Tim

Lockdown restrictions have made it challenging for churches to connect with their communities in many ways – but that hasn’t stopped Tim Yau’s outreach to families in Cringleford in Norfolk. When his toddler group went online, it grew from around 20 regular attendees to 90!

Tim, who is a mission enabler for the Diocese of Norwich, as well as a pioneer priest on a new housing estate, is passionate about facilitating community cohesion and getting new projects off the ground. Running a toddler group though wasn’t something he previously thought he’d find himself doing.

An unexpected missional opportunity

‘The toddler group I’m now involved in ran in a community centre, and I was just taking my 3-year-old along to it for something to do,’ explained Tim, talking to Hope Together about the amazing missional opportunity that toddler groups present. ‘I got involved in helping out and making the coffee – then the lady who ran it announced she was leaving. I thought at first “This is not my thing – all I’m doing is turning up!”’

However, Tim saw the opportunity for ‘creating a space where parents could get together and get to know each other’ – so he stepped up to run the group. His initial vision was about facilitating relationships between adults, with less of a focus on the children. However, a key question he found himself asking was ‘Where’s the Jesus bit?’

‘I felt a little awkward about introducing that because the group wasn’t something I’d started,’ said Tim. But he found some ‘decent Bible stories’ and nobody objected. He then started to introduce a Bible-themed craft each week. This involved him ‘randomly searching on the Internet’ to find activities that worked for his clientele. When the group went online during the first lockdown, they began with an Easter theme, then worked their way through to Revelation, telling different parts of the ‘big story of the Bible’ each week – aiming to engage the parents as much as the children. They then returned to Genesis, and are now back through to the story of Gideon! Because the group was running on Zoom, Tim created a display of all the crafts they’ve made on a bookcase behind him, to remind them of the big picture story each week.

Toddler groups: not just about the faith of the toddlers

While Tim jokes about his previous craft expertise only amounting to being able to make a paper aeroplane, the skyrocketing attendance throughout the last year suggests he must be doing something right! Evidence also suggests that engaging with families in this way is hugely significant. The ‘Talking Toddlers’ research undertaken by Hope Together in partnership with the Church of England and the Evangelical Alliance found that 12% of parents of under-5s are active in churches, while an astonishing further 62% of parents have ‘fringe’ contact with a church. 55% of parents who attend toddler groups described how they are exploring their own beliefs through being involved. This demonstrates that these groups have the potential to be an amazingly simple point of connection with families in our villages, towns and cities.

"We’ve got an incredible opportunity – and the moment is now! Particularly as we come out of the pandemic, this group of people is the one for us to engage with."

Rachel Jordan-Wolf, Executive Director of Hope Together, at a recent Talking Toddlers webinar.

Click here for more about the amazing missional potential of toddler groups, and to sign up for future webinars with top tips and resources.