Diocesan Youth & Children Officer: Claire Benton-Evans

Facebook page: Edinburgh Diocese Youth and ChildrenTwitter: @EdinDioYouth

Email: youthandchildren@dioceseofedinburgh.orgDirect line: 0131 346 9081 Mobile: 0747 372 8148Office: 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL

YOUTH &CHILDREN NEWS

� YOUTH PARTICIPATION - school climatestrikes, plus the new youth representativeshave their say� AROUND THE DIOCESE - youth &

children’s grants� TODDLER GROUPS - news and resources� ACTIVE KIDS IN CHURCH - from the archive� MUSIC OPPORTUNITIES - Be A Chorister

Afternoon, Morland and The Big Sing� THE PROVINCIAL YOUTH WEEK - a

delegate writes

Apply now for smallgrants for youth andchildren’s work in yourchurch! If an extra cashinjection would help aproject get off theground, make your ap-plicationForms can be down-loaded from the dioce-san website here. Therewill be a second chanceto apply for funding laterin the year - watch thisspace! Read on forsome examples of howprevious grants havebeen spent...

GRANTSAVAILABLE

Diocesan Youth & Children Officer: Claire Benton-Evans

Facebook page: Edinburgh Diocese Youth and ChildrenTwitter: @EdinDioYouth

Email: youthandchildren@dioceseofedinburgh.orgDirect line: 0131 346 9081 Mobile: 0747 372 8148Office: 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL

RESOURCES

These books are available toborrow from the DiocesanOffice and are highly recom-mended:

A great book about introduc-ing Holy Communion to un-der 5s. Available to buyhere.

Engagingworship and storytelling re-sources for babies and tod-dlers. Available to buy here.

Featuring ideas and resourc-es including the NurseryRhyme Mass. Available tobuy here.

Toddler groups are great!They are a lifeline formany parents who mayhave no other connectionwith a church. This book-let from the Church ofEngland identifies keyquestions and points oflearning to help toddlergroups become an effec-tive part of the mission ofthe church. You can buythe booklet here.

As I travel around the Diocese, I see inspiring examples of missionand outreach in an often overlooked area of ministry: the churchtoddler group. If you want to see the Church serving the needs ofits local community, building relationships and loving the vulnera-ble, spend time volunteering at your local toddler group. There area growing number of resources to encourage and support thisimportant work: here are a few highlights…

fortoddler group leaders,including workshops onadditional needs, work-ing with dads, support-ing volunteers andhelping parents nurturefaith. Details here.

grew out of a desire to helpbring God into the middle of the muddle oflife with very small children, without theneed to ‘find time to pray’. Play & Praymaterials were developed for a six-weekinteractive series for babies, pre-schoolersand their carers which runs regularly in andnear Edinburgh. The excellent Play & Praywebsite makes these ideas available toencourage others to have a go at runninga course or to use the materials at home.

Diocesan Youth & Children Officer: Claire Benton-Evans

Facebook page: Edinburgh Diocese Youth and ChildrenTwitter: @EdinDioYouth

Email: youthandchildren@dioceseofedinburgh.orgDirect line: 0131 346 9081 Mobile: 0747 372 8148Office: 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL

SCHOOL CLIMATESTRIKES

She is a member of Scottish YouthClimate Strike, the youth-led organi-sation behind the recent schoolstrikes in protest against climatechange. Caitlin is the Coordinator ofMedia and Outreach for the biggestSYCS event yet: the March on Par-liament on 24 May. Caitlin's teamhave been consulting with the policeabout this event.

If you support our young people’sprotests against climate change -particularly if yours is an Eco-con-gregation - can you or members ofyour church help by acting as stew-ards on 24 May?

Please consider sharing this requestin your church notices this Sunday.Ask volunteers to contact me ASAPat:youthandchildren@dioceseofedinburgh.org and include this line in theiremail: “I give permission for you toshare my email address with theStewards Coordinator of SYCS.” Iwill send a list of volunteers to theCoordinator and he will be in touchabout the details of the day. Thankyou!

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE ASKING FOR OUR HELP!

Young people across Scot-land have been inspired byGreta Thunberg to protestagainst climate change. Stu-dents in Edinburgh havejoined school strikes everyFriday and protested outsidethe Scottish Parliament. Theyhave organised themselvesinto Scottish Youth ClimateStrike, sharing informationabout their aims on their web-site, Facebook and Twitter.SYCS says: “Over the last fewweeks, Scotland has de-clared a Climate Emergency,Britain has declared a ClimateEmergency, and Ireland hasdeclared a climate emergen-cy! We’ve done so much in solittle time, but now we have anew challenge. We need tomake the government act ontheir promises. We need tomake sure they followthrough!

Join us on the 24th of Mayand make your voice heard!We can make a difference, weknow we can make a differ-ence, so let’s do it!”

Your excellent Diocesan represent-atives to the Provincial Youth Com-mittee are Olivia Smith (18-25),Phoebe Pryce and Freya Mcleman(12-18). We met to talk about whatis important to them and what theyparticularly want to say to the widerChurch on behalf of young people.Between them they had positivestories to tell about inclusion andparticipation in their own churches:two are on Vestry, and they have allhad opportunities to lead worshipand be involved in decision-mak-ing. However, they recognise that

this is not the experience of allyoung people in church. They wantto talk about opportunities foryoung people to be involved intheir home churches, and how theycan participate meaningfully. Theyalso want to talk about the biggerpicture: the Church’s place in theworld and how we can be open tonew ideas. Olivia and Phoebe willbe representing the Diocese andspeaking at General Synod inJune: please pray for them as theyspeak out for young people!

Diocesan Youth & Children Officer: Claire Benton-Evans

Facebook page: Edinburgh Diocese Youth and ChildrenTwitter: @EdinDioYouth

Email: youthandchildren@dioceseofedinburgh.orgDirect line: 0131 346 9081 Mobile: 0747 372 8148Office: 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL

WILDLIFEGARDEN

“A wildlife habitat area hasbeen created using branchesremoved from felled or loppedtrees. A compost heap hasbeen created - providing a suit-able environment for many in-sects. A “bug hotel” has beenpurchased and is installed nearthe compost heap. A bird feed-ing table and several hangingfeeders have been bought andput in position. Bird boxes havebeen positioned - one of themoccupied at present by bluetits.

Some planting has been donewith a view to encouragingwildlife, including rhododen-dron, primulas, lavender, vari-ous herbs and a buddleia. Inthe summer the church will offi-cially open and bless theproject - and bury a time cap-sule prepared by the SundaySchool children.”

Diocesan Youth & Children Officer: Claire Benton-Evans

Facebook page: Edinburgh Diocese Youth and ChildrenTwitter: @EdinDioYouth

Email: youthandchildren@dioceseofedinburgh.orgDirect line: 0131 346 9081 Mobile: 0747 372 8148Office: 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL

YOUTH & CHILDREN’SGRANTS CONT.D

Do you remember this publication? Only 1000 copies were printed forthe SEC by Redemptorist Publications. It’s an A5 laminated bookletwith wipe-clean pages that children can draw on again and again.

Rev Yousouf Gooljarysays: “The grant was wellreceived and enabled adiverse group of localpeople to come togetherto enjoy a Christmaslunch and get together.”

TECH HELPIf you haven’t got a handyteenager in your churchwho can advise you on allyour IT needs, you may liketo know about Google Digit-al Garage in Edinburgh.Staff in the West Endpremises can provide freein-person training and 1-1coaching. There are manyuseful courses, includinghelp for parents on how tokeep kids safe online.

Diocesan Youth & Children Officer: Claire Benton-Evans

Facebook page: Edinburgh Diocese Youth and ChildrenTwitter: @EdinDioYouth

Email: youthandchildren@dioceseofedinburgh.orgDirect line: 0131 346 9081 Mobile: 0747 372 8148Office: 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL

MORLANDCHORISTERS CAMP

June Rapson of St Peter’sLutton Place says: “I writeas the parent of a choristerat St Peters, Edinburgh,to share some details aboutthe marvellous MorlandChoristers Camp - pleasefollow the above link for de-tails.

A warm welcome is extend-ed to singers aged 9 - 17years with all levels of expe-rience, and some placesare still available for the res-idential camp this summer(Sunday 28 July - Sunday 4August 2019)

Morland is an establishednon-audition course recog-nised by the Royal Schoolof Church Musicand directed by experi-enced choral trainers.

Many singers return year-on-year, not only for thesinging but also for the fun,structured activities in theafternoon e.g. dam-buildingin the local stream, the an-nual croquettournament and swimmingtrips, ball games etc.”

For more information, seethe Facebook page or con-tact Morland directly atadmin@morland.org.ukA leaflet is also available toview and share online.

Do you know a child who loves to sing? Encourage them to come to aBe A Chorister Afternoon at the cathedral, with St Mary’s Music School.This wonderful opportunity is for children in P3-P5.

Come to St Mary’s Cathedral for The Big Sing, to learn, practise and singtogether at a big Diocesan celebratory Evensong. Come and meetpeople from across the Diocese, enjoy refreshments and join in anoptional workshop.

● Big construction crafts workwell - especially if there is achance to use tools. Try makinglife-size Nativity sets, bird feed-ers using a bit and brace drill,puppets or other junk creationswith a hotmelt glue gun. Do su-per-size painting on 8'/4' sheetsof plywood!

● Tactile and messy stuff is pop-ular. Make ‘gloop’ (cornflour andwater, maybe with food colour-ing) and use it wherever it mightfit in with the story, e.g. Creation(primordial ooze), Noah (muddyflood water) or Jesus healing theblind man in John 9:6 (mud andspit paste).

● A "youth corner” with a sofaand a discussion starter worksreally well for teenagers (S1 up-wards).

● Technology e.g. stopframe ani-mation, making short videos etc,all of which can be shown inSunday church or used for thefollowing month.

● Music e.g. a drum workshop ledby some of the dads.

● Science experimentse.g. cleaning pennies with vine-gar and salt, optical illusions,floating coloured solutions suchas oil & coloured water on eachother, mento and coke fountainsetc.  With ingenuity you can tiethese to a theme – for example,sin being washed away, light,the rainbow, the dynamic powerof the Holy Spirit.

Some churches have even triedNerf Sunday (bring your nerf gunto church on a Sunday afternoonfor a huge battle) and SweatyChurch (the Messy Church formatbut with games instead of crafts).

Useful websites:

‘Who Let The Dads Out?’This is a specific initiative, but thewebsite contains useful informa-tion and links.

Christians in SportThis is an excellent site for GamesNight resources for a boys’ anddads’ night. These events canmake a big difference in helpingboys / teens feel that church is forthem.

Thanks to Reuben Addis ofMessy Church Scotland forall these inspired (andtried-and-tested) sugges-tions! Check out his Pinter-est page for more ideas:

messy-church-don-t-like-crafts/

ACTIVEKIDS ANDMESSYCHURCH

Handy stuff tohave:

● Lego

● Big cardboard boxes

for giant construction

(e.g. walls of Jericho)

● Smaller cartons,

packets and tubes for

junk modelling

● Simple tools

● Offcuts of wood

● Play parachute

● Cornflour

Games and challenges workreally well if you have a separateroom so it doesn't get too noisyfor everyone else. There areloads of games that can beadapted to fit seasons or stories:for example, sea-themed para-chute games can help you act outcrossing the Red Sea, fishing formen or walking on water! Also trytreasure hunts, Hide and Seekand running between four cornersof the room to represent differentparts of a story (e.g. Bethlehem,Egypt, Jerusalem and Nazarethfor the Nativity story).

WORTH REPEATING… A feature from the archive

Photograph by Michael Murphyfrom Wikipedia used under license

Diocesan Youth & Children Officer: Claire Benton-Evans

Facebook page: Edinburgh Diocese Youth and ChildrenTwitter: @EdinDioYouth

Email: youthandchildren@dioceseofedinburgh.orgDirect line: 0131 346 9081 Mobile: 0747 372 8148Office: 21a Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL

The Youth Week is open to an-yone in secondary educationup to, and including July 2019;also, those under 18 years oldwho have left full-time educa-tion. All are welcome!

“Over last summer, I had thepleasure of attending a youthcamp at Glenalmond College.This featured young people fromScottish Episcopal churches allover coming together for a week.Each day we spent there wasbased off of a very similar struc-ture, with time dedicated for Biblestudy, socialising, and a myriadof activities (and eating, ofcourse. Meals were of a very highquality). Each day every personcould choose three activities, andthe range involved in these wasincredible, with everything fromCode Cracking to Intensive Fit-ness (run by our curate Oliver,and perhaps the biggest mistakeI made that week by choosing,according to my muscles).

As well as the content of theweek, the people there were ahuge selling point of the week.Despite coming from different

backgrounds from allover Scotland, it waseasy for almost every-one to get on with al-most everyone else. Ipersonally made nu-merous friends over theweek, and am activelykeeping in touch viacontact details. The en-vironment that was created was avery welcoming one, despite thenumerous differences that peoplehad. Even only coming for thefirst time three years later thanmost people do, when friendshipgroups are typically already es-tablished, I very much felt as if Icould fit in.

Overall, I can provide no criticismof the camp. It was a very muchenjoyable experience, and Iwould look forward to attending itin the future.”

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