A few weeks ago I was interviewed by Premier Youthwork. The main purpose of the interview was to talk about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and young people. Jamie and I were having a great chat and as part of that I made the comments about youth work that have caused some controversy and offence. When I read the interview I was horrified by what I said! While Jamie reported my words accurately, my horror stems from the fact that I said a lot of things in shorthand and therefore the way I communicated reflects neither my heart nor meaning.
I do have many concerns about the state of Christian youth work in this country just as I have many concerns about the state of the church. However, I in no way want to attack or denigrate the amazing commitment and service of our full time and volunteer youth leaders. Every summer at Soul Survivor we make a point of honouring the army of youth leaders who bring their groups; we see their hard work and how amazingly they serve their young people, often at a great personal sacrifice. My response in the interview was so shorthand that it was misleading. Here follows the reply I wish I had given:
I think there has been a drop in the quality of Christian youth work in the last few years for two reasons. Firstly the church is not investing in youth work and youth workers as it once did. Many full time posts are disappearing and many volunteer youth workers have told me that their churches will no longer contribute to them attending training events. Over the past few years we have seen the Youth Work Conference, Youth Work Summit and SoulNet retreat all cease, partly because a drop in delegates at these events made them financially and practically difficult to sustain.
We need to invest in our youth workers and provide training opportunities in theology and communication skills for both paid and volunteer leaders.
Secondly, within the Anglican church, a combination of the push for ordination as well as the fact that there is no clear career path for youth workers has meant that many of our mature youth workers have left their posts in order to be ordained. We need to look at how we can provide more security for youth workers and one suggestion I have made is using the order of deacon as a recognised title and office for youth workers and not just a step towards Anglican priesthood.
We need to invest in our youth workers and provide training opportunities in theology and communication skills for both paid and volunteer leaders. I regularly meet young people who ask basic discipleship questions, often around the area of sex and relationships but also regarding personal spirituality and how they can grow in their relationship with Jesus. I wonder if we could be doing a better job in helping youth workers to address these key discipleship issues. As Martin and Jamie both said in their responses to my comments I think it’s absolutely vital that each of us involved in youth work continually develop and deepen a close personal relationship with Jesus. We should be leading by example, getting out our Bibles with our young people and grappling with what it means to live as a follower of Jesus in today’s culture. We need to be challenging ourselves and our young people to be holy, radical disciples. And now more than ever the church needs to be intentionally investing in and supporting youth workers as they seek to support their young people. For all the challenges we are facing, there are many heroic youth workers, both paid and voluntary, who are making a huge difference in the lives of countless young people.
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