An incredible year of activities has been announced to celebrate the Diocese of York's 'Children of Light' festival. Diocesan Children & Youth Adviser Carolyn Edwards writes:

'Having announced the Children of Light Festival at Diocesan Synod in November, with plans for all sorts of activities and events to celebrate, value and nurture children and young people from the Diocese of York as bearers of Jesus’ light. It felt quite a dark moment, when we realised that the government restrictions were likely to overwhelm Easter and our planned commissioning service in March. But as Isaiah reminds us the world’s darkness cannot overwhelm God’s light of hope, and we are delighted that we have been able to change our plans and offer even more resources and support to churches as they find new ways to engage with children and young people during and after lockdown.

Our Children of Light Festival will therefore be launched on March 20th with a pre-recorded commissioning service from the Archbishop of York and children and young people from around the Diocese, that can be used as part of online or gathered services on March 21st. Accompanying this will be a whole host of flexible resources for churches and schools to use in whatever format is allowed for Lent, Easter, through the Summer, and beyond – culminating in a service of celebration at York Minster in Spring 2022.

We are particularly excited about the art competition which encourages children and young people to explore ‘being light in difficult times’ launching at the end of this month. We are encouraging churches, benefices and deaneries to organise local competitions and send wining entries to the Diocesan wide competition - prizes for which will be presented by the Archbishop of York at Bishopthorpe Palace.

Follow this link to find out more.