Youth Report - January 2011

Youth Work in Ashwell & Baldock

Looking forward to the year to come:

2010 saw an exciting start to the youth project at St Mary's Ashwell and Baldock, with the beginnings of many relationships and projects. This update gives a brief overview of our hopes and plans for the future, as we seek to maintain what we have started and develop it over the coming months.

'THE ASHETERIA':

On our first week back after the Christmas break we were pleased to see 25 young people at the Asheteria drop-in café, including some new members.

We're putting in an application for funding from NHDC towards some new equipment. If successful, we hope that this will allow us to develop some of the work we do there - running more 'themed' evenings and generating more discussion. We're also particularly keen to begin offering more opportunities for faith development for those who are interested. In particular, I hope to run a 'youth alpha' style course on a separate night to the Asheteria. This may be something to run once our new rector, Chris, is installed.

'L-E-Mental & Fun-DA-mental':

'L-E-Mental', the 11-13's club in Baldock on a Wednesday afternoon, has seen steady numbers with six young people attending every week. Of these, five have expressed a clear desire to be confirmed in the February half term!

Fun-DA-mental (our 13+ house group) saw two new members joining after Christmas. At present it is an all-girl group, so one of my main aims is to encourage some boys to become part of the group, to keep it accessible to all. I'd also like to encourage young people in Ashwell who are 13 and over to consider coming along to the group.

Joint outings with SMUG:

Along with the youth team, we're working on planning more joint outings to bring young people from all the youth groups, including SMUG, together. We'd really like to see the young people building on their friendships, and want to encourage them to see each other as a community. In particular we're currently planning a bowling trip on March 26th, and would also like to plan a trip out during the summer term! We hope that this may also lead to more young people choosing to access more than one of the youth activities, meaning an increase in numbers across the groups.

'ACTIVE FAITH - Active in Church & Community':

In our recent 'vision statement' one of our key aims was to see young people becoming part of an active Church community, and embodying an active faith within their communities.

If we begin by encouraging a view that young people are active, 'full' members of the Church, we hope to see this grow into a living, passionate faith that will spill out into all areas of life.

As a beginning, I've put together a 'roles in church' form for young people aged 12+. This is something we as leaders and parents can use as a discussion tool with young people, to give them a chance to express where they would be most comfortable serving in church. They would then, as young adults, be invited by adult members of the church to take part in various ways.

I'm also arranging to take some young people to local youth services (the next one is Feb 6th at St Paul's Letchworth) to give them some inspiration as to how other young Christians are worshipping. We'd really like to see young people bringing these ideas back to Ashwell & Baldock, and having more opportunities to express their faith in relevant ways in church!

We'll continue to run parish breakfasts in Baldock, as this is proving to be a fantastic opportunity for Church members of all ages to spend some time together over a croissant, once a month before the service. This is an idea we'd like to consider at Ashwell!

And finally, looking to the summer: I hope to take a group of young people to 'Soul Survivor' (a Christian festival especially for teens and families) joining with other local youth groups from N.Herts, giving the young people a chance to see that they are not alone and are part of something much bigger. Also, Cambridge 'Youth For Christ' are taking part in the country-wide 'Hope' initiative, and inviting groups of young people to come take part in an event in October designed to demonstrate God's love to the city through service. This would be a great opportunity to show young people just what an active faith can achieve, and inspire them to bring this back to Ashwell & Baldock.

SCHOOLS:

In Knights Templar School our two major aims are to a) introduce the 'Big Questions' initiative to the Hub (our lunchtime club on a Tuesday, run together with 'Christians in Schools' and Christ Church Baldock). We see 15 young people on average every week, and hope that the young people there will take ownership of the BQ idea and expand it into an after-school project in time. And b) we have also arranged for the 'Roughshod theatre company' (who are coming to us in July) to deliver assemblies, workshops and one of their main performances at the school, to ensure that they reach as many of the students as possible.

At St Mary's Junior I am continuing to visit the school on a fortnightly basis, supporting yr 6 in their RE lessons on a Friday afternoon. We are also continuing the - so far very successful - communion services in the school, and looking for ways to develop this and strengthen the links between school and church.

And at Ashwell Primary, following recent visits in which I have supported the school in RE lessons, art days etc, we're now looking at making this a regular fortnightly visit also. A big step forward!

BRAZIL 2011 TEAM:

Finally, one of the biggest events of this year will be the team of seven young people actually going on their mission to Belo Horizonte! The flights have been booked by Soapbox, and we're set to depart on July 20th and return August 9th.

The team have so far worked hard to raise just under £5000, and have several events planned, including non-uniform days, a 'Rich man / poor man' meal, and a gig (more details to be confirmed very soon.) We're also in the process of applying to various trust funds, so please pray! Our target figure is £14,000, of which we must raise £13,600.

We're confident of God's provision, and determined to give it everything we've got to send the team to support the children's home. This really is the epitome of an active faith.

There's plenty to be praying for! But ultimately, we know some amazing young people, who with encouragement and support are capable of amazing things. And we have a sure hope in the God who is at work, and who makes all things possible.

Thanks to everyone who is praying for us, and supporting us in any way.

Jen Brown (Youth Worker)