Joined Up Youthwork

Being a youthworker in a rural county like Cornwall has its blessings, but also has its difficulties. CCYC Chairman Phil Hadley addresses the problems, the solutions and takes a look at what's happening around the county...

Cornwall is an amazing place and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. However, being a youthworker in a rural county means that we face a number of problems and issues that our counterparts in the great urban areas of the country don’t face. Living in the longest county in England adds a particular dimension to meeting the needs of the youth community. All the manuals and youthwork guides seldom talk about youthwork in a rural context. So let’s think about some of the problems, consider some of the solutions, and look at what is working here in Cornwall.

What are the problems?

1) One of the big problems in the church today is the problem of ownership, and especially in a rural setting where we feel we may have crafted the work over a period of time & think we offer the best thing for young people in our small town or village. We need to realise that God engages us in His work, not that we bring God into ours.

2) Denominational rivalries are another problem that become magnified in a rural setting. It’s not my church therefore I can’t have anything to do with it. Sadly, that idea is sometimes enforced by church leaders and passed on to their young people. The idea that if we take our young people to that event they will come away contaminated (like the young person on the left!) and have a distorted view of Christianity.

3) There can also be competition between youth leaders. Mine is bigger, better, more trendy, more cutting edge, more relevant, more spiritual. Youthleaders strive to outdo a rival group, to look better than the church across town, and where is the glory going?

4) Smallness in itself can bring a host of problems:

a) People problems are magnified. That awkward volunteer, that difficult teenager and the impact they can have can be magnified by the group being small. In a small youthgroup of 10 teens, when one throws a wobbly and is causing problems, having 10% of your youth upsetting the applecart can throw things out of proportion. Or you have the village goth, the village barbie, the village nerd, and the village action man in your group of 7 and how on earth do you cater for all their needs by playing ping pong and singing Majesty in the church hall on a Wednesday night?

b) A lack of resources can be a problem. Yes we’d love to if we had a laptop and projector, if we had a minibus, if our youth budget was more than my spare cash.

c) Isolation is a problem in a rural setting. You can feel like you’re the only pioneer missionary amidst this alien culture of St Buryan’s youth. Your four young people never get to see any other teenagers who are into Christianity. Six elderly ladies, Mr Smeethdon-Rise, and the vicar don’t provide convincing evidence that Christianity is relevant to the 21st century teenager.

d) And that in itself becomes a problem – because you spend all of your time looking inward. You become very insular. That can be a problem for larger youth groups as well. We don’t need to meet anyone, mix with anyone because we have got all we need thank you very much. Self sufficient, self supporting. Parochial. Narrow in outlook and scope.

So what are the solutions?

1) Seeing the bigger picture. The earth is the Lord’s. This is God’s work and we are just one piece of the jigsaw. Find out about the history of Christian witness in your town and village. Find out what else is happening in your area, in your county. Then you will begin to see that God is at work, and not just little old me. We need to see things from a different perspective. Look at the picture of the truck. Now look again. In fact, it's only printed on the canvas sides and back of the lorry. Sometimes we need to take a different look and grasp the bigger picture of what's going on.

2) Build God’s kingdom. Don’t build up your own empire, or that of your vicar or pastor. We are about making followers of Jesus, not having our own little gang.

3) We need to understand that unity does not mean conformity. Yes we will all be different, with different ways of doing things, with different emphasises on a range of things, but we are on the same team. In the army you don’t get the infantry saying we’re not working alongside the artillery because they just do their fighting way too loud!

4) We need to work in co-operation not in competition. For example, if you’re having a big event that you want others to come along to, then I won’t put another event on that day. We will support your concert/event etc and you can support ours. But our youth may be contaminated if we take them to that!!! We are working for our Master – the earth is the Lord’s – and not to impress everyone round about. We do our best for him, not because we need to be seen as the best youth leader in the town.

5) Co-operation means that communication is important. It means being open and up-front. It means sharing plans about forthcoming events, encouraging others to keep that date free. That means communication needs to be good from the top to the bottom. Look at the photo of the signs in France. Confused? That's because of two competing messages. Communicate so co-operation is the result and the young people won't be confused.

6) Praying together. Sharing our visions and plans, bearing one another’s burdens, praying intelligently for each other and with each other.

So what’s been going down in Cornwall?

CCYC has been at the forefront of some of the developments in Cornwall in recent years. They are one of the groups seeing the bigger picture. CCYC have been organising events to allow youthleaders from across the county to meet up and share what’s going on. On Monday 8th January CCYC had 40 youthworkers meeting to share their plans & visions for 2007 and praying together. On March 24th they ran a training day for youthworkers from across the county, with contributions from a speaker from out of the county. Thus they have seen Anglican, brethren, Methodist, Pentecostal, Free Church, Baptist, and so on sharing, praying and serving together.

CCYC’s summer camp brings a range of youthworkers and volunteers together to run the week of camp. They are involved in the planning and shaping of the week. The teenagers who come make friends from other groups. It gives them an experience which their own small youth group couldn’t, but it’s still within their county and makes the transference of what’s learned and the shared experience back into everyday life much easier.

But CCYC is not the only thing happening in Cornwall in a joined up fashion.

Liquid (pictured right) is a worship event with Narrowpath, the Newquay based surf-rock band. The event has grown from 200 to 500. There are two planned for this year – one on a beach in the summer and then one in the second half of the year possibly at the Hall for Cornwall. Liquid brings together Christians of every description to worship.

EPIC & IKON are youth events that bring together young people from a range of youth groups. EPIC (pictured left) in Launceston pools the resources and talents. Central Methodist has a band, Egloskerry have a dance group. Together they can make a much bigger and better event that has attracted large numbers of teenagers in recent years. IKON in Falmouth has drawn the youth of west Cornwall. The Lounge at Newquay is a similar kind of event.

The Kernowyouth website has been a major source of communication across the county. It advertises events, youth groups, and lets the young people know they are not alone. Its What’s On Page should be the first port of call for any youth leader planning and publicising an event.

The Cornwall Youth Synod is unique in the UK. The way the Methodist and Anglican youth synods have worked together is a shining example of what can be achieved through a spirit of cooperation.

We’ve still got some way to go. Some of the larger groups still have an air of self-sufficiency about them. Some church leaders are still scared their young people will migrate if they mix. But I can honestly say the Spirit is stirring. Things are happening in Cornwall. Watch this space, because even greater things will be happening. And it’s because in the rural setting of Cornwall we are learning the art of joined up youthwork. The earth is the Lord’s and everything that is in it.

This article is adapted with permission from a seminar given by Phil Hadley at the Christian Resources Exhibition in Exeter in January 2007.

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