‘Resilient, Resourceful and Challenged’ - is all about listening, engaging and relating!

I was reading an article the other day, about how people fear being involved with youth work. The main fears was all about how do you relate to young people. So I asked the question to some of the young people in a couple of the groups I am involved in "What do you think are needed to be the best qualities for us as youth workers?" One reply was "you have to be able to think on your feet",  another reply was "you have do something that interests us!". The general answer I got was blank looks and "dunno", which seems to be a fairly standard response from some.

I have found over the years that to be successful in youth work you have to capture the imagination of the young people, but also you have to relate to the young people and their circumstances and engage them. The most important thing that is very effective and somehow seems to be a revolution is the fact that you have to listen to young people. Communication by just talking and listening has is an age old art and seems to be some what forgotten with advances in technology.

The question is at work, school, college.. how many simply text or send an email when the other person is only feet away and maybe just as easy to talk to them or picking up the phone.

The interesting thing though that came out of my question to the young people in my groups was that not one of the young people said you had to be young or old. No one thought that age was a barrier. The item which seemed the greatest barrier was how the individual people relate to that person regardless of age.

So the myth and impression I was under that age was a factor seems not be be in reality a factor .. more of a personality thing.

I think youth workers are under estimated at what they actually do with young people and the impression that they are left with. I was chatting recently to an ex-member of our group and there were fond memories to the "youth weekends" we have been running for years even when I was part of the group as a young person. The youth weekends have been running in our circuit while I have been involved which is over 14 years or so. When you make an impression and influence someones life for the better, that's the buzz of why I am involved in youth work, yet I sometimes forget that and get bogged down with all the legislation, procedures and regime pressures.. and lose the simple fact is that in a small way I make a difference with positive results!

Its all about being able to be resourceful and find an engaging activity in any situation with young people of differing ages. Yes it sounds hard, but in reality as long as you engage with the young people and they respond to that engagement any activity would become relevant to that young person.  I remember back in 2009 the National Youth Work Week was themed ‘Resilient and Resourceful’, which sums up to me what youth work is all about.

In my quest to forever bettering myself, I was reading an article from the Baptist Union Church about volunteers and youth in our churches. This is something which is repeatedly raised time and time again and training of volunteers to meet the current day needs of Youth work.


Much volunteer youth leader training is focused on the development of new resources and ideas. Less attention is given to the development of basic youth work philosophy and skills, which I can see is lacking in alot of youth work especially in Churches. That is not to say that the work that is going on in those groups is wrong, but that it could be better with a little guidance which would in turn help the youth worker and the young people and ultimately God's Church.

Most volunteers are busy people and understandably lack the time and energy to participate in training events that are in addition to their other commitments. There is a need to develop much more flexible modes of training delivery. In particular, the Internet presents exciting potential.

Churches are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit volunteers for youth programmes. There are many reasons for this. Changes in society mean that often people work longer hours and are too tired to go out again in the evenings (when most youth ministry takes place). Youth culture is so diverse and changes so rapidly that many potential volunteers feel that they know nothing about young people and can contribute nothing. Volunteer youth workers have not always been well supported by their churches, and receive little or no training. Turnover is thus quite high, with long-term volunteers unusual.

Volunteers don’t have to understand everything about youth work or young people. They don’t have to wear trendy clothes or and know how to pronounce and the meaning of “Boooyyyaaaakkkaaaahhhh!” If adults try to get involved doing these things they are likely to get ridiculed by young people. It all actually about listening, relating to and engaging young people, which is quiet different from acting like them or trying to keep up with the trends!

As we are in a society where parents have many challenges like long hours of working etc then, the “ traditional “ parenting skills become more difficult to perform as there is not as much time in individual lives to build those relationships. This is where older generations have a important role to play in youth work, trying to demonstrate ‘traditional’ values to young people.

It is widely acknowledged that there is more ‘red tape ‘ when being involved in youth work, which is why it is more important to have a good number of volunteers with differing skills and abilities. This level of ‘red tape’ in necessary to be ensure we provide safe environments for our young people and also just as importantly the volunteers.

There are also Health and Safety requirements that churches will need to consider in their youth and children’s work. This will cover first aid, safety of equipment and buildings, and also apply to trips where a risk assessment should be carried out for any potentially dangerous activities.

We need to reflect as a christian youth group on the one whom we are serving. Jesus reminded his disciples that when they were serving others they would unwittingly be serving him. Paul exhorts the Corinthian believers to do everything as an act of worship to God. If we are serving Jesus in our youth and children’s work, or if we are doing our youth work as an act of worship to God, surely we should want to do it to the best of our ability and to the highest possible standards. That is what we are being called to do when we work to standards of good practice, even though it is an added burden and can be seen as an unwelcome addition to our workload.

The reason for the training and promotion of youth work is that we need to do this to continue to grow our youth work and people involved there is a danger that we won’t have our current volunteers in order to progress our aspirations and encourage, listen and grow youth work in our churches.

If you ask the volunteer leaders who have been involved in the children’s and youth work for over two years to stand up in a local church you may see a bedraggled group of people with bags under their eyes the size of small suitcases. On the other hand you may not see anyone. Regular appeals for helpers are often required to keep the staffing levels manageable, but they carry a subliminal message as well – that youth workers don’t last long. In Christian youth and children’s work there is a high turnover of volunteers, which may be caused in part by burn out. What causes the burn out? Often there are too many demands on the already limited time that these people have. People in our churches have to make time for work, home life, friends, church attendance, leisure activities, and perhaps even sleep! We all have just seven days in a week, twenty-four hours in a day, sixty minutes in an hour and sixty seconds in a day. When we are asking them to volunteer to do something else we are either asking them to give up another activity or more of their ‘free’ time.

Over many years now we have been looking at youth work and how we develop that making very small strides forward which over the long term would hopefully make the youth work in our churches more sustainable. This is one of our aims which has remained unchanged for many years now.

Just remember when you see youth workers, remember that yes it is difficult, but remember they are greatly valued and in challenging economic times they will become ever more important to our 'Big Society' and young people in our communities and the challenging times the Church in the coming months and years.

Are young people valued or feared in todays society??

Over my time working as a youth worker, I have had many instances where young people have been feared, especially from the older generation. I challange thoughs who read this to think.. when was that last time you read something in a paper or saw something on TV that actually praised young people ? Now think when was the last time you actually read something or heard something that reflected badly on young people? ... bet it was the  latter that was easier ?


I do get down when youthworker's like me and many others get a negative feeling when talking to older generations. Some people are quite positive about young people but others are not so.


At this youth group, one of the aims it to encourage young people and allow them to develop to show people that they are not "the bad press". I want to show the world that young people are good people, just in some circumstances they are misguided or not guided at all. That's where Afterhours Youth Groups wants to help. We want to provide alternatives to 'hanging on streets', we want to inspire and engage young people and most of all we want to give young people a voice so their voices can be heard without fear or misunderstanding.


We want to value our young people for who they are as individuals and not as the "stereo" typical role that is perceived in society and the media. We want to promote young people for who they are on the majority not the minority.


Afterhours Youth Groups is a christian youth group, but you don't have to be christian to be involved or attend the group, you just have to want to better yourself and show the world that "hey I am a young person and I am not so bad .. am I ".


I hope that in time with positive press young people will not be feared, but rather they will be understood and supported. Part of that support is providing safe environments and activities for young people to have fun and develop skills together that will set them apart from others in their communities and lives into the future.

I have been involved in youthwork for over 13 years and over that time I have seen how and this group and I have provided a positive impact and change on young people for the better .. by supporting, listening, encouraging and helping. Hopefully in time that will allow the young people I have helped go on to support, listen and help others. I have been involved with many  young people who have been challenging, but they have in time with encouragement, support and help they have all developed into people who I as an individual, and we as Afterhours Youth Groups can be proud of.

Afterhours Youth Group - About Us

Afterhours Youth Group is a christian Youth Group in Greater Manchester. We are dedicated to providing support and encouragement for young people. We have started this blog to provide updated information to our group that can be followed and would welcome anyone to join us.


We cater for children and young people from school year 4 to late teens so the members we have has an extensive range with loads of different activities happening throughout the year for all ages and abilities.


Further information will be added soon so watch this space!!!!