THE statistics are alarming. Although the number of children who went to Church of England services rose last year, the number who will keep their faith into adulthood is as low as 50 per cent. If we could better engage our church families in their journey of faith, more of those children might go on to become adult disciples.

The Kitchen Table Project, part of Care for the Family, have produced a new resource: Children’s Faith: A whole church approach to family ministry. With a workbook, easily accessed videos and development tools, Children’s Faith has been created to inspire church leaders to partner with families and change church culture. The aim is to help churches to support a whole-church approach to discipleship in families, inspiring a faith that lasts.

The booklet encourages us to think of church leaders in the widest terms, including volunteers who might be passionate about children, families, and faith, as well as children’s workers and key parents. In my three rural parishes, I can easily name the people I would gather. Unlike some of the resources that we have tried, this, I think, might scratch where we are itching.

We already know why we want to work with children and their families, and we know how committed our churches are to encouraging children’s faith. We have been working hard to think through and offer regular multi- and intergenerational worship. But we have got struck, and this resource might move us on to the next level — empowering parents and the church.

It is a short booklet, and the videos hosted by Andy Frost are less than ten minutes each. The journey map that folds out from the back page asks all the right questions. Remember, we are reminded, change takes time. I expect to use the journey map with the PCCs as we continue to embed an intergenerational ethos in our churches.

If taking on a commitment to a “whole-church” approach in your already busy lives is important to you, this resource doesn’t feel over-demanding. Having assessed your church context and identified steps to start changing your church culture around the inclusion of children and families, this resource will help you on the journey to become an intergenerational community in which families flourish in church, but, more importantly, in their own homes, too.
 

Canon Dana Delap is Team Vicar of Vale and Cotswold Edge in the diocese of Gloucester.

Children’s Faith: A whole church approach to family ministry (The Kitchen Table Project)
Andy Frost
Care for the Family £5*
*available from www.careforthefamily.org.uk