How To Work With A Visiting Speaker – 9 tips
For a wee while now I’ve been helping churches run events and projects, which inevitably means getting outside help. This usually comes in the form of musicians and speakers – although can be in the form of giant chickens and chocolate eggs. Visiting speakers are awesome! You can find someone who treats speaking as a […]
7 Ways Not to Complain To Your Youth Worker – And A Few Tips How To
As youth workers, we get things wrong. Lots wrong, in fact, and all the time. How can that be, you ask? Well, we balance a whole mess of varied personalities, quirky projects, disjointed goals and unrealistic expectations. We are often accountable to different people than those we actually serve, and we expertly straddle the line […]
When the ‘Father-Heart Of God’ doesn’t work.
I was talking to a classroom of teenagers last week about having parents for part of an explanation of the eternal nature of God. There was a young girl sat on the front row who jerked suddenly, and then glared at me through genuine tears for the next twenty minutes. The ‘Good Father’ Myth Parents […]
Working With Introverted Young People
A few months ago I appeared on the fantastic youth ministry podcast ‘The Longer Haul‘ to talk about ministering to introverted students. This is an issue that keeps coming up, and I think represents one of the fundamental missteps youth ministry can take. For those of us who prefer reading to listening, I’ve taken some […]
Youth Work and Mental Health – A Gentle Poke
When I was 14, one of my best friends was Daniel. I didn’t know Daniel was clinically depressed or that his random outbursts were actually early signs of bipolar disorder. I didn’t understand that it wasn’t normal that Daniel’s room only contained a mattress, a guitar and a pile of black hoodies. All I knew […]
When Youth Work Is Supposed To Be Difficult
This morning I had a great chat with a leader of a national youth project that develops events and camps where young people are expected to work hard, study and learn more about God. It runs totally counter to much of our popular youth work models, but is also exponentially growing and spreading nationally every […]
3 Things A Youth Worker Learned In The Gym
I thought, for this post, that I would share a little bit of my recent story, and maybe pull out some unexpected lessons that I’ve learned. Over the last decade my health took quite a knock. Tension headaches and migraines, lots of spontaneous fatigue and a very erratic sleeping patten. A couple of doctors told […]
Essential Theology Reading List For Youth Workers
Ok – so this is not a specific youth worker reading list -sorry! It is, however, a broad but relatively deep theology list on issues that all ministers and pastors should have a grip on. Youth workers – this is you too! A friend has just finished a short correspondence course on theology that was […]
I asked 185 youth leaders what they call ‘young people’. Here’s what they said…
What to call the participants of your youth ministry doesn’t seem like it should be a high priority. Realistically though, how you label people in the plural will have a dramatic impact on that group identity and sense of value, and it will instinctively give subversive impressions to those you’re speaking to. I asked 185 […]
Youth Work Hacks at the Premier Digital Awards – 2016
What a ride! Two weeks ago, Youth Work Hacks won the Premier Digital Award in the category of Most Inspiring Leadership Blog. This was an epic honour – especially in the midst of other fantastic finalists! [[Check out the runner up, Apples of Gold, and the finalists, Included By Grace and Matt McChlery.]] It was […]
How NOT to Name Your Youth Group
Many thanks to Youth Specialties for choosing this post to trend on their Website, August 2014! Here beginneth the rant… Lts xart wiv da obViouz…. we’re not five year old delinquents and the s and t keys are not missing from our keyboards. Starting names randomly with ‘X’ and misspelling words does not make the […]
Depression, Stress & Discouragement in Youth Work
It’s been some emotional roller-coaster this whole youth ministry thing. I’ve been in both the deep end, and the shallow kiddy-pool of my heart-spine. I’ve struggled with mild discouragement, bouts of depression, and prolonged stress at different stages of my career so far. It can sometimes be very difficult to distinguish whats actually affecting me, […]
Youth work is 10 years out of date!
Much of our youth work is consistently at least 10 years out of date. Truthfully it’s more like 20. When we design a project, we are influenced by a whole host of things, however three specifics tend to consistently stand out: – Our own experiences of youth work from when we were a young person […]
Why kids aren’t afraid of Church anymore
(N.b. – Before you read mine, I’ve found someone who say’s it better! Mark Grithiths, here.) Not in the church! ‘You can’t run a youth event in the church building because the kids won’t come!’ Something you’ve heard before? I’ve heard it too! In PCC meetings, planning sessions, prayer meetings, training days, and from a […]