Youthwork The Conference 2005 Kicks off in Eastbourne

Youthwork The Conference kicks off the Eastbourne leg of its two-part event Nov. 18th, with hundreds of youth and youth workers gathering for the weekend to learn, worship, pray, and hear God.

|PIC1|The three day event has become one of the highlights of the Christian youth ministry calendar in the UK over recent years and the conference planning team, along with staff from Spring Harvest and other partner organisations, have been working to make the event on an unprecedented scale.

The Youthwork Partnership combines some of the largest youth ministries in the country with Spring Harvest, Youth for Christ, Oasis Youth Action, Salvation Army’s Alove as well as the Youthwork magazine. The partnership looks to offer support, encouragement and ideas for youth ministers and workers.

Already this month the first leg of the Youthwork Conference has taken place successfully in Southport from Nov. 13-15, and it now looks to conclude with an event drawing many from overseas to experience the energy of Britain’s leading youth ministries.

Speakers at the event are hugely diverse and include among many others, Phil Ball, part of Alove’s Church Planting team; Richard Bromley on the leadership team of Youth for Christ; John Buckeridge the founder of Youthwork magazine; Steve Chalke founder of Oasis Trust and Faithworks; Katei Kirby of the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance.

|AD|The spilt conference has been agreed to make the event more accessible for the wider audience the ministry is now attracting.

This year the theme of the conference will be ‘Youthwork – Why do we do what we do?’ The event will proceed via a variety of seminars, worship celebrations and addresses by leading youth work practitioners.

It is hoped that delegates will be able to come and explore what successful is and how it can be measures.

Conference organisers have been busy in preparations, and in the lead up to the event, to get an idea of how youth workers feel about their work, it has been arranged for a simple online survey to be posted up to give an insight into delegates’ lives and feelings, and that the topic of the conference can be brought out and promoted.

Janet Miles, who is the Information and Resources Officer for ALOVE UK said, “Youthwork – the conference is one of the ways we are seeking to resource Salvation Army youth work during the year. Whether someone is involved in full-time, part-time or voluntary youth work, the conference has something for everyone. We really hope as many youth workers from The Salvation Army will come along and benefit from the variety of resources it provides.”