16 March 2018
Could your church project use a young person's help?
Church and youth leaders are being invited to offer placementsto young people on the popular One Programme.
The Church's Children and Youth Team is inviting churches to putforward their projects for selection by filling out the
The One Programme is a paid year out for young people aged 16 to23-years-old. The participants (known as OPPs) are paid to work 15hours a week: nine hours in a local project and six hours fortraining and other Connexional work. The projects are selected by apanel of young people and key-workers.
Hayley Moss, Methodist Youth President, said: "The One Programmeis an excellent opportunity both for the young people and theprojects hosting them. Young people get stuck in to an excitinglocal project and participate in an excellent training programmealongside other young people from across the UK. Churches benefitfrom having an enthusiastic, dedicated young person involved intheir work. I loved my year on The One Programme. I think it is afantastic, challenging, worthwhile experience both for young peopleand their host projects. Everybody wins!"
Last year Matt Parker was based at Hart Foodbank after FleetMethodist Church, which runs the project, applied to host a OPPplacement. Working within a team where most volunteers wereover-fifty, Matt was able to give a fresh perspective to the groupdecision-making. The Foodbank had only just been set up when hejoined, so he was able to watch it grow from a small-scale projectto one that helped more people every week.
John Howard, District Chair for the Wolverhampton and ShrewsburyDistrict, said: " I am delighted with what the One Programmeis doing. I think it has been one of the most exciting initiativestaken in youth work in recent years. Young people have been giventhe opportunity to show how they can contribute to the church andtheir local community. One young person in my District worked in ayouth cafe for the year and made a significant difference to thework that was being done there."