We're thrilled that you've recognised the significance of delving into this realm with your youth groups. In contrast with traditional online safety resources, this initiative focuses on the intricate connections between identity, the online world and life today as a Christian.
Our aim is to empower you to facilitate meaningful discussions within your group, guiding individuals to explore the essence of faith while navigating the complexities of the online world.
This is not another online safety course, but an exploration of what it means to have faith and navigate life online.
The young people involved in the research that underpins this work felt the discussions and reflections were incredibly helpful, we hope this is the same for young people across the country.
This project has been created with a team of Safeguarding professionals from the Methodist Church, The Baptist Union, The Moravian Church, and The Quakers of Great Britain.
This is a totally free resource for you and your ministry.
Series Content
Your Faith, Your Online World aims to empower young individuals to navigate the complexities of the digital realm authentically, aligning their online presence with their Christian values. The aim is not to teach, but to enable fruitful discussion and reflection and equip youth leaders in church settings to facilitate meaningful discussions about the translation of faith values into the online world, exploring different themes which are as follows:
- My Values and My Online World:
- My Relationships and My Online World:
- My Choices and My Online World:
- Taking care of myself and others in my online world
The sessions are aimed at young people aged 11-16.
What sets Your Faith, Your Online World apart is its roots in peer led research approach. Young people have been involved, listened to and have taken a lead in the research process that have guided the resources. We trained a team of peer researchers who designed the questions, language and facilitated the discussion with young people from across the country.
Unlike traditional online safety courses, this project doesn't focus on risk avoidance as we learnt that young people are very well equipped in this area; instead, it encourages conversation about self-expression as a Christian online.
The project provides a comprehensive framework for young individuals to navigate the online world with authenticity and integrity, and spend time reflecting on how their faith values are expressed.
Go to the CYM Your Faith, Your Online World website to sign up, and you will then be able to
- Download Youth Leader Guidance to help you plan sessions.
- Download Youth Workbooks for young people to use during the series and for reflection.
- Share the videos with your youth group to aid discussions