Sara will be discussing her book of the same title, which seeks to marry psychological insight with the character of Joseph in the Old Testament, seeing his experience as a model for dealing with our own problems and suffering.

Where? St Paul’s Cathedral, London EC4M 8AD

When? Sunday 5 February

What time? 1-2pm

How much? Completely free and unticketed, so do come along!

More information on this event can be found on the St Paul’s Cathedral website here.

A multi-faceted approach

Youth ministry is multi-faceted – it is not a one dimensional activity.  It is about facilitating and empowering young people to have the better, fuller, more abundant, rich and satisfying life that different translations of John 10.10 talk about.  This involves being concerned about their whole lives not just the faith bit, wanting to see them fulfil their potential and be all who God created them to be.  This has been my aim in youth ministry since as a 17-year-old I went with the Church Army to Germany to work with the children of soldiers.  Over 30 years later I still enjoy working with young people and since 1984 have trained others to work with them too!

A fresh vision for youth work

My vision for the book is to inspire and equip others who may want to begin working with young people or get a fresh vision for their existing work.  I deliberately chose an edited book as I work with some really gifted people and wanted to share some of the great work I have seen and heard about over the years.  Authors range from a sixty year old grandfather to graduates of the Centre for Youth Ministry (CYM)  in their early twenties, who are just starting out on their vocational journey to work with young people.   I learnt things from reading the book and have been able to put them into practice in my work.

How the book can help you

Even if you don’t see yourself as a youth minister the book will help you relate to the young people in your church and inspire you to encourage some of the adults  to take on roles that help young people feel a sense of belonging and being cared for.  The idea that ‘it takes a village’ to raise a child works for young people too!  This book seeks to equip you to undertake a range of roles within whatever sort of youth ministry you are doing, helping you to become more effective in your work. We are describing a multi-faceted youth ministry which encompasses values of being God-focused, inclusive, liberative, restorative, redemptive, empowering, reconciling and incarnational.

The ‘roles’ of a youth minister

There are twelve different roles in the book.  Firstly, a politician of integrity.  This is the title of the first chapter as it is foundational to youth ministry – our character communicates so much to young people and it is important that we are consistent in our lives and ministry.  The politician bit comes from the need to negotiate what is often a complex institution with competing priorities.

Next is the idea of a flawed hero which draws on biblical examples to help us understand what leadership looks like in a youth ministry context.  The importance of authenticity is emphasized as well as using power in the right way.

A visionary architect helps build the youth work and this chapter takes us through a step-by-step process and is rooted within a case study which helps us see how it might work out in practice.  The chapter on being an empowering liberator, an informal educator, tells the story of a relationship and the development of character.  Character determines choices and the beliefs, traditions and values of community shape character.

Boundary markers are vital in youth work.  Young people need to feel secure and in youth ministry we need to know how to facilitate groups and respond to challenging behaviour, a little like Jesus needed to do with the disciples!  A community builder seeks to make youth work  hospitable, honest and humble.   It is often said that we don’t always remember what people say to us but we do remember how they made us feel.

A mediating mirror seeks to help young people see themselves as made in the image of God and the chapter is full of practical approaches to enable us to try and mediate a positive identity to the young people we work with.  The guardian of souls is concerned about our spiritual and faith development and seeks to build strong relationships in a context where young people are free to express who they are and where they are on their journey including  the doubts and struggles as well as joys and blessings.   An odyssey guide tries to get alongside young people and help them in their journeys always remembering that we are on a spiritual journey too.

A compassionate presence is vital in work with young people and drawing on the parable of the Good Samaritan appropriate attitudes are identified within the context of seeing our role in relation to the Kingdom of God.

Finally, the chapter on a well-watered tree explores self-care and the importance of sustaining ourselves in ministry so that we can offer young people the support that they need.

Follow-on resources

Each chapter has reflection questions, recommendations for further reading, biblical and theological reflection and stories from practitioners.    Our hope in writing this book is that people will be re-envisioned in their youth work and will reflect on the many roles and facets that can help us attain our goal of building the Kingdom of God amongst young people.

Youth ministry is a special vocation for some but the responsibility of the whole church.  Hopefully this book will provide you with fresh ideas and help you build a team that will offer young people a vision of what Christian life looks like lived out with commitment, passion, joy and faithfulness.  With young people Christianity is as much caught as taught, who we are is more important than what we do.  In most of my youth work I am an odyssey guide and mediating mirror – what are you?

John Pritchard: Five books that have influenced me

The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis

This was one of the first books I’d read that showed me that Christian faith was a serious and life-changing possibility. Previously my Christian upbringing had left me with some knowledge of things Christian and especially that it was about doing good. With The Imitation I found myself in much deeper territory, and wanting to find out more about what motivated such profound soul-searching. I was hooked.

This Jesus, David Day, IVP, 1980

This popular presentation of the significance of Jesus was a breath of fresh air. It was completely honest, down-to-earth and engaging. It answered the questions I and others had, and it took Jesus out of the stained glass window and into daily life. It was the Jesus I could relate to and wanted to commend. I remember wishing I knew the author – later I worked with him at St John’s College in Durham!

The Christ-Like God, John V. Taylor, SCM, 1992

This gem of a book brought together for me the insights of a theologian, a poet and a pastor. The bishop’s exploration of the reality of suffering and the reasons for it in a world that is God’s (chapters 7 and 8), have had a lasting impact on my thinking. I quote John V. Taylor regularly – not just from this book but from several others.

Congregation: Stories and Structures, James Hopewell, SCM, 1987

This ground-breaking book took me into how narrative studies could illuminate the life, complexities, conflicts, and possibilities of congregations. It immediately rang bells with me and my experience of being a parish priest, and it formed the initial stimulus for an MLitt I was to undertake. The author knew he was dying as he wrote it, which gave it an added poignancy.

The ‘For Everyone’ series of New Testament commentaries, Tom Wright, SPCK

Having valued William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible earlier in my pilgrimage, I was delighted when Tom Wright started to write this series. I knew I could commend it to lay people and I knew I could dip in when I was needing to prepare a quick homily. The great balance the author achieves is to put New Testament scholarship at the service of popular understanding of the Bible as a basic tool for living Christianly in the world. A lasting gift to the Christian world.

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Home by Another Way Extract

Take a different Advent journey …

In The Advent Adventure, David Rhodes offers an engaging series of Advent meditations, using stories and experiences for the streets of our inner cities to rediscover the startling message of the gospel. In company with ‘a strange assortment of fellow travellers, including three not very wise men, a small frog, homeless people from our own streets and an ugly duckling’, David invites us to ‘make a journey with a difference, to discover the meaning of Christ’s birth for today.’

David began his working life as a journalist and was ordained in 1972. He has spent many years working with those on the margins – the poor and homeless. His books spring from the discovery that God is to be encountered among those we look down on as poor and worthless. Lisa Friend, who worked as a prostitute before coming to faith, says: ‘How can you believe that you are worth anything when you have been told all your life that you are less than nothing? David Rhodes writes about us, the outcasts. He communicates the radical challenge of God’s love to the Church and to Christians everywhere.’

Click here to save 20% on The Advent Adventure

Shine fresh light on Christmas…

Trevor Dennis is well-known and well-loved for his imaginative re-telling of classic Christian stories. In The Christmas Stories, he examines the two Biblical accounts in Matthew (a dark tale of light shining the darkness) and Luke (full of light and joy). Trevor also includes some of his own stories and poems, to show that the church desperately needs the vision of God in a manger to determine its theology and practice.

The Christmas Stories Chapter 1

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Come along for tea, coffee and biscuits, before Janet leads the talk, poetry reading and discussion using her new book, The Heart’s Time. The book includes poetry by Margaret Atwood, St Augustine, Charles Causley, E.E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Carol Ann Duffy, Ruth Fainlight, U.A. Fanthorpe, Robert Frost, Seamus Heaney, George Herbert, Elizabeth Jennings, Denise Levertov, Roger McGough, Adrienne Rich, Christina Rossetti, R.S. Thomas and Rowan Williams, along with the author’s own skilful and reflective commentaries.

Come along and explore how poetry can be a rich and challenging resource for the spiritual journey, especially during Lent. All are very welcome.

When? Thursday 26 January 2012

What time? 6-9pm

For more information, please visit their website here or call 0114 266 3613 between 9am-1pm.

We’ve teamed up with Twelve Baskets and Digital Mission to create this fun digital experience, known as augmented reality, for your enjoyment this December. By downloading the free app Aurasma Lite, with your iPhone, iPad, iTouch or Android phone, you can watch four exciting films that use the text of David Adam’s Traces of Glory, simply by holding your device over the images.

For details on how you can join in, visit the Twelve Baskets’ website here or log on to the Traces of Advent website.

Let us know how you get on! You can tweet us @SPCKPublishing or visit our facebook page.

The launch was hosted at the Bookham Baptist Church in Bookham, Surrey on the evening of  19 November. Around 70 guests attended and they were treated to music performances and thought-provoking talks by eight speakers on the topic of experiencing God in our everyday lives.