The Old Man of Youth Work

25 Years. I just worked it out, so I thought I'd tell you. I sort of started youth work when I was 16 running a Friday night "coffee bar" (with no coffee, but netting on the ceiling, scary coloured lighting and music that was "too loud" apparently) so that makes it 25 years I've been involved in youth work. It seems weird now that I was only a full-time youth worker for 6 or 7 of those years, as it still feels so much who I am.

The thing is, I still love it. I keep wondering if I'm just too old for this now. Shouldn't I be kicking around with grown-ups a bit more? The truth is (and my apologies to anyone reading who considers them self a grown up) most grown ups are just too........ 'grown up', I suppose. I like most of them in moderation, but teenagers are just fun. They're rude about my lack of hair, they eat all my biscuits, they won't go home when I tell them, they ask difficult or just plain inappropriate questions (and all those things just this past week) but I love it.

I've never really been one for the wacky games and stuff (The youth team at Olton know I hate organising the games nights!) but the chance to sit and chat and work through issues and see folk grow in their spiritual understanding and walk with God is just the best fun I have.

Last week i was sorting through some pre-historic paperwork in our study and, in the process, spent far too long looking at old newsletters we'd written. It was so good to look back, remember names and faces of teenagers from the past; folk who'd wandered into our lives for a little while then wandered onto adulthood. It's such a joy and privilege to have been involved in so many lives in this way. A number of them are kind enough to get in touch along the way and reflect back fondly on "those days". Some even articulate the ways that we helped in walking that part of the journey with them (often quite unbeknown to us). A couple of weeks back I had a stack of folk that we worked with when we were in schools work track us down on Facebook. It was so good to hear what they've been up to, what and who they've become and in a few cases where they are at on the spiritual journey we spent hours talking about all those years ago. Youthwork is often a thankless and bitter-sweet experience, but it gets addictive!

For those of you that pray, please do pray for the current batch we are involved with. "Youth @ Olton Baptist" (YOBs) meet on a Sunday eve and "xlr8" is a smaller group of them that meet at ours on a Thursday eve to get into the nitty gritty of their faith. Thanks folks.