Hello church 

Openhouse has now finished, and it’s been such a brilliant programme to run with the young people here at SBC. Each week, they were growing in confidence in the kitchen – learning new skills, trying new dishes that they perhaps hadn’t tried before. We then moved into a time of discussion around the table each week, and we had some really valuable conversations about healthy friendships/relationships and our relationship with God. On the final week of the course, we didn’t have any cooking – we just shared a meal together and spoke a little about self-awareness, then had a time of reflection and summarised everything we’d spoken about over the course of the eight weeks.

After the Easter holidays (exact dates coming soon!) there will be a new youth group starting called ‘ALIVE!’ This course has been put together by a brilliant organisation called ‘Hope together’. We will be running this on a Thursday evening – and it’s a course where we watch a video together, and have a discussion based on that topic. It covers themes such as love, peace, freedom, and purpose.



We’ve also recently finished our series on Jesus’ parables in Rooted. This has also been a really helpful series for us to run with the young people as it’s given us the opportunity to have good conversations about Jesus’ teaching and how the parables are there to help us better understand his teachings. On the final week of this teaching series, we asked some of the young people what their favourite parable was and why. Some of their answers included the prodigal son and the parable of the mustard seed. After Easter, (we are in the process of planning!) we will be starting a series on the book of Acts, taking us up to Pentecost.

I continue to go into Tenison’s every other Monday morning to deliver the year 8 assembly. I feel that I’m beginning to build a good relationship with the year group, as they are getting to know me more and vice versa! When planning these assemblies, I try to make them as interactive as possible and I often ask the students to participate and they seem to be really engaged. At the end of these assemblies – a member of staff asks me to pray for everyone which is such a wonderful opportunity. Students have also been giving some really encouraging feedback recently too, which has been lovely to hear!

I’m also continuing to go into Quest Academy on Thursday mornings for the mentoring programme. I am currently working with two students, on a one-to-one basis. These sessions are going well. I really feel the Lord’s Holy Spirit with me as I go into this school and speak with these students.

Plans are also underway for our summer camp, Satellites. You may remember we took a group with St Francis youth last year – and it was so great, that we’re going again!

As always, thank you all SO much for your continued prayers and support for all things youth ministry. It’s exciting to see God at work!

God bless you all Katie Canning