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On Tuesday 8 July, children from the 40 locations that are part of the national Flourish pilot, were invited to a celebration with the National Flourish team at St Martins in the Bullring, Birmingham. It was a day of worship, hearing stories from the children, activities and enabling leadership. Flourish is a national pilot that is looking at the impact of church and school partnering together to grow worshipping communities in school, where children and young people’s voices are at the heart of their shaping and leadership, working within the rhythms and patterns of school life. Three schools from the Diocese are halfway through the two-year pilot with their local churches: William Law CE Primary School in the Peterborough Deanery, Hartwell CE Primary School in the Towcester Deanery and Malcolm Arnold Academy in the Greater Northampton Deanery.
The pilot is discovering that when children and young people are given agency to lead, their commitment and sense of belonging are evident. In primary settings there is evidence of families joining the gatherings and exploring faith. In all three settings, the young leaders are growing in faith and what it means to follow Jesus so that they are equipped to lead in their worship settings and in how they relate to peers and family in and outside of school. It is remarkable to see children and young people leading on engagement in faith and inviting adults into their space. The gatherings are different from location to location, Forest Church, school halls and gardens or in the school chapel.
In recognition of the adult location leads and the young people who attended, Flourish National Lead, Abi Shuttleworth said : “We recognise it took an enormous amount of effort to be there, and we are so grateful for all that you did to make it possible. We were blown away by your commitment to planning, booking travel and bringing your children and young people such a long way to enable us to be together and celebrate what God is doing through FLOURISH across the country. We were so blessed to hear the stories of children, their families and school communities growing in faith and delighting in the opportunity to lead."