Young Leaders’ Community

As a diocese, we’re committed to:

• Growing younger and more diverse
• Hearing the voices of children and young people, and
• “Putting children, young people and families instinctively at the heart of all the mission and ministry of the Church by changing the culture of the Church of England.” – Growing Faith Foundation

In order to achieve this, we’ve formed a Young Leaders’ Community! A place where 10-18 year olds can grow in leadership experience both in their local churches and across the diocese. Here’s Mike North (Children and Young People’s Adviser) to explain more…

Already, some of our young people are helping to run our annual youth event, Breathe Deep, some have spoken at our Development Day, and others were invited to speak at the annual Joined Up Conference in March. Our Bishops are keen to hear their voices and allow them to influence and shape the strategy and future direction of our diocese.

Young Leaders’ Gatherings

On Saturday 8 November 2025, we’re gathering as a young leaders’ community at Sheffield Cathedral to share a meal, worship God and pray together. At this gathering, we’ll learn more about the young leaders’ community and hear about new opportunities to get involved. The gathering is for existing members of the YLC and any young people who are interested – please sign up so we can make sure there’s enough food for everyone!

Why are young people’s voices important?

1 Timothy 4:12 says “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Jesus highlighted the importance of children throughout the gospels (Matt 11:25, Matt 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16) and Proverbs 22:6 reminds us of our duty to raise children in the way they should go. Children are part of the church now, and will be leading the church in the future. Can we invite them into the process of shaping church today? Without them, we are missing out on so much of what God wants to do with us!

God speaks through children and young people. At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” (Matthew 11: 25) Let’s pray that we hear God speaking through our children!

Who is invited to belong?

Christian young people aged between 10-18 years old, who are supported by their local adult leaders, from all backgrounds.

We are keen that young people from minority groups feel welcome, including GMH¹/ UKME², LGBTQ+³, disabled and neurodiverse young people.

We encourage young people that show leadership qualities, courage, people skills, enthusiasm, a commitment to spiritual growth and a willingness to serve to join the community.

What will they do?

We want to see young leaders sharing their voices and leading in their local contexts and throughout the diocese. These are just some opportunities for young leaders – the lists aren’t exhaustive!

Training and equipping

We want to make sure that young leaders are given the training and equipping that they need to flourish as leaders and followers of Jesus. We’re planning a programme of helpful leadership training with the support of local youth leaders.  

It’s also important that each young leader has the support of a youth leader or local church leader who will encourage them, and that they have a mentor to walk alongside them and nurture them as leaders. We want to support churches to provide a mentor for each young leaders who is part of their church. There will also be times that we gather our young leaders’ together to share experiences and learn from each other.  

We’re in the process of creating a programme of training for the young leaders community, but if you have any questions please get in touch.  

How do young people join?

Firstly, get in touch! Interested young people are encouraged to come along to our Young Leaders’ Gathering on Saturday 8 November at Sheffield Cathedral to learn more. Please sign up so we can make sure there’s enough food for everyone!

Spond

We use an app (Spond) that the young people, alongside their youth leaders (and parents/carers for under 13s) can join to communicate across the diocese. Through this app, we can invite young leaders to take on new opportunities, ask questions of them, encourage them in their discipleship journey, and connect them with all the other young leaders through safe chat groups.

The app is specially designed to allow under 13s to take part (with parent/carer consent and involvement) and doesn’t allow private or direct messages to be sent or received by any under 18s. This is in order to follow diocesan safeguarding guidelines and protect our young people from unwanted harassment. Only young people known to us, with local church support will be admitted to the app, and they will be encouraged to connect with other young leaders across the diocese. Adult youth leaders alongside some of our central diocesan staff will ensure the app remains a safe and secure environment for our young people to grow in leadership together.

1. GMH – Global Majority Heritage ↩︎
2. UKME – United Kingdom Minority Ethnic ↩︎
3. LGBTQ+ – Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning. The plus holds space for the expanding and new understanding of different parts of the very diverse gender and sexual identities.  ↩︎

Documents for download

Please complete and return the Registration and Consent form to Rachel Baker, or print it and post it to Young Leaders’ Community, Church House, 95-99 Effingham Street, Rotherham S65 1BL.