Child-Friendly Churches

Thanks to the generosity of donors, Viva partner networks in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya have been running activities under the programme ‘Child-Friendly Church.’ This includes training churches in a toolkit to help them deliver Christian teaching to children in relevant ways, as well as make them feel welcome at church. This case study of CRANE, the Children at Risk Action Network, in Uganda, highlights the usefulness and scope of the Child-Friendly Church initiative.‍ ‍

Children at Risk Action Network, Uganda

CRANE was founded in 2003 and officially registered in 2004 by a small group of Christian organisations that were working in Kampala with street-connected children. Over the years, it has expanded its reach and serves at-risk children in education, health and family strengthening, including running the highly successful UKAid-funded Girls’ Education Challenge.

One initiative that has been helping CRANE’s member churches is Child-Friendly Church. This programme has various components, and multiple church leaders within CRANE are being helped to understand children’s needs and to ensure children are appropriately welcomed and cared for in church. Pastor Patrick, the programme leader within CRANE, notes that, “Church leaders and children’s workers that we are engaging with find the training relevant to their context and helpful in their ministry to children. Several of the churches that we are working with started out with one teacher, but they have been able to recruit more teachers whom they are training. We are planning for a way to train more than one teacher per church in the second year of the project.”

Safe Clubs and Child Ambassadors

The programme involves several activities, one of which is establishing Safe Clubs, spaces where children are taught about their rights and empowered to act as peer leaders. In Uganda, 63 adults from 53 churches were trained as mentors for Child Ambassadors and commissioned to establish Safe Clubs in their respective communities. Active training has been conducted for at least 551 children from 31 Safe Clubs in churches on how to stay safe, be ambassadors for their peers, and protect the environment: “I am very happy for the Safe Club at our church. Through it, we now have a safe channel to express our interests and challenges because of the safe environment created,” Sarah, (Child Ambassador).

Highlights of Impact

This funded programme has brought a lot of impact, with some highlights of the impact of the Child-Friendly Church initiative including:

• 3,885 children and 147 adults attended church-run Christmas parties.

• 93 church leaders and children’s workers from 50 churches were trained in safeguarding, after which each church committed to writing or updating child protection policies.

• At least 87 pastors and Sunday school teachers were trained in positive parenting.

• Church leaders were equipped with materials for Viva’s Good Treatment Campaign, which includes six messages on how to treat children better.

• At least 45 Sunday School teachers were trained in all nine aims of Viva’s Child-Friendly Church resource.

• 104 pastors and Sunday School teachers from 46 churches were trained on how to prepare Bible lessons that are child-friendly and biblically accurate.

• 192 leaders from 147 churches were trained using a Viva resource called ‘Why Children Matter’, which helped them appreciate the value God places on children.

• Church leaders from 56 churches have learned about organisational development through the Quality Improvement System (QIS).

While there are many positive developments, there are challenges with regular attendance, and emphasis will be placed on cascading training and resources in the future so that even more churches and their leaders can implement child-friendly church activities.

The Long-term Impact of Being Child-Friendly

One pastor who has been part of the Child-Friendly Church programme noted, “I truly appreciated CRANE’s training on child protection and positive parenting. I had lost the bond with my children so much that one of them was so afraid of me. Through the training, I was able to reflect on my own life and my children’s. I used the knowledge to become a better, more loving father. Now, my children can talk to me freely, without fear." As more leaders are equipped and encouraged to make churches more welcoming to children, the impact multiplies and more children are safe.

Pastor Patrick counts himself fortunate to have a role to play in making churches places where children are listened to, given room to contribute, learn new skills and accepted as valued members of the congregation: “I like being part of the child-friendly church because through this programme we get to walk with and empower church leaders to impact changes in their churches and in their families that give children the opportunity to thrive in a safe and empowering environment.”

The Child-Friendly Church initiative is one of the tools used to support Viva partner networks and can be especially useful for new networks, helping build knowledge and capacity about why and how it is important to ensure that church environments are safe and supportive, enabling children to thrive and live life in all its fullness.