Celebrating 5 years of The Resource Cupboard
This week’s blog is taking a different emphasis to usual. This month, we are beginning our ‘birthday celebrations;’ five years of The Resources Cupboard and a year since we joined Rural Missions. As I write this, I’m sat in the corner at a Diocesan Rural Churches conference. Throughout the morning, various people have been to say hello and to share with us the impact of the work we have been involved with in their area. As we look back on the last five years, we would love to take the opportunity to share some of these stories with you.
Since our earliest days, we have been working with the Sharnbrook Deanery, in North Bedfordshire to help them in their mission with children, young people and families. In this time, we have supported both individual parishes and Deanery-wide projects. This work has included facilitating conversations and on the ground working across a wide range of ages and opportunities.
Recently, this has involved the development of ‘Firepit Friends.’ This began as a transition project for children moving from Primary to Secondary school, with workshops in school throughout year six. Now in year seven, those young people come along to the churchyard once a month for an informal gathering around the firepit, sharing stories of life in secondary school, reconnecting with primary school friends, and exploring Bible stories together.
We also heard from one of these churches of an idea born at our Deanery wide gathering in the spring; where 60 people, including 20 children, came to the church on a Sunday for a Teddy Bear’s picnic (and Teddy Bear abseil from the church tower!) As the organiser of the event shared; “To quote from the leaflet Enabling Rural Churches in God's Mission. it felt like we did reach out within our local community in manageable achievable ways!”
For the last two years, our work within the Sharnbrook Deanery has been funded as a Growing Faith learning hub. Later this month we will be at the Growing Faith Conference to share our story. You can see our latest video report here
Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing more stories of our work as we celebrate our five and one year birthdays! Keep an eye out for our social media posts and CYF newsletter. (If you do not already receive this, you can subscribe here) If we can help you to explore the opportunities for your church to work with children, young people and families, wherever you are in the country, please get in touch.
