Youth Lead and All-Age Worship Co-ordinator loves her job
Youth leaders are an essential part of church life across the diocese. In this mini-series we will be looking at the role they play within the Church, what led them to this point.
Hannah Levett, Youth Lead and All-Age Worship Co-ordinator at St Martin’s Church in Liskeard, loves her job.
Working for the church was never her plan – but after a gap year at SWYM, all that changed.
Hannah grew up in a Christian family in Watchet, Somerset, with parents and grandparents who faithfully served the church and loved God. Her parents encouraged their children to talk about God, ask questions, read the bible and pray.
She says: “I used to feel like I didn’t have a testimony or a story because I grew up in a Christian family and gradually got to know Jesus. But recently friends have shown me how beautiful this story is and how blessed I am to have it.
“I never had a ‘I became a Christian’ moment. But when I was 12, on Easter Sunday I got baptised. To me this was the step to claiming my faith, not just because my parents and church family believed it, but because I believed it and wanted it for myself.
“The week before my baptism at Spring Harvest – in the youth venue, I experienced the Holy Spirit for the first time – it was a confirmation to me that getting baptised was the right thing. The Spirit filled the room and I felt His presence. I’ve never felt Him in the same way again, but I know He is always there even when I can’t feel Him.”
From about the age of 11, Hannah started singing at church, Watchet Baptist Church, and was encouraged to play guitar too. This resulted in her leading worship in her late teens.
She says: “This was never something I particularly imagined doing, but I discovered a love of leading people in worship and introducing people to Jesus in that way.”
During school holidays, after Hannah had completed her GCSEs and A Levels, she would help her father, a youth leader, with holiday clubs.
“It was always the highlight of my summer” she says.
“None of it has been easy but through it all God has been faithful, a constant, keeping me going with a quiet whisper of peace in the storms.” – Hannah
The county’s Churches Together held a prayer tent at local festival – Watchet Music Festival – where they would be on hand to chat and pray.
“I even got to lead worship onsite at the festival a few years in a row.
“I see these things now as seeds God was planting.
“I never planned on doing any of this for a job, I just loved doing it on the side. But as I finished studying Fashion Business at A Level, I didn’t know what to do next. The fashion industry wasn’t really gripping me, so I took a gap year.”
Her father encouraged her to join SWYM and she attended an open day.
“I started the open day thinking I’d never join and left feeling like it was already my family,” she remembers.
Hannah’s year with SWYM was an introduction to theology and carrying out youth and children’s work every day. She dedicated those 12 months to Jesus and continued to lead worship.
Her next step was completing a BA in Applied Theology, finishing her studies on placement with St Martin’s Church, Liskeard.
She says: “They offered me the chance to get paid to do the things I love all the time; sharing Jesus with young people and their families, working with all-ages to learn how we worship intergenerationally, leading people in worship and hanging out with young people who speak a whole new gen alpha language but have a hunger to know more about faith and life.
“I am encouraged by the passion, creativity, and resilience of those serving and leading with children and young people in our diocese.” – Isaac McNish, Head of Ministry at The Diocese of Truro
“None of it has been easy but through it all God has been faithful, a constant, keeping me going with a quiet whisper of peace in the storms.”
Isaac McNish, Head of Ministry at The Diocese of Truro, said: “Stories like Hannah’s remind us of the incredible ways God is raising up a new generation of leaders who love Him and love His people.
“I am encouraged by the passion, creativity, and resilience of those serving and leading with children and young people in our diocese.
“I believe God has so much more to show us as we discover together what Growing Younger looks like in our parishes. Together, we have the joy of walking alongside young people as they encounter Jesus and step into the callings He has placed on their lives.”
