Children & Young People Network
Encouraging each other in our work discipling younger generations.
The Children and Young People Network is a meeting place for Leaders - voluntary and employed - working with children and young people across Hull and the Deanery.
Hosted by Angela Brymer; York Diocese’s Children & Youth Adviser, the network's purpose is to share successes, discuss challenges, pray together, encourage one another in fun and fellowship.
In July, at our latest meeting, the Children and Youth Network met at St John’s Newland for an evening gathering. It was a lovely time of reflection and prayer as we discussed the joys and challenges of youth work in the city.
Some of the main challenges we all face include the need for people, resources and adaptability and it is clear that building relationships is key to our growth.
We were joined by Emma Anderton, from the Diocese, who is Children and Youth Adviser alongside Angela. She gave us updates on current Diocese provision.
From the new school term, there is to hopefully be a cohort of Catalyst run in Hull.
Catalyst is a 6 Month Programme with 6 Sessions. Alternating in person and online. There is also a residential and an optional assignment to finish.
To find out more about Catalyst for this autumn, click here: Home | catalyst
Children’s ministry essentials.
A more independent learning based, and in depth course than Catalyst.
If you’d like to know more, here is a link to an introduction to CME.
It is important that people contact Angela and Emma about this as they can provide a code so people can access it for free and they can offer support.
Children's Ministry Essentials (CME) | The Church of England
We also had an update from the Heart4Hull team regarding the new Heart4Hull Families page.
This is a space for CYP provision across Hull to be shared and advertised with the page to be advertised on social media in collaboration with Hull Minster.
Please do share what your churches are doing and encourage others to do the same.
At our February meeting, Angela made us aware of some really interesting research that has come from Youthscape. They partnered with The Bible Society, to listen to how non-Christian young people make sense of Scripture. These are accompanied by some valuable Youthscape Resources you can access.
Tony Bower (Director of YoYo - York Schools and Youth Trust) and his wife Claire joined us, sharing inspirational ways of storytelling and affirming us in our roles of working with Children and Young People.
He reminded us that the greatest children and young people resource is Ourselves. He encouraged us to deliver sessions based on who we are and what we are comfortable with; and that what we deliver doesn't have to be long or complicated.
Tony shared 3 simple scripts he had created that talk about Jesus' death and resurrection and can be used this term leading up to Easter (see left). He talked about the use of repetition, simple actions and use of voice and body language to encourage children to participate and how the scripts can be adapted from early years to teenage years.
Claire trained as a primary school teacher, is studying a Masters in Illustration, and is using/looking forward to using her illustration skills to help bring alive bible based stories that Tony and others have written. She is keen to see greater use of large picture story books used with children in school and Sunday school settings that really help to capture their imaginations.
Next Meeting:
Autumn 2026
Date, Time and Venue TBC