Christian youthwork from the volunteer's perspective.

At the start of my lens its probably best to set out some basic principles and make it clear where I am coming from. As a Christian of what is described as the Evangelical stream of the Church I hold certain beliefs; The Bible is the inspired Word of God; The Godhead is the Holy Trinity of father, Son and Holy Spirit; Jesus Christ was full human and fully deity and he lived as flesh and blood, was crucified and raised from the dead; Heaven and Hell are real places and all of us will experience Judgment one day and be held account by God; personal faith is important but 'works' are important as 'faith without works is dead'' and this world is given into our stewardship and we are to be good stewards of all of Creation. I also have an interest in Celtic Christian Spirituality and in exploring new ways of 'being church'.

With particular reference to Christian youthwork, I believe that every person needs to make a personal response to the Gospel imperative and that there are Kingdom principles which all of us to need to live by. I believe individuals are loved by God and that His desire is for each of us to know Him personally. I believe that God is on the side of the weak, the poor, the oppressed and against injustice of any kind. We are to stand up for righteousness and to resist evil in whatever form it takes. I realise that some of this language may seem 'old-fashioned' to some readers. I make no apologies for this and this lens is not going to be one for Christian Apologetics. There are far more capable folk than I who can do a better job. No. I am stating these things so you will know where am coming from. I am not out to convince you of certain beliefs or value systems. rather, my intention is for those who are engaged in Christian Youthwork to share their experience and any tips they may have or links to other resources. Its not just for those who would describe themselves as 'Evangelicals' but certainly anyone who would describe themselves engaged in 'Christian Youthwork', though I hope non-Christian youth-workers will still feel able to contribute.

Finally, its important to remember that we have a duty to protect the privacy of those we work with and so I will not be mentioning anyone by name or identifying them in any way that would break this principle. For that reason have not given my kids names and will be very circumspect in what information I include in my postings. I encourage others to do the same.

I have been elected as a church elder with responsibility for the youth of our church community. This is a tremendous responsibility and I am nervous as to whether I will make a success of it, whatever that might mean. I have been elder previously, in another church several years ago, so this is not unfamiliar territory. However, that was a Baptist church and we are now members of a United Reformed Church. They do things differently here! In our previous church, eldership was more of a generic thing in that you had no particular remit as far as any specific part of the church's ministry was concerned. Of course, we all had areas that we felt particularly interested and gifted in. In our current church each elder has an area of responsibility and mine is the youth ministry of the church.

The church is entering a particularly important phase as its been about a year now since both our minister and our youth pastor moved on to pastures new. We, as yet, haven't called anyone else to the position of pastor ( a couple of candidates came forward but didn't go beyond the initial stages). Several elders have 'retired' after many years of faithful service and I feel especially inadequate for the task after the sterling service given by my predecessor Jan. Change is always fraught with potential for misunderstandings, confusion and human frailties to come to the fore. Hopefully this will not be the case. The good thing is that the eldership has been a working well as a team and that the new elders (self included) have all been involved in the church's ministry for a while and know the rest of the team well. Hopefully we won't cause too many ripples... or at least only the ones the Lord initiates!

As far as the ministry to young people is concerned, I am encouraged to see leaders rising up out of the young people themselves, something I intend to encourage. Also, in the Colchester itself, there is a growing partnership between the churches as far as youth ministry is concerned and I hope to play my part in encouraging and facilitating that. We are blessed here to have a wonderful (if small) team of folk enaged in town-wide youth ministry in the form of CYO (Christian Youth Outreach)..

Christian Youth Outreach is a youth and schools ministry serving schools and churches in the Colchester area. They do an excellent job and lately have been working to bring together all the youth ministries in Colchester to work closer together, encourage one another and see what God is doing and wanting to do in our town and with our young people.

I look forward with excitement and anticipation to what the Lord has in store for us, for we have a Great God!

Life is a precious thing and we need to cherish it. However, as Jesus said, whoever lives for themselves only will lose their lives. Sure, they might gain materially, maybe even become famous or a 'celebrity'. One thing is for sure though, their lives will lack something more precious than fame or riches... a meaning and a purpose that endures beyond the grave.

This past month or so, this has been sadly illustrated by events which I have been caught up in. Someone, who will remain anonymous (for obvious reasons I'm am sure you will agree), whom I counted as a true friend, left his wife. This happened 'out of the blue', though I realise that nothing happens totally 'out of the blue'. Suffice to say, that whatever the reason for his decision, it does not justify his behaviour towards his wife. Not only has he left her, but he has renounced his faith and decided instead that life is about living all for himself, partying and generally ignoring his responsibilities.

Now, being a true friend myself (along with others) have sought to not be judgmental and instead to encourage him to talk about his situation, offering a listening ear and opportunity to pray with him. Although I have worked as a mental health nurse I am no marriage guidance counsellor. Instead, everyone who has tried to help him has encouraged him to seek professional help.

The relevance of all this you might ask? Well, he was part of the youthwork team and not just that, but a shining light, along with his wife. The impact on the young people in our church is incalculable. The impact on the leadership as well has been like a proverbial 'kick in the teeth' spiritually and it is only through God's love and grace that we haven't disintegrated and mentally imploded. Coming relatively soon after the departure of both our minister and our full-time youthworker, it has been yet another seeming victory for our adversary, the devil.

The positive in all of this... well, his wife broke the news officially to the young people, although many suspected something was amiss due to his virtual disappearance from church. She handled it brilliantly, with grace and humility, giving praise to God for His love and faithfulness. She was honest about how hard it is for her right now and as my daughter (who is part of the youth group) said afterwards, it made 'real'. After taking just a few minutes to talk about the situation, we then watched an amazing short video by Louie Giglio called Hope. you can view part of it below, thougnyou really need to buy the actual DVD to see all of it. i highly recommend you do so.

My prayer and hope is that my friend will wake up from his spiritual slumber, get himself right with God and get right with his wife.

This week I had to prepare the Sunday morning session for our young people. Our full-time youth pastor has been pre-occupied with finishing his three year course in youth ministry and needed a break.

As today is Father's Day, I decided to have adopt the theme of God as Father. Using Rob Bell's excellent short video entitled "The Rain" [part of the Nooma series - highly recommend it] as the opener, we then split the young people into four groups of about six. I gave each group two or three Bible passages on the theme of God's character and asked the young people to consider two questions:

1. What do the passages tell us about God's character?
2. What kind of relationship does God desire with us?

We then asked for feedback from the groups before ending in prayer.

How did it go? Well, I was a bit anxious as a previous session had led to one young person telling me later that it was 'boring'! This time got the thumbs up and though it sounds trite, a round of applause that cheered me up no end!

Hopefully, something of the whole point of the session got across to what is a widely varied group of age and spiritual maturity. Hopefully they will see God the Father not as some distant 'supreme being' who is barely interested in them but as a personal God who is intimately interested in them and loves them beyond measure.

Trying to communicate this 'Big Idea' is not as easy as it might seem, especially in today's culture where young people are bombarded by all sorts of ideas and such an idea is dismissed as 'old-fashioned' and a myth. Trying to avoid coming across as a 'preachy' adult whilst communicating the radical idea of God actually loving us and wanting us to know him intimately is not easy.

The hardest part of being a volunteer youth-worker is not having the time and opportunity to build relationships with a large group of young people. Hopefully, as I do this for longer I'll pick up the art of doing that. In the meantime any tips will be gratefully received.

The first question many people ask about 'Governance' in the context of voluntary organisations is "what is governance?". Well, in simple terms its probably worthwhile using the analogy of 'government'. If you think about it, a government is responsible for managing a country's affairs, its laws, policies, practices etc. In a similar way, a voluntary organisation needs to ensure it is well-managed, that the legal framework it operates in is adhered to, that its budget is managed and its policies are implemented effectively. In the UK this will be the responsibility of the Trustees (if a charity), the Board or the management Committee.

So, as youthwork is regarded as an activity of the voluntary sector (rather than the State), should churches, youth workers and those involved in managing youth projects be aware of what constitutes 'good governance?' I believe so. In fact, I believe its imperative that not only are they aware but that they are proactive in ensuring good governance is their number one priority. From good governance flows are the other things that we know are important, such as financial health, good practice, community support and success we can evaluate and quantify.

If that is the case, how can we best ensure good governance? Well, its helpful to see what is happening in the wider voluntary sector (non-profit, not-for-profit or charitable sectors mean the same thing). There is now a wealth of resources available to any voluntary organisation, whether faith-based or not. Here in the UK we have numerous bodies and organisations whose sole job is to help the sector be successful. Increasingly, here and in the US and elsewhere, the State recognises the important role the sector plays in a healthy community.

Some websites to check out are:
Governance Hub
Charity Commission
Faithworks
Youthwork
Youthwork International

I hope to be writing more about this important subject and sharing with you how we aim to achieve good governance in our youthwork. Please feel free to share your thoughts, experiences and questions. Hopefully, we will be able to learn together and improve our effectiveness in our work.

Firstly, by commitment here, I am referring to attendance rather than spiritual commitment to the faith. Of course, one's ultimate desire is that young people do become committed in that sense, but in a way they need to become committed in attendance in order for that to happen. Rarely does someone become a Christian at the drop of a hat (if only it was that simple!). Rather, its over time and as a result of a certain amount of commitment on our part, that is the youth workers, their parents, friends or whoever they see as significant in their lives.

So, how do we succeed in that aim? Well, perhaps I have already answered my own question here... is it not through our personal commitment to the young person, our faith in them and our affirmation of their worth and value that underlines to them how important they are to us and to God.

Still, I think there must be other factors too. Otherwise if we are consistent in our relationships with all of the young people we work with then if it was as straightforward as this they all would become committed to the faith. Why then is it that not all do? Does the problem lie with them, with us or somewhere else?

Sometimes, once you start down this road you find your head starts to hurt and you utter an inward groan and try to think of something else! Sooner or later however you return to the question as its so important that we can't ignore it. At the end of the day its not the method that matters but the end result. In the context of ministry the way in which we minister to our young people will differ from how someone else ministers to their young people. Even within the same denomination or country each young person and therefore each group of young people are unique. So, in a way our approach must be unique. However, I do believe there are strands that will be similar and that we can all learn from one another. So, if anyone would care to share their experiences I would certainly be glad to hear from you. In the meantime, my head is starting to hurt so I must think of something else for a while! Perhaps my other lens on Good Governance!

Christian youthwork is a vital but very demanding vocation and not to be entered into lightly. With all the changes that have taken place in the voluntary sector as a whole, especially regarding child protection issues, the face of youthwork in general has undergone radical changes. There once was a time when just about anybody could call themselves a youth worker and start up a club, take kids on trips single-handed and generally do almost any activity and call it "youth work". For better or for worse, and I'm of the opinion its the former, those days are long gone. Except in some churches it seems. For many reasons, some in churches think they can carry on as if nothing has changed in the decades since they were a young person. Sometimes its due to ignorance of everything that has happened in the last few decades; sometimes its because they think that as they have been a kid and maybe have their own children, that its a simple matter to 'do' youth work. Maybe some think that as we are all Christians, what's the problem? No doubt some are motivated by the desire to convert all the kids as quickly as possible.

Another issue is that of resources. Why is that some churches think that youth work can be done with absolutely no resources, other than a church hall, the odd bits of equipment (usually broken) and just about anybody in the church roped in to be a youth worker? Well, I've got news for you if the hat fits, you can't!

Of course, I am painting with a broad brush here and making sweeping generalizations. So please, don't misunderstand me. I'm not out to condemn all church youth work. Rather, I am trying to get across the importance of what is a vital part of the ministry of the Church. If we really care about our young people, then we need to give the proper support and resources to the endeavor. This is such an important issue I will return to it soon.

I have just received the news that a fellow volunteer has decided to quit. This means that I am effectively the only remaining volunteer youth worker, at least as far as the Sunday youth work goes. We still have plenty of occasional volunteers for the youth club which is open to both 'church' and 'community' kids.

Although the news is not unexpected its still depressing. Depressing news is sadly not that exceptional as far as youth work goes (whether its of the 'ministry' type or the 'secular' variety). The really depressing thing, though it ought to be encouraging, is that we now have contact with over 160 young people ranging from 11 to early 20's. It should be something to rejoice about but in fact its depressing as there is no way we can cope with so many young people and effectively minister to each and every one of them.

The truth is though that many parents will expect us not only to cope but also to devote time and energy to their kids without ever lifting a finger to help! That sounds extreme to some but its true, nevertheless. Add to that those parents who don't come to church and frankly are probably not that interested in what happens at church and you can start to see what a mountain we have to climb.

Still, I am encouraged. Last Sunday I took the youth session all on my own as our full-time youth worker was away. The group was co-operative and whether out of pity or what they didn't give me any problems. I used one of the Nooma videos. We ended up with a short talk about passion for Christ and God's passion for us. The reception seemed positive and the mood was light and relaxed. What I feel about the session looking back is that the effort expended in getting to know the young people and in simply being around is at last paying off. All the more reason for more volunteers coming forward and being prepared to give their time and energy to youth work. At the end of the day the young people are worth it and lets face it, the old adage is still true that young people are the future.

We recently heard that our minister is leaving.... which was quite a shock! He is moving on to be the Chaplain at the local Hospice. I happen to believe he will be very good in his new role and that he has the right gifts. Also, its local so I am sure we will be seeing something of him and the family in the future.

The BIG question is... how will this effect the youth work of the church? I guess only time will tell. One concern is that the lack of a minister during any interregnum will impact upon our Youth Minister and be a source of stress. We are blessed to have an assistant minister, so at least we are not totally without a minister but it will undoubtedly have an impact.

On the positive side, there are more folk coming forward to help with the youth work, including a young couple who are close enough to most of the young people to be able to relate to them in ways we more mature folk can't!

Summer is almost upon us officially, so we will no doubt we missing some folk in the weeks ahead. At least exams for the young people are mostly at an end so they can relax a bit and for some, get a job!

Kevin, our youth pastor, announced his departure soon after our minister announced his. Something of a double whammy as far as shocks go, it was huge surprise to me personally.

In the months since that day, a team has come together to manage the youthwork, though as we are all volunteers we have had to cut back on some programmes.

It has been a challenging time but we have learnt lots and it has brought us together. We have been encouraged by the way in which the young people themselves have come together and supported one another and the team.

Although it will be many months before we are in a position to appoint a paid youthworker we are encouraged by the way things are going and by how the Lord is blessing us.