For more information about any aspect of our youth work please

contact the office

St Mary's

Our Junior Church has a group for older primary/younger secondary age pupils.
In addition we have a Cake and Chat fortnightly teenagers’ evening group at the Rectory which includes prayer and discussion, usually about social justice issues and our faith in everyday life and the life of the world.

Signpost Youth Group

Signpost Youth Group meets on the 2nd and 4th Friday at Christ Church Parish Hall 8-9.30pm. Signpost is for young people in years 6-7. We play lots of games together, check in with one another, do silly challenges and try to beat world records, and discuss together things of life and faith.

The group has at least two adults present at all times who hold a current DBS.

Bridge Youth Club

Bridge Youth Club meets on the 1st & 3rd Friday of each month at Christ Church Parish Hall 8-9p.30m. Bridge Youth Club is for young people in years 8-13, using breakout rooms for discussion and games. We take time to build new friendships, playing games together, checking in with your week and currently we are looking at the big questions of life using videos from Youth Alpha.

The group has at least two adults present at all times who hold a current DBS.

Youth Confirmation

Confirmation is a 7-week course we run on Sunday afternoons at 4pm through Zoom to explore the Christian faith together. Ask questions, hear stories of why people follow Jesus and discover what it means to live a life as a Christian. Meet others and build new friendships. At the end of the course, you may like to publicly declare your Christian faith by being baptised or/and confirmed. You might like to invite your family and friends as you declare to follow God and ask Holy Spirit to help you live as a child of God in your life. The Bishop comes and prays for you and normally we have a little party as a church to welcome you to the family.

If you would like to be confirmed, please get in touch for either dates for our next class sessions or to be confirmed in smaller groups together.

Other Youth Activities

Volunteering opportunities with our After School Club & in church are available.

Monthly Youth Games night are organised on Saturdays 6-8pm.

Mental Health support & mentoring is available as & when needed.

Bible Study & prayer is available weekly.

Holiday club runs the 1st week of summer.

11-14s summer camp Leiston Ventures is the 2nd week of summer.

14-19s summer camp Aquasports Watersports is the 3rd week of summer.

For more information and to sign up to our Youth Newsletter contact Clare

Youth Music

Woodford St Mary’s Junior Choir rehearsal Sunday 9-9.30am for service 10am to 11.15am

Wanstead Parish Junior Choir rehearsal Friday 6.45-7.45pm

Aldersbrook St Gabriel’s Youth music group Sunday 11.30-12.30am

Aldersbrook St Gabriel’s Youth Drumming Club Friday 6.30-8pm

MMU Contemporary Worship Services take place termly with young people welcome to join the team.

For information about Guiding at St Mary’s, please click here

A message to parents and guardians…

Thank you! Thank you for being here.

It tells us that you care about your young people and what they are attending at church. We are big fans of you, without you we wouldn’t have a group of amazing young people to be with! It’s well known that it’s a tough and often thankless job raising a child, so thank you, you’re doing great! We at WWA Youth believe it’s our role to partner with parents in helping young people be the best that can be.

Thank you for your smiles, car lifts, financing trips, asking about youth, speaking with your sons/daughters about their lives, all of it.

Safety

Your child’s safety is extremely important for the team and the church as a whole. That’s why every leader has to fulfil the following criteria:

  • To be known personally by a member of staff
  • To hold a clear DBS check
  • To be in agreement to the safeguarding policy
  • To always report any concerns to the youth worker
  • To complete training as required

We have a minimum of two leaders at all our youth events. On other occasions when we are hosting special trips or events, we will let you know before hand and ask your consent. If you have any questions or concerns, then please do feel free to contact us.

YP, YOU & YW

You are the most influential person in a young person’s life. We always endeavour to keep you in mind when we organise youth events. We know that your time is precious and family time even more precious. We will try to keep clear, open and regular communication about all our events; dates, times and costs, so that you can prepare well in advance. Please do check emails and our youth newsletter for updates, in case our letters never get to you via their backpacks or pockets. We do not want to take away your family time and we want to support you in helping to raise your child with love, in a safe and caring environment, as they explore faith.

We know that young people thrive and do their best when things in their life are consistent. Relationships allow a young person to find a place where they belong among peers, supported by a youth leader and discover a relationship with God. Attending youth events consistently will help them find stability and allow them to interact more and more with the topics, discussions and opportunities to meet with God. We would love to support you as parent(s)/guardian(s) as much as possible to encourage your young people to get involved and to start building up a network of Christian fellowship. Everything you do that enables relationships to flourish in the church, helps to provide strong links of Christian support. As a youth team we will cheer you on as you pick up your children to get them to youth on time, or drive them and their friends over to our weekend away. On our part we are proactively always looking for opportunities to build friendships with your young people and also with you so that we can stand alongside you as you raise your child.

If you have any questions or concerns, then please do feel free to contact us at wwayouth@hotmail.com.