All Issues articles – Page 40
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Issues
Time for a renaissance
When I reflect on the last quarter-century of youth work, there are lessons that I keep learning, lessons that I should have learned and lessons that if I don’t learn soon then I’m really in trouble! I’ve learnt that you can’t give away what you don’t have. Your own spiritual life and the investment you put in are more important than anything else you say or do. If you haven’t got anything real, then what’s the whole thing about? Young people smell that inauthenticity in a second. I’m constantly reminded by that. I’ve also learnt to be prepared to take risks to innovate. Culture is changing so fast. It’s so easy to become settled in your assumptions about young people, settled in your methods and settled in your theology. I don’t think we live in an era when we can afford to be settled in any one of those.
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IssuesRecruiting Volunteers
Finding and keeping your volunteers is one of the most important tasks of a youth worker. Chris Curtis sheds some light on the process and suggests ways of building a healthy and lasting volunteer team.
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IssuesXLP receives royal visit
Urban youth charity XLP welcomed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to meet with and hear from some of the young people they work with.
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Issues
The real ‘youth service’
When I first worked for a church, people used to talk about the ‘youth service’. By this they meant a church service led by the young people. I think we have made huge ground over the years in beginning to understand that the rest of the world uses the term ‘youth service’ to mean something completely different. It’s not a religious service that takes place in our church building on a Sunday night once a month: it’s how we get involved with local services and become part of the service that’s offered to young people across a town. One of the huge changes for me over the years is becoming so much more involved in delivering youth services to young people in the communities where we work. I don’t see that as separate to, or unconnected to, the work we do in building a youth group within a church.
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