I meant to post about this last month, but due to the arrival of our new baby I never got round to it. Tony Taylor and friends over at In defence of youth work (IDYW) have published a book called ‘This Is Youth Work: Stories From Practice’ along with an accompanying DVD. The book features 12 stories, [...]
I’m wanting to do a little bit of informal research around Christian youth work/youth ministry, and our motives as workers for doing it. I believe that most Christians would understand a scriptural mandate for working with young people. Many of us would quote Matthew 28:19 and the Great Commission as a reason to do [...]
Everyone makes mistakes, and when it comes to my youth work I’ve made some clangers! Hopefully by reproducing them here, it may give you a bit of a laugh and help you to avoid doing the same thing. Mistake #10: Ignoring disrespectful behaviour When groups of people hang out, there is usually some humorous banter [...]
I’m sure many of you are descending into the thriving seaside metropolis of Eastbourne this coming weekend for Youthwork The Conference. Hopefully I’ll see you there at some point. As usual, it promises to be an interesting weekend with a wide variety of speakers and sessions aimed at volunteer and salaried Christian youth workers. I’m [...]
Children and staff from our Launch Pad Breakfast Club will be featured on the BBC Children In Need fundraising event alongside TV & Radio presenter Zoe Ball tomorrow night (Friday 18th November). Launch Pad is a FREE Breakfast Club run by Arun Community Church for up to 30 children each day and has been partially [...]
Those of you who have tried to access this website over the past couple of weeks have probably noticed some problems… Due to a software vulnerability in WordPress, hackers were able to gain access to my website and insert extra code which tried to infect or redirect visitors to the blog. It also meant that [...]
In a follow up to my previous post regarding the latest round of cuts to the youth service in west sussex, I’m posting below a letter I have sent to West Sussex County Council’s ‘Children and Young People’s Services Select Committee’ which is meeting tomorrow (Friday 4th November). In addition to my role for Arun [...]
Today marks the start of National Youth Work Week 2011. This years theme is: ”Youth Work – Bringing Communities Together”. National Youth Work Week has been coordinated by the National Youth Agency since 1993, providing an opportunity for youth organisations, youth workers and young people engaged in youth work to celebrate the achievements and impact of youth [...]
Last year West Sussex County Council ‘Youth Support & Development Service’ did a consultation before slashing £2 million pounds from their budget. They are now facing a second round of cuts and this time they have to save another £2 million. Similar things are happening around the country to other youth services. As a resident, [...]
Back in November 2009 I wrote an article for Youth Work Now magazine arguing that it was OK in principle to charge young people to attend a youth club. I still believe that to be true, but want to explore the journey we’ve been on with one of our groups. For a number of years [...]
