Should we encourage Welsh young people to support England in the final of Euro 2020?
I grew up in Blackpool, just three hundred yards from the local pub, and every time that England was playing in a tournament, we could hear the roar of the crowd from our living room. I remember if England scored, we would mute the volume of the TV and listen to the whole pub screaming […]
Youth workers are not supposed to know everything about youth
I once had to free a pigeon from my window wiper on the streets of London. I’m not sure what made the feathered fiend attempt to land on the rear window of an aging Seat Ibiza in the first place, but the only spot it could find to balance on was the rear wiper blade. […]
What the Brewdog scandal teaches us about branding our projects
I only started drinking when I turned 30. It was my birthday, my wife and I were at a festival, and we decided that we would celebrate with a glass of wine. It was horrible! After being teetotal for most of my life, my tastebuds were just not used to the tannin rich flavours. Since […]
Rethinking “biblical masculinity” in youth groups.
Blessed are the barrel-chested For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who bench 220 For they will be comforted Blessed are the grunters and the spitters For they will inherit the earth Blessed are those who hunger for angus burgers, and thirst for real ale For they will be filled Blessed are […]
How to lead a ‘conspiracy theory’ session with your youth group (part 2)
Earlier this year my zoom-group ran a ‘conspiracy theory night’ with our young people. It was lots of fun! If you’ve read Part 1 of this blog series, you’ll know that I’m concerned about the level of adult noise around conspiracy theories today, and just how unhelpful they are for our developing young people. Not […]
Young people and your conspiracy theories (part 1)
I think if you could label, in one word, the overwhelming feelings of some of the loudest adults speaking on COVID-19, that word might be ‘anger’ or even ‘rage’. Not all adults, of course, just many who make the most noise on TV, the internet, or in shopping queues. However, when a person of influence […]
When relationships are not enough
For years we’ve been using the word ‘relationships’ as the silver bullet; the key to understanding young people and unlocking the highest potential of our youth ministries. But do we really know what we mean when we say ‘relationship’? Caveat: Before I go any further, I’d want to affirm the utterly essential place and practice […]
50 stupidly wrong misconceptions that I started ministry with
When I was at Bible College, I knew everything, and I mean everything. Everyone else was stupid, inconsistent, fallacious, illogical, irrational, and erratic. I was one of the sound ones which – for some stupid, inconsistent, fallacious, illogical, irrational, and erratic reason – meant that I could speak to and about others with sarcasm, condescension, […]
Why I won’t be showing my youth group ‘The Passion of The Christ’ this Easter
This morning I accidently flicked toothpaste into my eye. It was stupidly painful and more than a little humiliating. That, however, was not the reason for the toothbrush or the toothpaste – I wanted to clean my teeth! The 2004 Mel Gibson film, The Passion of The Christ – in some odd way – is […]
Deconstructing your deconstructionism.
Since the mid 1990s anything ‘deconstructed’ was suddenly very cool and everything from deconstructed Aristotelian ethics to a deconstructed sandwich (which is effectively two slices of bread on a plate next to some ham) was suddenly column inch worthy. Driven largely by postmodernism outside the church, deconstructionism inside was dressed up in ‘challenge everything’ and […]
A neurodivergent’s experience of Christian youth festivals
Not everyone responds to things the same way. We should all know that, however it’s too easy to forget that neurodivergent young people exist in our groups, and they have very different experiences and at high stimulus events. Student, author, and playwright Chloe Perrin gives us her experience of what it was like to be […]
Why youth workers sometimes need to switch off
I have a cat. At most levels she is a normal, run-of-the-mill cat. White, fluffy, purry – the whole cat-esq shebang. But she harbours a dark secret – and that is she’s a psychotic lunatic freak with macabre pastimes and dangerous hobbies. Let me explain. Luna (the cat) hunts mice. Normal enough, right? However, Luna […]
I once accidentally got drunk on communion wine…
I once got drunk on communion wine. This was certainly not my finest hour, nor was it intentional. I was working for a big Anglican church in London as a Youth and Children’s Minister, helping run a Confirmation Service. This involved serving young people their ‘first communion’ and I was giving the wine out of […]
5 more theologically helpful alternatives to WWJD
I’m a 90s kid. That meant Tamagotchi, pogs, the GameBoy colour, and of course, rainbow WWJD wrist bands. WWJD, for the uninitiated, simply means ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ The idea was that in given morally challenging situation, you would stop and think, ‘hey what would the Big JC… [sorry, 90s kid!] do right now?’ Then […]
Lead like you’re about to leave
There is something magical about that transition time between an outgoing youth worker leaving, and a new one being hired. The church begins to suddenly become aware of what’s been happening in the youth work projects and then, with the possibility of said projects folding, they become invested in them! Brand new volunteers step forward […]