Jim Partridge, Head of Youth and Student Ministry at Spring Harvest
CT: Tell us what you hope to achieve at the youth conference?
JP: The main reason we are doing this is for the volunteer youth workers who week in and week out are serving young people, often with little recognition and often little support, and often in isolation, never being part of something bigger and seeing the bigger picture.
So the weekend primarily is for the youth workers, to give them a good time, and also space to allow them to meet God, and give them tools and resources and to connect them with other workers and ministries so they don’t feel as isolated, as often youth workers do.
CT: What has the reaction been from the young workers here?
JP: It has been great. People are positive, and many are desperate for resources and ideas. Many are just very busy and have to rush in and out of their youth clubs and they are just wanting resources and ideas. So giving them seminars on ideas and putting tools in their hands, this has been very popular.
People have also appreciated having time to meet God as people are so busy. It gives them time and space to forget their youth work and worship God, really to focus on him and they are loving it. Also of course to have a laugh and a fun weekend away is very important.
CT: What is the biggest challenge to face Christians in youth work in the UK today?
JP: I think not saying no. There is always more to do with young people, and one more young person to see, and one more conversation to have. There is always another programme and idea, and often we run ourselves into the ground because we have such commitment to help young people, and we want to do that at the expense of all else.
It is about getting that balance of what does God wants us to do and what to invest our time in. There are always 101 things that we can do, and I think there are many youth workers that are tired and I want young people to know what God wants them specifically to do and what things people to invest in.
We just did a marriage seminar and many were balancing how to maintain a healthy marriage with doing youth work and all the pressures that exist. Sometimes you have to just learn to say no. We have a commitment and sometimes the commitment can wear us out. So we sometimes have to know how to say no also.
CT: What would you like to say to the youth leaders today that may be struggling?
JP: This weekend is about saying a massive well done. I am a volunteer youth worker and this is a place to be encouraged. The guys here are doing hours and hours of youth work every week and serving young people that others are not connecting with. So I want to say a massive well done to people as the stories that I hear, really it is incredible the work and commitment that is going on, and there is a hope that this can be a bit of an oasis in the year where they can get some refreshment and a new vision and new faith in what they are doing.
