Youthwork Conference Gives Boost to Christian Youth Leaders

Thousands of Christian youth leaders have turned out to be re-inspired and re-energised by the Youthwork Conferences in Southport last weekend and Eastbourne this weekend Nov. 18-20.

|PIC1|The Youthwork Conference was organised by the Youthwork partnership between five Christian organisations, Spring Harvest, Youth for Christ, Oasis UK, The Salvation Army and Youthwork magazine.

“I would think we want to inspire people, and on the leadership team we hoped the people will go away from here standing a bit taller,” Russell Rook, Director of Youth Ministry for The Salvation Army, consulting editor for Youthwork magazine, and Chair of the Executive Committee for Youthwork the partnership, told Christian Today.

He added: “I want people to go away from here inspired and a bit more passionate about the young people they work with, and if I can inject passion in them, then great!

The enormous host of speakers at this weekend’s conference included Katei Kirby, CEO for the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance, Rev. Steve Chalke, founder of Faithworks, and Richard Bromley, Director of Local Ministries at Youth for Christ.

Irish talent, Andy Flannagan, British Youth for Christ’s national songwriter/performer and worship leader, gave a soulful performance as he led the worship for the weekend.|QUOTE|

The conference also featured various stalls from the UK’s leading youth ministries, with forums and seminars led by numerous other speakers in attendance at the event, including Rachel Gardner, involved with making and presenting the BBC2 documentary ‘No Sex Please, we’re teenagers’, and Jim Partridge, Head of Youth and Student Ministry at Spring Harvest.

Speaking to Christian Today, Mr Partridge said: “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.

|TOP|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.”

Richard Bromley explained to Christian Today some of the challenges facing youth ministry in the UK: “We haven’t thought about what we are calling people into – where the churches are great and strong it is fantastic and we have youth works that can accommodate them, but so often when we call young people to faith what we are saying is be like us and be socialised into this rather exclusive club.”

He added: “So the youth ministry is going to transform the church and the church has got to allow that to happen in parallel with what it already does. I am not saying it as a revolutionary but we just have to accommodate a different culture of young people – not youth church but a youth culture church.”

Mr Partridge added: “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.”