At the recent National Assembly of the Congregational Federation, Long Itchington Congregational Church, known locally as the Chapel, was presented with The Child Friendly Church Award.

Many of you reading this will wonder what the Award entails…

Anyone who brings their child to a Church Club will first of all want to be sure that it is a safe place. Each Church must have a Child protection policy and any person over the age of sixteen who is involved with children in the church must complete a self disclosure form and then apply for a CRB Certificate from the Criminal Records Bureau.

The Church is visited by a Children’s Officer of the Congregational Federation who checks that the building is a safe place for children and issues a Child Safety Poster.

After completing the Child Friendly Church questionnaire and getting the agreement of the Church meeting, the church receives another visit when all the criteria for a safe, welcoming and child involving church is discussed.

The Children’s Officer then reports to the Ministries Committee where, after consideration about whether the church has reached all the criteria, the decision is made to make the award.

To us, at the Chapel, which is one of the smaller Churches of the Congregational Federation, it is firstly an honour to have received the award but also a responsibility to continue to be a welcoming, safe and happy place for children of all abilities to learn about the love of Jesus.

The Child Friendly Church Award first began in the Liverpool Diocese of the Anglican Church and has since been taken up by other denominations. The Congregational Church took up the scheme last year and to date only five churches out of the 282 affiliated churches have received the award.

Our main Children’s work is our Pilots Club for children from 4years of age which meets each Wednesday in term time from 6-15pm to 7-30pm.

Telephone Marion on 07812 804 924 for further information.