Being Good News

Doing youth work differently has meant unlearning some old ideas. When the focus of the church was to entertain the congregation on a Sunday morning then a youth club that did the same fitted well. When the focus of church is to release and equip people to spend time connecting with their neighbours then how do you do your youth work?

Instead of trying to come up with novel activities to attract young people the focus has been to work with them and create projects to make a difference; activity with purpose. So last term the young people decided to plant bulbs in flower pots and give them to their neighbours.

And it was great fun. First a trip to B&Q to work out the cost of bulbs, pots and compost followed by hot chocolate together at Costas afterwards – they loved that. Then a session where they designed, acted and filmed a fund raising video, more fun! A few weeks later they returned to B&Q to buy in materials, and more hot chocolate afterwards, That was followed by a bulb planting session, messy fun! Finally the scary bit, but we provided moral support as they delivered the flower pots to their nearest five neighbours, most of whom were delighted.

And in al this the young people are learning what being a church is all about.

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