Doing detached youth work alone is difficult but exciting. I feel more dependent on God than ever, but there are times when I long to see more significant changes in the lives of the young people I’m visiting. I want them to encounter the Holy Spirit on their estates and at youth club. I want to create a safe space where they can choose to interact with God themselves.
In early 2014, a couple of youth workers invited me to a planning meeting for a new event. I felt there were enough events going on in London at the time, but both lads had such a passion for Jesus and mission, that I convinced myself it was worth going along.
Gathered around a table was a bunch of youth workers reaching out to their local estates, meeting with broken families and opening their church doors to run youth clubs. The vision was simple: to reach unchurched young people with the gospel. We acknowledged that, individually, we could only have a lasting impact on a small group of youngsters each year. However, with our collective experience and knowledge, we could explore broaderreaching strategies. We all agreed that by pooling resources we could create a one-off event that would benefit all of our youngsters and outreach work.
Our goals included:
1 - New Experiences - inviting youngsters who rarely left their boroughs to a unique event (offering a football cage, live music and free hot dogs, all for a minimal entry fee).
2 - Deepen Relationships - youth workers could bring their youngsters and focus on getting to know them.
3 - Share the gospel - young people that would never come to church could hear the gospel message for the first time, or, for those linked to churches, from someone other than their youth worker.
4 - Follow Up - youth workers would have the opportunity to discuss the content with youngsters at, and after, the event.
As full-time, church-based youth workers, we didn’t have much extra time or budget, but with support from our pastors and networks, we all agreed to take on a small part of the organising. A friend gave us some great promotional template material for free (their event was called IGNITE - so now ours was too!). St Sepulchre’s Church, five minutes from St Paul’s Cathedral, believed in our vision and offered us their venue free of charge, Soul Survivor gave us ‘mates’ rates’ on a football cage, St Paul’s Ealing brought clubstyle worship and lighting and Prince from 29th Chapter agreed to speak for nothing. Through a combination of friends’ incredible generosity, mates’ rates and our own church equipment, IGNITE London was born on 11th July 2014. We had no idea how many youngsters would show up but continued to pray and sense God’s favour throughout the planning. We were humbled when 200 youngsters came from 17 different London projects. More incredible still, a handful of youngsters became Christians and we stood amazed at what God had done, uniting his church through a handful of youth workers.
Fast forward to today, and we’ve got our fourth event on February 26th 2016. We’ve learnt to avoid scheduling events during Muslim festivals, to never assume parking in central London is free, and that youth workers often feel the need to ‘follow the call’ and get ordained. (We lost three pioneers of IGNITE months after our first event. Though that’s not to question the call!) Other than that, the venue, name and vision remain the same: to reach unchurched young people with the gospel.
5 keys to engaging an unchurched audience:
1. Ask the Holy Spirit for his specific strategy
2. Play football
3. Always offer prayer
4. Share personal stories (if you can hold attention for more than ten minutes you’re a great communicator
5. Love the hell out of them
Dan Crook is youth and community worker at Holy Trinity Swiss Cottage.
