Swindon Youth for Christ

We commit to : Being welcoming and friendly to the young people who enter our church and are a part of our church community.

Ideas :

Serve hot chocolate as well as Tea and Coffee after your services.

Appoint some people to look out for young people who enter your church, make contact with them and personally welcome them into the community.

If you have a Sunday school or group available for young people to attend, make sure that they know where it is, how to get to it and are invited to be a part of it.

We commit to : Letting this principle inform our attitude and actions towards each young person we meet and interact with.

Ideas :

Stand up against the negative news stories about young people by celebrating stories of good done by young people, maybe publicising these in your church magazine on sending them to the local newspaper for publication.

Encourage the members of your church community to always speak positively about the young people in your church and local community, and to be encouraging, supportive and friendly to the young people you know and encounter.

We commit to : Seeking to find ways to involve young people in the life of our church, so that they are not simply passive bystanders to what happens in our church but play a very real and active part in the life of the church.

Ideas :

Allow the young people in your church to take on areas of responsibilities or have a role which they can fulfil. Perhaps this might be handing out the hymn books, welcoming people to church or being involved in sharing or taking part in a church service or leading worship. Young people have a lot to offer the worshipping life of your church but need to be given the opportunity to be involved and take part.

We commit to : Teaching young people the truths of our faith and giving them the opportunity and space to ask questions and explore the bible that they may develop a long lasting, deep, real, personal relationship with God for themselves.

Ideas :

Offer young people pastoral care, love, support and grace, recognising that it is not easy to be a young person today and that they experience a lot of pressure. Invite them to be a part of your small groups, work to make the language you use in your services and your teaching accessible and relevant to and understandable by young people.

Create a ‘buddy’ system where each young person in your church has an older ‘buddy’ or mentor who will support them in their journey of faith and offer them someone who will listen to them and pray for them as they walk with Jesus.

We commit to : Upholding students, teachers, support staff, governors and school leadership teams before God in prayer. Schools are key hubs in our local communities and have the task of educating, supporting and meeting the diverse needs of the young people they are charged with educating and as such we want to make sure every school in our town is a prayed for school.

Ideas :

Put a box of chocolates in the staff room each Christmas with a card attached from the church. Come to the Swindon Pray4Schools events.

In your services pray regularly for the secondary schools of our town. Email the Head Teacher of your local school and ask if there are specific ways your church can support them in prayer.

We commit to : Explore with God and others what ways He might be calling us as a church to reach out to young people with the Good News.

Ideas :

If your church has small group of people who have a heart for working with young people then perhaps you could begin to explore the numerous ways in which you as a church can reach out to young people through youth clubs, small groups, holiday projects, youth cafes, art groups………..

You could explore how you could support another local church in your area which may be running a youth club or group or activity by praying for them and sending gifts or resources which they need.

You could explore if there is a local uniformed group who would benefit from using your church premises.

You might choose to sponsor and support a lunchtime or afterschool club run by SwindonYouth for Christ in your local area.

Swindon Youth for Christ work in partnership with the local church to take the Good News into the secondary schools and colleges of our town and are striving to see young people become Christians and be discipled through the local church. Our greatest desire is to work in close partnership with the local churches of Swindon to see the lives of young people transformed and to see young people equipped to be disciples of Jesus serving God in their local church and community.

Ideas :

Become a church partner church committed to supporting the work of SYFC through prayer and regular financial giving.

Appoint a SYFC Champion in your church who will receive regular information and updates from SYFC about our work and pass this on to people in your church.

Distribute our newsletter and prayer updates to your church members and seek to raise awareness about our invaluable work.

Please ensure that you have an active child protection policy in place, which requires that all those working with children and young people have a CRB check completed, before you establish a work with young people. For more help, advice and guidance please contact Swindon YFC or CCPAS.co.uk or your denominational child protection nominated body.

Wherever possible we would encourage you to support Fairtrade products and to support the Swindon Fairtrade Coalition.

If you would like more information about how Swindon Youth for Christ can support your church in delivering the promises laid out in this charter then please contact us on 01793 829795 or office@syfc.org.uk