This year’s summit, organised by Youthscape, Urban Saints and Premier Youthwork, looked at the theme of ‘Open Up’, and invited contributors to challenge delegates to open up to new ideas and practices that might shape their youth ministry. The main day was preceeded by YWS Intensive, an early day led by Kenda Creasy Dean, who looked at the state of faith in young people, drawing from the research in her book Almost Christian.
One session at the event explored how Christian youth ministry should respond to young people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, or who are transgender. Delegates heard from LGBT young people who had been affected by rejection from the Church, and were challenged about how their youth ministry should respond. Chris Curtis, CEO of Youthscape and one of the organisers of the event said: ‘For us this was the best Youth Work Summit yet. It was great to have such a diverse range of speakers - all of whom brought something unique to the day - and to have such a broad range of subjects addressed from the stage. We heard from some phenomenal youth work legends; we also gave a platform to some brilliant new voices. Perhaps the most exciting thing about the day was that it felt like a conversation rather than a conference; there was a genuine sense of dialogue and discussion throughout, and we’re excited to see where some of the conversations begun at the Summit end up.’
