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Children Southwell & Nottingham Diocese has been the leader in a number of initiatives involving children, including ‘Communion before Confirmation’, child safety and protection, and the award-winning Time Travelling! project. In addition many churches in the Diocese do quality children’s work on Sundays, midweek, and in holiday times. There are also great examples of all-age worship and creative activities throughout our area. Nick Harding, the Children's Ministry Adviser, has written a number of books on education and children’s work, and is a Trustee of Scripture Union. He is responsible for overseeing, training and resourcing those who work with children in our churches throughout Nottinghamshire. To find out more about Nick Harding, click here!  Nick Harding, The Children's Ministry Adviser, works on day-to-day support for churches, leads many training events and services, and also has responsibility for CRB checking and some child protection training. In addition he works on special projects both locally and nationally.
Nick had a sabbatical in early 2008, & went on an amazing bus ride! Click here for BBC Nottingham's reports on Nick's travels!
Criminal Records Bureau The Diocese checks all volunteers who work with children and young people through the Criminal Records Bureau. All churches are expected to do this as well as following the Diocesan Policy, ‘Children and Young People First’ when appointing helpers and workers. To read the latest briefing paper of Criminal Records Bureau checks follow the CRB link. The Criminal records Bureau system will be changing with the introduction of the Independant Safegurading Authority in October 2009. Churches will be fully informed of any changes as they come about. Training Transforming Worship Conference, Saturday 20th September 2008 Click here for leaflet The Diocesan Certificate is a training programme for lay leaders The first two years include learning on doctrine and theology, and are done in small local groups of people training for a range of specialisms. Participants can opt for these two years to count towards Higher Education credits. The third year Children’s Work specialism looks in more details at the theology and good practice of children’s work. Distance Learning Course Nick Harding is Course Leader for the ‘Leading Children’ Distance Learning Course produced by St. John’s College, Nottingham. The course has recently been revised, and a new training opportunity is now included. For more information follow the Distance Learning – Faith for Life links from www.stjohns-nottm.ac.uk Children’s Work Network has recently been set up. The Network Team of 18 people are children’s workers in their own churches, and available to support other churches, kick-start new initiatives, and support the Children's Ministry Adviser in his work. For more information about children’s work in Southwell Diocese contact Nick Harding at e-mail: nick@southwell.anglican.org Big E newsletter. For more information about forthcoming training events follow this link (to Children’s ministry training 2008) or look at the latest edition of the Big E newsletter. Publications/Resources The Diocese Resources Room is located in Dunham House in Southwell. The Resources Room provides a huge range of books and resources to support children’s and youth work, pastoral issues, worship and prayer. All items are free to borrow for a period of 6 weeks, and there is no limit to how many items can be borrowed at a time. The room is open during normal office hours and when courses and events are taking place at Dunham House. The Big E Newsletter is sent out at least 3 times a year, and includes reviews of books and resources, news about children’s work, and information about training courses and special events. It is aimed specifically for children’s workers across the Diocese. Follow the link to Big E to see and print out the latest edition. Children’s work books and resources are available from Christian bookshops or from the publishers. Good resource publishers include Scripture Union www.scriptureunion.org.uk , Kevin Mayhew www.kevinmayhewltd.com, CPAS www.cpas.org.uk, Church House Publishing www.chpublishing.co.uk, and www.barnabasinchurches.org.uk Better than Halloween is a resource book which has attracted a large amount of press and media interest. It aims to help churches reclaim Halloween as a Christian festival, and provides suggestions for children’s activities, posters, letters, services, songs and talks. It is published by Church House Publishing. - An article "Childhood & Church - 2007!" Download here - New book: Boys & the Church - Read a Review Projects Current projects: ‘SILC’ is a project aimed at resourcing churches to work more creatively with visiting school groups, and is a national project to be tested in Southwell Diocese, in associating with the Church of England Board of Education and Scripture Union. There is a strong educational thrust to the Diocese Church History Project. More information to follow soon....watch this space! ‘Pray / Say’ is an initiative to enable children to pray for their friends and peers, and become peer-evangelists. Writing projects currently underway include books on teenage relationship issues and All Age Church. Firestarters is a national initiative produced jointly by Nick Harding and CPAS, and launched in Southwell in March 2004. To look at and download the many creative prayer ideas focused on praying into the lives of children and young people go to the Firestarter section Godly Play is a method of teaching children and developing spirituality through story. Nick Harding has been working with accredited Godly Play practitioners and trainers to form ‘Godly Play UK’ as a registered charity. Find out more at www.godlyplay.org.uk
Useful Links Time Travelling! is a huge award-winning educational initiative based at Southwell Minster, the Diocesan Cathedral. Follow link: Time Travelling Admitting children to communion The Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham encourages all churches to consider and review whether they should be admitting children to communion before confirmation. Currently around 90 churches admit children to communion, and others are in the process of consideration. Full information, including guidelines, service outlines and historical background, is available from the Diocesan Liturgical Committee website. The website also includes prayers for and about children, and a children’s workers commissioning liturgy. The Children's Society has again produced 'Leaves of Life', a set of resources to help churches think about the importance of children. At the same time their Good Childhood Enquiry wants to hear about the lives of children from the children themselves. All the info, and their great interactive website ideal for children to use, can be found at www.mylife.uk.com Children Matter! is a new Christian umbrella organisation which aims to communicate and resource all those who care about children.
For more information about children’s ministry in Southwell Diocese contact Nick Harding at Email: nick@southwell.anglican.org
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