Part of being a youth worker is the commitment to being a lifelong learner. Learning is a process, not an outcome. Much like our understanding of God, we do not arrive at new learning and settle down. Rather, we continue to reflect and refine our understanding in the light of new experiences.
We do ourselves a disservice if we choose to view learning as simply filling up an empty jar. In this metaphor for learning, we can chase courses and training opportunities to fill us up and once we’ve completed the course and got the certificate, we are done. This is a very passive approach. Perhaps a better metaphor is that of a pioneering sea captain sailing into uncharted waters to find new routes and new worlds. Navigating through these waters will often bring both storms and safe harbours. In order to maintain the voyage, the ship will need constant maintenance and repair. As with learning, new experiences will bring new challenges and will require the seeking out of new approaches. Lifelong learning is a necessary outlook with which to outwork the mission and ministry we are called to.
Learning can be interesting, inspiring and fun. I once chatted to a guy for an hour about concrete. He was an engineering student and was so passionate about concrete that it was truly informative and inspiring to listen to him. Learning something new awakens a new connection to the world around you. Learning lifts your eyes and refocuses you, helping to sustain you through your navigation of the waters by reminding you of the big picture of your journey.
Open-Space Technology
The Gathering is the annual meeting of StreetSpace projects who are all engaged in pioneering youth work. (Disclosure: I work for Frontier Youth Trust and I’m part of the team that runs The Gathering and I think it’s great. I’m not writing to promote it but rather examine how it offers a different way of providing learning opportunities to youth workers.)
The Gathering is a residential weekend in the spring, born out of the StreetSpace community of youth workers wanting to meet and share their struggles, encourage each other and be challenged by new ideas. There are no speakers and no themes decided before the weekend. Instead the time is guided by a participative process known as ‘open-space technology’. This allows for groups to engage in a number of issues around a broad theme. The group set the agenda for their time together based on the issues they are dealing with. Some previous themes have been:
How do we talk to young people about sex?
How do we share love in a hateful world? How can we close the gap between young people and power?
How can we bring creativity to the stale and boring bits of youth work?
How can busy youth workers rest better? How can we empower young people to lead social change?
How can we be overflowing within incarnational work?
How do we embed long-term change?
The agreed topic is written into a timetable. The person who raised the issue then leads the discussion, ensuring all participants’ voices are heard. With the open-space technology method there is an understanding that those who turn up are the right people and that if you’re in an unhelpful group discussion, you’re welcome to go and join another group. This process ensures that relevant topics get discussed. It also removes the need for experts, which can be a divisive issue. What is important is that there is an agreement that everyone’s learning is self-directed. Each individual takes the initiative and responsibility for what happens, so people get out only as much as they’re willing to put in.
Response
All the topics are framed as a question, which helps the groups to come to a response. At The Gathering we ask each group to present back to the whole community as a gift. This allows each group to be creative and inventive in their response to the questions.
In 2015, The Gathering was held in May, shortly after the Conservatives had won the election. Many of the youth workers attending work with young people on the margins of society. People were really worried about how the new government’s response to the crisis of austerity would affect young people. There was a general feeling of despondency and demoralisation and as such, one theme that arose was, ‘How do we find hope in a famine of hope?’ Through our conversations we looked at how God’s people hold on to his promises in dark times. Our gift back to the community was to write our own lamentation liturgy for the place we found ourselves in:
There is a heavy weight upon us,
Austerity is around us,
People are hungry,
and we are in a famine of hope.
It’s a struggle to get out of bed
While others have no place to rest their head.
I will climb into the pit with you,
Will you climb into the pit with me?
And we will find each other there,
As we descend, we will descend into our memories
We will remember when...
(Take the time to remember hope)
And we will remember that
hope is dangerous,
So we will hope dangerously,
Dream naively,
Disrupt constructively,
Slog tirelessly,
Climb together,
Carry each other,
Shake each other out of our despair.
Hope will lift us out.
We recited this liturgy to the community during feedback time. As we came to the last line we moved around the room, held people by the arms and physically shook them while declaring, ‘Hope will lift us out!’ It was very moving.
In another session the topic was about young people and homelessness. One project in particular had dealt with a number of young people continually sofa-surfing because of complicated housing benefit systems. Their gift back to the community was to design a sofa-surfing campaign with inflatable sofas springing up in towns to highlight the issue. The group have since sought a number of funding bids in order to make these ideas happen.
Jesus’ ministry lasted three years; three years to make disciples that would make more disciples to spread the message of the gospel around the world. It almost doesn’t seem enough time and yet 2,000 years later there are libraries full of books on how we engage in the mission and ministry of our faith. While we’ll always be inspired by the generations who have gone before us, it is us who live and minister in the unique context we find ourselves. With a few of the main training conferences taking a break this year, we need to be more self-directed with our learning.
Experiment Yourself
Run your own event
One year, in the absence of a local retreat, a few of us organised our own retreat. We shared the cooking and agreed that we would bring a reflective activity for the group. We had a really great time and God spoke to us all in a time of uncertainty. Why not get a group together for a day or two, hand out roles and see what happens? Many big conferences were started by like-minded Christians getting together to seek God for a weekend.
Local training
Talk to your local statutory youth worker and find out what local youth work training is available. You may not get the theological input but the training can up-skill you in areas such as mental health, sexual health and alcohol awareness. It’s also an opportunity to connect with youth workers outside the Christian bubble and could be the start of some joined-up work.
Outside the box
It’s easy to keep attending events within our comfort zone. It’s easy to follow people on Twitter and read books that confirm our own point of view. By doing this we can miss out on inspiration and challenge from different traditions. Be brave: if your favourite conference isn’t happening this year, why not push yourself to try something different? There are lots of regional and fringe events which exhibit other ways of thinking.
Dylan Barker is the resources manager for StreetSpace and Frontier Youth Trust.
