What does a girl hear about herself as she grows up? That she is capable, valued and loved? Or that she needs to look different, try harder and become someone else before she is good enough? For many girls, those messages compete every day. Friendships, school and the search for belonging have always shaped childhood. Today, social media brings an endless stream of images, opinions and expectations into that mix. There is always someone to compare yourself with, and often something being sold as the answer to your insecurities.
For churches, this presents a question that deserves our attention: how can we help girls grow up knowing their worth, while giving them the confidence and practical skills to navigate the world around them?
That question sits at the heart of our work at Girls’ Brigade England and Wales.
Girls’ Brigade is a Christian movement supporting girls and young women through local groups, rooted in church communities and sustained by committed volunteer leaders. Through activities, friendships, opportunities to lead and space to explore faith, girls can discover their gifts and develop the confidence to use them.
A weekly group may look like games, conversations, creative activities and badgework, but within those ordinary moments, something significant can happen. A girl finds the courage to speak. Someone notices that she is having a difficult week. She tries something unfamiliar, discovers a strength or realises that her contribution matters.
These relationships give churches a way to live out their belief that every person is made in God’s image. For a girl surrounded by messages about how she should change, being welcomed and valued as she is can make a lasting difference.
Our in development programme, Stronger Girls: Confident in My Own Skin brings that belief into direct conversation with one of the pressures girls face today: how they feel about their bodies and appearance. Beauty marketing increasingly reaches girls at a young age. Filters and edited photographs can make unrealistic images seem ordinary, while online trends suggest that even childhood skin needs improving. Girls are being invited to identify flaws before they have had the chance to understand themselves.
Simply telling them to “be confident” is not enough. They need opportunities to question those messages, understand who benefits from their insecurity and talk honestly with people they trust.
Through a new Healthy Body Image Badge, co-designed with girls, Girls’ Brigade will help them recognise modified images, understand beauty marketing and challenge unrealistic expectations. Sessions will explore identity, self-worth, digital wellbeing and how to support a friend who is struggling.
The programme aims to reach 5,500 girls by the end of 2027, supported by more than 2,000 trained volunteer leaders.
Listening will be essential. Girls do not all experience these pressures in the same way. Disabled and neurodivergent girls, and girls from minority ethnic communities, may encounter additional barriers, exclusion or narrow ideas about whose appearance is valued. Their experiences must help shape our response.
For the wider church, this work is an invitation to consider what we offer girls in our own communities. Do they have somewhere to ask difficult questions? Are their voices heard? Do they have opportunities to lead, and adults who will encourage them when their confidence falters? Churches can help by supporting a local Girls’ Brigade group, encouraging volunteers or exploring how to begin a group in their community. Churches that support the Girls’ Brigade can be part of any tradition. Prayer, practical support and a welcoming space all have a part to play.
Helping girls tackle the modern world begins with taking their experiences seriously. It means making time for them, listening carefully and walking alongside them as they grow. When a girl knows she belongs, understands her worth and feels able to use her voice, her possibilities begin to widen. Helping her reach that point is a calling the whole church can share.
The Girls’ Brigade England and Wales is a Charity and Network in Association with Churches Together in England.
All photos: © Girls’ Brigade England and Wales