Why bother?
Written by Dr Sarah Holmes
on 26th March 2024
Why bother?! …. Does anyone care about ministry amongst kids, youth and families? Is anyone doing it? What are they doing? Does it make any difference???? And why is there not more investment in these ministries from the wider church?
These are some of the questions which often swirl around these ministry areas. There is often so much exhaustion. So much frustration. And even some confusion and uncertainty about it all. Yet, there is also so much passion and care. And there are so many meaningful interactions with kids and youth – supporting and guiding them in their onward faith adventures with Christ. There is life-changing activity happening on a daily basis! God’s kingdom is advancing through the tiny steps and many, many hours of work put in every single week by volunteers and paid workers right across the churches, schools and other spaces of the UK.
So what can we do to support this amazing work? CYM has a long-standing legacy of working with churches, partner organisations, and charities across all areas of society. But we want to know how we can continue to serve this sector in the most effective and valuable ways. So we have launched this Research Centre. The aim of the Research Centre is to work with you to carry out insightful, rigorous and reliable research around ministry with children, families and young people. And we want this research to be useful in informing and enhancing ministry in these areas. So please do get in touch with any questions, suggestions or ideas of how we can use this Research Centre to best serve your ministry.
And we’d love for you to respond to our Taking the Pulse of Ministry online survey, being launched on 1st April! We want to take the pulse of ministries with children, young people and families – to find out what is really going on at the grassroots. What are the real issues and challenges? And how can we best support you? And most importantly what is your ministry wanting the wider church to know? What changes do we need to collectively call for in the national UK church to help you and your children, young people or families?
So please take part in the survey but also ask others to complete the online survey form – we want to enable the voice of those involved in ministry with children, youth and families to be heard. So we want as many people as possible in the UK to take part – please help us to spread the word!
In the meantime, we continue to pray for God’s hand of blessing on you and your ministry, and for his continued leading and guiding. Do keep in touch.
Read more...
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