Module One: Youth Work and Ministry

Saturday 28th September: Afternoon session

Learning outcomes

1. What is youth ministry?2. The development of youth ministry3. Values of Youth Ministry

a) Voluntary Participationb) Informal Educationc) Empowermentd) Equality & Diversity

What is youth ministry?

• How would you define ‘Youth Ministry’?

• What does it look like in your context?

Youth Ministry – are you called?

Paul knew he was called

• ‘This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus…’ (2 Cor 1)

• ‘This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father...’ (Galations 1:1)

“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be

done, not mine.’ (Luke 22:42)

• Gideon: Knew that he was called but felt that he was completely and utterly inadequate

Do either of these situations feel familiar...

• Jonah: Knew that he was called but didn’t want to do it...and went in the opposite direction

The Meadows...trying to run away...

• ‘Meadows Rebellion’

• Threats of gang warfare

• Young People disrespecting leaders

And yet God said stay....

Do we do what we do because we feel called to it?

Or because we feel no-one else will?

Or does no-one else help because they feel we’ve got it covered?

So what is Youth Ministry?

Nick Shepherd

• ‘Youth work is not a real thing; it might be a cause or ideology to be defended, and it is clearly a distinguishable field of practice. Yet it is an activity that is trying to achieve something purposeful and as such is open to change and reinterpretation.’

‘Youth Work Family’• youth work as an informal educational activity to support young people in

the development of identity, moral understanding and choices and the pursuit of a fulfilling lie.

• Young people’s participation in democracy with either a focus on their economic exclusion in society or the further empowerment of young people’s own capacity and interest in participating in civic society, as through volunteering

• Youth work as concerned with young people’s social welfare – enabling educational attainment, addressing issue of prejudice and marginalisation and providing accessible and meaningful cultural leisure activities.

• Youth Ministry, more in terms of the American context but becoming more common in the UK, as concerned as a inter-disciplinary practice where workers engage young people within the roles of missionary, social worker and / or pastor.

Kerry Young

Youth work = The Personal Development of Young People

In terms of their:- Values- Identity- Sense of self

What do we, as Christian youth workers, bring to our young people in terms of the above?

Youth Work is also about...

• Development of Social Beings in a Social World

• What memorable lessons have you learnt from your everyday lives in a social world?

The Spiritual Development of Young People

• What does ‘Spiritual Development’ mean to you?

10 = Say the sinners prayer and mean it

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0 = no understanding of Christianity whatsoever

Quick fire questions in pairs – pick one

• Is our aim to get young people straight to number 10, or is it to nudge them towards the next number?

• Can we have no understanding of Christianity yet have a real sense of spirituality?

• Is there something beyond number 10? What number is the ‘Sinners prayer’? ‘Go and make disciples...’

• At what point did the disciples become Christians?

Done in community with the whole body of Christ

Graeme Thompson: ‘Perhaps, then, youth work should be defined in terms of facilitating young people to reconnect with their community, to play an active and effective part in the community from which they are often excluded. Similarly, a youth minister should not see their job as being to minister to young people in isolation, a lone hero in the wilderness of coffee bars, beanbags and Bible studies; instead a core aim is to help young people reconnect to their faith community and vice versa.’

The development of Youth Ministry

Why is history important?

• Christian youth work was pioneeringWhat made it pioneering? Is it still pioneering

today? What lessons can we learn?

Sunday School Movement – 1780’s

• Pioneers: Robert Raikes and Hannah More• Responded to the need around them and their

Christian conviction• Informal ways of working: Day trips / sports teams• Some schemes flowed from very conservative

views, others sought radical social change. As a result, there were some tensions and conflicts between different groupings.

Links: http://infed.org/mobi/hannah-more-sunday-schools-education-and-youth-work/

Questions / Lessons

• Do we respond to the need around us and our Christian conviction?

• Do we respond to what is expected of us?• Are there conflicts / tensions within our

placements concerning the focus and delivery of our youth work? If so, what are they?

‘Youth’

Young people and adolescence: start to be seen as a separate category.

Growing number of articles in newspapers about issues and problems facing young women and men.

Do we see youth-related problems and issues as ‘their’ issues or ‘our’ issues?

The Youth Club...

• Rev Arthur Sweatman – 1850’s• Really developed from 1880’s & 90’s,

predominately by Anglican and Catholic Priests, inc. provision for girls

• 1875 – Anglican Girls Friendly Society – purpose was to ‘unite girls and women in a fellowship of prayer, service and purity of life, for the glory of God’.

• 1885 – 821 branches in England and Wales

Uniformed Organisations – Boys Brigade

Set up by William Smith, starting in Glasgow. He wrote:

• ‘By associating Christianity with all that was most noble and manly in a boy’s sight, we would be going a long way to disabuse his mind of the idea that there is anything effeminate or weak about Christianity’.

• Around 800 groups by the end of the 19th century

Scouting...

• The emphasis on drill, evangelicalism and regimentation in the Boys' Brigade worried a number of commentators, inc. Robert Baden-Powell

• Concerned about both physical and mental well-being of young people.

Brownsea Island Experimental Camp

Review...

• Church and Christians at the forefront of developing youth work

• Often came out of people’s personal faith and views on life as well as a recognised need / issue in their local community – as a result, often took many different forms

• Predominately volunteer led – easily reproducible

World Wars

• Following 1st World War, stuttering towards state funded youth work

• Onset of the 2nd World War saw the start of a organised response to issues arising with and for young people.

• ‘Open’ youth clubs and ‘detached’ youth work.

Albemarle Report – 1960

• Heralded the heyday of the large youth club or youth centre

• Declared that the primary aim of the youth service should be association, training and challenge.

Youth work provision decline

• 1980’s onwards – number of young people in youth centres started to slowly decline

• Growing competition from entertainment at home and other leisure activities

Growing after-school provision

• More and more schools offering breakfast clubs and after-school clubs

• Connexions Service• School – exams – more pressure

Where does the Church fit into this?

• Christians – rather than the Church (?) - still heavily involved across the youth work family

• Nick Shephard: ‘Christian’ specific youth work has been compartmentalised

• Our response as Christian youth workers: ‘Is our central well Christ?’

Concluding questions...

• Are we still called to be pioneers?

• How can we continue to respond to the needs around us and to our faith?

• How are you going to use Aurora to become pioneers in your youth work setting?