First of all a huge apology to anyone (or the someone) who reads our blogs, as it has been an age since we last posted. It has been an amazing time over the past few weeks, what with a great new team starting and myself starting an MA in mission and evangelism at cliff college. All massive loads but each rewarding in different ways. On top of this, just last week i was in a performance at a local theatre group. This in itself brought up loads of things, that having reflected on, really challenged me in my youth work.
There were young people and old (I was in the latter category), and it was just really interesting in seeing how the young people were spoken to by the leaders. There was a very patronising feel to the set up. There were a number of things that created this atmosphere from the way the young people were spoken to, to the positioning of them behind the band.
It all got me thinking about how we treat young people in the sessions we run, are we a team, am i a youth worker, who listens to young people, takes on board what they are saying and what they have to offer. Do i value them as human beings. I am happy to say that the majority of the time we do, but it doesn't stop myself checking what i am doing when i am slightly tired or if i have a lot of other work to do, and i am too focused on other stuff to invest in the young people we work with.
On top of this we were having a drink after the last night of the show and chatting to some of the young people, talking about how they audition people to come into the group. One conversation was really interesting. We were chatting to some of the older group and they mentioned that if someone doesn't fit in or behave they just ignore them and in the end they will leave. Once again it really challenges me in what i see going on in the groups we run. I know young people, and us older ones as well, like to belong to something, but when does that belonging start to become territorial and then negative in the way they act to others.
So i have been challenged, as a lot of times we all are, by being in a negative environment. Lets make people feel that they are worth something, and not just there to fulfill our whims and needs. I know i have got to change a few things already. What about you?
