Upper Thames Group, North Wiltshire

The Upper Thames Group of Churches is made up of the four CofE churches of Cricklade, Ashton Keynes, Latton and Leigh. Cricklade is the largest community and is currently the town where our Youth Work is mainly located. All churches except Leigh have at least one service each Sunday which vary between formal communion services through to informal worship in a school hall and Messy Church. We all meet together on the 2nd and 5th Sundays of the month. Our preaching and teaching is Bible-centred and seeks to proclaim the coming of Christ's Kingdom, alongside going to make disciples of all in our locality and sphere of influence. Our Youth (11-18s - known as Vibe) meet on Sundays at 4pm during our Informal Worship service in St Sampson's School, Cricklade. We have a team of four who run this group, and also organise regular socials that friends can be invited to. We also have a separate team that runs a Youth Cafe every Tuesday during Term Time which is a "Drop In" for the youth after they return on the buses from secondary school (there is no secondary school within our parishes). We have created excellent links with our primary schools and with regards to our Youth Work we invest specifically with Year 6 in order to encourage them to join our youth activities. We do this by inviting them to 'taster session' after Easter time. Our Youth Work is still in its infancy (approaching 12 months) so there are great opportunities here to work as part of a proactive team in shaping our Youth Work, learning 'on-the-job', having opportunities to lead projects within the overall youth project, and also be able to become fully part of the four churches of the Upper Thames area of Wiltshire.

We believe that God has given our churches the vision "To know Christ, and to make Christ known" with a major emphasis on going out and making disciples. We are aiming to do this through proclaiming Jesus Christ through word and action, and in 2016 we are looking to make social justice one of our key priorities, and are looking to grow key partnerships with other organisations in order to achieve this. The Youth Project lies within this vision with the aim of enabling young people to encounter Jesus and to be transformed by him. Our part is to facilitate this as we feel led by God, and to provide opportunities to welcome young people into our community without any pressure. The project is driven by the Upper Thames Group Council which includes all four churches, and will have the opportunity to report back to each individual church council. There are also two project teams for Vibe, and the Youth Cafe (the latter being shared with a local United Church in Cricklade) who report into the councils.

Within the parishes of the Upper Thames Group, but also with opportunities to link with the three nearest Secondary Schools through other churches.

As mentioned under Project History, we have Vibe which meets during the 4pm Informal Worship service in Cricklade School on a Sunday, and also the Youth Cafe that meets on a Tuesday afternoon in a Village Hall between 4pm and 5:30pm during Term Time. Vibe also have monthly social events. We would like to start a Youth Group meeting one evening per week with a bit of Christian content to fit in with our vision, and also try and mirror this at least into the Ashton Keynes community (second biggest parish). We would also like to start intentional youth discipleship courses such as Youth Alpha, and host special one-off events with speakers and activities. We are interested in eventually planting a youth-led service with no constraint as to when it is held. Within this we have many youth who are musically gifted and would like to start a youth band. Lastly, we wish to continue to integrate the youth as much as possible within the mission of our churches including outreach, pastoral care and social action.