Let’s not choose between in-building or online children’s and youth work; let’s not create exclusion by cutting off families who have been able to connect to church like never before over the past 12 months.

As lockdown restrictions gradually ease, in line with Government guidance, churches across all four nations of the United Kingdom are beginning to put serious thought into what this means for the opening of church buildings and the resumption of in-building activity, including children’s and youth work.

Over the past year, some children’s and youth work has stopped altogether, and the thought of meeting with children and young people again is rightly being greeted with great enthusiasm.

For many, children’s and youth work has continued online, with a variety of approaches having been taken to create environments that are engaging, interesting and fun. Much has been learned over the past 12-months, and many of us have become Zoom ‘guru’s’!

But as we start to plan for a resumption of in-building children’s and youth work again, albeit initially somewhat different looking to when we last were able to do this, let’s not lose all of the learning and experience we have gained from the last year.

Let’s not abandon the progress we have made in reaching children and young people through Zoom that we wouldn’t have reached through in-building activity, many of whom have additional needs or disabilities.

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(c) Evangelical Focus, used with permission