Helen Laird – Children and Youth Development Officer
As Children and Youth Development Officer, Helen’s role is to help, support and equip you in your ministry. Her experience involves training teams for Open the Book and helping provide Messy Church and Roots resources for all ages. Do you need help starting, planning and recruiting for a new project? Do you want to talk about growing in numbers or deeper in faith? If you have any questions, please use our Contact Form.
NEWS FLASH!
Synod launches the Growing Younger Programme with the appointment of four new Young People’s Development Workers from 7 September 2026. Churches can apply for Development Workers to spend several hours a week with them. Find out more and apply for some of their time.
Synod Youth Representative
Every Synod has a youth representative.
To contact Isaac Irvine please use our Contact Form.
The Lundie Award
Who would you nominate for the Lundie Award?
The Lundie Memorial Award celebrates the good work an individual child or young person is doing for their church and community. Lundie Memorial Award – United Reformed Church
The Growing Younger Team
“The March 2026 Synod Meeting agreed to employ four Young People’s Development Workers. They have been recruited and start work on Monday 7 September 2026: Bertheli Dawson, Isaac Evans, Christine Ntim and Andrew Sedman.
The four will work collaboratively as a team, usually working in pairs, offering help with children’s and youth activities. They will also receive structured training, supervision, and vocational and leadership development as needed.”
Click here to see the Growing Younger Team!
Children and Youth Friendly Churches
Are you a member of the scheme? Can Helen help you explore the process of Children and Youth Friendly Church Scheme – United Reformed Church or did you do it a while ago and would like a review?
URC Resources
Here are some useful resources for your sunday school or youth group!
Faith Adventures for Children Together and Youth Resource
Intergenerational Worship Handout
Growing Your Church Younger Presentation – Synod 2025
Resources for Children and Youth Synod 2026
Exams encouragement letter – for churches to send out to children and youth who have recently completed their exams
Training
See the Padlet board for training on this external site: URC Training, events and opportunities
Helen can train your teams in Open the Book an exciting storytelling project where Bible stories are shared with children in collective worship, at school, in a fun, interactive and memorable way.
Other training can be arranged on request – let Helen know what your needs are.