My life as a Youth Worker - the Story So Far

I became a Christian at the age of 18 and, after a difficult 12 months in which my dad passed away from cancer, I finally settled into a local church. I got baptised in the Holy Spirit in March 2003 and then in water the following June. 

In September 2003 the church’s youth leader asked me to join his team, which I did without really knowing what I was getting into! I soon found that my passion and gifting was working with young people. I loved the honesty of young people and their energy, and I loved having the chance to lead and influence young men and woman for God.

In 2009 I was asked to take on the full time leadership of the youth work, which meant leaving my job as a full-time Police Officer to join the staff team at Bishop’s Stortford Community Church.

Our youth work is called Revelation and we gather on two different nights during the week. On Tuesday evenings we meet with those in years 10-13 for an informal ‘community group’ style evening. We try to make these nights as interactive as possible and often find ourselves in the midst of debate, as together we try to find the best application of God’s word for our lives today. On Friday nights we meet with those in years 7-9. These nights are crazy! We have messy table tennis, pool, Wii, football, a tuck shop and some very messy games! To round it all off, we get into smaller groups and spend time looking at the foundations of the christian message, such as prayer, worship, the Bible and the church.

A third facet to our youth work is what we call the Street Team. This is a dedicated group of youth workers who hit the streets of Bishop’s Stortford every Friday night. They go on prayer walks around the town, try their hand at treasure hunting and looking to build up relationships with the young people hanging around the town centre.

The two key principles which impact my leadership of young people are:

There is no substitute for integrity in youth work. It doesn’t matter what you’re preaching and teaching if you’re not living it. Young people especially are changed and influenced by observation, not argument.

Time and time again, the fruit I see in young people is because of time spent one-on-one with youth leaders in a discipleship context. Getting face to face with young people and getting to the nitty gritty of their lives is a must, not an option, in my youth work.