We are delighted to share wonderful news about our church family’s commitment to fostering lifelong faith and discipleship. This month, Poppy Esdale begins the 13-year program—a dedicated season designed specifically for her spiritual development, personal growth, and ministry exploration.

Year 13 is a gap-year program organized by Youthworks (the diocese's training support organization for children and youth) to help school leavers establish their faith before going on to whatever is next after high school. The program is about Youthworks partnering with the local church to support the Year 13ers’ growth.

The program will have her spend time at Loftus in a structured discipleship program with a large cohort of other gap-year people. She will also be involved in some ministries here at St John's, including MAD and SRE (See photo above; she was the youthful presence). While she will be a regular presence around St John’s, the emphasis is firmly on her development. We believe that by providing a supportive space to ask big questions and take on new responsibilities, we are helping to build a resilient foundation for her future.

In tandem with this new role, there has been a helpful "sharpening of tools" with our SRE team. Last Saturday, a group of our dedicated church volunteers—including Poppy—participated in specialized Scripture in Schools training.

This training ensures that our team is not only passionate but well-equipped to teach scripture in local classrooms. It’s an essential part of our mission to take the gospel to our wider community.