Bishops Pledge Change to Young People

The voices of young people on key issues, such as poverty, wealth and the environment were heard and reflected at the Lambeth Conference during a previous consultation organised by the Diocese of Leicester. Thirty bishops and 100 young people from 17 different nations discussed the themes of faith, life and power at The Lambeth Talk, a four-day consultation in July. The topics discussed were later covered during the Lambeth Conference, where the bishops were able to amplify the voices of the young people within the programme.

The key findings of the consultation were fed in to the conference through a dedicated session on the 22nd July, where the bishops had the opportunity to hear directly from five of the young people who attended the earlier event. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, also attended this session.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, and the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, headed the delegation of archbishops and bishops who visited the Peepul Centre in Leicester ahead of the Lambeth Conference on the 14th July.

The young people, drawn from across the worldwide Anglican Communion, were invited to air their views on issues of faith, life and power and influence the bishops of the Anglican Communion’s discussions. The topics discussed included areas of family and relationships, education, employment, poverty, wealth, the environment and economy and why they feel the Church doesn’t take young people seriously. Consequently, many of the bishops made promises, written on scrolls, to the young people in their diocese. These included pledges such as setting up or meeting with their youth council, allocating more funding to youth projects in their diocese and offering support to their local youth workers. Bishops wrote their promises on scrolls, signed by themselves and the teenagers to take away and remind them of the experience.

During the consultation, the bishops and young people were involved in different activities to explore the themes together. Seventeen year old Matthew Rusk, chair of the Bishops youth council in Leicester, reflected on the activities: ‘We played a ‘life’ game, a ‘faith’ game and a ‘power’ game, which all explored the impact of these areas for young people. In the life game, for example, we led the bishops blindfolded on a giant board, a bit like a snakes and ladders board. They encountered different life scenarios such as ‘you fail your exams’ or ‘your parents get a divorce’, and the young people had to advise the bishops on the next move to take. The bishops had to trust the young person’s advice because they were blindfolded!’

Matthew continued: ‘One of the aims of the day was to challenge the bishops to think about young people’s perspectives – and I think we did that.’ Becky Jackson, also 17 and vice-chair of the Bishops youth council said that the unity between the bishops and the young people was a highlight of the event: ‘It was amazing to bring so many different cultures, denominations and generations into the same place and work together for one aim. I think that the bishops realised that young people really appreciate being listened to, and as a result have decided to give the young people more of a look-in. I don’t think they understood before how seriously young people want to take these issues.’