Update on CYM HE courses and announcing our CYM Futures Project
Written by Sarah Fegredo
on 30th September 2024
We announced in July 2024 that CYM were suspending all new recruitment to Higher Education (HE) courses delivered by CYM in partnership with Birmingham Newman University. This decision was taken in response to a persistent fall in applications for Higher Education courses that is a pattern (as investigated in this August 2024 Church Times article) being reflected across children, youth and mission related courses in the sector.
We are grateful to the many sector colleagues, alumni and supporters that reached out to us when we announced this decision. Your support, prayers and counsel have been welcomed.
We can now confirm that CYM will not be resuming recruitment to HE programmes and that we have moved into teach-out of our current courses with our continuing students. These students will be continuing studies this month as planned and CYM are fully committed to enabling them to complete their qualifications over the next two years.
The trustees and staff of CYM have been working through the summer to adjust our operating structure in order to continue supporting current students and to progress our wider projects in support of ministry with children and young people. This has required a staffing restructure and, sadly, we have had to say goodbye to some of our valued team as we refocus resources on teach-out and current projects. We would like to express our thanks to the staff team in working with us in this process and we pray for God’s blessing on those that have moved on to new adventures during a summer of transition.
CYM remain committed to research, training, and resourcing the church in ministry and mission with children and young people. We know from our ‘Taking the Pulse’ research project that the needs, demands and aspirations for ministry and mission with children and young people must change to address the contemporary world in which we live. We are therefore commencing a season of listening and testing new approaches for training and resourcing the church in ministry and mission with children and young people in the UK. We have called this the CYM Futures Project. This will build on outcomes from current research programmes and provide wider access to online resources such as ‘Your Faith: Your Online World’ and ‘Trauma Sensitive Approaches’ to children’s, youth and family ministry.
You can sign up to our newsletter here to find out about opportunities for dialogue as we progress with the CYM Futures Project throughout 2024-25. We welcome your engagement as we look to the future and invite you to contact us with any enquiries via: hello@cym.ac.uk.
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Grandparenting for Faith - update
We are delighted that the Grandparenting for Faith courses are now available in partnership with BRF/Parenting for Faith.
We have two online courses available, for you to complete on your own or gather others to discuss together.
- One is for Christian grandparents and grandparent-figures, comprising six sessions, which you can complete on your own or with others – The course is flexible so that you can choose to do it in 6 sessions, or some groups have split each session in half or even quarters, and spread it over more weeks to allow more time for group discussion - feel free to be flexible according to the needs and preferences of your group. The Grandparenting for Faith course includes lots of ideas, inspiration and encouragement in the video content, to help you to feel more confident in sharing Jesus with the children and young people you love most. Cost £30. By purchasing here, you can watch the course yourself or show it to a small group of grandparents. The certificate of completion will show the name of the person purchasing the course. If you wish to purchase a licence for more people, for example a region, group of churches, network or Diocese etc, please email Sarah Holmes.
Sign up HERE
- A single session course for church leaders/church representatives to help you to equip and empower grandparents and grandparent-figures in your church (1.5 – 2 hours long, depending how long you pause to reflect). Cost £15 for single use, or showing to others in your own church setting. If you wish to purchase a licence for more people, for example a region, group of churches, network or Diocese etc, please email Sarah Holmes.
Sign up HERE
Once you have purchased the course, there is no time limit on when you can use it, and you can return to it as many times as you like, using your log-in details. You can view the launch video to find out more about the courses.
Do you want to get your church involved?
- Why not Download an Invitation to send to others in your church (you can add your details into the box).
- You can Download a PowerPoint to share with others and invite them to join you. This presentation includes some promo slides which you could personalise to your setting, and some of the relevant research findings.
We hope you find these courses useful in your setting. Please email Sarah Holmes with any queries.
Dr Sarah Holmes - Director of Research
10th July 2025
June Ministry Pulse
In June’s Ministry Pulse we asked ministry workers how they felt about the ‘quiet revival’ which was being widely reported and discussed. Most (90%) felt excited and hopeful about increased engagement seen in their setting. However, many reported sentiments of: ‘the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.’ 10% of respondents felt disappointed or did not believe in the concept of the ‘quiet revival.’
It is key for organisations who are resourcing and supporting the local church in ministry to be responsive to this call: volunteering rates in churches seem to be depleted across the board – how can we reframe the concept of volunteering? How can we change our ministry models to be less labour intense and increasingly kingdom driven? Let’s continue to support one another in grappling with these realities of mission and ministry…. [click on the image above to view the detailed statistics]
Dr Sarah Holmes - Director of Research
30th June 2025
Easter Ministry Pulse of ministry with adults, youth and kids
Thank you to everyone who took part in the Easter Ministry Pulse….we had 260 responses. The winner of our Easter Ministry Pulse prize draw for a £50 Amazon voucher was Kate (pseudonym to protect anonymity), a volunteer youth community outreach worker in the Midlands.
See an inspiring message from Nick Shephard here
[click on the picture above to read our results]
Dr Sarah Holmes - Director of Research
29th April 2025