Barrhead church to welcome new Youth and Community Worker
Published on 19 April 2024 2 minutes read
A church in Barrhead has welcomed a new Youth and Community Worker to help build connections with the local community.
Graham Currie, who lives in the area and has a degree in community education, will be employed by Barrhead St Andrew's for at least the next three years.
Funding for the innovative role was only available due to the recent sale of a church building which was no longer needed from when congregations united 11 years ago.
Minister of St Andrew's Rev Tim Mineard, said: "This is an exciting new chapter for the congregation.
"We're thrilled to have Graham starting with us.
"This post is a concrete statement of our commitment to engage with young people and the wider community, and to make the Christian faith relevant and accessible.
"It's also a tremendous legacy from the sale of our previous church building, and an example of how bricks and mortar can be transformed into something more missional over time."
In addition to working alongside key people at the church, Graham will work closely with colleagues from the local authority's Community Learning and Development team.
He will also be seeking further opportunities to engage with young people and the wider community.
Graham, who until 2021 also served as the pastor of Hopehall Evangelical Church in Paisley, said:
"Having been actively involved in the life and witness of several local churches in the West of Scotland and having lived in Barrhead for over 25 years I am delighted to be taking up this new role at St Andrew's as a Youth and Community Worker.
"It is my firm belief that since every young person in Barrhead is made in the image of God they have great potential to be fulfilled and it is my role, in partnership with Community Learning and others, to help them begin to realise it.
"I am contacting all the wonderful agencies who support young people in so many ways and seeking to create opportunities to bring forward our own 'specialism' as the church, which is to help young people explore faith and spirituality and hopefully find faith for themselves one day.
"Jesus said "go" so we're going!"
There will be an official commissioning service for Graham held at St Andrew's Church on Sunday 28 April from 11am.