Fun at Christmas,

Does anyone here remember the 12 presens of Christmas sung by Frank Kelly, a number of years ago, got reminded of this o a different blog, and thought it was really funny. Christmas is the birth of Jesus, but it is a load of fun as well.

Dealing with emotions

How can we put our emotions aside when in the midst of a situation? time and time again I have thught that we need to stay professional in our approach, stay calm, stay real to our faith and our calling, and yet, we face al sorts of situations in our work. I wonder what strategies Jesus put in place, so he remained faithful to his call, without getting overly angry, frustrated annoyed with the people aorund him. How do we continually show that unconditional love to our young people, and let them know, that whatever the situation, they will always be loved?

Representing them all

I have recently got into a discussion with someone from a film company because they only want those young people who achiev, they only seem to want to use the young people they know rather than looking at the whole of young people. Do we sometimes fall into the same position, do we notice all our young people, all their gifts, all their abilties and all their tallents, or do we nly recognise those who could be up front and in the public eye. all our young people have gifts and abilities, so let's remember that God loves them all and so should we.

Bringing hope

If we think about Christmas, and the meaning behind it, can we take a principle here from the Christmas story and apply it to our youthwork. I think the idea that God recognised a world that had drifted from him, a world that had lost hope, and yet he sent Jesus, to give us hope, to give us a new chance of that relationship with him. So are we prepared to give our young people a second chance, can we do anything within our work, to give our young people a second chance and let them know that they are worth so much, a life, a lifetime of work, and also new beginnings each time something goes wrong.

what's most important

What is it out our work that makes it the most important thing? Is it the number of young people we reach? Is it what we actually do with the young people we have? Is it how the lives of the young people we work with turn around? And in all of this, where does Child Protection issues fall in, and do we pay enough attention to them?

Youthwork a future?

I was recently at a conference where this was the title, with the word Christian in there as well, and thorughout the day, there were many discussions on various issues. But the one thing that I suggested on one of our tables was the fact that our work is centred around young people and God, not us, not us trying to validate our jobs, but if we are committed to youth work, then the young people we work with should be at the centre of our work, not us. So as long as there is young people around, then youthwork should be around, and this should include Christian youthwork as well.

Embracing the future

recently I was in a conversation with about 8 other youthworkers anwe were trying to decide what the future would look like for young people in our country. There were all sorts of issues that came up, but the big question was, that whatever the future would look like, were we prepared to embrace that future and addapt and change and ensure that we were relevant to the young people of the time? Any thoughts?

Meaning of relationships?

I was at a conference recently, and we got into a debate about the ethics of relational youthwork. I argued strongly, that if we are in any kind of relationship then we stay in that relaitonship regardless of whether people do what we want and when we want them to do it. This came out of a discussion as to whether or not we act ethically by not telling people that we are in relaitoship with them because we want them to become Christians. But surely the deffinition of relationships means that we are in that relationship whatever the outcome, and just because someone does or does not become a Christian does not determine whether the relaitonship carries on or not. any thoghts on the ethics of relationships.

Christian workers dilemma

So here is the dilemma when dealing with life, or issues, or with other people, how do we balance our Christian herritage, IE, all those things inbedded in us through our Christian faith, and our experience, the things we go through in life. Where is the balance, and how do we find God through the experiences of life?

Principles of youthwork

I have thought about this for a while, as having two daughters, I have had to check myself, as sometimes i have treated them differently to the way that I treat other young people, applying different principles and different expectations, which is notalways fair or right. So it was just a thought, what Principles are there that underpin our yothwork?

Mission shaped Church?

This is something I just want to throw out there as a thought, or a challenge, or even as something that is just a little provocative. When I examine some of the stuff written in the New Testament, it suggests to me that Church, whatever that may mean was created of the back of various mssions that took place. This is particularly true within Acts. So why is it that we expect young people to go through a double converstion, first of all to believe in Jesus, but then also into the culture of church which is alien to the culture that they have to exist iin. Shouldn't church be part of life, not something that means us changing as people at a certain time during the week to be in a different place. Thnk of how we gain information, and then think about how information is given out in church. How do we learn things, and then how do people try and teach us at Church. It is just a thought that maybe we could create something around the people who we are meeting, and create something that is relevant for them and where they are at. Thoughts please!!!!!!!

Prepared to explore

So many times in youth work especially we come to something, a situation, or a person, and all ready have something inmind, we already have the answer, the thing that needs to be done. But how many times do we actually face something, and think, or decide well maybe we need to go on a journey with this, and just see how it turns out. So many times we think we know best, as adults, youthworkers, teachers, whatever, we just believe and know in ourselves we have the right answer, but maybe, just maybe sometimes it is worth exploring things with young people, no destination set out, and just see where you end up, you never know, they might just get something from it as well.

Empowering not enforcing

This is something that I always ty and do with young people. there is no point in me trying to enforce my beliefs, or even my suggestions in their lives, as they belong to me, not the young people I work with. It would be far better if I was able to empower young people to do things, in their own relationship with God, and therefore take ownership of their own events, activities and ideas. I am only the person who helps, assists, releases and empowers them to be the people who they are meant to be, I am not the enforcer who tells them how thig shsould be and how they need to d things. This is how god works with me, He releases me, empwers me to be who he wants me to be, but does not enforce or restrict me, he allows me to make mistakes, mess thing sup, and learn from that, maybe we should learn tha twithour own young people.

glamour or beauty

Here is an interesting question, do we go for the glamour of our work, the upfront stuff, in the public eye kind of stuf, ordo we go for the work that actually changes people's lives, which is the more beautiful? Sometimes we go for the glamour of something, without realising the beauty of the tough work. If you examine anyone who works on creating a carpet, they have to spend time, get their hands dirty, and get messy, but the outcom is beautiful, whereas someone who just takes the capret and sells it, loooks for the glamour. I think that Jesus is more interested in the beautiful than the glamour, more interested in the depth of change and difference in people's lives, than the headline fiure. So let's be involved, and create something beautiful.

Do we give them a chance?

So it is now the 21st November, the 20th has gone, Go MAD is now in our past, so did we give our young people a chance, did we get this idea out there, did they know about it? If we don't give them a chance, if we don't allow them the opportunity to do something, to make a difference, to change things in their lives, should we be really surprised if things don't change. God is always giving us opportunities, chances to change things for others, and for ourselves, we would not be happy if he didn't, would we? So why shouldn't we do tat for our young people as well.

give our young people worth

The whole idea of this day, this Go MAD day, is to give our young people worth, to help them realise that they are worth something, that they are psecial, that they make a diference in people's lives, and they the effort that they put into society is worth something as well. Is that what Jesus would have wanted, to ensure that everyone knew that they had worth, purpose andvalue as they lived?

One day to go!!!!!!!!!!

Ok people, just one day to go, before the whole country goes MAD. We have many people arond the country who are going MAD tomorrow, and Making A Differnece someone's life. Let me encourage you, to get your young people involved, get them t go mad, get them to Make A Differnece in someone else's life. Doesn't matter how big or small the act is, it would just be great if Hundreds of young people, Made A Difference in people's lives, then we can go to the press and get them to print it. So go on, get involved, get your young people to go MAD and let's make a big difference in someones life tomorrow, And get them to send their stories of what they did to info@rolltherock.org.uk

creating the environment

I have been examining what it means for me to have the environment to be able to reflect on various situations I have to face and also allow situations where my thoughts and my feelings can be allow to express themselves. Surely this is also true for our young people whom e work with. Because we need to create the environment for them to be able to express themselves, and be able to feel free to do so without restriction. this will be how they will grow as people, and also grow in their relaitonship with God.

Are we polarised?

This is an interesting question for me, as I have been doing some studying recently. the idea is that there are 3 perspectives that e can aproach things from: 1: do we constantly and only approach things from the Bible, or from our Christian Heritage point of view? 2: Do we approach things from our life experience point of view? 3: Or will we go on an exploration, and bring our life epxerience, and Christian heritage with us, and see how it all impacts us as people, and the life we live? The exploration approach will allow us possibly to be more open to God, and allow him to impact all aspects of us as people and our ives, so let me challenge you to explore, go on that Journey I spoke about yestrday, and see where you end up, rather than setting up a specific plan or destination.

Neutral or driving

this is an interesting thought, because if a car is in neutral then it doesn't go anywhere, but if someone is driving, and they do not necessarily know where they are going, then it is often useful to have a navigator. In either situation there is also the possibility that there could be passengers in the car as well, so do we boar our passengers by staying in neutral, or do we actually drive forward and see where we go. the challenge is, that we may not kow where we are going with our passengers, so we need that navigator to help us out. Let me suggest that maybe the navigator could be God, and we need to allow him to direct us where we are meant to be going. Rather than us suggesting that we know where we should be going, thus the journey of life, of work, of living begins. Because if we allow God to direct us, then we may not know exactly where we are going, and at what time or speed, but yet we allow him to direct us. And we go on that journey with our young people, and see where that adventure takes us.

How to move people forward?

Obviously as we reach young people and their lives start to change, and they start to make new decisions in their lives, there is something we need to think about, and that is how are we going to help them move forward. the question and challenge is, do we put them into something that we have aleady created, or do we go on a journey with them and see how we can encourage them and be with them during their journey, without any perscribed, directed way. Do we always know what is the best root, for young people beofre we have actually encountered them. Sometimes it is appropriate to put young people into something that has already been created, but sometimes it isn't, and we have to be big and brave enough to stand up and ensure that although pressure might be placed upon us, we ensure the best thing happens for the oung people we are working with.

We don't always know!!!

I have come across various issues recently that young people have challenged me over, and I haven't been able to answer them straight away. Rather than just feeding them an answer that might just get me thorugh, I have been really honest and said to them that I didn't know the answer, but what I would do, is go away, think it through, and then come back to them. they seem to appreciate this answer, as they know they aren't getting a half answer, but someone is alwys being genuine with them, and doing their best for them, and being honest. It occurs t me that if we are real and honest to the young poeple we work with, then they are more likely to listen to us. This means being genuine, honest, open, vulnerable, nd even at times looking stupid because we don't know an answer. But hey, better that than a half-baked one.

Closeness vs distance

While chatting to a teacher recently about a certain young person, they suggested that the young person in question did not always do what they were told in school. They suggested that the yong person in question did not listen to well to instructions. When thinking about this afterwards, I wondered whether or not the young person in question might need two things. One is boundaries, and that means bundaries that cannot be crossed at any time. And secondly, I wondered, about the approach of the parents, for if the parents are close, and spend quality, undistractable time with the child then the child is more ikely to do what they were told at home, and this may impact school as well. But the challenge is time, things to be done, things that need to happen, how do we balance between things to do and closeness, time, time that isn't distracted by other thins. god gives us time that isn't taken up with other things, it is time that isn't distracted with other things, and he never makes us feel that we have to fight for his time. Maybe that is something that needs to be put in place in young people's lives at home and at school as well.

Making things specific!!!!!

Recently I have heard from someone who has done a lot of research into Tweenagers, that age range from 10-13. they have looked at resources and idfferent issues around this age group. One of the interesting things that seems to have come up, is the difference between the younger end of the age-range and the older end. Is it possible to make something specific for the olders ones, and something specific for the younger ones. At the heart of the question, is making things specific, rather than just goruping people together. God doesn't group us all together, he looks at us as individuals, and treats us as individuals, so why don't we look at people as individuals? So let's remember that everyone is different, and has different neds and outlooks on life, and remember that God treats us as individuals, so we should do the same to others.

reality vs theory

I have been speaking today at another church, and when I was reflecting upon what I should talk about, I thought of Peter, and what he spoke about when over 3000 people became Christians in the one day. All that Peter spoke about was the difference that Jesus had made in his life, during the time he spent with Jesus, and the difference that knowing that Jesus had risen from the grave had made in his life as well. This is the difference between reality and theory. Many can talk about the theory of God, and religion and things, but the reality of knowing God is the thing that makes the differece in people's lives. So what else can we do but show the difference, and speak about the difference that God has made in our lives. Through the people that we are, people will see the difference, and we can only leave people with the thouts of the reality of the truth of what God has done in our lives, the rest is between them and God.

Tenacity

One of the strongest characteristics of a youth worker is that of tenacity. We have to keep pushing on even when other things get in the way, when adversity rises up against us. I always take comfort from Jesus, in that he tried to do good things, he brought hope to so many people, but yet the leaders of the time rejected him. But yet he persisted, he pushed on, he never gave in, right up to the end. So let me encourage you, no matter the struggle,no matter the problem, no matter what others may say or do, let me encourage you to have tenacity, and push on, because you are doing what God wants you to do.

Expectations

It has always been something that I have wresled with, Do we expect young people to come to something that we have created, at the time we have created it, or should we engage wth them, and create soemthing around the discussions we have with them? It occurs to me that if we expect them to come to something we have created, and at a time we have created it, then we are placing expectations upon our young people, hwereas if we create something new around them, aorund discussions with them, and around something that is relevant for them, they might just get ivnolved, and take some ownership of it. Open for discussion though?

Accountability!!!!

It was intresting last night watching Question Time on BBC1, and the question of accountability coming up for Sir Ian Blare the Chief Commissioner of the Met. there was a discussion about whether or not he should take responsibility for the actions of his force? the one thing that struck me, was that as youth workers, if a member of our team does something, then they are responsible and there is a clear accountability structure there. And ultimately the person at the head of the team is responsible for those within his or her team. So where do we all think that the accountability issue lies with us as youth workers? Is it right that we are responsible for the actions of our tea members, and are held to account for them.

Halloween culture shift

Just a thought that occurred to me after last nights interesting visitors. We only had 2 or 3 lots of kids come round to our door last night, but my wife interestingly handed out bananas to them, not sure why, accept we had got a load on monday, so she handed them out. But it occurred to me that these kids were really happy that someone had given them something, so why not change the culture of halloween, rather than it being a trick or treat night, why not make it a night where we give, isn't that part of the heart of the Christian message, giving? so if people expect to be gven something, why not give them something special, what ever that might be, rather than doing it out of fear f the trick, do it out of blessing people.

Staying focussed

Watching Spooks last night on BBC1 it made me think about staying focussed and achieving the things that God has called us to do. The Spooks team were faced and are regularly faced with hard choices, difficult situatins, and even times when it is possible that they may have lost members of their team, but through it all they remain focussed on their calling. How easy is it for us as youth workers to remain focussed upon what God has called us to do and be? do we put things in place to ensure that we can stay focussed, because it is those who stay focussed who will achieve the purpose that God has claled them too.

Complete planning

Watching a programme over the last couple of nights, examining the war in Iraq and the plans that were ment to have been put in place for after the war, it occurred to me that youthwork at times is not too much different. It is different in the respect that it is not necssearily a physical war we are fighting, but it does occur to me that complee planning is necessary, there is little point in running missions or outrech things if we are not thinking through and trying to put in place things and programmes for the young people afterwards. If we don't put the full thought in place, then we leave ourselves open to failure. But we also need to ensure that our preparations and planning is also guided and directed by God, and we also need to take into account the people we are reaching, and accept at times, we might have to create something of the back of our outreach that is apropriate, but as long as we know what we are aiming to do, and have ideas, then things an happen. what's the point in making the difference in young people's lives, and then loosing them due to lack of forethought.

Describing youthworkers

I came across this on another youth blog that I visit almost daily. And I wonder how many of us could assign ourselves to these 5 qualities of a yothworker that was suggested on this other site. How many could you say you were? Youthworkers: 1: See the potential in young people. 2: Put young people at the centre of their programmes. 3: Believe they can make a difference in young people's lives. 4: Believe they are contributing something to their society they owe. 5: Are unyieldingly authentic. I do like some of these, and think they lay down a huge challenge to us.

The unexpected

If we look at the life of Jesus he was always doing things that people didn't expect him to do. He also did things that excited people in their own lives. The thing for us to think about is, whether we are able to do things unexected in people's lives to amuse them, to excite them, to make them feel good, and give them worth and value. If Jesus can do this, and he said we would do even more than he did, then let's try differnt things, let's do the unexected, and let's see the difference that it makes in people's lives.

Knowing your position

I have been watching the football over the last couple of nights on tv, and it is interesting that there is usually a comment, or even more than one, about players strengths, and the best position for them to be playing in. Some players make good defenders, good midfield players or even good attackers, but even within these situations there are various positions where people would have strengths or weaknesses. So we also need to know that we have strengths, we are called to be youth workers, but what kind of youthworkers are we clled to be. As there are a variety of different defenders in football, there are also a dfferent variety of youthworkers that also exist. The manager of the footy team tries to put people in the right position according to their strengths, and their specific strengths, but sometimes he takes them out of position and they don't perform in the same way. the same is also true for us, sometimes people will take us out of our position, away from the strengths that we have, but ultimately we need to stay true to what god has called us to be, and the gifts he has given us. the interesting thing is that once a player in footy is played too many times in the wrong positiion by the ma aager, he doesn't play to his strength, and often ends up moving on to another team where he is placed in the right positin, we should not rule this out as far as ourselves are oncerned, as if people do not place us in the right position, god may well move us on at some point.

What kind of idea is it?

One of the amazing things I have found about youth workers, and it doesn't matter where abouts in the world they are from, they are always full of ideas. The challenge to us is what kind of idea do we have. Do we have good ideas, or are they God ideas? Because we can have lots of good ideas, but the best ones are God ideas, so let's take out the O from Good, and let's focus n the God ideas so that the things we try, and the thoungs we put into place are God ideas and more likely to make a difference in poeple's lives. Good ideas may make a bit of a difference, but God ideas will transform lives.

Faith linked with Risk

So many people we know in life have to, or need to take risks as they go through life. I am sure we can all think of people. But if you look at certain people within the Bible they not only demonstrated a risk, but they also demonstrated faith as well. Think of Peter as he saw Jesus walking on the water. Once he realised that it was Jesus, he also wanted to step out and walk on the water, he wanted to take the risk, and he had aith. The problem was that once he was on the water, his faith came into question, and he realised where he was. The reality of the situation mmade him question his faith and his situation. the challenge to us as youth workers is hether we are prepared to keep our faith in those difficult times, when others questions what we are doing, or don't understand why we do things. If Jesus has called us out of the boat, the challenge for us is to keep our faith and keep standing there next to Jesus on the water.

Risky business

I don't know how many of you have seen any of the programmes that Ross Kemp has done about gangs around the world, where he has to take risks to get to the people at the top of various gangs around the wrold and ask them why they do what they do. He has to go into many dangerous situations, but he learns lots, and is able to challenge them about the things hey are doing. How many risks are we prepared to take as youth workers, how many dangerous situations are we prepared to get into to know the young people we are surrounded by, and are we prepared to show that we are genuine, and we aren't just rying to know them to do anything else accept build relaitonships and bring them hope. This is what Jesus has called us to do, so the challenge is for us to take some risks and make the difference in young people's lives.

Go Mad

I have just returned from a two week trip to India where we saw many different projects and were blessed by so many people. We went with the attitude that we were not joust going to bless and give, but we were going also with the sprit of receiving, and my word we did receive from the people out there. When we were there we were able to do various things, and this brought so many smiles to the people we met, and it occurred to me that we can actually make a difference in people's lives, even witht he small thing we do. So Go Mad, means Go Make a Dfernce, and let's change lives. Because if you change a life, you start to change a community, and if you change communities you start to change the world, and what an awesome thought that we could be involved in God's call to change lives, and change the world.

empowering

How many times do we look at our young people, and we automaticlally think that we hae to do something ourselves. The one thing that I have noticed in various youth works, is that the young people don't actually do a geeat, deal, nor do they asked what they would like a great deal either. Sometimes I suggest we have to put our own agendas aside, our own ideas, and see where the young people are at,see what questions, what thoughts, what issues they have and work around them. Let's always remember that we do this job around the young people, not around us.

Living on the edge

Came across this phrase on anohter site if you aren't living on the edge you are taking up too much room. this I took to mean that we need to live our lives on the edge, constantly looking and creating new things, rather than staying in the norm, the mundain, the usual. So are you living on the edge or are you taking up a lot of room.

Conversionalists

When most people think of conversion, or converting, we use it in the way that we expect people to convert from one thing to anohter, maybe from one way of life to the christian way of life, but is there more to conversionalism than just onverting people. I would ggest that as Christians we have the obligation to convert our society, to change things iwthin or culture to make it more like the world that God would want for us. If God has breathed into us life, and he has created us, as suggested in Genesis, then we have that creative ability, and that also means creativity in our own culture. So let's look at our world, the communities or societies that we exisst in, and let's convert this world, let's trun it into the world that God would want us to live in, so let us be the conversioalists of the 21st century and convert this world.

Affect of pastoring

the Effect of pastoring young people can be emense. I heard a story recenlty where some youth workers were concerned about a young lad in their group. It came to light that he was being abused at home. anyway to cut a long story extremely short, by showing gods love in that family, by being with the parent and working thorugh issues, and not judging and supporting them all the way through the issues, the lad still goes to church and he mum does now as well. This would have been, and maybe should have evenbeen an issue for the authorities, but eh reality was that the Church was there and the Church help deal witht he issues, so not only was the issue sorted, but both lad and mum came to Church. This makes me think and thinkbaout the impact that we as youthworkers have not just on the young people we meet but also their family, friends, and other people in their lives. What a prielege.

Create new realities

I had heard this before, ut it rang again for me last week. As leaders, and especially as youth leaders, things cannot be allowed to stay the same. If you look at the culture that young people exist in today, nothing stays the same for very long, that is why they are excited, they try new things and want to get involved. It is our responsibility as youth leaders to keep that same enthusiasm going about our fiath, and their relationship with god. Youth work in Church is natorious for staying the same, predicatable, even, but we should be keeping things fresh, new ideas, not just hte same old, same old, same old, people get board of same old. So here's our challenge, create those new realities for our young people to ensure that new things happen in their lives, and new experiences and relaitonships with God are taking place.

Godly principle n our own work

Something I came across over the last week. If we study the story of Adam and Eve being thrown out of the Gaden of Edan, we automatically think that god has thrown them out for eating from the tree tha he told them not too. But how about thinking about it differently, how about thinking about it in the way that God got them out of there before they ate from the other tree that they weren't meant too. So rather than punishing them, God was actually saving them form anything else in the future. So how do we react to our young people do we punish them, or do we do the hard thing to try and stop them from doing things that they shouldn't be doing. Even when it seems hard, tough, unnecessary, if God can love and care about Adam andEve, then we should also care about our young people,

Awareness of God

How can we encourage people to have an awareness of God? Do we just tell them to sit and pray, to talk out loud? Bu then people ask how does God speak to people? Below are couple of suggestions where we could encourage people to be aware of God thorugh thing in their every day lives and know that God is with them. 1: Listen to a piece of music, any music, listen to the lyrics, listen to the atmosphere ofthe music, what does it feel lie, what things come to mind, what thoughts and feelings do you have. 2: Watch a film, look at th issues in the film, how people react to to each other, can God say anything about the film we are watching. 3: Just hold something, anything at all, think about it, diffrent aspects of it, and see if anything comes to mind. Just idfferent ways of engaging people with God and enabling them to relate to him ina way that is real for them.

Believing in god?

Recently I have started a Masters degree and it has brought up some interesting issues already. Some of which I shall post up here and see what comments we get back from them. Firstly, is it right that we expect people to believe in God? If people believe in something, then they generally believe in an idea, or a concept, rather than an actuality. Wouldn't it be better if we actually got people to be aware of God, to build that relationship with God rather than telling them then they need to blieve in god? Isn't that personal relationship, tht perosnal realisation of the awareness fo God far better than any concept of idea that we may have about who God is or could be?

Approaching families

Just a quick thought, having watched a lot of Hollyoaks recently, how would we as outh workers help that family out with Hannah's eating disorder? How ould we approach the family and what help could, or would we actually give them? How could you demontrate love in that situation, when the family are likely to push you away, and the duaghter just doesn't want to see anyone? touh, questions, but yet real ones.

How provocative are we meant to be?

I have been asked to speak at a conference day later this month. The last time I was there and asked to speak I caused a bit of contraversy on one of my approaches. The question is how provocative as Youth Leaders are we meant to be. I always think that young people gt a rough deal from adults, and that is largely due to the fact that adults make their decisions and make them farily quickly about teens. So do we need to be a bit more provocative to actually get people to think properly? Was Jesus ever deliberately provocative just to get people to think differently, maybe, bt does this also give us liscence to do the same.

How young people affect us?

I have just read another blog that I am linked too, and the person who hosts it has put a post up there from his daughter. You need to go and read it, it says everything everything that we as adults try and complicate, and mess up. But yet out of her words, her writing, comes truth, affection and love. Straight from god. visit www.youthblog.org and look at the posting on the 3rd of September

why do Christians do it?

Why is it that Christians always feel th eneed to create their won version of what is already in existence in todays culture. do they really think that God is going to less theirs any more than the origianl when all it is is the same thing, but with god or something like that attached to it. I mean we now have God tube, My Ichthus, what iwll be next, any suggestions here?

Who to believe!!!

have you noticed with Hannah in Hollyoaks everyone has noticed that something is wrong, but they have all jumped to the wrong conclusion. Hannah's mum has even believed her friends rather than spotting the real issues. So how easyis it for us when people tell us things about the young people we work with, do we believe what we get told straight away, or do we check out the facts and see if there are other issues involved as well. It is easy to believe what we think is in front of us, but sometimes we need to dig a little deeper to actually gt tot he truth.

Spotting the issues!!!!

How many of us have watched Hollyoaks recently, and thought about the issues that Hannah and her friend Millissa are going through. How many of us would really spot the issues, recognise what was going on, and how many of us would feel confident enough to actually do anything about it? tough roll the youth worker, because you need to be sure of circumstances before tackling things with young people or even family, but if not, if you leave it, how would you feel? Be cautious but do the right thing, tackle the issues, be obserant, keep an eye out, spot the strange behaviour, and I mean behaviour that is out of the ordinary? Recognise those differences, but show you care. Difficult roll, but yet, an important and vital one we play.

Is youth worker a strange title?

Has anyone else thought that our title as youth worker could be classed as a strange one, or even at its extremes a lie? Just think of all the different elements to our work, and then think about our title. I mean, we have to meet with somany adults, and tell them about the work, and even encourage them to support the work, how does that tie in to the part of our job decription where we are meant to be able to relate to Young people. I am sure there are many other areas of work, or our job, that will seem strange to our title, just think about it, and even have a lugh to yourself.

Get involved in the debate!!!!!

I know so many of us are so busy in life, but we should always take time each day, to reflect on a number of different things. Firstly, at some point during the day, we should always come into contact with Gods word whether tthrough listening, reading or remembering bis of it. 2: We should maybe even read part of a book, a book that is that stretches our minds, pushes oru boundaries of thinking, so not Harry potter then. But if we can't get a book then listen to some teaching apes or cd's, but something that prevokesus to think, not just to say yes, but something we may even disagree with, but we have to think thorugh why we disagree. And maybe lastly, get involved in a discussion board, a form, or a blog where we can get involved in debates about sticky issues and communicate with other workers. All these things will keep us sharp, keep us thinking, and keep us close to God as wlel.

Tackling those issues!!!!!

There are many issues in life that sometimes we just don't knwo the anser too. As a youthwokrer our young peple will expect, or even hope that we will have the answer to many if not all of their questios. someitmes we just won't know he answer, but we have to read, think, and research many things so we can have indepth and informative conversations with our young people. One website I would suggest we look at and reflect on is edges.tv. Mal fletcher is a wise man about culutre today and many issues around it. Have alook and think thorugh those issues he raises.

views on festivals

I am not going to any festivals this year, first time this would be the case for a long time. so if anyone has been, or is going to a festival, do let me know what you thought, the good bits and the bad bits as well. What could have been done differently, and what worked, what actually connected with the young people of our culture, and what was still Church from the 20th Century? Any oughts leave comments on here, anywhere or email me.

Christian versions of things!!!!!

Why is it that on a number of occasions, Christians go and make their own version of what todays culture has already created? Is there really any point in creating something exactly the same as what has already been created, but by adding god, or Christian in there, it gives it that higher status, because it is Christian. I am thinking of the site, Youtube,and now someone has gone and created Godtube, why? What is the point really? Can we not, as Christians use some thiings that are already created in todays culture and use them for God, or do we really have to go and create the same thing, but put God's name in there?

Retreat and refresh!!!!!

I have recently been told off by a couple of my closest friends, due to the little holiday I take each year. And when reflecting on their comments and suggestions, I can now see that there is much wisdom in their comments. 1: Jesus himself also retreated from people and had time for himself and his relationship with God. 2: If you constantly work, there is a chance of burn-out and so we do need to refresh ourselves. 3: If we are not fresh, then our work is not fresh either. 4: To have the greatest impact, things need to be fresh for us, becasue if they are boaring for us, then they will be boaring for those we work with as wlell. 5: Also good to take time and reflect, and think where weare at as people, and whether there are new challenges or things that God might want us to do. The greatest problem is convincing those who pay the wage, or expect the work, they alsoneed to understand the need, the point, the necessity of retreating and refreshing.

Youth camps?

We are in that time of year when there are so many different camps for young people it is difficult sometimes to decide which one to take them too. Soul survivor run about 3 different weeks for young people during the summer, as well as youth bits added onto New wine. There is also Harvest which takes place in the north East of England, and then there is Grape vine in Lincolnshire. I am sure there are oher as well such as Rock Nations in Bradofrd which are not necessarily camps but sitll youth conferences. Are there to many of these camps around, too much choice, have we taken this part of our culture to the extreme? The problem is that our young people would probably wnat the different parts of each camp to make ito one big camp they wanted. So where do we possibly draw the line, and is it down touus or the young people we work with to make this decision?

Empowering!!!!!

One of the great things I enjoy about youthwork, is seeing young people taking on responsibilities and making tasks their own, and devloping them further. When I postedyesterday about helping young peopleachieve things, one of the things I had in mnd, was enabling them to take on resposnibilities and help them to realise what they had achieved, and even think about what they could ahieve in the future as well. I know in some quarters this is seen as using young people, and using them as dogs boddies, but rally it is empowering, releasing, letting them be the people who Gdo wants them to be, and allowing them to find their own strengths, and weaknesses and realise who they are in god.

Achieiving!!!!!

It is always useful when we are working to have a time of rflection when we look back at all the things we have done over the last year, and all the issues that we have covered. It is useful to reflect on the issues, and look at how they have impacted peoples lives. When people look at what they have achieved, it si also useful to think about what people want to achieve in the coming year, and what things would help to develope their lives further, and what would help them achieve things over the coming year. Get people to think about where they woud like to be a year's time, and how they want to get there, and what issues or work, would enable them to get to where they want to be.

the whole is greater than the sum of the parts!!!!!

I have been thinking about this as I sit and write some material I might use for a book at some point. I don't think that there is any real point about looking at separate ministries and saying wow, look at all those different ministries, they are all different, but yet working with possibly the same young people. Surely it makes much more sense to look at a whole, whether it be a Church or an area, and sy wow what a difference is being made here. This would indicate to me the whole, IE, the whole church or area, could actually make a bigger difference, just by the waty that they are viewed, than by looking at all the different ministries. So yes, I wold say that whole is deffinitely more porductive, better, more helpful than the some of the parts.

Something most of us ain't thought about!!!!!

Most of us do our youth work for one of a couple of reasons. One, because noone else is doing it so we took it up, or we felt that we cared about young people, or maybe some of us actually felt that we were called by God into working with young people. So what is the basis of our work? god, or Jesus is not necessarily the answer I was looking for, althoug they are right and fine answers. But what is our theology behind our work? What is it that gives our work that Christian emphasis, or grounding? the answers to tis will be different from one person to the next as many factors need to be taken into account, but just something for us to think about, what is our theology behind our work?

What affects which?

When we work with young people, and obviously we want God to touch them through the work that we do, but do we go to God and work out what we should do with our young people, or do we look at their circumstance and try and work out our Theology around their circumstances. Do we go to God first, and then try and work that into the situation we find ourselves, or do we look at the situation and then try and see if we can fit God into that circumstance? I am sure that there are benefits to both, but which way round do we do things.

What grabs the headlines?

So many times we here only bad things about young people in the news or in the press, so what is it that grabs the headlines? Do we live in a culture where people are only interested in the bad things, or in things that go wrong? Why is it that we don't really here much about the good things, andwhat is there that we can do to change this culture? Is it down to us, to go for the extraordinary publicity to try and show something good, something that actually makes a difference in peoples lives. Let's do it!!!! Let's go for those bitof publicity which look wierd, but get the point across and make young people seen in a different light, that they are people, they are exciting, and they are decent and lovely people. Is that how God sees them?

Ideas or vision

I am sure that this is an issue that many people face, and us as youth workers are probably more guilty of this than many other people in ministry. How many times have we come up with an idea, and think that it is reat, and we go ahead with it, and try it out, and just see what happens. I am sure that most of us have done this at one time or another. But are all our ideas from God? Do they all fit into his vision? The big challenge is for us to have those ideas, and as youth workers we should be the nes who almost have the most ideas in a church, but then we need to ensure that they fit into God's vision, because our vision shoudl be God's vision, and there is no pint in going ahead with an idea if it does nto fit into God's vision. So let's come upwith those ideas, and be ready to refine them into God's vision, to ensure that they work, andare an amazing success.

belonging and believing

I have often wondered why we do things sometimes, is it to give our young people the feeling of belonging, and is it sometimes the opportunity to believe? I would suggest that if we give young people the chance to belong, and feel that they belong, then there could be an even better chance they will believe. Believing very often comes from belonging to something. If you look at life, how many times do we start to believe something, or accept things, largely becasue we belong to a certai group. Maybe the same is true for young people, if they start to feel as thugh they are involved, or they belong, they will soon start to believe.

why Label?

Came across an amazing thing that Frontier Youth Trust have been doing. Recently had some research done about views towards young people from adults, and also what young people thought of themselves. The research showed nothing surprsing, but it did highlight a few things, to the extent that FYT, took a large Jar around London, and had the slogan, lables are for jars not for teenagers, sounds a cool move, and hopefully will make people wake up and think.

Sacrefice, Good and Bad?

Kim spoke on Sunday about good and bad sacrefices, she got us to think about sacrefices that could bring good results and also sacrefices that could bring bad results as well. She showed us pictures and both her and Pete spoke about how in past there used to be sacrefices of animals ad of people, but none of that was relevant anymore, which I sahll post about later this week. But what sacrefices are there in our lives that are good ones, and what is there that would be a bad sacrefice? What is there in our lives that would make ur lives better, or help us achieve something if we sacreficed something else? We have the ability to sacrefice things to ensure great things for our lives, so it is always good to look at our life and see what is good, or wht could be better if we sacreficed something else.

How much responsibility do we give our young people?

with a new report out by Oona King, suggesting that young people need to be, and need to feel more of a part of their community, how much responsibility do we give our young people in Church? The report suggested that there should even be a young Mare for communities to start giving them responsibility in an area, so where can we give our young people more responsibilities?

Internet good/bad?

There has been a lot on this over the last few months on Tv and Radio, and I have also heard some talks on this subject at various conferences as well. Below I will just put out some stuff and allow people to comment, and even suggest other things as well. 1: Internet, Good, because of being able to get information fro around the world, being able to contact friends quicker, being able to put our own information up there easier, as well as being able to buy stuff, and sell stuff as well. 2: Internet Bad, due to things such as myspace and facebook,due to grooming, these companies ability to use your picutres and info to sell their product without your concent, chatrrooms, which abllow people again to groom and lead others into false sense of security, dangers upon life and information about you as a person as well. These are just osme of the thoughts from other places as well as my own, and the challenge for us is to think abot whether we as youthworkers by taking part in some of these things actually give credibility to any of them, and say that they are ok to our young people who we work with, and therefore lead them into dangers.

SacreficesIn ministry there are a whole load of sacrefices that need to be made, and maybe this follows in the way that Jesus lived his life. Below

In ministry there are a whole load of sacrefices that need to be made, and maybe this follows in the way that Jesus lived his life. Below are just a few of te sacrefices that probably need to be made, and I am sure there are more, so do add to them, and even comment on how difficult some of these sacreices are to make. 1: time: This means that we probably work fairly anti-social hours compared to most other jobs, lots of evenings, and maybe even some weekend work as well. 2: Relaitionsips: we need to ensure that the person we marry or are going out with understand sthe demands upon our lives. It takes a special person to understand the sacrefice that needs to be made not just by the youth worker but also by the family. 3: commitment: the youth worker probably has to be single minded about their post. It owuld be ery difficult if not impossible to have more than that particular roll within the Church. 4: Self: there are probably a number of things that you would want to do in your life and even during your life, but sometimes these things need to be put on hold to ensure that the calling that is upon your life is fulfilled. 5: Aspects of life: there are probably various things in a lot of peoples lives that could not necessarily be part of a youth workers life, depending on the time, and even the company. Some times the youth worke may have to think about where they go out to socialise, or even go out with their families, so that they can be themselves, and even have some family time without others taking over that time. As I said there are probably more, so add to it, and even comment on these ones.

The kind of youth work we do!!!!!

Just something that occurred to me over this last while, what youth work do we do, and what youthw ork actually works? Only I ask as this ia kind of vision question, what do we want to do? What do we feel that we do best? And What actually works for the young people we aim to reach? I have posted before about youth work initiatives that haven't worked accept for those who have taken part, so what is it we do best, and wha is it that actually makes the difference for the young people in our country today?

where does youthwork stop and begin?

ecently I have posted a comment on another youthwork blog, where this issue came up and was being discussed. where does youth work start and finish. More and more it is becoming obvious that young people are reaching teenage life quicker, IE, those aged 10-11 are prity much teenagers already n attitude and approach. And following that those at the other end into their 20's and 30's are thinking and even doing similar things to those in their late teens. So where does it start and finish, couple of quick points to think about. 1: do we put oung people into age boxes, or have we the ability to treat them all as individuals and look at their situations differently, if someone is 10 and yet thinking and acting like a 12 year old, does this come under youth work or childrens work, I think Youth work. 2: Those at the other end ar gradually living in a culture where things on tv and in mags are being aimed at them, because they have come thorugh the teenage culture that currently exists. Maybe there needs to be an 18-30 group in churches who are tought and do things in their own particular way rahter than beng expected to suddenly become that age group of adults, which generally means over 40. Our approach needs to be thought through, and also we need to ensure that we are not just neglecting the needs of some because they don't fit into where we currently think.

Overcoming the giants

If you look at the story of David, He didn't really see a giant in front of him, largely because he was close to god and knew that God would protect him and look after him. The problem here was, that Saul and David's brothers wante to make the giant real for him, and even make it bigger than what it should have been. So when we work with young people, do we help them overcome their giants, do we assist at making the giants smaller, or do we actually make the giants bgger than that of what they have see ifn the first place. Would we go and stand with them to face the giant? or would we stand back and encourage them like Saul did? I am not suggesting that we take the place, although there ay be times when taking the place of someone is apropriate and useful, but sometimes we all need to face up to our giants and eal with them. So let me encourage you to encourage others to face up to their giants, help them realise that the giants they see aren't as big as they think they are, and with the right support, IE, God, then the giant has to stand down, and they will live a life in confidence and the knowledge that they can overcome all difficult situations when they rely on God.

something that makes the difference!!!!!

It is really interesting for me to read about youth initiatives that really seem to have had an impact on the serface, but when you get down to it, the impact was minimal if anything at all. I have recently read a survey which looked at a major event in the uk over the last couple of years, and people didn't even seem to register it it a few months later. surely one of our rolls is to leave something impacting, something that is lasting and something that maes the difference in poeple lives. So let's do that, let's leave something that will challenge, provoke thoughts, and ultimately leave the difference of God in their lives.

How are you known?

This has been a really interesting question that myself and others have thought about on another blog that I make comments on. The question was about our title, are we youthw rokers, youth pastors, youth evangelists, and then youth an children's workes, youth and community workers, or where did we fit into this. So what is our primary goal, what is our title, and does our title really fit into the expectations that upon us. does a pator really make a good evangelist, and does ayouthw orker really make a good leader, I have looked a t is before. So where do you fit in, and does oyour title fit the expectations around you.

reap what you sow

How much are we prepared to sow into a situation or into those work situations that we are faced with, to see the best conclusion from any of those situaitons. The more that I look back upon my youthwork life, I see that the best results, the greatest things have happened due to the fact that I have sown, time, commitment and effort into a situaiton. So here's our challenge, how much are we prepared to sow into situaitons and poeples lives to see a change take place, so that God can reap what we sow.

net builders

this thought has been with me for a while now, but only properly formalised in a conversation I had with a Church leader this morning. For a net to catch anything in a number of things need to be in place. firslty, the ropes, and then the knotts that tie the ropes the togehter. It is easy in many ways to come up with ideas for our youth work, that would be the different ropes, but somehwere along the line the ropes need to tie together and the eality is that is where relationships come in. All the ideas need to be tied together, and they need to be tied together with strength and purpose otherwise they fall apart. Two challenges to this, one build those strong ties with our young epople so that they are linked and attached to what we are doing, but also bild those relaitonsips, and put those things in place to enable the young peope we work with to be caught in what we ar doing.

Making memories!!!!!!

It is amazing when you spend a number of years in an area, and working with young people all the time, that you often get stopped by adults who remember the work you did with them. This got me thinking, that if people come up and chat to us, then we have obviously created a memory fthem, a good memory hopefully. Is it possible that we are memory makers, in the way that people as they grow older at various times think back, and look back at their lives, and if we have given them anything of substance, then the mories we leave them with can still make that difference in their lives. Let's be those memory makers and have those adults later on in life come up to us and chat about the issues and things we did when they were young epople.

using our resources

When the walls of Jerusalem were being rebuilt, it was interesting how the men were separated and deployed to ensure that this actually took place. Half the men were set to build the wall, wheile the other half were set to fight and defend, thuse ensuring that th wall was built. What is there in our work, in ourlives that we are aiming to achieve, and can we deploy all the resources that God has given us to ensure that we achieve that goal.

Involvement?

In previous posts I have raised the issue of certian age groups and types of people being missed from our churches, and last time I raised the issue of how people learn, and how we teach. This time I want to raise the issue of involvement, because I am very much aware that people learn, enoy, get exciteed, passionate, and even believe in things more if they are actually part of things. Maybe if we are to keep young epople, and even devope them further through our churches, we need to look at how we involve them in our churches, not just the small menial jobs, but maybe, worship, teaching, caring, the things that make an impact in peoples lives. When I say menial, I do not mean that htey do not mean anything, but we ened to look to peoples potential, promise, gifts and abilites, to ensure that htey are being used in the right places, the right areas, and that they are being developed as people.

missing the agegroups

I have recently read a poston a blog which referred to an article in a magazine by the Methodist Church which suggested we have lost the ability to relate and reach those under the age of 45. It is certainly true that the age group from 20-45 i certainly missing in a number of our churches, but why is this, and do we need to change anything about our churches? One thing I will throw out there as a thought, and I will come back to this idea again, is that maybe the way we teach is different to the way people learn. The idea of sitting sitll and listening to someone talk for 20-30 minutes or longer, is somewhat strange to maybe those are missing from our churches. If we are really and truly going to reach a new generation, then maybe one thing to do is to change the way we get our message across.

Leader, friend, or roll model?

These are just a few of the different rolls that a youth worker plays out in their relationshi with young people. The question is where do you see yourself? Are you more of a leader, or a friend to the young people, or do you even see yourself primarily as a roll model to them and how they should live. I believe that we all play out these rolls as yth workers, but there needs to be some kind of balance to the different rolls we play, and we also need to understand the implications for us in the different rolls and how we see ourselves.

Who is our inspiration?

I know that the first and obvious answer to this question, and also the right answer, is Jesus, but I was wondering about who is there in life that we look up to and why? Followingon from my posts about celebrity status and roll models, I am sure that part of the reason we do what we do as yuth workers is because of someone we have seen or come across in our past. But ho.w do we hold them, in what regard do we hold them? Are theyalso roll models, or do we place some kind of celebrity status to them? It is just something to think through, about the difference between being an inspiration, or looking to someone for inspiration, or being celebrity

Roll of the Roll model?

Following on from my post about celebrity status, it made me think about the whole area of a roll model. I have often said that roll models in society do not set themselves up to be roll mdels, it is media, and others in soceity that raise them to this lofted position. so the question is, by being youth workers, are we actually saying by our positions that we are roll models to young people, or again like actors, singers and oer famous people, are we just people whom others raise up into that lofted position?

Celebrity status?

Just something that struck me whilst lstening to the radio this morning, as they discussed how celebrities have an impact on the sexual activity of our young people, who actually makes people celebrities, and as youth workers is there a kind of celebrity status that goes with our job, and if there is how comfortable are we with that? As I walk through town time after time, so many young people come up and want to chat to me, and even shout to their mates, looks it's Andy, which gives almost a kind of celebrity status to our youh work, but is this something we should look for or something we should even fight against? Personally it is great that young people want to talk, and I would suggest that we should neve fight against that status that young people want to put upon us, but also remeber that it is God that we want the young people to know and come into relationship wh, not us.

Working with the Culture?

there are two quick things I want to say about this today, the first is working with young people is often difficult because of one thing, and that is where they come from. so many times I ve worked so hard with a young person, but then met theiparents, visited their surroundings and then everything becomes obvioulsy clear to me. So the chlallenge is for us to work witht the young person in their culture, but also haelp them to break out of their culture. the second issue with culture,is how much culture are we allowed or prepared o work with? On a personal basis there is little I am afraid of if God can use then, I will be there to put myself in Gods hands. Times move on, and things change, God knows that himself, so he also knows that he can and does use things for his purpose, so let's nt be afriad or against many things in the uclture that we live in, le's even use some of it for the furthering of Gods kingdom.

How long in post?

It is interesting when we look in various magazines that advertise for youth workers, and the average length of time for an appointment is 3 years. Te question I ask is that time really long enough to actually make a big difference. When I talk about difference, I wonder about the young people who are already there, the young people you could come into contact with, the way things are done in the Church and how you could move things on, or even esablishing youth work within the culture of the church. so many issues there, and I wonder if 3 years is really enough to make the difference, to establish the change, or even to lay the foundations?

Believing in the future!!!!!

I the book of John chapter 10 verse 10, Jesus talks about a thief coming and stealing, but yet he comes to bring life and hope in all its fullness. This is a great verse, and so much can be brought out of it, but the one thing that I have thought about and reflected so much on recently, is that people around us, today and in our pasts can steal from our future, and god does not want that to happen. Nor does he want it to happen to the young people we work with. But yet so much in the press, and elsewhere is negative and even to the point of offensive to young people. The reality is that if people can keeep ons aying things, and say them often enough then people will beive in what they say. So in a world that is negative, and even offensive, are we prepared to try and break that culture, and speak positivity into young peoples lives, so that htey can beleive they have that futre and leave the past where it is in the past. Let's enesure that noone seals the future from young people, and work thorugh those issues from the past that could steal from their futures.

Meeting together?

this is always a tough one to look at as we live in an age where veryone is always so busy doing things, and the busier we are the more people seem to want us to do. There is a strange phenomena within the christian life that the busier someone is, then they must be worth having, so we shall book them in for something as wlel, just to add to their busy lifestyle. But amongst that business we alwso need to have time where we just meet up and talk to each other. It is easy to through ourselves intour own work, our own ministry, our own church, but we all need that suport, encouragement and bonding from those who are in simialr rolls to ourselves. In the Acts of the Apostles, they always found time to meet, to support and encourage eachther, even though they all had their own particular ministry to ensure it happened. so here we are 2000 years later, and yet we struggle to meet together, and chat to each other because we have our own things to do, does anything need to change? Can we take anything from the past into the future.

Varied Life?

The more and more time I spend in youth work, and in ministry, I find that there are more and more people who just throw themselves into Church, or their ministry so to speak, but I wonder if that is what God would really expect from us? Jesus himself even took time out, for himself, he went away, he hid from others, I imagine if there were various things in those days as there are now he would have had varius interests outside of his ministry. Can I put it out out there that it is not healthy for us to totally and absolutely just foucs on our ministry during our waking hours. Can I suggest to you all that we need to have interests, passions, whether it be football, golf, films, (and not thinking how you could use the film in youth work), but let's enjoy life as well as enjoying the minstry and privilege that god has called us too.

How much will we take?

I have just been thinking this issue through on another blog that I write for young people, but also think that it is an important one for us as youth workers. How much are we prepared to put up with from our young people? When they start being awkward, not listening, not following guidence, going there own way, causing disruption, how much will we put up with? the reason why I started thinking of this was due to how much Jesus put up with. He chose 12 "friends", some argued about having the best seat in Heaven,One stole money and betrayed him, another even denied knwoing him, but yet Jesu still washed their feet, had communion with them as well. Even wth Judas who was about to betray him a couple of hours later. So if Jesus demonstrated so much by his actions, and put up with so much, what does this tell us as youth workers?

How creative are we?

I have just read another blog that I look at reguarly, and they have been looking at how you are able to fit some words from a song to the music of another song. Ad this has got me thinking how creative are we when it comes to our work. Can we take things and use them in an environment that will not just make people laugh, or entertain them, but also give them things to think about. When it comes to our youthwork, what is there that we take from other places and put into our work that iwll make a difference in the lives of the young people we work with.

Change the culture?

Following on from my thoughts about what we should take from a culture and apply to our own work, how much of our own work should be challenging certain issues within a culture and trying to transform that culture into a different one. Recently someone tried to offer a ree meal, people didn't come, I think because they were supecious fo a free meal, but why is this, if there no attachments then why be suspecious? My susggestion was to persist, and show that we can break that culture of suspecion. So if we can do it with suspecion, surely wecan change other issues withoin our culture by being the people that God wants us to be, and following principles in our lives.

Set or follow?

Here is something I have often challenged myself about. Are we as youth workers the people who are meant to set trends and a way forward,or are we meant to take some of the elements of a society or culture and use them in our own ways. I often think that the Church should be at the forefront of setting the trends and the way forward, but often see it as the one who follows behind. Can we take what is great from a culture, as the culture changes, and put it into our own culture, and help mold and create a new one.

Allow them to fall!!!!!!!!

When we are working with young people do we give them enough opportunities to actually do things, or do we have the attitude that they won't probably do it right, or as well as we would, so we are better of doing it ourselves. Or do we give them enough opportunities to do things, and if they fail, they fail, but we can always give them another chance. I was thinking about this recently when I came across a number of cdecisions that had een made in places, and wondered if we were actually giving our young epople the poeple we work with enough chances to do things. Do we belive in them, and do we believe in the things they could do, even if they et it wrong the first time. Surely one of our rolls and responsibilities is to give oung people the chance they need to improve, to show their abilities and tallents, and to be able to grow.

Does the packaging need to change?

I have become aware over these last couple of months that throughout life, most of us would actually apply very similar principles. this started me thinking about whether or not some messages get lost because of the way we convey things. sometimes I have noticed that we all say similar things but in different ways, and because of the way it is said, the actual message itself is lost. so is the challenge for us as youth workers that we need to think about how we communicate a message that many people could actually relate too, so they don't misunderstand the message because of the packaging.

Meeting together?

As I have spent time recently reading through parts of the new testament, I have started to realise more and more that the disciples spent more and more time togehter supporting each other, encouraging each other, praying for each other, recognsing gifts and abilities in each other. they never seemed to use the phraise, Oh I would like too, but i'm to busy!!!!!!!!! they seemed to recgnise the point that working about things on their own coudl b lonely and also not necessarily bring about as much fruit as they would have liked, so working together, meeting together combatted this problem. I am sure there is something there for us to learn.

Boundaries of trust!!!!!!!

In today's society people are becoming more and more sinical in their interaction with others. And this is becoming truer and truer with young people as well. Infact I would go as far as to say that all young people are doing is showing societies sinicism in an even more real way than most other adults. When working with oung people, I am contstanly aware that they are going to push the boudaries, test me, to see how mch they can actually trust me, and it is down to me show that they can trust me totally in my relaitonshipw ith them. As long as I am not saying oen thing to them and doing another behind their back. This was deomonstrated to me a while back when some young epople tested myself and anothe youth worer by throwing stones at us, we carried on walking towards them and when they asked why, we said because we sitll wanted to be with them. The told us that most other youth workers had walked away from them even though they had not thrown stones at them. At this point our relaitonship witht hat group greew imensely. Let u realse that people will test those boundaries, but it is down to us to show that we will always show Gods love to them. god might think that with the things we say and do, we are testing his boundaries, even when we don't do it intentionally, but his love is always there, so how much of that can we show to the young people we work with.

what do we bring?

A challenging question I was once asked, was what do I bring to my work that I would want the young people to take away for themselves? And I think the greatest thing that we can offer our young people is hope!!!!!!!!!!! When Jesus was alive he brought so much hope to so many peoples lives, and I would suggest that in todays culture one fo the greatest things we can bring as Christian Youth workers is hope to the young people we work with. It is not just about looking after them, or even caring for them during the sessions we work with them, but giving them something for their future, a sense of destiny, and within that a sense of hope. Let us help people to realise that they are not facing a hopeless end, but an endless hope.

How people learn!!!!!!!!!!!

At a recent meeting to do with Extended Schools, an issue was discussed that could really change not only our youth work but also things in schools as well. We were looking at the issue of how young people learn, and whether or not the way they are taught in schools is similar to how they learn outside of school. It was decided and felt that young people learn diferently utsdie of school to the way they learn in school at times, so is this a challenge to us as youthworkers. How do we aim to get our message across, and do we actually take into account how young people take in info, or do we just look at how we take in info, or how we are able to deliver it. Somemes we just need to come out of our comfort zone, and aim to deliver info ina way that young people will be able to take it in.

Blended life!!!!!!!!

I have heard people refer to this as a balanced life, but I have become more and more convinced that when working with young people the idea of balanced life does not necessarily happen. the idea of a balanced life does, and this also helps with something we have been looking at recently, and htat is stress. If our life is more blended, IE, we have a variety of things going on in our life, and we are not constantly thinking about work, and we also have a heatlthy view of ourselves, then we are less likely to become stressed in our work. The challenge is for us as youth wrokers to find that blend, all those different things in our lives, those things that excite us and enthuse us, that when we come to work with young people, then we are excited enthusiastic people, and ot stressed and complaining people.

What gets our emotions working?

I was thinking about this, and heavily challenged about it too, whilst watching Manchester United lift their trophey on Sunday afternoon. Chelsea borrowed it, but everyone knows it belongs to us. But yet, my emotions were stirred whilst listening to the commentary, and listening to the players and Sir Alex, moved to tears almost at times. the passion that goes tinto football is amazing, and do we show the same level of passion about things that actually make a difference in life. Do we allow God that same opportunity to stirr our lives, whether to exciement or even to tears at times, do we let him touch in that way. The reality is that we probably are happy with our relaitonship with God, but do we ever ask the question, is he happy with our relaitonship with him, does he want more, could we get ore out of our relationship if we ut more in. The truth is, that many get lots out of a footy eam like United winning the premiership, but we can get so much more that affects our lives out of our relationship with God.

Responsibility!

In previous posts I have spoken about the difference between a leader and a manager, and recently I have challenged us to think about how we inspire our young people, and also to think about the things we are passionate about. the interesting thing is, that when we are called to a point of leadership, there is a resposibility that goes with that. the responsibility to inspire in a godly way, to inspire to a future that God would want for the young people we work with, a responsibility to stay close to God to hear what he says both to us, but also about the work we are involved in, but also a responsibility tothe things we get passionate about. If by being leaders we have that position to inspire, and be passionate, and thus influence, then the responsibility is ours to ensure that we are passionate about the thins that will inspire oru young people.

what does our passion show?

I heard someone speak recently, about being passionate and the affect that this would have on other people. The speaker was suggesting that our passion, in whatever it was could inspire, enthuse, and encourage those around us. so here's the challenge,what is it that we are passionate about? And do we want to infect others with our passion. Surely if we have found something that excites, inspires us, and gives us hope for our future, isn't this something to be passionate about when we are with others. People are happy to be passionate about the footy, or whatever their individual interest may be, but if we know that God is there for all, wants that relationship with all, and helps us through all situations, isn't that worth getting passionate baout as well, as all the other things that we can be passionate baout in our lives.

trusting and wise!

I have recently been looking at the idea of how we resist influences in our lives, and how we stay close to God, and live the life that he would want us to live. I have been looking at this idea with a group of young people, and one of the issues that has come up is that of people who we trust and people who are wise. Both these things are different, and the young people I was speaking with, certainly felt that they could trust youth worrs, but when I asked if they thought they were wise, they only said that some were. In our rolls as youth workers, it is important that we have that trust in place, to build relationships, but we also need to be wise, in the things we say, the activities we condone, in our actions. Are you someone who youn people trust, and are you someone whom young people would go to for advice? If you are then this is a priveleged position, but also one of responsibility. For if people think we are wise, thenthey will listen to what we say, and act upon it. So my prayer is that we constantly ask God for his wosdom in all the situations that we are faced with, and that people continue to trust us so that relationships can continue tobe built.

Searching for truth

As I spend time talking with different people, the one thing that people like to be assured of is truth. What ever they hear, what ever they are being told, they want to be asured that it is truth. If we are to people of truth, then people need to be able to trust us, and not think that we are just another crank in society. recently I have been looking at whether it is logical to believe in God with some sixth form philosophy students, and expalained where I came from and how God had done things in my life. As I explained these things, I asked the question if they trusted me, did they think I was of sound mind, or was I someone who they would class as a lier. T reaction I got was, that I had no eason to lie to this group, so they were happy to trust me, and this is the starting point to where we can go with young people. For, if they trust us, if they knwo that we are not cranks, and if they know that we can speak abut our experiences of God in our lives, then they start to talk, ask questions, but treat us as people, people they can have a relationship with as oposed to cranks who believe in something wierd. Let's be assured of what we believe, know it to be truth, and be real to who we are, so that others will listen, and we iwll listen as they alk, and together we can go on a journey of exploration, examining eividence for the existence of God.

Inspirational

When I think of all the people who have had an impact on my life, they all have one thing in common, and that is they were all inspirational. They all inspired me in one way or another, they helped me believe in me, my gifts, my abilities, the things that God wanted me to be and do. And the one thing that most of the leaders I have come across do, is inspire all the people they come into ontact with. As I speak to many different groups, whether yung people, or older people about my work, my aim is to inspire people, inspire young people to think about the Chrstian faith, to think about Jesus, and the things he has done for them, but also for older people, to inspire them that God has an amazing palan for their lives, and has a great purpose for their lives as well, but also inspire them about young people. sometimes I feel that it is our roll to inspire adults about young people, becase young people get a bad press a lot fo the time, and it isn't all young people, but there weare as youth workers, working with young people, seeing the potential recognising the leaders for the futre, spotting the gifts, and to point these out to adults is a great place to be. So when you meet people, whoever it might be do you inspire them int their lives, and even inspire them about othr people as well.

Something useful from Macd's

It isn't often you come acroos something useful necessarily from Macdonald's, but I thought this was a useful thing to know. Aparently in all of their franchises, they have bt openzone internet wireless facilities. What a great idea. Not only is this useful for those of us who do enjoy the odd burger or two, but here's a thought, as a youth worker, and one who elieves in being where young people are, why not be in Macd's with your computer, maybe a christian game or two on the laptop, or even write a talk, so when young people aproach you you can ask their thoughts there and then. How much use could we as youth workers get from thsi facility that Macd's offer, loads I feel.

Doings vs Beings

this thought is certainly not a new one, but I would say it is possibly one of the most important ones that I have learnt throughout my 12 years or so as a christian Youth worker, and you always need to remind yourself of some things from time to time. who are we as people? what gives us our quality as people? Is it by the things we do, or even by the amount o things we do? Or is it purely just by being the people we were created to be. so many times I have come across people asking questions of leaders like, so how busy are you? How full is your idary? almost to say, that the busier you are are, or the fuller the diary the better you are as a person. I reemember a leader I worked with once getting into trouble, because he put into his diary one day a month that he was psending on his own with god, and he also put into his diary time he was spending with his family. People saw the day with God as a day he was not doing what he should have been doing. God created as human beings, and out of being the people god wants us to be, then we do things, but the doings come out of the beings, not the beings comng out of the doings. Let's gain some perspective and realise that our actions come out of our beings, and we are not justified by our actions but by bieng the people that God wants us to be.

Vision and relationships!

There are many things that a youth worker has to do, and there are many things that people expect a youth worker to be able to do. Sometimes the thing that is expected gets in the way of the thing we are meant to be doing. People always want to know when are we going to see all these young people in church? When are you going to bring them all along? When sometimes the better questions would be: How are the relationships building with the young epople you are working with? Are those young people still asking questions and wanting to know more? If we focus too much on actually getting the people into Church we loose the focus of the relaitonship we are building with them. Sometimes we just needto go on a journey with the young people we are working with, keep that relationship, keep the dialogue going, and just see where it goes over a period of time. If you start puting time lengths on relationships, then you start taking away from the relationship and all the people become are numbers in your church.

Biological sense as well as Theological advice

I have just been spending some time talking to another youth worker and neither of us seem to be stopping too much at the moment. Lots of things on, and things to do. time always seems to be able to be filled up rather easily. God suggests to us, tourgh his creation that we should rest on the 7th day, as he himself did curing the creation. He also suggests this during the 10 commandments in Exodus. I came across this praise somewhere else which I think somes this ll up, and I will leave this post to these words: inadequate rest means not fully there.

Commitment

As I review my time as a youth worker, as I do from time to time, the one thing that seems to always stick out in my mind is the impact that commitment has upon young people's lives. There seems to be a lack of continuityin many people's lives today, but yet, as I reflect upon my work, I realise that the time when things have changed in young people's lives is generally when I have gone that extra mile and demonstrated a higher level of commitment than maybe they are used too. How far are we prepared to go in our commitment to young people? And I ask this question only to provoke thought into how much change would we want to see in the young people we meet.

play on words

Came across this on another blog that I visit most days, and thought there was loads in it. I won't go and say anything about the words, I will just let the words speak for themselves. Beware of an undevotional thoeology, or an untheological devotion.

Who has the impact?

As I have spent some time thinking about who has made an impact in my life, and who I see impacting the lives of other people, it occurs to me that those who make the greatest impact are those who first of all seek no notariety for the actions, and secondly, those wo believe in the people they are relationg too. I have come across so many people who would never believe themselves to be youth workers, but the way they interact with young people is absolutely amazing. they listn, they talk, they interact, they accknowledge the young person as a person, and they treat them in a way that does not judge. the challenge that Ihave started to feel is that we cannot necessarily automatically decide who is a youth worker and who is not just by their qualifications, or even by their words, but look at how they interact with people and how they bring thebest out of people. Actions really do speak louder than words some times.

Manager, Leader, worker

As I spend more and more years in youth work, I realise the different rolls that are required, and I also see why many systems start to fail, as they put the wrong people in the wrong places. There are deffinite distinctions between a leader, a manager and a worker, and all are necessary, but unlikely to fall into the one person. this is why rolls need to be spread out amongst people accordng to peoples gifts. The leader is there to give direction, inspiration, accountability, ideas. A manager is there to ensure that the project runs smoothly, that people are where they should be, that things are in place to enable the work to happen. A worker is here to fulfil the needs of the project, to ensure that all the ideas are put into practice to the best of their ability. this is not to say, that a manger cannot be a worker, or a leader cannot be worker, because they probably can, but a leader is generlly not a manager, and managers are not always good leaders. these rolls need to be identified to enable projects to run smoothly and to the best of the ability fo those involved

Being Prophetic

Being a youth leader has made me think recently about the prophetic nature of our work. The Prophets of old spoke into a culture, into a system that had drifted away from God. I someitmes see us as youth leaders in that same roll, speaing into a culture, not just a youth culture, but modern day culture, and trying to enable people to see the reality of God's love. But not only are we prophetic, but also the young people we work with. They can also be prophetic into their own culture, through the music they listen too, the films they watch, the way they express things is prophetic I would argue into a ulture and society that no longer listens to God. The question is are we as youth leaders going to enable young people to have that voice, not quieten it, but enable it to speak out to thier friends and culture, and bring our society back to listen to God. Lt's just listen to our young people some times, not jsut their words, but their heart, where they are coming from, that way we will hear so much more, and let's give our young people the opportunity to be prophetic into their culture.

Speaking into a culture

I am more and more convinced as time goes on about the roll of the youth worker to be a prophet in a couple of different rolls. 1: The youth leader speaks into the culture of the church to enable the young people they coonnect with to be able to connect with god. This means that the youth worker sometimes has to speak out and change things, even when it means they are iscolated by other memebers of the Church. 2: The youth leader also speaks to the culture that the young people exist in. they need to understand the culture without necessarily giving into it svalues. But to actually go to that culture, challenge some of its values, but enable people through some of the elements of that culture come into rlationship witht he living god. The Matrix film is a great example of these rolls that the youth worker exists in. As Neo and the others reach in to the Matrix, but at the same time challenge their own world of Zion to ralise what needs to happen. Are we prepared to step up to this roll?

Privacy vs public

I was thinking through this issue recently, where I gave a number of young people the opportunity to respond to the Christian message. It was not until after the event had finished that people told me that some of the young people had responded in the way that I had hoped they would. If we give people the opportunity to decide something is tha down to their own privacy, or do we have to make it oh so public on them. My thoughts were, that ultimately if a young person responds to the Christian message, that is between them and god, but then arises the bigger issue of howdo we follow up on this decision. If someone responds they need to now what they can do about their decision, and they need a little guidence. so my feeling is becoming more on the balanced side of things, and yes let them make that personal private decision, but then enter into conversation with them afterwards and see if they opn up about their decision and engage further with them.

Entertainment vs development

When I discuss youth work with various people heir initial thought seems to be that the roll of the youth worker is purely to be the person who puts on events and entertains young people to keep them out of trouble. I think there is a certain level of entertainment that is needed and required within youthwork but entertainment itself is not the end goal. Is it possible to entertain young people and develop them at the same time? I would argue yest it is possible, and also necessary. I am aware that when i go in schools and take lessons or assemblies, if I was just interested in feeding information then I would probably get nowhere. But if I go to relate and entertain, butwithin that, develop, I would argue that young people are more likely to take something away from what I have done with them, if they have found it to be entertaining as wlel. So let's not just entertain, or purely look at development, but realise that if young people enjoy being somewhere or doing something and are entertained by it, then they are likely to take something away from it as well.

service leadership

By the people that we are, and the calling that is placed upon us, service is an integral part of our leadership. firstly we serve God, the one who called us to where we are and the people we work with There is little point in us being somehwere where God does not want us to be, or we will not be effective in our work. So I would suggest that youth work is a calling, not somehting that should be done, just out of good will, but out of an accknowlegement of that would be where God would want us to be. Secondly, we serve our young people. If we are serving God, then this service comes almost as second nature. And when I talk about service I am not just suggesting we pander to their wants, but mabe we look further to their needs rather than their wants, and if we serve them, then we offer them what they need. Also thourgh our service we offer guidence as we care about where they are going i their lives. to serve is not be trampled on, but to follow God to where he wants us to be, and also serve our young people in their needs and guide them to a prupose and a future that God would want for them.

suffering leadership

The suffering side of leadership can often follow on from the sacreficial side. What you sacrefice can often lead to suffering. But were we ever told that we would not suffer? Did Christ not suffer as well, not only at the cross, but also throughout his life, did he not suffer with diffetrent relationships and being rejected for example. In many instances the things we do will brin us sufering for the greater cause that we serve, and I willdeal with service anothe day, but for here how much suffering are we prepared to go through to see our young people come into relationship Jeus and see them fulfill the prupose that god has for them. I am not suggesting that we go looking for suffering, but I am prepared to suggest that if we follow wha god wants us to do, then there is a likelihood of suffering attahced to that and we have to be prepared to face that, accept that, and even live with it.

sacreficial leadership

This follows on from where I left off yesterday. In that the leadership that Christ would call us too is a sacreficial one and not necessarily a power driven one. Within youth work this is porbably something of a second nature to many people, as many sacrefices hae to be made to enable good youth work to take place. Sacrefices will come in many shapes and forms, such as what I referred to in a previous posting as a blended life rather than a balanced life, as the life of a yoth worker is rarely balanced at a ll. But the reality is that sacrefices are not often made just by us, but also by the peole around us, such as family and riendships. Just a thought, but but what sacrefices do we make, and what sacrefices is it reasonable for ohters to expect us to make.

The trap of leadership

Here are many issues within this aspect of leadership, and I hope to look at a few of them this coming week on here. The thing I want to look at today is the biggest trap of all. In many aspects fo work and life to reach the top is the goal of people. That is when you know you have made it, and that is when people should start respecting you and you can ask things of people. I would suggest that Christian ladership is not necessarily the same. Is it the postion that we crave, or the amount of infuece we crave, or do we keep our eyes on the goal that god wants us to achieve. many leaders today will want to reach the top of their profession to be seen there, surely our roll is not quite the same

Mentoring into who?

It goes without saying that one of our aims as youth leaders is to mentor our young people for their future. But when we mentor them, who is it that we are hoping that they turn into? May times when I see people being mentorred I often see them turn into their mentors. And when I am not saying that that is neceessarily a bad thing, it doesn't enable the young person to become themself. surel within mentorring our aim is to mentor our young people into the gifts and tallents and abilities that they have, using all their wonderful atributes, rather than passing ours on to them. Are we wanting to mentor young ople into new and dynamic people, or into clones of us? Surely the best thing within mentorring our young people is to give them a wide variety of experiences, and then allow them the freedom to express themselves in the way d manner that is apropriate to them. So when we are mentorring, let's lok at the ong person first, the gifts they have, the abilities they pocess, and le's see how we can develop those further, rather than turning them into mini-me's, after all a new generation needs new types of people and that will also include new gifts as well.

what is it we model to young people?

This is possibly one of the hardest elements to our work, in that all that we are, all that we say, and all that we do models something to the young people we work with. This psting is very much linked to the posting i I made on mirroring a couple of days ago, in that the person we are models and mirrors something to the young people we work with. If we are to be true authenticworkers then our relationship with the young people we meet needs to demonstrate the same principles and elements as any other relationship we have. We are not being true to ourselves or the young people we wrk with, if we try and be something different to them than what we are with other people. So what is it about our lives that we want to model to young people? ple What is it from our lives that we want the young people to pick up for their own lives? we need to beleive in the people we are, and the values we demontrate so that others can see that they are real and true, and that is where relaitonships have an impact on ech other. So let's take time and reflect on who we are and what is it that weactually model to the young people we work with?