Bishop's Certificate in Children's Ministry
The Church of England’s Children’s Strategy (2003) states, ‘It is highly desirable that those responsible for nurturing children in Christian faith should have appropriate skills, values and knowledge for this important ministry.’
But how can parishes respond to this? The Bishop’s Certificate in Children’s Ministry could be the way!
The Bishop’s Certificate is awarded at three levels.
Level 1
Level 1 is an enjoyable, user friendly, non-threatening and largely DIY package comprising six sessions. Other than for the Child Protection element, participants don’t have to leave the comfort zone of their own parish or the people they know
To receive the Level 1 Certificate, a volunteer must have:
- participated in the six training sessions detailed in the DIY pack or
- participated in the diocesan Safeguarding Children (Child Protection) session together with training sessions that meet the aims of the other five and enable the volunteer to do the things listed in the session introductions from the DIY pack.
A pilot of the material was run in the diocese during summer 2008 and of the 133 participants who completed feedback questionnaires, 86% said they would recommend it to other children’s work volunteers.
Click here for the introductory section and the sample ‘Children and Prayer’ session.
For more information or to sign up, contact Steve Dixon on 0161 828 1433 or stephendixon@manchester.anglican.org.
Level 2
Level 2 is awarded to those who have successfully completed the Core Skills for Children’s Work programme.
Level 3
Level 3 is awarded to those who have received the Church Colleges’ Certificate in Children’s Ministry.
