Not the future of the Church. The present.

There was no sound in the room but a fan turning and the trees shifting outside. Fourteen young people and young adults sat in the quiet. Bishop Patrick McKinney asked them whether they all knew what Adoration was, silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. They nodded.

The quiet didn’t last. Out in the garden, midway through a game of human bingo, one of them wanted to settle a very important question: does a bishop count as a celebrity? The laughter that followed told you most of what you needed to know about the day. By the afternoon, those same young people were sitting with Bishop Patrick, telling him, kindly and seriously, what change they would like to see in the Church.

Among them was Jessica, the youngest person in the room and already an altar server in her parish and a leader on her school’s chaplaincy team. She had said yes to joining the Diocesan Youth Forum, she explained, for “a sense of fulfilment” and to explore her faith more deeply. Having been noticed herself, she wants others to feel the same. “I’m trying to make sure that people feel more seen and not put down,” she said.

For others, the yes had come through prayer. Dion felt “the Holy Spirit was calling me.” He trusted that instinct beyond his own doubts: “Even though I felt some sort of hesitation when I took it back to prayer, I just felt like this was something that the Lord was calling me to.” Rinma was looking further ahead when he said yes to joining the Forum: “I want to make a useful impact to the church in a positive way and for the future generations to come.”

Erin Doughty, Director of the Diocesan Youth Service, had read every application, and Jessica’s had stayed with her. It “spoke of the depth of her insight, her maturity, and her own spirituality,” she said. “And she was actually the youngest person in the room.”

The Bishop set out his hopes and the three themes behind Go, Make Disciples: encounter, discipleship and mission. The young people kept their eyes on him, waiting for more. Then he did something they weren’t expecting. He went quiet and listened.

In small groups they spoke about where they had felt closest to God, and where they had felt on the edges of parish life, while Bishop Patrick moved from table to table and simply listened. “It’s been a fantastic experience listening, really listening, and not saying anything at times,” he said afterwards. “It’s been a time of discernment and openness to the Spirit.”

Their answers were distinct and particular. Dion, who helps lead a young adults’ group in his parish, said he had felt closest to God while helping someone who had nothing. “When you touch the poor, you get closer to touching Jesus,” he said. “It just reminds me of the sacrifice that Jesus made for me.” Rinma, an altar server, finds it in the confessional: “By going to confession, I feel that I become renewed in Christ.” Both want the same thing for others their age: a way in. “Some people may feel that they’re not called,” Dion said, “but they just need to go a step forward.”

As the day unfolded, the conversation turned from where they meet God to what they would ask of the Church. The ideas they offered were practical, not radical. Time for quiet prayer in schools. Singing groups that explain what the hymns actually mean. A way for priests to invite young people into real roles. To that one, the Bishop replied, half to himself, “I wonder if an exploration of gifts could be useful.” Jessica’s hope named the very thing the diocese is trying to do, tell its story online. She thinks the Church is “currently… not very online,” and that if it were, “everyone around the world can see what it is like,” what it means, as she put it, “to be us.”

For Erin, the deepest moment came as the Bishop responded to what he had heard. “It felt like there was a different relationship being formed,” she said, “one where they’re alongside him, they’re coworkers with him.” She paused at that. She’d not experienced anything quite like it.

It is a conviction decades of working with young people has only deepened in the Bishop, and he bristled at one familiar phrase. They are not the future of the Church, he insists: “they are the present reality of our church, and they have much to offer.” What surprised him on the day was the atmosphere. “No negativity,” he said. “Positivity, lots of positivity.” He left with more ideas than he came with, and a promise to work on them together: “Some of the ideas generated today will no longer just be ideas. We will have put them into practice.”

Asked to sum up the day in a single word, the young people answered in turn around the room: hopeful, curious, comforted, motivated, inspired. One simply said, “Go make disciples.” The Forum’s members will carry what they shape back into their own parishes, chaplaincies and schools and, if Jessica has her way, online too. She had spoken with the Bishop before and come away trusting that he listened. He had understood what she was sharing and was already thinking about how to respond. “I felt really heard and seen by the Bishop,” she said.

About the Diocesan Youth Forum

The Youth Forum is one of the commitments in Go, Make Disciples, the Diocese of Nottingham’s plan for 2026-2030. It brings together young people aged 15 to 25 from across the diocese to work directly with Bishop Patrick over two years. Members meet through the year, take on a project that connects their parish, school or community to the life of the diocese, and help shape how the plan is lived out.

Get involved

To find out what’s happening for young people in the diocese check out www.ndcys.com

To read the wider vision the Forum is helping to shape, visit www.gomakedisciples.uk