Changing Youth Work Jobs – Bx Belshaw

Guest post by Bx Belshaw. Full time, experienced Church-based Youth and Families worker. A great story of change, challenge and and courage as she moved from her first full time ministry position into a new job.

Christmas season in a new church – and for me a new church denomination – is always a time of intense questioning. Do you have an advent liturgy? Is there a Christmas Day service? What happens on Christmas eve, at Christingles, and at carol services? Do you send Christmas cards or make donations? Where does the Christmas tree go? What is a nave arch? The list is endless! However, the Christmas season in a new position helps you get to grips with your new church context like no other. Even as I write this at the start of advent I am aware of how right my choice was to move on from me previous youth work job.

This time last year I was living in Wales, just over two years into a post that was growing, and mostly in unexpected areas. When I had arrived there had been no youth, children’s and families’ worker, so I had started from scratch and tried to build on what I saw God doing in the area. I had made some amazing friends, met some amazing colleague’s and made some wonderful contacts. I was feeling comfortable and happy spiritually, in work and with my social life.

When I decided it was time to move on, you should have heard the cries of ‘no, you can’t, you’ve not been here long enough, there’s more for you to do.’ Largely this came from my young people, and ecumenical colleagues. One of the reasons I knew it was right to leave was because the leadership in my church didn’t put up the same arguments. I paint a rosy picture of my last youth work post, but alongside the triumphs I had felt there were many struggles and power plays that had left me feeling warn and bitter.

I asked many questions of myself as I went to move on. Was I leaving before the time that God had appointed? Was I leaving for the right reasons? I decided that one way to help with that was to apply for new jobs and tell my church that I was moving on. I also applied for further training, but sadly it was not my time. I doubted whether what I was doing was right, but I had itchy feet and was on the move.

Getting Going

So I applied for other jobs similar to the one which I was doing. The application process – although time consuming and sometimes difficult – was a joy. I gave me an opportunity to think back over successes and mistakes that had happened in my ministry and left me with the sense that I had achieved so much. It was a clarifying moment. I was moving on for the right reasons and I was not moving on because I had failed!

The job that I am now in had a fantastic application pack, which gave plenty of information about the church, the area, and the expectations of the post. This was really helpful. One of the struggles with applying for a new church position is that many of the application packs I received were not helpful or clear. My poor mother spent three hours formatting one form just so I could open it on my computer. I found sometimes it was helpful to email back places to clarify things like wage, hours, and interview dates – hoping it made me seem enthusiastic and not to annoying, but also helping me get the right information.

Interview

As a bizarre person I don’t mind interviews so much. I find it’s easier to bounce off other people – which an interview situation gives the go ahead for.

In the interviews for the job I took, I found the church friendly, welcoming and honest. They showed us around, tried to give us a glimpse of the role, the whole church and how two interact. Part of the process was to give a five-minute presentation on forgiveness as if you were giving it to school years 7-9. I took giant blue flippers, (which they have never let me live down) and thankfully I stood out for all the right reasons, making sure that I had read the task and understood it fully beforehand. This was not something that all the other applicants had done.

My other two tips: take a breath before answering question, it gives you that space to think; and have at least one question to ask them. For me, as I was moving denominations, I wanted to know what preaching opportunities I would have.

Finding Support

I briefly spoke of my Mother who is an integral part of my amazing support network. She spent many hours proof reading every application I sent. She was one of many people who prayed with me, chatted with me, and sat with me as I wrote yet another form, or groaned about how there wasn’t a standardized form all churches used that you could then send off to all the possible jobs. (Inputting qualifications is just tedious!)

It was my support network who sat around me on holiday when I received the voicemail after my interview for my current post (which I really wanted), and it was they who listened to it first to see if it gave away any clues to what their response would be.

We are Polar Explorers

I was invited to join them for their summer holiday club (Scripture Unions’s Polar Explorers) before I started. This gave me the opportunity to see them in action, meet the rest of the staff team and see more clearly how the church operated and how I might fit in. I was – and still am – adventuring into the unknown.

Sometimes I still think that I have done the wrong thing, and question whether I am really supposed to be here. Usually these fears are put to rest quickly as – I imagine – there will always be doubts in all Christian ministry.

It’s been terrifying and exhilarating, and in it all I’ve held John Wesley’s words in the back of my head:

‘I am no longer my own, but yours…

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,…

you are mine and I am yours. So be it.’

To sum up…

• If you’re thinking about moving on, try making some small steps and fill in some applications, what the worst that could happen?
• Go to interviews till you find the right fit – they may say no, but you can also say no.
• Find support! Chat and pray it through with others and get them to proofread and screen your calls.
• Remember that you belong first to God, and He has the plans for your work and life in His hands.

About Bx

Rebecca Belshaw (aka Bx!) is 24 and works for a church where she has a ridiculously long job title summed up as ‘the person who looks after those who can run.’ Bx loves living by the sea, camping and dragging people out geocaching.

She is passionate about preaching and talking to groups, although you will often find her sat behind the tech desk.

Bx has a BA in theology from Cliff College and enjoys encouraging all people in expressing their love for Christ through their talents and gifting.