Multiply Day draws lay and clergy concerned for growth from across the diocese

Lay and clergy from all corners of the Diocese of York have taken part in the first ever 20s to 40s workshop held in York at the weekend (Saturday 18 May).

The 'Multiply' workshop day was part of the Diocese of York’s ‘Reach’ initiative to help churches engage with those who are currently under-represented in church life. It comes after analysis of the age profile of church participation across the diocese showed that a much smaller percentage of adults in their 20s to 40s are involved in churches compared to the wider population.

The emphasis for the first of a series of workshops around the diocese was participation and mutual encouragement with much wisdom from around the region being shared by the thirty people who took part.

‘The fact that you’re there shows that you care’ was one of the insights which caught the collective imagination as people shared from the floor some of the key lessons of starting a new church.

Participants came from, amongst other places, Middlesbrough, Hull, Selby and York. Leading the day were the Diocese of York’s 20s to 40s team of the Revd Richard White, Dr Ben Walker, and the Revd John Lee.

“This day is a bit of an experiment, a chance get to know people with similar hopes, challenges and concerns in emerging new worshipping communities, and a way of beginning to form a network of support in reaching 20s, 30s and 40s in the Diocese,” said Richard White.

During the day the gathering heard about the 'Multiply' vision and strategy for new worshipping communities (NWCs) in 13 locations to reach those in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Topics included how to discover a vision for a NWC in your parish, how to communicate that vision to others and how to begin building a team.

Those taking part were also shown the new Multiply website, being launched later this month. “The website will have the stories of NWCs as they develop with an interactive map of where they are to find out more about them,” said Richard. “It will have all the basic information around ‘what do you mean by a New Worshipping Community?’, ‘how do I get started?’ and it will have lots of resources, some written by ourselves and links to wider resources and help.”

Many participants said the day had been very encouraging. Rebecca from Selby said “It’s been valuable for me to be able to see and meet with other people who share the same passions. At the moment I am the only young person of my age in my church and I’ve only ever been the only young person in almost every church I’ve ever been in!

“There’s a missing population at a lot of churches and it’s asking, ‘how can we reach the unreachable’? To be able to see that there are other people around the York diocese asking the same questions then you feel that you’re not doing it alone.”

John, another participant, said, “At [our church] the services have been very traditional and that’s where it sees its niche in the church ‘market place’ if you like, because there are other churches who do it differently."

• To find out more, visit the 20s to 40s pages on the diocesan website at dioceseofyork.org.uk/20s-40s.