21 December 2024
In October, nine people from our diocese who had completed the new Catalyst training course for volunteer and paid children, youth and families workers, gathered with other participants from across the country for a celebration and graduation service.
The service was held at St Mark’s Church, Newnham and was led by Becca Dean, tutor in Youth Ministry and Project Manager of the Catalyst Course.
Awards were presented by The Revd Prebendary Dr Isabelle Hamley, Principal of Ridley Hall and the Guest speaker was Dr Graham Daniels, General Director of Christians in Sport and Associate of Ridley Hall.
Catalyst is a dynamic, six-month training course that aims to equip and connect those who are involved in children’s, young people and families ministry in their local church and community.
The course participants started their journey in March this year. Run through Ridley Hall in Cambridge, they learnt how to develop their practice in their own context whilst learning together with others. The topics covered included children, young people and learning, culture, discipleship and inclusion.
The participants from our diocese come from a range of settings across Essex and East London and were excited to learn together and join with other participants from across the country at a residential in June.
Throughout their journey the cohort from Chelmsford Diocese has been supported by our Children, Young People and Families Advisers – the Mustard Seed Team and met on a monthly basis to share their learning.
Talking about the participants from Chelmsford Diocese, our Barking Area Children, Families & Youth Missioner, Emma Anderton, commented “It’s been such a privilege to work with this creative, dedicated, caring and joyful group on Catalyst. The graduation service was a great opportunity to celebrate all they have achieved during the course. We even managed to include those who couldn’t be at Ridley Hall with us in the photos!”
Catalyst has been fully funded by the Church of England and is a part of the 30K project which aims to bring about change to raise up 30,000 new children and youth leaders by 2030. If you are interested in being part of the next cohort of students on the Catalyst training programme email Emma Anderton - eanderton@chelmsford.anglican.org.
This article has been taken from the latest edition of WePray, our quarterly prayer diary which brings together our Cycle of Prayer and stories from across our Diocese.
