Children in the Shadows Revisited – the verdict!
Claire Walford
The Revd Canon Karina Green led two groups of parishioners through the Children in the Shadows Revisited Lent resource.
Karina has recently retired from her role as vicar of St. Alban’s Church, West Leigh in the Diocese of Portsmouth. Before retiring, she and a colleague led two groups of parishioners through the Children in the Shadows Revisited Lent resource. We spoke to her to find out how it went!
She explains: “we wanted to do something a bit different for Lent this year. We have always supported the work of modern slavery charity, Medaille and a safe house in Southampton so many of us had an awareness of modern slavery. I hoped that by working through the Lent material we would all learn more.
“In terms of demographics, West Leigh faces higher levels of income deprivation and economic inactivity compared to other parts of Hampshire and some of our parishioners struggle to read or write. Some have also faced significant trauma in their own lives."
“We met as two groups – one in person and one online – and worked through the material each week. As a result of our time together, we have all got a much better understanding of how modern slavery affects children in our country. We now know that it happens in every type of community including our own - for one or two individuals this was a very new idea. We now understand the different types of modern slavery and the films opened our eyes to the many different vulnerabilities that people carry. I was able to share stories that I am aware of from within the community – examples of county lines and cuckooing – and this helped to ground the material.
“We had a particularly good discussion about how we can make our church an open, welcoming and safe space for people. We thought a lot about how you can never know what others have been through and how important it is, as a church, to genuinely welcome everyone. We were challenged and helped by what Holly Jones said in the second week about how churches can be a “kind, calm and consistent” presence in the lives of families impacted by modern slavery. We also realised that while, as a small church, we can’t run a bespoke ministry for survivors, we can signpost people to other local organisations or potentially volunteer with them ourselves. We all resolved to find out more about modern slavery organisations that are working in our area.
“I would recommend this course to other churches. We now have a much better understanding of difficulties that young people in our community may face and it has encouraged us to keep working with and praying for our local school.”
If you would like to use Children in the Shadows Revisited in your church, you don’t need to wait until Lent 2027. It can be used at any time of year, in small groups or individually. Find out more today
