As you set out on the Home for Good Church journey, you’re not on your own! One of our engagement team members is on hand to help answer questions and support you in shaping your plans. Nic Thorpe joined the Home for Good team in January as our Yorkshire and North East Coordinator. She’s already caught a vision for the Home for Good Church initiative. Nic writes…

Working with Home for Good Churches is a joyful part of the job. During my first seven months in post, I’ve had the privilege of working with three different churches who have been keen to start this journey towards deeper engagement.

From the outset, I was keen to understand the vision of each church and how we might work together to promote the aims of both organisations. So, there’s an initial process of listening, learning and sharing together. Each time, there were clear areas of overlap in our missions. These provided a great starting point for mapping out the journey towards finding and supporting more homes for children and young people. Ultimately, we all want to see more people in each church community exploring fostering and adoption and we want to see the church wrapping around families who are on this journey.

No journey is the same but so far, I’ve found that there are a few things that seem to resonate well with church leaders in our early conversations:

Volunteer Champions are a central part of the Home for Good Church model. At Home for Good, we understand that church leaders are often very stretched and may not have time to invest in the partnership. But they can encourage and release their champion to bring ideas, energy and enthusiasm, as well as acting as the main connection point with the Home for Good team. If you haven’t yet identified a Champion, I’d encourage you to do so. It makes such a difference!

Prayer is a key part of what churches do as they engage with the wider vision of Home for Good. Some churches like to include a few minutes of prayer focus each month. One of the churches is planning a dedicated prayer meeting in Year 1 of their journey, with the aim of building up to termly prayer meetings by Year 3.

Home for Good Sunday is part of the plans for each of the three churches that I’ve worked with: a dedicated service to teach, learn and share stories relating to fostering and adoption. I was part of such a service a few months ago. It was an amazing, inclusive, creative service and I had the opportunity to share about our work and the opportunities for people to play their part. Have you included a Home for Good Sunday in your thinking and planning?

Regular giving is something that can help consolidate a church’s commitment to journey with Home for Good. The principle is just as important as the amount. And there are opportunities for community fundraising events to be part of the picture – drawing people together with a common focus, helping provide some context for the partnership with Home for Good.

There’s no one ‘right’ way to do Home for Good Church. For each of the agreements that have been shaped alongside the three churches, there’s a chance for an annual review to revisit and refocus the plans. The main goal is to do support one another along the journey in each unique church situation so that, together. We can help create and support stable homes and communities for children and young people.