Youth and Trades
Young hands, real skills
Young people learn real trades beside the congregation's builders and growers: carpentry, growing food, cooking, repair, and the habits of showing up and finishing well.
The first funds pay for safety gear, tools sized for young hands, and background checks for every adult who teaches.
A trade is a gift that no one can take away. We want every young person in the congregation to be able to build, grow and repair.
In plain words
Partner first
We begin by hosting and referring young people to the strong trades programs that already exist near us, and by volunteering with them.
Learn beside us
Young people join our greenhouse, kitchen and building days under the supervision of trained adults, always two adults present, with every rule for young workers kept.
Certificates
As the program matures, we seek recognised pre-apprenticeship certification.
A place on the crew
Graduates can join a Fellowship mission business, and like every worker, grow into owners.
Youth and Trades: a Safe Program for Any Congregation
The complete step-by-step guide as a free PDF, written so that any community can follow it. It appears here the day it is finished.
Learn by watching
Running a youth build day, child safety, first tools. Made in house, free, and paired with the guide.
- Tradespeople: teach one Saturday
- Donate tools and safety gear
- Parents: tell us what your teenager wants to learn
Everything we learn goes into the free guide and the workshop videos. When they are ready, any congregation, church, school or neighbourhood may take them and build the same thing, with our blessing and without asking.
But the ways of the righteous shine like light; they go on and shine, until the day be fully come.Proverbs 4:18 · The Fellowship Bible