Jon Jolly

Later today, Kirsty and I are off to the Christian Web and Blog Awards ceremony in London. I mentioned back here that this blog had gone through to the final rounds and we’ve now been invited to go along to the event tonight and see if I’ve won anything! It’s a black tie affair and I was amused to discover that we’ll be having a time of worship after the champagne reception.

I’ve held off from posting too much about this before as I’m really not sure what to expect from the evening. I am of course excited about the possibility of winning something, but I’m also a bit apprehensive about drawing lots of attention this way (yes, I know that’s the point of a blog). The main reason I started writing here was to help me document some of my experiences in youthwork and to clarify my own thoughts by reflecting on my practice. It’s great that others enjoy reading it, I’m just aware that there are a lot of other great Christian blogs out there that deserve some exposure. Click some of the links to the right to see what I mean.

Due to my new post at Arun Community Church, I’ve been asked to write a brief profile of myself for the church newsletter this week. I thought I should post it up here too in case you’re interested:

I was born in 1979 and grew up in Littlehampton with my mum, dad, older sister Keren and younger brother Matt (Tim joined us in 1990). We started attending Rustington Christian Fellowship (as ACC was then known) when I was about 4. I have never known a time when God wasn’t in my life and I have many memories of church services and events where the Holy Spirit was present. I made a commitment to following Jesus at a very young age, and first asked about getting baptised when I was seven - David [Thatcher, the church elder] made me wait until I was twelve!

I started helping out at TAG [kids group] when I was 11 (mainly because I didn’t want to leave the group) and have worked voluntarily at various Church clubs ever since. This invaluable experience helped me to later get a job in youth work!

While studying for my A Levels, I had an opportunity to go on a mission trip to South Africa. Those three weeks changed my life! Although I’d always been a Christian and never had any major crisis of faith, suddenly away from home I had to take responsibility for my own beliefs. We had to rely on God for everything while we were there and my eyes were opened to the fact that Jesus needed to come first in my life. I’ve never looked back.

I made many friends on that trip including a young lady called Kirsty Thomas. We stayed in contact and got engaged in 1999 after clearly hearing God’s voice on our lives together. At that time I had a Uni place waiting for me, but we needed to save some money to get married. I applied for a part-time youth work job at The WIRE and although I gave a bad interview, the panel saw some potential in me and gave me the job. That was nearly eight years ago!

Through working in the community in some very extreme situations, young people and youth work has become my over-riding passion. For the last four years I’ve been studying towards a degree in Informal & Community Education which has given me a great love for education in all it’s forms. I love studying, researching and writing on youth related issues and believe strongly in equipping our young people to live out their faith.

I almost forgot! I found another Jon Jolly today! This one is 18 and lives in Arkansas, USA. Find him here.
Also Mr Jon B Jolly owns the website Jolly.com.