Through the use of SMART goals and the NOS for Youth Work I will critically reflect on my weekly placement practice, highlighting where my practice and my theological training interlink. I will provide areas of success and indicate areas for development, which will overall improve my practice in the future.
A: Work with Young People and Others
-Build Relationships and Engage with Young People
Building appropriate relationships with young people is a fundamental way of showing them that you desire to be a part of their lives and desire to see them flourish. Young people “desperately need to know that they are loved for who they are without ties to performance or condition.” Having beneficial conversations about their social, emotional and mental wellbeing allows young people to understand that you are a person which they can trust and can receive help from if needed. James 1:19 is a verse which I believe youth workers should abide by, “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” Showing young people that you are there to listen, not to shout or pass a judgement can be a very different experience than what they formally know.
Mentoring is a way in which I enjoy building relationships with young people, this does not solely mean one to one conversations, but also in small groups where the young people can help each other through their situations. Knowing there is a support system for them can encourage young people to verbally process their problems, with peers their own age. Having intentional conversations where young people can freely speak about their thoughts, feelings and emotions, can allow the young people to express their doubts and concerns about life. In my practice, I aim to lead from a doctrine of grace. I strive to see young people free from the situations which are causing them distress, in a manner which is agreeable to them. I make sure that during the weekly youth sessions, there is time for the young people to share how their weeks have been and for them to provide any prayer requests that they have. By having a culture of sharing and praying for one another, friendships and accountability has formed. This is an area of the youth ministry which I believe is beneficial for the youth groups, as it creates personal conversations where the youth workers can communicate with the young people. An area which I believe that my youth ministry could improve in is the time which I spend in social conversations with the young people. By the end of this placement year, I would like to grow in friendships with the young people that I work with, I will do this by continuing to have intentional conversations with them about their lives, so that I know in which ways I can help them grow spiritually, socially and personally.
B: Facilitate the Personal, Social and Educational Development of Young People
-Facilitate Learning and Development of Young People through Youth Work
Teaching young people plays an important role in their development with Christ. As a youth worker, your aim is to aid the young people with the tools to deepen their understanding and relationship with their heavenly father. “Youth ministry is not about you and teenagers; youth ministry is about you and Jesus. Teenagers are impacted by the overflow of that intimate relationship with Christ.” As you deepen your relationship with God, you should start to act more Christ like, which can be evident to the young people by the way you act and by what you say, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45b) This aids the young people’s development and learning about Christ, as they can see how your life is impacted by Him and the work that He is doing in you.
I have shown this in my weekly placement through trying to facilitate a teaching scheme where the young people can interact with each other, the leaders and most importantly with God. Most of the sessions that I lead at my placement involve a time of discussion on the topic that week. By making it more discussion based allows the young people to feel involved, whilst getting them to practically apply the Bible to their lives. Through a deeper understanding in Christ, the young people are developing their spiritual lives. They can access the moral code of the Bible and the biblical standards that they may wish to live their lives by. This does not just affect their spiritual development, but also their social and psychological, as they are allowing God to enter all areas of their life, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b)
Discipling is a way in which I believe that a young person can be nurtured, and they can develop their learning and maturity in Christ. Within my youth work, I aim to have an open atmosphere where young people can ask questions and can be open about their queries about life and faith, however this is an area which can always be developed and improved. I show this in my practice by leading the youth meeting more like a discipleship group than a youth club, although, by the beginning of the next academic year I aim to bring a greater aspect of discipling into the group, in order to see a flourishing of faith.
C: Promote Inclusion, Equity and Young People’s Interests and Wellbeing
-Safeguard the Health and Welfare of Young People
The important thing about youth work is the balance between keeping the young people safe and helping them to enjoy themselves. Being able to contact a parent or carer in an emergency situation is a necessary responsibility as a youth worker, as it is a duty to protect your young people. “The principle of obtaining consent for young people to take part in certain types of activities” is an important principle which youth workers need to abide by. Having relevant risk assessments and safe guarding policies in place can affect the overall running and sustainability of an organisation.
Whilst being Christians as well as youth workers, it is our duty to make sure that God’s children are carefully looked after and are given the best support, “start children off on the way they should go.” (Proverbs 22:6) Part of making sure that young people are safe, is getting consent from the parents for their young people to come to the youth groups. This is an area which I saw was not looked after in my placement church, that more information was required of the young people especially for those who are not members of the church congregation. After speaking to my placement supervisor at the beginning of my placement this year, I created consent forms for both groups and a weekly register. This was not only for legal reasons, but for the youth workers also being able to see the numbers and consistency of the group. Since having the registers, I have been able to see which young people have not been coming weekly. This is an area where my practice has grown, as I have been able to build appropriate relationships with parents as well as the young people.
In order to improve my practice, I will continue to produce consent forms and registers for the youth groups next year so that we can update any information which may have changed over the summer. I will also make sure that the other youth workers and young people are informed in the child protection protocol of Elim, so that if there was an issue, as a team we would know how to deal with the issue effectively and legally. This will hopefully help to reduce situations and to minimize the risk of harming the young people.
D: Develop Youth Work Strategy and Practice
-Plan and Implement Youth Work Strategy
Making youth sessions enjoyable for young people is a way of making sure that they are regular attendants of the group. There is also a want to see growth of the group, not just in numbers, but growth mentally, spiritually and socially, “one of our most significant tasks as youth workers is to create memories for our kids.” Making memories with young people and helping them develop can be difficult to balance, therefore, implementing a youth work strategy allows both areas to be covered. “Having a good time at church is one of the most powerful ways to shatter the boring stereotype,” so by taking young people to different locations, leading social event weeks and making the sessions highly interactive can lead the young people to develop different areas of their growth and can help build memories.
Planning a youth session which is enjoyable for all can be difficult as everyone has different likes and dislikes, which can cause planning issues for youth workers. Planning a series which holds a different style each time, will appeal to the specific group it is being aimed at. In my practice, I aim to use different motifs, such as drama and games to help keep the program exciting. Implementing an interesting youth program is not solely about making it fun, it is also “interested in young people’s growth and development.” Having the Bible as a key feature in the youth session and basing games and activities around it can help intertwine pleasurable with spiritual development, which is an area which I believe needs to be implemented more in Christian youth work strategy’s.
To improve my practice each week, I endeavor to intentionally spend time discipling young Christians within the youth group. I will do this by effectively teaching the Bible in a way which is enjoyable and informative for the whole group, I will make sure that these sessions are interactive and relatable to the lives that they live outside of the youth setting. I will continue to ask the young people what they desire to learn about and ask them for feedback on the sessions which I have lead. My expectation is that by the end of the year, the young people will find the youth sessions enjoyable and relevant. Consequently, if there were some sessions which the young people did not find interesting or helpful when I ask them for feedback, I will take this into consideration when I am planning the sessions for next year.
E: Develop, Lead and Manage Self and Others
-Lead and Manage Others
Training young people to help plan, co-lead and lead groups is an achievement which youth workers relish seeing. Training up young people in ministry is helping to build up the next generation of leaders. Seeing a young person achieve something and being able to see them flourish in an area of leadership is a rewarding situation to witness, whether this is leading younger children, peers or people older than them. Having young leaders is a necessity “if the organisation-as-species will continue to survive,” as it is making sure that the church and its leaders is focused on the future of their ministries.
Managing others is something I have had to grow in, in my last two years in my placement due to the lack of a youth worker in the church. Whilst speaking to my placement supervisor I brought to his attention that being the main youth leader in my placement church is having a negative effect on the young people, as it means there are long periods without youth groups. I spoke to him about the one eared mickey mouse approach and the consequences it holds for the church. Having the youth separate from the main congregation and having the same youth workers always leading, leaves a gap in the overall church ministry. This has been improved by having the older group of young people leading and helping in the younger Sunday school groups as it aids to build relationships with adults and children younger than them. Having less of a divide, between the church congregation, is something I wish to develop throughout next year. I believe that continuing to lead and train up young leaders will help to lessen the gap and help to grow them spiritually.
Conclusion
Through critically exploring different areas of my weekly placement, using SMART goals, I have highlighted aspects which are in need of development and shown that I have used theories which I have learnt in my training in my youth work practice.