Many church buildings are venues for youth clubs and other activities that bring young people together for social activities and sport. Often these help improve mental health as well as physical health and can particularly help those from underserved communities, equipping them with the tools they need to thrive.
Organised activities provide real alternatives to the virtual world of mobile phones and social media which can cause mental health problems and isolation.
Equipping the younger generation to thrive
The Madoch Centre in Perthshire is run by St Madoes and Kinfauns Parish Church, a local Church of Scotland congregation. The vision for a new centre, which opened in 2017, was to be a place where people of all ages could find activities each day that they could join in with to stay healthy and connected.
In 2021, it opened a new outdoors multi-purpose sports pitch. One of the most well used areas of the centre is the indoor games hall, which provides a wide range of social sport and fitness sessions. Already, a wide range of sport is provided by the centre, and this includes a variety of sports and coaching for local primary school children.
The centre will be extending sports awards and training opportunities to teenagers and young adults next year. Activities are open to all whether they are interested in faith or not, but the opportunities enable connections to be built.
The sport activities are run by volunteers with young people and adults supporting all aspects of the sports programme and completing a wide range of coaching and leadership qualifications.
One of the these has been a young man who had a stroke when he was three years old. Years later, when looking for employment, he was involved in supporting after school sports which boosted his confidence. He has now gone on to further training in youth work.
Social opportunities are also provided for young people and teens. In 2023, ‘Cook-it’ courses have been run for older teens; this has given another social outlet and increased confidence. Meanwhile primary age children help out at ‘Maddoch Meet Up’, a dementia support group.
“Serving a semi-rural community, we can offer sport and other activities for young people in an inclusive environment which helps them through providing good role models and building good relationships with people from our congregation,” shares Anthea Bircham, Community Development Coordinator, who has been involved with St Madoes church for over 20 years.
“Our activities increase physical activity in an age group who have barriers to taking part. Over the past seven years we have offered many opportunities for young people to volunteer and gain work experience and leadership awards. We are now looking to employ a Youth and Sports Assistant to further increase the opportunities for young people in our area and to build even stronger links between the congregation and community.”
