- Young people are scary - they are loud and bolshy and frankly quite intimidating a lot of the time.
- I don’t like high ropes courses (these seem to be a vital part of contemporary youth work). I once did one when I was a young person; I got half way around, freaked out and cried hysterically. Never again.
- I’m passionate about pastoral care, but I have no idea how to navigate teenage problems because…
- I hated being a young person - I was ecstatic when I hit 20 and was finally away from the teenage years that everyone claimed would be the best of my life - I have no desire to revisit them.
I was firmly attached to these beliefs throughout three years at Bible college and the awkward post-graduation job searches. Youth work seemed like an unwieldy beast and I avoided it like the plague. I don’t think I’m alone in my fear of youth work. So often, all we can see are the scary bits. We might think we are too old, too uncool or just plain scared of teenagers!
Then I offered to do some administration for a youth work project. Strictly administration, no youth work. It was great: I got to colour code and co-ordinate, organise and oversee.
Even now, I’m not sure how it happened. I wrote the odd bit of teaching material, visited a few schools, did some mentor matching. There were no messy games, the young people I met whilst sometimes a little(!) rowdy were also switched on and carrying burdens far too heavy for their shoulders to bear.
The teenage problems were, to be honest, few and far between. The young people I worked with during my time first administrating, and then co-ordinating the project were often fighting for the rights of the parents they cared for and all of them were trying to navigate life when it hurts whether because of a breakup or a bereavement.
The more I got to know them, the more I began to ache for them.
Galatians 6:2 says: ‘Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’
It began to dawn on me that bearing one another’s burdens and teaching our young people to best bear what life throws at them through the life of faith is one of the greatest callings of youth ministry. And perhaps, the fact that I had hated my own teenage years so much was something that I could use to bring hope to other young people hiding behind their smiles, because they’re told that these are the best years of their lives.
Last week Jill Rowe challenged us to build deep and long and I can’t help but think that if we are building deep and long we need to casting our net far and wide for youth work volunteers; offering our young people spiritual grandmothers and grandfathers who can teach them deep spirituality, aunties and uncles who will help them balance work life and faith.
Youth work is one of those things we think should be left for the paid youth worker and a few ex-young people— if we are over twenty-five we have nothing to say to young people and we certainly don’t want to do a high ropes course (not that that is limited to people over twenty-five).
We couldn’t be more wrong.
We need to be inter-generational (a buzzword, I know) and calling each other and our young people to ask the toughest of questions.
It’s true that not everyone is called to work with young people. We don’t need a church of people all doing the same job. What is true that we are all called to get stuck into the family of God in one way or another, modelling what it means to be held by God when everything else is falling apart.
Discipleship is not a one-(wo)man job. It’s a church-wide job to set an example and to teach out of our mistakes. You don’t need to be a youth worker to do youth work.
If you don’t know if you can do youth work - the likelihood is that you already do it.
- If you’re praying for young people doing exams, you’re doing youth work.
- If you’re going along to cook for a youth weekend away, you’re doing youth work.
- If you’re taking a young person out for coffee to see if they are doing okay after their break-up; guess what? You’re doing youth work!
- If you think you could help young people ask questions about life and faith and suffering - you could be doing youth work.
I’m not a youth worker - but I do youth work because I want to see a change in our churches that make them irresistible to those outside it.
So I say we stop finding reasons not to be involved - and start doing some youth work!
