Heather Martin is Youth Hubs Coordinator for the Diocese of Hereford, Here she talks about growing our church younger and what that means for you.
Are you a parent? A grandparent? A young person? Do you have a young person living on your street? Do you coach a local football team? Do you find yourself in a space where you share it with young people? Whether it be church, family, the local corner shop or sports club? Then this is for you!
You may already know that I began working for the Diocese as their new Youth Hub Coordinator last month with a view to overseeing and supporting the church’s engagement with young people in the new Youth Hubs in Leominster and Bishop’s Castle. Long term, we hope to create 7 hub areas across the whole Diocese and hope that you will join us on this journey.
But why do we want to reach younger generations? Surely young people can’t be interested in what the church has to say and offer them? Well in the most recent Diocesan strategy, it was highlighted that very few children across the Diocese attend acts of worship (0.66%) and while over 12,000 pupils attend our schools, only 429 ‘usually’ attend church. Not only this, the average age of those leaving the church is just 14-and-a-half years old.
When you think about your own journey of faith, how you came to be a follower of Jesus, my guess is that you probably had some individuals who invested time and prayer in you, whether as a young person or an adult. Those people who come to mind, as you read this now, responded to the call of the Psalmist in Psalm 78 and opened their mouths with a parable, uttered hidden things, things from of old, things they had heard and known, things their ancestors told them. They didn’t hide them from their descendants; they told the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power and the wonders he has done. He commanded their ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.
If we want the church to grow and have a future, we need to take this call seriously too – whether we have children and young people in our churches currently or not. Therefore there is a need to reimagine ourselves as pioneers of something that might not even exist or have been thought about yet. We don’t just want people involved to ‘lead’ activities or youth bible studies, but maybe you could pray by name for a young person, maybe you could serve refreshments or intentionally ask a young person in your community how they are or just smile at them across the street. We all have a part to play and I want to help you in finding yours, however young, old, able or unable you are.
So get in touch with me, pray about it, talk about it with others and discern what God might be calling you to step into in growing the church younger without losing sight of those who are older.
[Ed: You can reach Heather by email here.]
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