Julie Winstone was appointed full time Children and Young People’s Worker at St Peter’s Bengeworth in August 2024. This is a brand-new role for St Peter’s which is a renewal church, planted from resourcing church All Saints Worcester, in 2021 by team vicar Andy Smith. Renewal churches are part of our diocesan vision to grow as Kingdom People, bringing hope and transforming communities, and one of the four priorities to achieve this aims to double the number of children and young people worshipping in our diocese by 2030.
Around 15 children are part of St Peter’s current congregation on Sundays. There have previously been children’s activities every other Sunday but bringing Julie on board means the potential for more consistent provision and Julie has already made one important change, arriving at 10.20am every Sunday to set up children’s activities, so that parents can relax and chat ahead of the 11AM service which is aimed at families.
Julie is very experienced at engaging children of all ages. She is a mother of three. Her two sons are in their early twenties, and she also has a daughter in her late teens. Julie worked for many years as a French teacher at an independent school, teaching Reception to Year 13. During her career Julie has always followed what she felt God was calling her to do.
Five years ago, Julie was loving teaching but during a church service when a visiting female preacher was talking about ‘the woman at the well’ bible story she felt she was called by God to go into ‘full-time Christian work’. During the pandemic she explored the opportunities available to her, later completing a Masters degree in Applied Theology at Regents Theological College in Malvern.
Julie got a First for her dissertation. It was on the subject of ‘Seeing God through nature’. During the course of her dissertation, she conducted a lot of original research into nature and outdoor services. Through this research Julie concluded that exploring spirituality outside in nature is something churches should take seriously, for adults as well as children, and particularly for neurodivergent people.
Julie said she felt passionately that this role at St Peter’s was the right one for her. Julie already had some knowledge of St Peter’s and the families that attended because she assisted St Peter’s in forming an inter-church youth group called YouNite, over a year previously, on a voluntary basis.
Julie also has lots of other voluntary experience, organising and delivering groups for children and young people of all ages, at the Baptist churches she has attended, since she was 16.
Julie remembers a group called Baby Talk that was meant just for parents with babies was always very well attended, even in inclement weather conditions such as snow. She thinks this is because new parents in particular really value the opportunity to get out the house and meet with other adults who they know will be sympathetic and supportive. She said she’s always made a point of offering to ‘hold the baby’ so parents could go and get a hot drink.
Julie feels her particular strength though is ‘keeping people’ and another particularly successful group Julie ran on a voluntary basis was one she set up online during the pandemic for young people in her church. Julie organised loads of games, quizzes and a Bake Off, all via Zoom. She also delivered freebies and treats to the young people’s homes.
Julie said:
“It is so important to invest in the children and teenagers that are already part of the congregation. It’s about thinking of ways to make them feel valued, important and special, whatever the situation.”
With Julie having so much expertise and experience to draw on, the team are spending time initially looking at their church vision and praying together to ascertain what God wants them to focus on and what will be the best fit for their community.
Going back to the nature theme, Julie said:
“I feel there are lots of seeds of ideas, but we will be praying into which ones are going to be sown and how. They are probably all good seeds, but the ground will need preparing for some of them and of course you don't plant every seed in every garden all at once, the timing has to be just right. We will be trusting in God to know which seeds to plant where and when.”