Mission

Pupils at Erskine Waterfront Campus (EWC) have received life-saving training after the kind donation of a defibrillator outside the school grounds.
The defibrillator has been donated by guilds and churches in the Clyde area, primarily Inchinnan Parish church and Inchinnan Guild.
The portable machine which treats cardiac arrest, is registered on The Circuit, the UK’s national database that maps public and private external defibrillators and can be accessed by the public in an emergency.
The installation highlights a key partnership between CrossReach and the surrounding community.
Kyle Flemming, head teacher at EWC, said: “We are so delighted to have the support of local churches and Guilds like this one. We feel really welcome in the community and it just makes sense to have a lifesaving bit of equipment here.
“I am really grateful to the Guild for their work in making this possible.”
The new device has also presented a great opportunity for children at the school to learn how to use it. Pupils have been given training on what to do if someone needs to receive treatment via the defibrillator.

The training expands on more lifesaving skills picked up by EWC pupils earlier this year when the school was awarded the Smart Schools Gold Award for excellence in water safety education after training on water safety training and activities in the River Clyde which runs alongside the school.
Ann Knox, minister at Inchinnan Parish Church, added: “Inchinnan Parish Guild enjoyed a presentation about the work of Erskine Waterfront Campus. When asked what support was required it was mentioned that the school was hoping to fund a defibrillator for both school and community use. The Guild gave a starting donation for this venture, and the congregation, who support CrossReach in a variety of ways mainly through the work of the Pastoral Group which includes a ‘loose change pop-in jar’ also offered their support. The Pastoral Group proposed to Kirk Session that all the money collected this way would go towards the purchase of a defibrillator, and were delighted when enough had been raised.
The pop-in jar will continue for the Waterfront Campus funds, and CrossReach as a whole will continue to be supported through the Christmas Card Catalogues, retiring collections, and soup lunches.

Clyde presbytery and Youth Work Journeys
August 18 meeting

Why are you here tonight?
(I collated the responses around these common themes after the meeting)
Mission workers network
our group is here looking to network with other mission workers find out what other churches are doing and get any advice from other people. I want to network more with mission workers
Already involved in youth ministry but looking to connect with other doing youth ministry and learn from others.

Parents
learn how to engage parents more.
My group wants to learn to engage with parents more and how to get the children and adults to come to more church services

Resources
Each church does different things in response tp their local situation. It would be good to gather such information to form an ideas bank so we can use or tweak other peoples’ ideas in our own churches

Young people
I would like to hear what other churches to to engage with younger members so. To hear what others are doing which we might copy / adapt to suit our needs.
Ideas on how we work with and encourage youth in our churches?
Growth of youth ministry within our churches.

Partnership
To engage and connect with other churches.

 
What do you want from tonight’s meeting?
(I collated the responses around these common themes after the meeting)

To learn and share from each other, resources for youth work.
Interested in hearing what others are doing around presbytery

Youth in church
Pathways for our youth in our church.
I’m concerned that we have reasonable numbers in our Boys’ Brigade but only two of them attend Church and only one has parents/grandparents attending Church.
How do we develop Messy Church type work into discipleship also uniformed organisations, link to families, are we stuck with Sunday morning?

Going deeper with young people
inspiration, guidance, how to develop relationships with young people, moving from initial contact to more in depth conversations, resources to enable us to be bold, one to one conversations, faith based conversations,
those we have relationships with in church and those we have yet to meet

How to listen to and engage with young people
what kind of activities do young people want/need/ enjoy, residential experiences
where do we meet young people s- schools, on the street, through their peers
how do we make a deeper connection from our service to young folk into speaking of faith, how do we engage with young folk in a relevant way to them
What can we do as a church to support you? Helping out in the lunch halls. Helping out at events and residentials.
Increasing difficulty in engaging with youth groups due to secularisation of many groups
l was talking about mission engagement not being homogeneous, it’s not a one size fits all. Surely our task is to go and listen, to sit with and be shaped by their narrative and then to shape our church h engagement around that, answering the question: what is God up to in that context?
reach YP through social media platforms but none of us felt as if we were good in this field

Volunteers
training of volunteers, finding volunteers without over burdening the same people

Partnerships
working in partnership with other churches of different denominations and other organisations who working with young people,

Schools
Working with the schools. Access to the schools. Headteachers.
Talking to parents in the playground invite them to talk about nerves etc over their kids.

Parents and autism
we talked about a quiet space for parents and children with Autism. The main theme was engagement, conversation and going to them not expecting them to come to us, it will happen naturally.

Resources
Each other!
The Think Tank by Martin Saunders a good discussion book for secondary aged young folk. If we can get one YP that would bring in others that is helpful
lunch time groups in schools and in churches, cosy cafe, supporting groups already in schools
Partnership with YoungLife Scotland which has supported us with – Toastie Tuesday(lunchtime café for highschool pupils), YoungLife Club, Stage’n’Slam summer outreach to>100 teenagers, summer camps and weekends away – also in partnership with other churches.
Cosy Cafe
Gillian and Karen gave me many ideas for helping with outreach in schools. We at St Paul’s Milngavie are just starting out with a chaplaincy team at our local Academy School so very grateful for their encouraging words
I forgot to say school chaplaincy team helps out every Wednesday at Inverclyde Academy breakfast club. Great way to get to know pupils and staff.

Discussion groups around
Working with parents, engaging young people in church and worship, engaging with young people in the community, partnership with other churches, denominations or youth projects and lastly a staff workers’ group.

What do you want our next meeting to be?
Content
Writing congregational action plans first then have conference vs just do it!
Presentations describing successes in different settings – how it started, what you do, external funding
Ideas:
Presentations from folk who have seen a successful programme for reaching and connecting to young people. And how is success measured as it is so intangible as results might come to fruition in years to come – if seeds are being planted in some way.
Sharing of good news stories, encouragement support

Format:
In-Person requested by most who expressed an opinion
Breakout groups.
Multi-topics
Navigate your way round each area.
Food

• A number of breakout tables or discussion areas would be set up, with each table focused on a specific topic. A designated facilitator would lead the conversation, encourage participation, and capture key points for feedback. Relevant takeaway resources could also be made available at each table. You might find volunteers within the group could help facilitate the tables.

• Participants could choose which discussion table to join, either on the evening itself or in advance if topic lists are circulated beforehand.

• Each discussion session could run for approximately 15–20 minutes, depending on attendance and engagement levels. At the end of each session, participants would have the opportunity to move to a different table and join another conversation.

• Feedback session, during which each table facilitator shares the main themes, insights, and recommendations from their discussions.

• How to develop these group discussions into action groups that continue to meet in future.

Reminder
The first follow-up Zoom meeting to the Presbytery Conference 2nd June on Working with Young People will be take place on 18th Aug at 7pm. Zoom link is below.
If you were not at the actual conference you can still join in at this session, where Paul Beautyman will be addressing some of the topics raised that night.

Topic: Clyde Presbytery
Time: Aug 18, 2026 07:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87593976157?pwd=va8JWXMOa5AO0ESoXQBhEPV2cttra7.1

Meeting ID: 875 9397 6157
Passcode: 000036

The Mwandi Mission has finally sourced a suitable lorry and trailer and organised payment. It has been a difficult process and the lorry is being delivered from South Africa.

Hoping to get picture of both onto the Presbytery Facebook, they are not the red as in the jigsaw that folk used to raise founds for the purchase but still brilliant to now have to assist in all the work in Mwandi! (see Reports page for more details)

Keith Keith and Ida as well as the other folk involved in Mwandi send their heartfelt thanks to you.

Date of next Paisley ACORN meeting:
THURSDAY 27TH AUGUST FROM 2PM TO 3PM
PAISLEY ST MARK’S OLDHALL, Church of Scotland, 334 Glasgow Rd, Paisley PA1 3DL, UK

Although this is arranged by the Paisley Churches, the meeting is open to those who want to find out more about ACORN

We shared refreshments together (thank you Sonia) and some stories of how we’ve seen God in our days, sometimes sure it was a God moment and at other times not so sure BUT always willing to we willing to share when a moment arises, a person comes across our way.

We watched the Acorn 2 video and heard of other people’s experiences and their expectations together discussing what challenged us, encouraged us and what spoke to us as we watched.

Here is the link to this (6 min) video if you want to watch it…

Next meeting will be on THURSDAY 27TH AUGUST FROM 2PM TO 3PM Venue TBC

God bless you and thank you – the late date is due to commitments that we all have during the summer –

However, let us keep on asking…

“Lord, today is there someone You want me to connect with outside the church?”

Our Lord be with you all and don’t forget He’s happy to be interrupted anytime.

His ears and eyes are open to hear and see us all.

The follow-up Zoom meeting for the Presbytery Conference ‘Working with Young People’ will be held on 18th August 7-9pm and hosted by Rev Paul Beautyman.
the link for the meeting is:
https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r02/___https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87593976157?pwd&%2361;va8JWXMOa5AO0ESoXQBhEPV2cttra7.1___.YzJlOmNodXJjaG9mc2NvdGxhbmQ6YzpvOmM1ZmVjNTA4MzYwMzUxMWVhYmQyZjBlNjY5NmUwMTQwOjc6NjZkODpjNjdmMGM0MmQ2NzljOGMyMWEyNGFmNjA2ZWVkM2M1YTViNmY1MWI1YTY1ZDk1NjRiN2JkZjE2ZWUwYzIwODA1OnQ6VDpG

Meeting chat link
https://us06web.zoom.us/launch/jc/87593976157

Meeting ID: 875 9397 6157
Passcode: 000036

NOTE: the slides from the first session are available under the ‘Miscellaneous’ section of this Mission page.

“Aimed at church leaders and volunteers, this session will explore how and why churches can work with children and young people in today’s world. There are many challenges in church and society but engaging children and young people can bring God’s life to them and the church. Drawing on existing good practice and innovative models Paul Beautyman from Youth Work Journeys will guide us. Paul has enabled mission and outreach across Scotland as a minister, youth worker and presbytery advisor and now runs his own business supporting and growing youth workers. This session in June will be followed up by two later meetings to provide practical next steps and resources for churches, workers and volunteers. The dates of these meetings will be set in discussion with those who wish to attend.”

A late and additional Good News Item but relevant came from St Mark’s Oldhall Church and café, I spoke about this at the Pres meeting but not included in the report.
(Ralston Community Cafe) have received a Cycling Friendly Communities Silver Award from Cycling Scotland, (the nation’s cycling organisation), for their commitment to make it easier for more people to cycle. To achieve the award, they ran Dr Bike maintenance sessions, set up a bike library, installed facilities (bike stands and a repair station), delivered training sessions and organised group rides. Also, as another part of their work to safeguard the integrity of creation they have just installed 50 solar panels on the hall roof, (thanks to an 80% grant from the Scottish Government CARES Community Solar Fund) and are already , even in February, almost meeting their electricity needs from solar power.