All Inclusive?
Wednesday 9 November 7pm-9.15pm
I'm delighted to say that Mark Arnold, from Urban Saints, will be delivering this excellent Zoom training on how to make sure that families who have children with special educational or additional needs can be welcomed and included in your church. As he explains, it is not as difficult as it might seem and it can make a world of difference to those children & their families. Visit the booking page for more information or to book on.
Please note booking closes on Monday 7 November at 9 am to enable us to email the information you'll need for the session
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Authorised Chaplaincy Assistant Training
Working in conjunction with Ridley Hall, we are really excited to be able to offer this free training for Authorised Chaplaincy Assistants, for all those from Church of England churches in Ely Diocese wanting to strengthen their relationship with their church school. The training starts in early January 2023 for two school terms and will equip you to fulfill a supporting pastoral role in your local church school. You can find out more about what is on offer and how to apply on our School Chaplaincy page
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Children & Families' Authorised Lay Ministry Course
Are you new to working with children and families in your church or would you like to broaden your skill set? The new streamlined, 10 session Children & Families' Authorised Lay Ministry course will be starting in January 2023 and is a great opportunity to meet with others delivering ministry to families, to learn from each other and from the experienced children and families' practitioners delivering the sessions.
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Most sessions on Zoom but two sessions will be delivered in person on Saturday 4 March 2023.
To find out more and to see the course outline, visit the ALM training page
Please discuss this with your incumbent before applying as you will need to gain the support of the incumbent and PCC in order to gain the Bishop's authorisation.
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The Youth ALM course is a based on training material from Youthscape. There are different ways of doing this but the first online course starts on October 27th.
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Contact missionandminsitry@elydiocese.org for more information about your nearest course or for more information.
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Resources For churches...
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Photo from Pixaby free license
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Photo author's own
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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.
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For Homes...
The Lectio for Families app is now available to download. Designed for families with children aged 7-11, it helps generate conversation and prayer based on bible reading.
Raising faith is a flexible six week course from Care For the Family that can be done with small groups or individual families. It can be streamed for free or bought as a resource. It covers:
Building faith through everyday life
Creating the right environment to nurture faith
Making your faith visible
Different ways we connect with God
Doubts and questions
Belonging in the church
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For Messy Churches...
If you are running a Messy Church please can I invite you to check your details are correct on the Messy Church Directory. If you haven't registered yet, it is very easy; follow the link, create an account (its free!) and register your Messy Church.
Master class bookings are open
- Reimagining your Messy Church for a changing context Thursday 17 November 7.30pm-9pm
- Messy Church Discipleship Tuesday 8 November 11am-12.30pm
- Messy Church Goes Wild Tuesday 1 November 11am-12.30pm and Wednesday 23 November 7.30pm-9pm
Messy Meet Up-Early Christmas Thursday 3 November 12noon-1pm or 7.30pm-8.30pm
Messy Church has been developing some work on Messy Church Goes Wild-12 sessions for taking your Messy Church outdoors. You can see previous sessions for outdoor worship for Messy Church here
Wild and Wiggly is part of a new series of adventures looking at minibeasts and how little things and little people matter to Jesus.
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How safe is your Children and Families Work?
1 Recruit all new helpers and leaders safely and ensure that they are fully checked by your Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO). This includes having a written job role.
2. Make sure that existing leaders and helpers' safeguarding training and DBS are up to date (with PSO)
3 Follow the best practice guidance in the Parish Safeguarding Handbook (August 2019) and Safer Environment and Activities
4 Make sure risk assessments are in place for whatever form of worship you use ie: indoor or outdoor or online. A simple risk assessment based on the national Church of England's guidelines. Further templates can be found here:Safer Working online (scroll down on website page to find section). These need to be updated regularly in the light of changing COVID restrictions
5 Make sure any activity you undertake is covered by your church's insurance policy (PCC)
6 Contact the Diocesan Safeguarding team if you are unsure, require help or support.
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Safeguarding...
Did you know that if you hold any position of responsibility in the church it is imperative that you have 'due regard' to safeguarding guidance. You can now complete most safeguarding courses online, including Responding to Domestic Abuse.
Cambridge and Peterborough Safeguarding Partnership (excerpt of latest newsletter)
Current child protection thresholds and pathways were originally designed to consider risks within the home and family setting; however, increasingly professionals are aware that children and young people spending time outside of the home can be subject to risk and harm. We refer to this as ‘extra familial harm’. There is national recognition that this type of harm is not adequately addressed through traditional child protection frameworks.
Managing extra familial harm through contextual safeguarding is not a new concept and has been successfully implemented in many partnerships across the country. Locally, we have been keen to further develop processes to create a contextual safeguarding system that supports both the individual (tier one) risk and those areas surrounding the individual, such as places, networks, and peers (tier two).
To support practitioners in gaining an understanding of what contextual safeguarding is and how it applies to practice we have produced a contextual safeguarding SWAY
Is a child you know accessing Omegle? it is a free anonymous chatroom where people are randomly paired, with little moderation and no available function to report inappropriate behaviour. Omegle chats pop up on Instagram and TikTok, thus widening its appeal to young users.
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Debbie Hill
Development Officer for Children & Families Diocese of Ely
Working hours 9-5pm Monday to Thursday
debbie.hill@elydiocese.org 07837 699016
Pinterest boards: Debbie Hill
Facebook: Hope from Home
We pray to be a visible and generous people of God
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Our mailing address is:
Ely Diocesan Board of Finance
Ely Diocesan Office
Barton Road
Ely, Cambridge CB7 4DX
United Kingdom
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