Ever on a break?

It is one of those amazing things with youth work that none of us ever seem to be properly on a break. Even when I had met some friends in town for a birthday party, and was walking back, some young people still stopped me to talk about what I had done in school. When we went shopping to get our daughters some shoes, the assistants in the shop had remembred me from school also, so never of duty. But the flip side is that it says something about our work, something about our relaitonship with young people when they actually come and chat to us, even when they don't have too. Is this the same with our relationship with God, we don't have too spend time with him, but hey he really does enjoy us coming and chatting to him, no matter what the issue. So let's enjoy the time the young people come and chat to us, but hey, always remember it does help to get away and have a break as well.

Body language and chat rooms

Sounds like a strange one yes? Well you migt well be quite right, but it is something tht has struck me over this last while, for youth workers and others that have any association with young people, that the more time people spend in chat rooms, and involve themselves in chat room discussions, the worse their ody language is. chat rooms enable you to have quick discussions, without the face to face interaction, and you only have to give that quick response, so demonstrating interest, or showing that your attention is not evided is impossible in a chat room, as noone knows if you are making a cup of tea, chatting to someone else, making the dinner, watching TV, or doing a whole hoast of other things. So my conclusion is that the more time that people spend in chat rooms and discuss things, the worse their body language is in reality, and the less they demonstrate interest in others in real face to face relationships. this is a challenge to all of us who work with other people.

Following up on responses

follow up to any event is one of those things which first of all is vital if the event is going to be a success, but it is also one of those things which can be remakrably difficult to get right in all circumstances. Is it better, to suggest something to young people and wait and see how many actually sign up before you make it happen, or is it better to put something on and see how many come along to it? My own persoanl opinion is to put something on and let young people know about it, rather than just waiting for them to sign up. If something is there, organised and ready, they are more likely to come along. But do you have any experience of this kind of thing, and what works best for you.

Remaining true

Ths is always a tough situation when things start to go really well. Recently I have been faced with a couple fo situations where things have gone extremely well, better than I could have expected, and have brought results and possibilities that I would never have dreamt of. It takes a lot of work to remain true to the call, to the work that I know I am meant to be involved with. I enjoy the geat things that God has done, and I look forward to the great things that God is going to do next, but will enjoy the great things he is doing at the moment. So let me encourage you, to stay true to the call of working with young people, and enjoy the great moments, give thanks to God for all the great things that take place, but don't become arrogant, or fall into the pit of pride, but smile, enjoy, and keep true, and always remember what God has called us too, and continue to look forward to the next thing as well as enjoying the moment.

When young people face trouble

This is possibly a contravertial posting this morning, but I have been watching the news and noted that they have arrested a young person on suspecion of murder last year. Of course if it is true then the young person needs to take whatever punishment society decides is appropriate, but do they also need help? Do they also need to know that God loves them, and there is a second chance, and even moe chances in life with God? I imagine a number of christians will walk away from the person who committed the crime, and walk to the people who are sufering from the crime, but I would suggest that the person commiting the crime also needs to know that God is still there and God still wants them to knwo that he loves them and wants that relaitonship with them. This is our challenge s youth workers, because young people will not always do what we expect, or hope they will, but at the same time we need to stay with them and support and encourage them, even through those really tough moments.

Inspiring young people

When 4 girls approach you and suggest they want to put on an event in their school, and make it an evangelistic event, you know that you are going to be in an exciting place. the challenge, and the great thing is, to guide, advise, but most of all to inspire those young people, because once they have seen the event take place, then they will go and make a huge difference throughout the world. We should not just dismiss, but examine, inspire, and encourage and see what we can do to put on the event that they want. The event went ahead that I spoke about at the beginning, and the outcome is still being worked out, but we know that it has had an amazing response.

Linking with schools

Last week we took a huge risk, we put on an evangelistic event for a whole school. The event was dreampt up by 4 girls in the school, and we got alongside them and supported them in the venture. We had a band, Superhero, who I would reccommend to anyone who wants decent lads, playing amazing Christian music, and prepared to get to know people as well, not big into the celebrity style of things. I spoke, and we had so many young people, and staff just getting involved and enjoying a quality Christian event. It worked well in a small school of under 800 pupils, but also worked well, because of a longstanding link with the school. Is this something you could do in your area. We also had follow up cards so girls who were challenged by the event could fill them out afterwards, and we are waiting to see how many actually filled these cards out. We have also got a discussion group in place to folow up anyone who may be interested. It was a great success.

Making it relevant

It i interesting when I chat to young people, they don't always think that the Bible, or some of the guidelines are still relevant today. But once you engage them in a discussion about their lives, and about the guidelines the Bible suggests they soo see that some guidelines do actually make sense to them in their lives today. let me suggest to you to look at the 10 commandments and see how you can make them relevant to young people today, I am writing a programme for youthworkers, so if anyone would liek tojoin in and hlep e write it, then please do get in touch through. andy@rolltherock.org.uk chat soon, and keep it releant.

Online troubles!!!!!

So have peole seen the issues recently about social netowkring sites, and also games for young people. I now that this is something that I blog abot regularly, but it is something that concerns me more than a lot of things as far as young people, and the protection of young people is concerned. It went to awhole different level lst night, when watching panorama, and they suggested that sectarian troubles still existed in Northern Ireland, due to comments left on Bibo and other places on the internet. Are we as youth workers, and parents eally aware of the issues and troubles that young people face on the internet.

Reclassification

Just in case some of you were not aware of it, there is a discussion going on at present as to whether they should reclassify canibis. Some are wanting it to stay as a class C drug, and others think the danger is to great and it should be reclassified as a class B drug. All that I can suggest, is that if the issue comes up within your yoth group, that you get some good drug training material, and maybe just point out to the young people, that the Bible regards the body as a temple for the Holy Spirit to reside in, so why would we want to damage a temple. How much do we value the temple that is our body. there are various sites, such as Talk to Frank that can provide good information, but I would suggest if the issue comes up, a frank, and open discussion about the situation might be a good way to start the process.

deconstructing

Here is a challnege, how far are we prepared to deconstruct, all that we do in our work to ensure that it is as pure, and right as possible. Are we prepared to deconstruct all our work, and ll our faith, to ensure that the reasons behind our work, and the work itself is as pure and right as possible. Do we deconstruct our faith to ensure that there is little tradition, but mainly pure relaitonship with god, and all that he wants us to do in our jobs. This is not a suggestion that we throw everything out that we do and believe, but it is a bit of a suggestion for a spiritual and work mot if you like.

the ratings questin?

Recent news aricles suggest that games should be rated by age in the same way that films are. do we think that this would help our young people, would they pay atteention to it, and here's the big one, what difference would it make to what we provide for our young people in outh clubs and places? Would we or could we stick to the rtings that they might put on games. It's a challenge and a thought, because if they rate those games, and part of me thinks they should, then we have to take that into account in our youth work as well.

Different situations!!!!

Isn't it interesting the different responses from different young people when you put them in situations they aren't necessarily used too. Let me encourage you over this term, let your young people experience different things, face new situations, and then reflect on these with them, and just see what their responses are. You never know, they might just enlighten you as well.

positive and negative

How many of you can think of situations where something negative can be turned into something positive? Hee we are at good friday,and the murder of Jesus on this day is refered to as a good day. Of course this is true, but can you imagine being there on that day, could you think of what was happening as good? Are there things today, in our lives, or in our work, that we think are bad, tough or wrong, but yet, they just might be good?

Salt or light?

Here is an interesting question as far as our youth work is concerned. Because to me a light attracts, it stands out trying to attract people to it, whereas salt actually flavours, gets involved with what it is changing. So which approach do we have for our youth work, are we the light attracting people, or are we the sat that is involved in theirlives and flavouring what is happening in their life? Interesting thought?

How they speak

I was recently having an interesting conversation with a taxi driver, yes indeed, a very interesting one. He was interested in the work that I do with young people, and wanted to know more about it. We got on to the subject of how people view young people, and the way they are, and he made a point in the way they speak that I had not thought off, but is quite obvious really. Sometimes people will judge young people for being loud, and always shouting, r wanting to put their point across and this taxi driver suggested that rather than being awkward, or ignorant, just maybe that is the only way that they can get themselves heard at home. I thought thiat this was a really interesting idea, and will be following this up in other work that I do at some point. Just makes you think, that the way people appear on the outside, may be because of other reasons, as oposed to the reasons tat come to yor mind straight away.

Still have things to learn

This is one of the amazing things about our job as youthworkers. Even if we are the people leang the session and the person leading the young people, I don't think that any of us would say that we have all the right answers at the right time. The great, and yet challenginthing about our job is that different situations, experiences and attitudes all bring different things to our life and our job. So is it wrong for me to suggest that we should not addopt the position of knwoing everything when we work with young people,but allow ourselves also to learn, especially if we are commiting ourselves to go on a jounrey with them through life.

The challenging questons?

I was in a class in a school recently and they had a few minutes at the end of the lesson, so I asked if anyone had any questions. Daft, I know, of course they did, and the questions they had were deep meaningful and challenging. What I was left with, was the thought of the stuf I had done in the lesson may have meant somethng to them, but they also had their own quesitons, their own exploration to go on, and was I trying to teach them what I wanted them to know, or was I trying to help them along that journey of exploration. Wat do we all do, do we give thoughts, and ideas, or do we see where our young people are going on their journey and try and impact that journey with meaningful stuff? Jesus always seemed to meet people in that journey, and engage with where they were,and where they needed to be, and I want to aim to be in that place as well.

All in a story

So which menas more to our young people today, a picture or a story. I would suggest that young people today love telling sotries, they love telling us what they have done during a day, or over the weekend, and they tell it in such expressive manners. Maybe we need to let our young people express themselves in a manner that they are confrotable with, ie that of stories, and allow them to express their stories and tell them.

What works?

I have recently had the pleasure of visiting a youth work not to far from where I live. They seem to have a thriving work going on with about 40 yong people on their books. When I sat down and chatted to the workers there, I came aware of thee issues that seem to have made a difference tot his work. I wonder if they could make a difference elsewhere? 1: consistancy, they do nt put the workers on a rota, the young people know who is going to be there week in week out, and this seems to demonstrate, reliability, and also the fact that the young people are worth being there for every week. 2: Relationship, this is certainly born out of the first one, consistancy. Because the more consistant you are, the more you can build relaionship, and the more you build relationship the greater the impact of the work, and the greater the trust, and all sorts of things can develop from there. 3: Driven by Youth, The young people in the group have asked for a separate Bible study during the week, and have come up with a whole range of questins and ideas that they wish to pursue. although the workers are there, and offer protection, relaitonshioship, consistancy, and to an extent guidence, the young people are allowed to develop their relationship with God, and not rely on others, and this seems to have made a huge impact on the lives of the young people that are there.