The Resource

16/06/2026

Share your story . . .

Call for Evidence - Line Management and Support - Poor Practice in the The Church of England.

I put this call out a couple of weeks ago, so far I've received 28 stories of poor practice - bullying, processes not being followed, unaccountable leadership, constructive dismissal. Awful stuff.

What is most challenging is the power imbalance. There are repeat offenders who continue to abuse employed children's, youth and families ministers in toxic leadership cultures. Often, Diocese are aware of these but feel impotent to challenge or bring about change.

We want this to end. The Church of England has been employing youth, children's, and family ministers for over 50 years. Many remain low paid, lack security, and have little external support. The Church of England have a vision for employing another 3,000 children's, youth and family ministers - this is laudable, but we have to be so much better at caring for those we already employ and ensuring that the employing churches have the right policies, procedures and wrap around care that our incredible employed workers deserve.

PLEASE, if you have a story of poor practice that you feel able to share, we'd like to hear it. We are planning a Symposium in the autumn with some HR specialists, those with lived experience of challenging work environments and churches with a good track record of employment and support. We will be writing a report with recommendations for improvement before the end of the year.*

Have something to share? Please email [email protected] in confidence (all identifying features from stories shared will be removed). Let's come together and seek to change the culture.

*The report will focus particularly on practice in The Church of England, but we would like to hear from you regardless of your denomination or employing body. Poor practice is sadly common across the breadth of the church. There are lessons for all from the themes emerging from the stories being shared.

08/06/2026

Season 2 of the Flourish podcast is now live!!!!
A little while ago, Ali and I launched the Flourish podcast as a space for us to explore healthy, holistic and reflective children's and youth ministry.
With both of us actively involved in ministry with children and young people for a long time - our house is often bubbling with wondering, reflection and general chit chat on all things CYF - so we thought we would capture a little of it and give you a fly on the wall perspective of life in the Campbell house!
In Season 2 we are hanging out in Ali's happy place as we explore different aspects of Professional Development! This first episode kicks things off with a really important topic as we consider just how vital it is for us to care well for ourselves if we want to journey well with the children and young people in our care. We will be sharing a little of our own journeys into this and hopefully give you some food for thought as you bring some curiosity to your own wellbeing.
The video podcast is hosted on Substack and you can follow it there to make sure you don't miss any episodes - or find it wherever you usually listen to or watch podcasts!
And don't forget to share the love with your CYF ministry friends! Everyone is welcome!
https://open.substack.com/pub/wonderfulmelisa/p/the-flourish-podcast-season-2-episode?r=4oi69m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

01/06/2026

Woohoo!!! Series 2 is coming soon!!!!
Episode 1 will go live on Monday 8th June.
In this second series we are thinking about professional development as we explore some foundational aspects of healthy and holistic children's and youth ministry .... wellbeing ... reflective practice ... building and leading teams well ... line management and mentoring.
It's not to be missed!
Find us wherever you normally get your podcasts - or watch or listen along at wonderfulmelisa.substack.com/podcast.
And if you missed series 1, which explored the Flourish model as we unpacked the why, the how and the what of healthy and holistic children's and youth ministry - don't worry - it's still available!!!!

28/05/2026

Call for Evidence - Poor Leadership and Management Practice in Churches.

Do get in touch if you have something to share.

Call for Evidence - Poor Leadership and Management Practice in Churches.

We aim to be is an advocate and support when things are challenging. In the last few years we have been hearing quite a few stories of poor practice in line management, toxic leadership environments in some churches and children’s, youth and family ministers being bullied out of their employment or leaving due to burn out and exhaustion.

This is awful - but, sadly, very little seems to change - even when these situations are brought the the attention of senior leadership in churches and diocese’ (or their equivalent). HR support, where it exists, is often just there to support a parish or church as the employer - leaving the employed children’s, youth or family minister to navigate these situations on their own. We’d like to see that change!

As a result, Paraklesis is putting out a ‘call for evidence’ to gather stories that help us understand more fully what is going on.

- Do you have a story to share about leadership and management poor practice?
- Is this something you have experienced or are experiencing now?

If you have something you could share, in complete confidence (all stories shared will be anonymised) then please get in touch at [email protected] - the call is open from now until the end of July.

In the Autumn, Paraklesis intends to hold an online symposium with HR and employment experts to explore key themes from the stories and to help us shape a report that will be written before Christmas with recommendations for churches and denominations to improve practice and create safer environments for children’s, youth and family ministers.

Do please pass this on to others.

19/05/2026

Please give this a read, and if you can - RESPOND, I need to gather as many stories of poor treatment as I can.

Hello The Church of England employed children's, youth and family ministers - I'm seeking to gather some info - confidentially - about what happens when it goes WRONG.

It seems that, if a parish treats an employee unfairly (you are asked to resign, you are sacked, you are bullied in to leaving) there is very little that can be done. Toxic leadership persists and the next unlucky employee potentially has the same treatment. The incumbent remains, the issues over employment continue and nothing is done. I appreciate this is tricky, but - if I can gather enough anonymous stories (100) - I know, surely I won't be able to gather one hundred - I'd like to put them together and submit them to the national bodies of the Church of England (National Safeguarding Team; The 30K Project Lead; Senior Bishops in the Northern and Southern Provinces.

I am FED UP with Diocese' saying nothing can be done, the local church has employed someone so it's not something we can get involved with. SOMETHING has to change - if you have a story, please drop me a message - all in confidence. PLEASE SHARE THIS WHERE YOU CAN.

14/05/2026

Fresh role up on the website, do check this out - visit https://www.stjamesbythepark.org/jobs for more information.

08/05/2026

I can't begin to tell you how important this work is.

Are you a member of Paraklesis_UK? Have you thought about joining? Get in touch if you'd like a chat - wearing my other hat as founder of this charity, email me at [email protected] for more information.

When it goes wrong.
When nobody else will help.
When it is tough.
When you can't see a way through.

We stand with you.

This is the unseen work of Paraklesis but it is our most vital. Often, when someone gets in touch they tell us, 'nobody would help' or, 'I was told I couldn't talk to anyone about the situation.'

It could be facing redundancy, it could be bullying at work, it could be a termination of a contract without proper processes being followed, it could be small things that start to mount up, it could be be completely unrealistic expectations, it could be pressure over numbers.

What can be really hard, in the midst of challenges is the sense of injustice and that what is happening just isn't fair! We cannot promise we will solve anything, we do not offer professional legal advice, but we can . . .

- Listen.
- Help you sift through all that is going on to try and make some sense of it.
- Offer some next steps.
- Signpost to further support.

Most of all, we stand with you, we walk with you, we are alongside. It is what 'Paraklesis' means.

23/04/2026

This is all true, except it isn't new. Gen Alpha isn't changing, this has been true for the last 20 years. Events, Gatherings and Weekly Meetings is the default for the church, not just youth or children's ministry. We need a paradigm shift in our practice.

22/04/2026

Here I am having a chat with Em Tyler about 'Showing Up' . . .

In which I talk about - exactly that, continuing to show up (40 years in children's and youth ministry . . . so far!); the disparity between support for ordained ministry and children's and youth ministry; my redundancy journey and WHY children's and youth ministry is so amazing and you should be involved!

Kids, Youth, and the Raising the Next Generation

20/04/2026

The Resource Newsletter - April 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/b0cba8cb8e7c/the-resource-may-17254802
Loads of resources, info about my consultancy, training and mentoring and an exciting conference coming up in October 2026! Give it a read and SUBSCRIBE.