Julie Bain
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Hi! Thank you for taking the time to find out about the work in Ayrshire. Although I grew up in Glasgow, I have lived in Ayrshire for most of my adult life and this is where we raised our children and where 2 of our 4 grandchildren live, so it is very close to my heart and I am excited to work alongside Carol Baird in this region.
Within Ayrshire we have a group of followers of Jesus who want to give children and young people the chance to explore the Bible and form a response to what they learn. We believe in a God who knows and loves each child and young person in the region, and who has an abundant life to offer them. So, come and join us! Whatever you have to offer, there’s space for you to serve God within SU Scotland in Ayrshire.
Schools
There are 168 schools in Ayrshire, educating over 62,000 pupils – that’s a lot of opportunities to explore the Bible!
SU Groups are an extra-curricular activity which run either during a lunch time or after school. They are run by volunteers and provide an opportunity for children and young people to explore the Bible in a safe environment. Everyone is welcome at an SU Group – from any faith background or none. It’s so exciting for us to see children showing an interest in God who have never encountered him before!
Currently we have lots of schools without an SU Group, so if you would like to hear about opportunities to serve in this way please contact me.
Local Ministry Hubs
A key way we are looking to expand our ministries is through local ministry hubs around each high school cluster, meeting once or twice a term to pray for each school, and working together to bring meaningful Christian contact to the schools in each cluster and across the region. If you’d like to be involved in a hub, you can register here.
Bible Alive
I was excited to complete the Bible Alive training and have now taken the programme into a local school with a local youth worker. It was great fun sharing the entire bible narrative as part of their Religious and Moral Education lessons in a fun, interactive way with songs, drama, storytelling and even puppets! It also allowed the children to experience the bible by putting them into the actual stories.
Residentials
In May and November I am involved in taking children and young people from SU groups and Church groups away on residential weekends. These events are a brilliant opportunity to develop relationships, provide Bible teaching and have fun! There are also multiple week long holidays throughout the year and to find out more, check out the SU Scotland Holidays website, or get in touch to request holiday brochures and a holiday promotional video to promote the holidays at your church. If you'd be interested in volunteering at a residential event then I'd love to hear from you too!
Churches
It is an incredible privilege to have the support of so many churches in the region. There is such a sense of community as churches work together in partnership to reach the children and young people in their areas.
Ayrshire, is a big region and unfortunately I can’t be everywhere at once but I would love to support you in any way I can. Please do get in touch if you would like support running a holiday club or mission, equipping youth leaders, organising a curricular event for your local school (such as Easter Code or Christmas Unwrapped), if you would like your youth group invited to our events, or if you would like me to visit your church and share about the work of SU Scotland.
Additionally, for creative, practical, and realistic ways in which your congregation can support their local school, please visit our Serve Your Local School website.
Gowanbank
We are so lucky to have the 45 bed Gowanbank Centre in our region. It is a perfect venue for day trips, church weekends and of course SU Holidays and Weekends. To find out more please visit their own site: Gowanbank, SU Scotland's Christian conference centre.
Thank you for taking the time to read about some of the things that are happening in Ayrshire. SU Scotland is one big family and I’d love for you to be part of it. If you can support the work by praying, giving or volunteering then please do get in contact.