CURBS - fanning the flame of faith for urban children

It's not about filling a jug, it's about fanning a flame'. The CURBS team believes passionately that to engage effectively with urban children and nuture their spirituality, we have to start with the issues they face. As well as producing tried and tested resources, the team is also pioneering new ground by running a club attended mainly by Muslim children...

---

If no-one is producing the resources you want, there’s always the option of doing it yourself! The team at CURBS (Children in Urban Situations) decided to do just that and now produce a range of low-cost, interactive Christian materials for use with children in inner-city and outer urban situations.

In the mid-1990s, Kathryn Copsey was working at Scripture Union but increasingly felt that their materials - good though they were - were not appropriate for many contemporary settings, ‘I felt there were assumptions made about values and lifestyle, that were a million miles away from where the children were, so they were not able to connect with the materials.’

I felt there were assumptions made about values and lifestyle, that were a million miles away from where the children were, so they were not able to connect with the materials.

She began writing the kind of materials she felt were required for urban children today and set up CURBS as a three-year pilot project, trialing material with 100 churches across the country who all responded positively. When the money for the project ran out, Kathryn felt so strongly about the need that she decided to set up her own charity.

13 years later a small team who share her passion both write and illustrate a growing list of resources for use in church settings, such as Sunday groups, after school and holiday activities, as well as in school-based clubs.  They also offer training for children's workers in these settings.  One colleague, Jean Elliott, was involved with the pilot while running a midweek club on a school on a West Midlands estate and remembers thinking about how much she’d love to help with the project.  She moved to Walthamstow, but stayed in touch and when she had the opportunity she offered her skills and now works as a writer and illustrator in the team one day a week.

Engage, explore, express!

So what makes CURBS resources so special? Using issues and concepts relevant to the street-wise, but confused and unchurched children they aim to reach, the resources are born out of real experience and a desire to see the church engage appropriately with all children - and this means starting where they are, not where we want them to be.

At the heart of the team’s ethos is a strong belief that all children are made in God’s image, but that this image needs to be repaired and restored before some children can begin to understand and respond.

The materials are designed to be flexible and adaptable, with plenty of discussion space. They make no assumptions about family relationships, social class, cultural background, level of literacy or Bible knowledge. As Kathryn says, ‘It’s not about children knowing the stories but getting them to think about how God is working in the story and how it connects with their story.’  The resources are all written to:

• Engage the child’s interest by linking with their experiences of the world from the beginning
• Explore biblical concepts within the context of the child’s world, and
• Express this by drama, dance, listening, craft, writing and other ideas.

It’s not about children knowing the stories but getting them to think about how God is working and how it connects with their story.

It's not about filling a jug - it's about fanning a flame!

Kathryn and her team believe that a key role for all those working with children is to show what God is like, rather than just talking about him, ‘More important than your choice of resources is building a relationship with the children and valuing the fact that God is already at work. All we need to do is to come alongside and work with him. It’s not about filling a jug; it’s about fanning a flame. To hold children’s attention for the long-term, relationships are key’.

As well as producing resources they are also passionate about training children’s workers to understand how children learn and develop, as well as how to nurture their spirituality.  Kathryn says, ‘You can have the best idea in the world, but the skill is in how you convey it to hold it all together.’

Each resource comes with guidance notes (Cement papers) reflecting the team’s wide skills and expertise covering such topics as creative thinking; children’s spirituality, celebrating urban diversity, introducing more complex Christian concepts; self-esteem, handling bad behaviour, child protection, modelling kingdom behaviour, drawing children out, doing drama and working with 11-13s.

Both Kathryn and Jean marvel about the way that God has taken all their skills and experience – the team have a range of community development, youth work, art and other skills and both write and illustrate their materials themselves - and brought them together in a tiny office in an East London Anglican church to produce resources now going far and wide.

Bible stories and Ramadan

As their resources go into the world so the world now comes to them!  In one of the clubs they lead in the church hall at St Mary's Shadwell they are now developing new skills around working with children from other religions.  Kids United is a holiday club for 4-7 year olds and virtually all of those who attend are Bangladeshi Muslims from the local primary school.  Having discovered the need was not for an after-school club but for holiday activities, they began in 2008 with approximately 15 children, but now get between 20 and 35.  Many of the mothers stay in the sessions, bringing younger siblings and those who have theoretically outgrown the club but don't want to leave! They get lots of positive feedback.

They began by using existing CURBS resources, but are in the process of producing new ones designed specifically for such unusual circumstances.

This situation, despite the sensitivities, is one all the team are enjoying. They find the families and children delightful, responsive and appreciative. They tell stories from a Christian perspective and have decided to choose stories common to both the Bible and the Koran.

Both Kathryn and Jean – the two team members most involved – are so committed to this ministry that they are looking at attending a course specifically related to working with Bangladeshi families and children. Their advice for churches in a similar situation is not to be put off, either by lack of confidence or by the sensitivity of the issues. Kathryn says, ‘Sometimes we are oversensitive. We recently planned not to run the club during Ramadan, but one Muslim father told us, “It’s for children, it’s OK. You don’t have to worry about that.”’

Sometimes we are oversensitive. We recently planned not to run the club during Ramadan, but one Muslim father told us, “It’s for children, it’s OK. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Their experience in this, as in other areas, is that God takes what we offer and uses it for his glory. They may never see or have any idea of the impact their work has had on those involved but what matters is that the Kingdom has been modelled and God has been made visible.

Inspired? Read Kathryn and Jean's top tips

• Don’t think you can’t make a difference – you can!
• Plan for what you can do, not what you can’t. Take a risk and try something small – If you can’t do a whole holiday week, try just a day or a few hours.
• Be distinctly Christian without having a hidden agenda.
• Do visit the families of all the children you are working with in their own home and see the children as part of the wider family. We visited every Muslim family whose children come to the Kids United club and know that it was appreciated.
• It’s important to create an atmosphere of trust and good relationships
• We believe clubs should be open to carers and siblings who want to stay during the sessions.
• Incorporate group craft activities, rather than just individual ones – this can prompt different conversations and good discussions.
• Build and maintain good links with local schools the children attend. For the children, parents and teachers to see other forms of support and involvement from a church or Christian group is important.
• Don’t be too quick to put a Western or British interpretation on things; try to be open and to recognise that children may not have done similar activities before.
• These days, everyone leaves it to the last minute to commit themselves, recruiting enough volunteers can be a scary business, be flexible and try to recruit more help than you may need.
• You don’t have to do it all yourself! If you don’t have enough helpers or resources but are keen to try something, why not partner with another church nearby and pool your resources. It’s more important that the Kingdom is modelled than which church gets the credit.