At the beginning of March, Paul Friend – Director of SWYM (South West Youth Ministries) came to Guernsey. Alongside Eleanor White, they put together a youth and children’s training day at St Peters Church. Youth and Children’s workers from across Guernsey attended.

There was a lovely selection of breakfast pastries and refreshments to start, followed by prayer and worship and a word from Paul. There were a choice of workshops in the morning with a promo for each one so you could decide which one you wanted to attend. 

Jo attended a workshop run by Eleanor White and Abbie Coleman called ‘Faith at Home’ exploring ways to talk about your faith at home from the viewpoint of parents and also youth leaders and how we can encourage parents on their journey as they seek to share faith with their families. 

Lisa attended “Build the Youth and Children’s Ministry you Always Wanted” by Matt Gregor. They looked at our vision for our Ministry and dreamed about what could be. They talked about our frustrations and what can hinder us from having the Ministry we would like. Lisa found that it was really good, interactive and challenging!

Sarah went to the “In it for the Long Haul” where there was a panel of Paul Friend, Keith Le Parmentier and Paula Le Poidevin. Daniel Foot was hosting and there were discussions about not always seeing the fruit of our work but how that can be humbling, how to not be afraid to fail and not everything we try will work and that that’s ok! They also learnt to draw on others abilities and skills and not to try and do everything ourselves. It was really inspirational and interesting. Sarah enjoyed learning from those that have gone before and two of them were her youth leaders growing up so she loved being inspired by them!

A delicious lunch was kindly provided by the Rector of St Pierre Du Bois, Reverend Datta and his wife and family, showing that hospitality certainly is the centre of what they do.

In the afternoon there were a choice of workshops to attend. Lisa, Sarah and Jo led the PACE workshop and showed examples of prayer spaces and explained the ministry of PACE.

The day was a great time of fellowship, opportunity to grow and a reminder that we are not alone. 

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”. (Galatians Chapter 6 verse 9).

This term Lisa, Sarah and Jo and a number of our wonderful volunteers have been leading Easter in a box at Blanchelande, Melrose, St Mary and St Michael, La Mare, Hautes Capelles and Forest and we will be visiting Notre Dame and Vale (after Easter).

Easter in a Box is led in the format of ‘Easter the Movie’. There are six boxes unpacked including movie trailer and then scenes 1-5, which contain props so that the children can come to the front of the class to act out the Easter Story scene by scene. 

This movie approach brings the story to life and helps the children to understand it. They each receive a scene map which helps them to remember what they have learnt as well as being a great tool to be able to retell the story to others at a later date. 

The children also have an egg box each to decorate and inside are the crafts and items that they collect along the way which will also help them to retell the story and remember what they have learnt. 

The children have the opportunity to express their feelings and emotions after watching each scene which opens up interesting discussions and gives them time to pause and reflect. 

Some of the comments from the children have been :

“This has been the best Wednesday ever!”

“I chose this emoji which is crying with happiness” (When choosing the emoji to best describe their emotions after watching the Resurrection scene) 

“I would say to Jesus – I thought you had died! Don’t scare me like that!” (when writing down what the would say to Jesus after the resurrection). 

One teacher commented that the style and format of Easter in a Box really brought the story to life. This has inspired her when she is teaching not just to read or talk from the front, but to get the students involved in acting out parts of the story.

A wonderful resource from Bristol Schools Connection. Thank you to all who have been involved!

Wishing you a blessed and joyous Easter season, filled with the peace of Christ.

Please also enjoy reading through our termly Newsletter which you can find here!

Last week we started our first Christmas in a Box lessons at La Mare Primary which continued this week. The lesson was received very well and enjoyed by both children and teachers. During the lesson and the discussions we ask the children to write advice that they may receive from the characters and it is always lovely to read their reflections. This week we also visited Blanchelande College to deliver the lesson to their Year 3 children. During the box about Mary, one child wrote, “Mary might say you are special in your way.” We encourage the children that Mary was an ordinary girl but God saw something special inside her and included her in His story. She was precious to God as is each one of them.

Last week we also held a Prayer Spaces event as Beechwood. We transformed their library into a reflection space with activities thinking about being thankful, letting go of difficult emotions, sharing worries and being special and unique. During the two days we were at the school, many children came through the space and learnt about what Christians talk to God about and engaged well with the stations. Our thankful station was particularly poignant as the children wrote down what they wanted to say thank you for.

PACE were invited back to The Rock Community Church to add a Christmas tree to their Tree Festival. In our secondary lunch clubs we asked students to get involved with the decorating. They were very creative and made some lovely decorations which we put on the tree. We hope that everyone who visits enjoys the festival and seeing lots of wonderful organisations represented.

As we approach the end of term, please continue to pray for the work, the team and volunteers. Thank you!

The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind so we are very much looking forward to half term!

This week we were invited to take part in a Retreat Day at Blanchelande College with their juniors. We set up a Prayer Spaces room in a Year 6 classroom and throughout the day children came and visited us, spending 35 minutes going around prayer stations. One of the popular stations was a new one for us – Pipe Cleaner People. We asked the children to make a cross or a person to remind them to pray for other people. They loved getting creative and made some amazing things! We also had a quiet area with some calming colours and space to lie or sit next to our bubble tube. We encouraged the children to really be quiet and still in this section. The Our Prayers station was also popular with the children being very reflective and writing some lovely prayers for themselves and others all over the world.

We were so pleased to have been a part of this wonderful day and very much enjoyed seeing all the children that visited us.

Last week Sarah travelled over the Jersey to see Life Exhibition which is a multi-media experience designed for primary school children. Set up in Town Church, Sarah got to see first hand and up close what this looked like and how it might work in Guernsey. The children all seemed to love the experience and the feedback from teachers was very positive. They had over 530 children from across Jersey schools visit. The exhibition consists of going through different sections looking at Parables, Prophecy and Miracles before watching a short video on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. We would love to do this in Guernsey. Watch this space!

Update from the Guernsey SWYM Cluster

It has been a busy first half term for our new SWYM trainees. They were away for the first two weeks of September in the UK for SWYM induction and conference, a full-on time of making new friends, worshipping and learning together. Since then they’ve been back on island working in their churches and in local schools. Sophie is based at Shiloh, Natasha at St. Martin’s and Sarah at PACE and Les Camps.

We always get together on Tuesday afternoons to support each other as we reflect on the week, pray and eat biscuits. Yesterday afternoon we helped out together at the Blanchelande Retreat Day with the Prayer Spaces.  After we’d packed down, we had a cup of tea while we reflected on the experience and thought about how we could use the prayer spaces idea in other contexts before praying for each other.

It’s been a good start to the year.  It’s great to grow and learn together, and all sorts of ideas are popping up for ways to work together across churches and schools. After half term, we’ll be back in Devon for another week of SWYM conference and then the few weeks before Christmas are always busy ones. Do keep praying for Sophie, Natasha, Sarah and me – we really appreciate it. 

Love Eleanor      

We are back, after a lovely summer break, we’re back for another fantastic year working in the schools of Guernsey. 

The term started with Sarah going off to the UK to begin her SWYM journey (with a broken ankle…).  She spent the first week at Hill House Christian Centre for Induction Week where she met with the team and her fellow SWYM trainees. There are 23 of them doing the Be Transformed course 2023-2024. Sarah has written up a summary of her time away. 

Induction week was spent getting to know each other and hearing one another’s testimonies and how they got to SWYM. Everyone had an incredible story and it was so clear to see Gods hand in each person’s journey there. Sessions introduced the course to the trainees and included looking at personal and professional boundaries, what makes us who we are and healthy relationships. We also had training in safeguarding, risk assessments, public speaking and planning sessions. The final day was spent writing and filming our testimonies for our first assignment. 

After a weekend break, we had our first Conference, which is four days where the whole of SWYM get together at Lee Abbey in Devon for a time of devotion, fellowship and teaching. This will happen six times over the year. This week we started our lectures, looking into The Gospel, breaking down the beginning of Genesis and learning about our human purpose being image bearers. It was amazing to dive into the Bible more and learn so much in a short time. Other lectures included looking at moments of Encounter with God and showed us creative ways we could run sessions with children and young people. We spent time outside in the beautiful setting of Lee Abbey, just being in God’s presence. 

These first two weeks were an amazing start to the year and makes me very excited to see all that God is going to do. I’m now back starting my placements at both PACE and Les Camps Methodist Church and looking forward to the year ahead. 

Meanwhile in Guernsey, Lisa has been busy making bookings, writing assemblies, preparing lunch clubs, meeting with various people and all the busyness that comes with a new school year!

Finally we would like to remind you of our upcoming OT Live event. We would love to see as many people there as possible! It’s a fantastic day learning the storyline of the Old Testament together in a fun and engaging way. Please book your place by visiting https://www.bible.org.uk/wtb_event_tickets.php and typing in your postcode! Lunch will be provided. Tom Greene has put together a new video for us too.