Newsletter 6th July 2025

Next week, July 7th – 11th, individuals and churches across our diocese are being invited to join in with a week of prayer for children and young people.

In reality we have very few children and young people who regularly attend worship in our churches, but we are trying to prioritise them in everything as we discuss and plan for the Churches of Chew Valley South.

At every PCC this year, we are discussing an area of church life and how we can include children and young people better. So far we have considered:

What might it look like to put children, young people and families at the heart of our prayer life?

How might we listen and hear more from children, young people and families?

Are there ways we could make our buildings more accessible and welcoming to children, young people and families?

These questions have yielded some very stimulating discussions and ideas.

We have also formed a benefice working group to follow up on some of these discussions and start to implement ideas. The working group is open to anyone who would like to help us, so please let me know if this is something you are interested in joining.

Whilst there is more we can and want to do, I’d like to use this opportunity to say a huge thank you to those who have been working hard and are doing a great job in this area: all the volunteers for Mini Melodies -now also meeting through the school holidays, those enabling the new tea-time service at Compton Martin on the first Sunday afternoon of each month, the Open the Book and Messy Church Team at East Harptree, School Governors, those who have enabled the weekly school collective worship to continue when I have been away on holiday, and all who are giving new activities a go at Hinton Blewett (the next one of which will be a Pet Service on 20th July).

The week of prayer for children and young people is an invitation to join together in praying for the youngest members of our communities, our schools and all the staff, our volunteers and our hopes and dreams of growing this area of our ministry as churches. Will you join us?

You can find resources should you wish by clicking here.

Please remember there are opportunities to join with others to pray for our communities, churches and wider world, every week: Mondays 9.00am at St Bartholomew, Ubley and Thursdays 3.30pm at St Laurence, East Harptree. It’d be great to see you there.

Rev’d Katrina