The Life Village
Wife and husband team, Anna and Azariah France-Williams have launched an initiative called The Life Village. Taking inspiration from the African proverb, ‘It takes a whole village to raise a child’, together with the findings from research such as Sticky Faith, The Life Village aims to help families create a supportive community of adults around their children, so that they can access a wide range of wisdom, experience and love.
The idea of helping to facilitate a team to help children grow and learn came when the couple visited Azariah’s relatives on the Caribbean island of Nevis, in advance of the birth of their first child. The community spirit there, alongside the realisation that they didn’t have to do the whole parenting thing themselves, led them to put together a community for their child so that, growing up, they could benefit from knowledge and experience that Anna and Azariah didn’t themselves have.
‘We started the Life Village because as we faced the daunting task of new parenthood we realised we had limitations,’ says Anna. ‘We wanted our child to have all she needed to flourish but we recognised that a community of support, a “village”, was needed. As we set up the first Life Village and experienced the wisdom, love and support that came from it and flowed back out again to others we wanted as many families as possible to have that same opportunity.’
The Life Village is available as a tool to help parents, carers and other significant adults put together a Life Village for a child to enrich their physical, emotional and spiritual upbringing. Go to thelifevillage.com
New evangelistic booklets
Scripture Union have published a set of evangelistic booklets, designed to introduce Jesus to children of all ages. Product developer, Gemma Willis, says, ‘We’re excited and proud to be able to present these booklets to help children find out more about Christianity and consider the claims of Christ for themselves.’
The series, one aimed at children aged 5 to 8 and another aimed at 8 to 11, includes a pair of booklets which explore the Christmas story, a pair designed to be used around Halloween, and a pair which can be used at any time of year. Plans are in place to produce a pair of Easter booklets as well.
Gemma says, ‘By helping children ask themselves “What do I think?” and “What do I believe?” and reflect on their answers, we hope to help churches build authentic relationships with the children they reach out to, giving them opportunity to walk alongside one another in their faith journeys.’ All the booklets in this series are available to buy for £9.99 in packs of 10. For more information visit: scriptureunion.org.uk/shop
Messy Church international conference
The Bible Reading Fellowship’s (BRF) Messy Church hosted its first-ever international conference in May 2016. 220 delegates from 12 countries representing a wide range of denominations attended the conference.
The conference was a celebration of all that God is doing through Messy Churches around the world and was a rich learning environment for lay and ordained ministers. The programme was interactive, fun, full of worship, and prayers from around the world. BRF’s Messy Church team was encouraged by the stories shared of how God is at work globally, and for the hope for the future of the church with so many churches engaging in Messy Church and intergenerational congregations.
The Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed the conference delegates via a video message. He encouraged them to continue doing church differently: ‘This is not church for children, it’s church for church. It’s church for everyone… I want to encourage you to never be bound by the way we’ve always done it…it’s a circle of all ages meeting together to engage in who God is in a way that works for them.’
The keynote speaker at the conference was Canon Dr George Lings, director of the Church Army’s Research Unit. He inspired everyone and acknowledged the impact that Messy Church is making. He spoke on ‘Messy Church showing the way’ and ‘Messy Church finding the way’.
The conference was a significant opportunity to build relationships on which to build for the present and future of Messy Church. BRF’s Messy Church team summed up the conference as follows: ‘The many exciting conversations can only be captured in one word – awesome!’
Young Leaders’ Award
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, recently congratulated and awarded 57 key stage two pupils with their Young Leaders’ Award at Fairfield Primary School. The Young Leaders’ Awards, available for key stages two, three and four, are an active citizenship resource for schools and there are over 37,000 children and young people signed up across the north of England.
The Archbishop said: ‘I always enjoy hearing about all the good things that the pupils have done as part of their Young Leaders’ Award. It is so encouraging to see their enthusiasm “to be the change they want to see” in their local community.’
Laura Knight, a teacher at Fairfield Primary, said: ‘As part of the Award, the year group organised a Christmas party for members of the local care home, held a non-uniform day to raise money for the British Heart Foundation, completed a cake sale for Children in Need and organised a summer fayre to raise money for Butterwick Hospice. We took part in the Big Tidy Up, “The Big Leap” to raise money for Sport Relief and completed the Race for life for Cancer Research. Throughout their learning, the children have developed how they can contribute and they have gained a sense of responsibility for others as well as themselves.’
Lucy, a young leader said: ‘The Young Leaders Award is fun. I liked the Big Tidy Up because it involved going out of school and improving where we live, showing others that we can do this.’
Ready to start school
The majority of the UK public (70 per cent) believe that children should be ready to start school at the age of five, according to a poll from Action for Children, an organisation which works in local communities across the UK to make children’s lives better.
The survey of 4,000 adults across the UK found that most people agree with evidence that suggests a good level of emotional, behavioural and physical development by age five is associated with success in education and better employment prospects.
The research marks the launch of ‘Fair by Five’, a campaign calling on the Government to make child development a national priority and help families overcome the barriers which keep children back. A good level of development in areas that enable children to cope emotionally, communicate with teachers and be confident interacting with other children would allow them to have a better start in life.
Chloe Hardy, from Action for Children, says: ‘What happens in the earliest years affects our later lives. If a child starts school behind their peers, without having reached a good level of development, they are likely to stay behind – which can seriously impact their ability to do well in education and employment throughout life. We know that two in five children who live in the most deprived communities, arrive at school not ready to learn. There has never been a more important time to focus on tomorrow’s adults. We can’t afford to let down thousands of children who could and should be getting a better start in life. We need the Government, and all political parties, to commit to doing more for this group. It’s time to close the gap in child development.’
