|TOP|A new £1million youth initiative has been launched by the Church of England to bring young people to the good news of Christ and integrate them more with church life.

The Youth Evangelism Fund was given the go-ahead from the Archbishops’ Council following a successful pilot scheme last year and will form a key part of the Church of England’s Youth Strategy during its run over the next five years.

The Dioceses of Durham, Newcastle, York and Birmingham are just some of the eight areas to receive to receive £25,000 in the first year of the initiative to distribute to projects that show the potential to engage more young people in the life of the Church.

“This fund has the potential to reap much more than is sown,” said Bishop of Bradford David James who will chair the fund’s steering group.

“There is real evidence from the pilot study that the fund can help transform the youth ministry strategy of local churches. Christian young people are full of creative ideas for reaching out to their peers, and we want to resource and help them.

|AD|“It is my firm belief that the Youth Evangelism Fund is one of the most exciting national projects around the Church at the moment – which is why I’m very glad to be involved!”

The pilot scheme proved highly successful in bringing unchurched youth to the church. St Catherine’s Church in Leyton, the Diocese of Chelmsford, used its grant to purchase equipment and promotional material to run a series of film nights on Saturday evenings.

Vicar at St Catherine’s, the Rev Paul Reily, said: “It’s been a great start – a relatively small number of attendees, but all but one of them are non-Christians. The young people themselves have a great night and seem to have really made themselves at home in the church.”

Meanwhile the Chichester Diocese used the funds it received to hold an evening for young people dredging a drainage ditch and renewing a forest path to enhance a local nature trail as well as to lay out a flower bed on a local housing estate.

“Many of those who came were from outside the church and their interest in the faith has grown as a result.

“Our youth work has been consolidated tremendously by the event and continues to grow numerically as a result of being perceived as a ‘happening place’.

“We now get 20 people to our Sunday morning youth groups and regularly have 50 at our midweek groups, many from unchurched backgrounds.”

The initiative has been made possible by the support of a number of charitable trusts including the Henry Smith Charity, the Laing Family trusts and the James Trust.