Dear Friend,
As we start the New Year, I wanted to update you on what has been going on in my position as Youth, Children’s and Families Worker at St Lawrence Church in Hatfield. I am now in my fifth year here in Hatfield and I am thankful that the PCC have continued to support me in this role by making Children and Young people one of the mission action plan priorities.
My plans for 2024 are to continue our weekly, fortnightly and monthly activities (Little Lions Toddler Group, Hatfield Heroes Youth Group, Pre-loved Uniform Bank and Cafe Church) whilst also doing outreach into local schools, holiday activities and one-off activities for our community. My big aim for this year is to increase the volunteer team and improve discipleship so that our activities are not as reliant on just me going forward. Here is a snapshot of what I got up to last year:
2023 – A summary…..
JANUARY – Breathe Deep Youth Event
We started the New Year by taking a group of 7 young people and 3 grown ups to the youth development day at Sheffield Cathedral, giving many of them a first experience of corporate worship with other young people.
FEBRUARY – Mental Health Prayer Spaces in school
We set up prayer spaces at Travis St Lawrence Primary School for child mental health week that the children could access during lunchtimes.
MARCH – Easter activities in schools
I took the Holy Week Chalk Prayer path out on the road to 4 local primary schools, as well as running Easter escape room workshops for Year 7 and 8 at Ash Hill Academy.
APRIL – Pet Palm Sunday (with a Donkey!)
To celebrate Palm Sunday we invited pets into church, with the exciting addition of a donkey joining us afterwards. Ethel the chicken was mostly well behaved….
MAY – Toilet Twinning Success
Our youth group finished fundraising to twin the toilet in the Barn with one in another country, the last one that needed to be twinned across all of our buildings.
JUNE – HOPE Doncaster Weekend
Our youth group joined with others across Doncaster to take on a weekend of social action in their local community, and were visited by Mayor Lee
JULY – Home Educators Morning
We hosted our first ever morning for home educated children and the grown ups, offering grave rubbing, church floorplan activities and the chance to explore our beautiful building.
AUGUST – Spies R Us Summer Club
We hosted a weeklong summer club for families where they learnt spy skills as well as bible stories. We ended with an inflatables afternoon inside church due to the rain!
SEPTEMBER – Launch of Café Church
We launched our brand new informal service that is accessible to all ages and incorporates different styles of worship.
OCTOBER – Jesus Christ Superstar Trip and Wild Away Day
We took the youth group to see Jesus Christ Superstar at Hull New Theatre and also a group of children to the Centenary Project’s wild away day at Kingswood where they did zip sliding and other activities.
NOVEMBER – Police Car Visit
Our friendly PCSO visited Little Lions Toddler Group and let them all sit inside his police car! The toddlers very much enjoyed pressing all the buttons and making the sirens go off.
DECEMBER – School Services for Christmas
Three of our local primary schools hosted Christmas concerts and services in church, with visits to two more schools made too. Over 3000 visitors to church for schools and family services in December.
As always, I would love most of all if you can pray for me and the work here in Hatfield. Our vision is to see the numbers of children and young people actively involved in church double, but to do this I need help. So please pray that volunteers increase and that we are able to disciple the people that God brings to us well. Please pray for God’s wisdom on which activities to pursue and which opportunities to pass by so that me and my team do not burn out.
If you would like to support me financially you can do so via the ways detailed below. To be able to continue in my post I need ongoing funding. A regular monthly donation is the best way to do this, and you can restrict your giving to be used towards my salary costs. One-off gifts are also appreciated and will help me be able to continue my ministry here at St Lawrence Church in Hatfield.
Thank you for your support
God Bless
Rachel Ridler
HOW TO GIVE FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Cheque: made payable to “St Lawrence Church”
Bank transfer or standing order: Please use the following details
Account Name: St Lawrence Hatfield PCC
Account Number: 31267655
Sort Code: 40-44-14
Reference: CPW
If you would like to give in another way then please contact rachel.ridler@centenaryproject.org.uk
Hatfield St Lawrence Church 