Youthwork in the UK (Danny Brierley)

06 January 2009

Youthwork: Church provides action

Many people in the UK have a negative view of the Church. Redundant or archaic buildings, sex offending priests and reports of low attendance lead many to dismiss the Church as irrelevant to contemporary life. But there is another story that goes largely unreported.

The largest employer of full-time youth workers in England and Wales is not central or local government, but the Church. According to Christian Research, churches employ 7,900 full-time paid youth workers. Comparable research by the National Youth Agency calculated that all the local authorities in England and Wales employ 2,860 full-time paid youth workers. What’s more, when the 87,000 church volunteers are added to this number, the Church’s case that it is a key provider of youth services becomes overwhelming.

Through my experience as a youth worker and my position as Head of Oasis Youth Action, I have become convinced that the Church and State have much to learn from each other in this area. In almost every village, town and city today there is evidence of the Church’s work with young people. Many Christian organisations, like Oasis and the YMCA, are working in some of the toughest parts of the country with young people who have found themselves socially and educationally excluded from the benefits that many others in society take for granted. Whilst some workers are paid to do this, many more voluntarily invest their spare-time in the lives of the young.

Having watched an exodus of young people leave the Church on a truly biblical scale, many congregations are waking up to the needs of their local community. They are running drop-in facilities, IT workshops, after-school clubs and holiday activity programmes. As well as helping to reduce crime levels, these schemes also help to demonstrate God’s generous and accepting nature towards all people – young and old. What’s more, statutory funding is becoming increasingly available from sources such as Positive Activities for Young People, the Children’s Fund, Connexions and the Crime Reduction Fund.
The National Standards for Youth Work in the UK now include provision for young people’s spiritual development and, what’s more, a Bishop now chairs the National Youth Agency.

These are all signs that the State is beginning to recognise the important contribution that the Church can make in the development of youth work in the UK.

Far from being outcast, the Church is finding favour with central and local government and, in doing so, is rediscovering how to serve some of the most excluded of young people. Be encouraged, it’s a good time to be a youth worker.