In Depth:  Roger Fawcett

I occasionally have the opportunity to talk to other youth leaders about what goes on in their church.

It is a privilege and it is always great to see how others operate and to share in the highs and lows of their gospel work. I have noticed a pattern of similar questions that arise regularly. How do I keep the 13/14-year-olds coming? What if they don't want to hear the Bible taught? How do we attract non-Christian friends? How do we challenge the lifestyles of the older teenagers without driving them away?

Just a couple of weekends ago there were several forlorn-looking parents in our congregation. At around the same time the local supermarket reported an increase in sales of tissues. That Sunday there were also some familiar faces were missing from the youth group and I figured it out. It was the start of the university term. Freshers had been duly delivered by parents with tears in their eyes. Little birds had grown into big birds and flown the nest.

Now, if we are to believe the sociologists, the university years are among the most formative in our lives. Ideas and world views are up for grabs. It is a time in which many people become Christians and stick with it for life. It is also a time when many people question the way they have been brought up and reject Christianity for life. University is an important time and one that needs to be prepared for and thought about carefully.

Each year I struggle with what to do about Halloween. Should I ignore it, hoping that the colourful ignition of several kilos of explosive a few days later will serve as a distraction?

Should I provide an alternative event to prohibit the young people from trick or treating? Should I attack Halloween head on, exposing it for the occult celebration that lies not far beneath the surface? The hope is that this month's article will inspire you afresh to use Halloween as an opportunity for the gospel, and not just an evening to keep your head below the parapet.

'Thoughts of happiness that lies within everyone tranquilises your being of being who you be of this forbidden picture of what you are supposed to show.'

No, you haven't misread that sentence. Go on, read it again. It comes from the Britney Spears tour programme, apparently outlining the concept for her show.

Nothing excites a youth worker more than receiving support from unexpected quarters. It's too easy to feel that you are plugging away in isolation and no one knows or cares what is going on. So youth leaders let your leaders and parents know how they can support you. You can reproduce this in a church magazine, or put it on the notice board. Let people know the things they can do to help the leaders sleep at night.

Parents that warm a youthworker's heart...

...go the extra mile

These Christian parents go out of their way to bring other young people as well as their own. They literally go the extra mile (or six) to pick up non-Christian friends and other fringe group members, such as the children of nominal Christians. It shows their priorities are gospel ones, not self-centred. Some amazing parents may even ask who they can pick up and drop off. Youth leaders beware of issues such as insurance and police checks.

'Resistance is futile', droned the Daleks in Doctor Who, and who but the good Doctor could stand up to them?

As we all know, resistance can be fairly common among young people too. Like most of us they want everything on their terms. Sometimes the most intricate planning can be wasted because no-one turns up, or there is silence during the discussion. The subject can be as silly as the wrong music on the stereo at the social, young people are experts at finding things to moan about. How do you react when your best is just not good enough? Here are some diagnostic questions to ask:

One day in the staff room. . . .

Imagine you are in charge of teaching mathematics at a large secondary school. There are students every year who need to sit external exams. The stakes are therefore quite high.

At the first team meeting of the year you sit down and set out your stall to the maths staff. This is what you suggest. No more teaching from the front. No more setting of work and testing. Instead the maths teacher becomes a companion to each student on their journey towards full numeracy.

In our young people's study group we are embarking next term on a series based on issues.

There's lots of good film titles around to use as themes, e.g. Love, actually, Anger Management, but that's not the reason. It is definitely something that we all need to tackle from time to time. It's a chance to move from head knowledge about the Bible, to the crunch of practically applying it in everyday life.

'I can take any amount of criticism, so long as it is unqualified praise', somebody once said. But how do we handle the awkward and embarrassing feedback to a talk or youth group session.

There is the danger that they will take things the wrong way or be upset by ill-chosen words. Constructive criticisms can be mistaken for damning nails in the coffin. But it is essential if youth work is going to grow. So how should we handle it?

There is a local area youth service once every two months. Between 60 and 80 attend. It is hosted by young people.

They do all the links, they play the music and sometimes it is a young person speaking. It lasts about an hour and a half and often finishes with food. It sounds ideal - young people organising the event that they want. They are being encouraged in areas of leadership, music and learning together. They see friends from other schools or churches and are built up together as Christians. What a great set up!

Game n. adj. & v. l n 1 a form or spell of play or sport esp. a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength or luck.

I was excited to read David Porter's article about The Lord of the Rings games in EN last month. I enjoy playing board games a great deal, perhaps I have German ancestry. In particular, I can assure readers that The Lord of the Rings Risk is excellent fun and a must-have for those who enjoy the original game.

Looking back over the last 12 months is something many organisations do at this time of year. The television is inundated with award shows, gala evenings and retrospectives of the previous year. This all culminates with the Oscars later in spring, notable for the fact that the Americans don't seem to have become embarrassed by the whole thing!

This month, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Evangelicals Now Youth Column End of Year Quiz. How much can you remember about the last 12 articles?

Christmas is a time for fun, laughter and games. But rather than just let the youth group descend into Yuletide anarchy (just yet!), try these themed games.

Christmas dingbats

There's no denying it, memory verses are currently out of fashion.

Children don't seem to learn them, teenagers rebel against it, it's even difficult to convince adults that memorising Scripture is worthwhile. It ought not to be the case. Humans have not collectively lost the capacity to remember. We remember much worthwhile and not a little worthless information daily: train times, song lyrics, prices in shops, soundbites from politicians - you get the picture.

My wife says that I should write an article about following up on young people after the summer holidays. I can see the sense in the timing, but do we really all need reminding? Given that a lot of people are like me and need the obvious things to be spelt out on a frequent basis, I think yes.

It is always worth remembering that young people's work is really just that - working with young people. It is about individuals, not programmes or events, not our own reputation or following the latest craze. Youth leaders have the job of 'disciple-making' amongst young people. So what are the post-summer priorities?

Life can be full of questions: Why isn't there mouse-flavoured cat food? Can you be a closet claustrophobic? Is there another word for synonym?

When companies ship polystyrene, what do they pack it in? Do cemetery workers prefer the graveyard shift?

Time and again I see situations in churches, which seem perfectly reasonable, but they are hiding dangerous sickness below the surface.

So I'm donning white coat and stethoscope to reveal those infections you never knew you had. But it is a risky, painful business. These diseases are highly contagious. Is there a doctor in the house?

I am increasingly convinced that Paul was an excellent first century youth leader. Younger men accompany him at various stages on his journeys and we know that young people came to listen to him.

The account of Eutychus in Acts 20 sounds like a youth meeting - they even fell asleep back then! Timothy and Titus, the two most well known of Paul's proteges, are both young men. Paul was their role model and his letters to them emphasise their similar positions within their churches. Paul knew the value of good role models, he tells them about the importance of setting an example to other believers, notably younger men (Titus 2.6-7 & 1 Timothy 4.12). Paul also encouraged a system of role models within the churches (see Titus 2).

Okay, so I've been told off for the 'fashion mags and make-up' comment! But what does make younger teenage girls different to boys to work with? Not being an authority I polled some other youth leaders, all female, about the fairer sex. Many thanks to these experts. The starting point is the same - we are looking for opportunities to train and disciple the girls biblically.

The impression I got from the experts was that working with teenage girls is less about getting out of your canoe and teaching the lost tribe. It is far more likely that the members of the 'tribe' will visit us and seek us out. So the 'missionary' work becomes more like the work of a guide. Helping the girls find their bearings in a confusing place, providing a fixed point from which to move out and explore a new city. One similarity with working with boys is that hard work is still necessary for long-term gain.

'I'm bored, forbid me to do something' read the T-shirt on one lad. The music in the background screamed the same message: 'Here we are now, entertain us'. Wherever you encounter teenage boys this will be the message. Very few things cause them to unhook from the computer or the playstation and even fewer things elicit any positive response. Glaciers move faster in the mornings and there are laboratory chimpanzees with a wider vocabulary.

Perhaps this is being unfair to the adolescent male, if so let's view it as a worst-case scenario. Certainly, many youth leaders struggle with this age group more than any other. Last month we established that the Bible is still relevant for them and that constantly looking for opportunities to train and guide them biblically is a good strategy. Building on this is difficult. Perhaps it would be helpful to see it as missionary work. Rather than just landing by canoe in the middle of the unreached 'tribe' and starting to read the Bible very loud and slowly in English, a missionary might employ a slightly harder method for a better long-term gain.

There is a scene of incredible tension in the film Jaws. Three characters wait on a small fishing boat, knowing that the shark is out there. The sea is still, nothing moves. But the attack is inevitable. Very quietly the familiar music starts. 'Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum.' As the camera pans around an empty, glittering sea a dark triangle becomes visible in the distance. With gathering speed it approaches the boat. The attack becomes not just inevitable but imminent.

Does that music play in your head as you anticipate the youth group session? It plays quietly at first but louder and louder as the inevitability of your teenage 'sharks' becomes imminent. As the youth group begins, these human sharks roll their eyes and show the whites as you suggest starting with a prayer. When you bring the Bibles out they show their teeth - row upon row of shiny, white serrations. Vicious smiles from the same mouths that suggest this is boring; or start talking to their neighbour whenever you are talking. The same mouths that growl with difficult questions or flippant comments under the breath.

I believe it is an important responsibility to support young people at school, although my own involvement in the local Christian Union ebbs and flows. Do you know if your teenagers or younger children have a Christian Union or club at school?

As a youth leadership team think what you can do. You can pray for them, offer to visit, provide Bible Study resources, train the leaders, and invest in outreach projects. Don't forget about your youth group when they go home on Sunday night. On Monday morning they head for their battleground and try to live for Christ in one of the toughest places they will encounter - a 21st-century school.

My dear nephew, Worm,

It is with interest I note that your patient has become a youth leader in the church. Although it will not be overlooked that your patient is becoming more involved, there are advantages. This role brings the opportunity to influence young minds, readily open to new ideas. I hope that you will rise to the challenge.

May I first suggest that you appeal to your patient's pride? Fill his mind with the idea that he is special because he has been given this job. Allow him to look down on the other members of the church as inferior. The Enemy foolishly tries to engender humility in our patients, but pride is so much easier to feed. As your patient begins to think like this it will begin to cause rifts between him and the other leaders. So much the better, it will make their job with the young people very difficult.

As I write this article the media is in the middle of the huge build up to the film The Two Towers. I have been asked by one youth group locally to give a talk based on The Lord of the Rings.

I feel like Frodo, burdened by the ring, commenting to Gandalf, the wizard, that he wished this had never happened to him. But, says Gandalf, 'So do all who live to see such times'. I would love to do a talk on The Lord of the Rings, but my problem is that while there are truisms in The Lord of the Rings (friendship, leadership, good triumphing over evil etc.), many of which would be good messages for young people, Truth is only found in the Bible.

You may be a volunteer youth leader. You may be a youth leader's wife. You may be a member of a youth group or a church leader. Whoever you are there is probably one question already on your mind at this stage of the year.

What can I get our church's youth leader for Christmas this year? Help is at hand with this month's 'grab-bag' of ideas - a variety of stocking fillers for use in youth groups, assemblies, lessons or at home for personal amusement. None of them are too expensive, but all are frequently valuable items.

A rocket screams across the sky exploding in a cataract of gold, silver, blue and green. "Oooh" sigh the crowd with one voice. A giant display of Catherine Wheels spins into motion almost before the glare from the rocket has died away. "Aaaah" groan the people. My personal experience of lighting fireworks is sparklers that take longer to light than to fizzle out and rockets so badly aimed that the explosion happens in someone's garden, three doors down, and I have to avoid that neighbour for weeks. Sometimes it is more economical to go to a display put on by real experts.

This month's topic is quite unrelated to fireworks, but your approach may be similar to your experience with them. How do you involve your youth group in evangelism? Is it best left to the experts? Do your efforts go off like damp squibs? Is it a case of light the blue touch paper and retire? Christmas with all its opportunities is approaching fast. Now is the time to make some plans with your young people.

There is a joke: what is the difference between a petri dish and your teen-ager's bedroom? The answer: what comes out of a petri dish can be called a 'culture'.

Certainly the noises, smells and sights of a teenager's lair rarely inspire the label of 'culture' in the Beethoven or Van Gogh sense. Do we really have to be into youth culture to evangelise and disciple effectively?

Ian is the director of youth and children's ministry training at Oakhill College. EN interviewed him in March last year. But his work of training youth workers is so crucial that I thought I would talk to him for myself.

Having taught for 13 years, Ian then became a schools worker in this area. He worked for a trust representing 12 local evangelical churches, quite a rare project at the time. About ten years in, Ian realised the desperate need for a theologically-based youth work course. A course that really treated the Bible as the heart of what we do, in addition to the excellent practical training around. This thinking formed the basis for the youth work module on the Cornhill Training Course. The idea then found its way to Oakhill, which started thinking about this course.

Joe Cool saunters into the room. He's up to date with the latest films and music. He can talk football or Kylie until your ears drop off. 'Hey dude, how's it going?'

After about 15 minutes of small talk, he changes tone and admits that the Bible study had better start, 'After all that's what it's all about, right?' The Bible study's great, Joe's got some funny stories and he really seems to know the Bible well. The trouble is that afterwards the boys can remember the stories but can't recall what the passage was all about. 'But, hey, Joe's great, isn't he?'

It's that moment again. Your heart is pounding; you can feel a bead of sweat forming on your forehead. A couple of deep breaths as you realise your knees are shaking.

All eyes are on you now, are you ready? I'm not talking about abseiling down a cliff or bungee jumping. You're about to give your talk on camp. It can be just as nerve-wracking. What can be done to help it go smoothly and turn it into an enjoyable (!) experience?

Breaking orders

One of my favourite films is 'A Few Good Men', starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. 'We follow orders, or people die. It's that simple, son', says Jack to Tom at one point. In the end two rank-and-file soldiers realise that some orders need to be broken to protect the weak and innocent.

It's just a story, but it's a good illustration of a problem that many struggle with in their youth work. The problem: I cannot find the way of working that fits my exact situation, what model should I follow that guarantees results? The answer: There is no model that will do that. We have to realise that the models we read about in books are not strict orders to follow, but to break. If you are a youth or children's leader, you have full permission to do things your way.

This month's 'web page in print' deals with the ever-sensitive issue of teaching Christian young people about relationships and sex.

There is no shortage of writers on this subject willing to add their wisdom to the melting pot. Sadly, there is little quality material for young people, with good biblical content. Some books, by well-known Christians, don't mention the Bible at all, although they may be very frank.

Welcome, again, to our virtual web site, existing on paper but not on the internet. Here are some of 'My favourites'. These are resources that I have found helpful. Access the resources by underlining the title in blue, point your finger to that item and say 'click, click'. Alternatively fall back on the old-fashioned method of visiting a good Christian bookshop and talking to someone.

Games and activities

I'm sure you have experienced this problem. You buy an exciting, glossy book with some fantastic looking games in it. When you get it home and study more closely, you discover that only a very few games are practical. The rest require a disused aerodrome, several thousand pounds of resources and a contact with the ex-military. Where do you go for value-for-money ideas books?

You may have heard of things that exist virtually on the internet, but not in real life. This article is the first in a series that is the opposite. This is a virtual web site that exists on paper but not on the internet. We begin this month with some FAQs, that is, Frequently Asked Questions. However, since we are doing things slightly differently some of these questions are not asked, but should be, frequently.

1. How well do we communicate with the parents of our young people?

What's the difference between rap music and opera? The answer is that rap is people talking when they should be singing and opera is people singing when they should be talking. This article is about neither rap nor opera, nor is it about singing in church. Following last time's discussion about the syllabus, here are some questions to probe.

Many churches run a system of a Sunday morning Bible class and a midweek social event to invite friends to. All this is fine until you consider the motives. Then it becomes like the rap/opera joke. Sunday is Bible teaching, but not reaching out. Friday nights are evangelistic but without a Bible base.

New Year is when we think about new starts and spring-cleaning. 'Out with the old and in with the new' is the battle cry. Since it is time to think about the year ahead it seems reasonable to ask what we will be teaching our young people.

Before we think about the content of a 'syllabus' we could ask why we actually need one? Doesn't a syllabus give too big a hint of school? Why not just use the material available? The danger with this approach is that we might just drift. Planning begins to become something done on a weekly basis, without considering the wider picture. There is the danger that important points of Bible knowledge get missed out. There is the equal danger that the same stories get taught repeatedly.

As Christmas approaches the problem for youth leaders everywhere is how to present Christmas with excitement, in a way not done previously, yet without compromising the message. The challenge this month is how to illustrate Christmas, and along the way to think about illustrations for talks generally.

The difficulty with illustrations is that they can be too good. We see a video clip, or hear a song and immediately see its potential for use as an illustration in a talk. Then the illustration begins to burn a hole in our notebook; it has just got to be let out. We end up falling into the tempting trap of writing the talk around the illustration. I fell into just such a trap with the film The Matrix. It is a rich source for illustrative material. There are some fantastic bits of dialogue seemingly purpose written for talks about the Christian faith. So I used and overused certain clips until, fortunately for all those who listen to me, I lost the cassette.

Following last month's article about planning an assembly, here are two outlines for assembly talks aimed at different ages. Both have been tried and tested, and have a Christmas theme. Both are condensed for reasons of space. So each should be expanded to suit delivery style and the occasion. The second 'Why bother?' is taken from a script for a fairly straight talk; it is therefore less interactive, but is adaptable.

Title: Christmas: The Four 'J's

After considering the importance of working in schools last month, here are some guidelines for assemblies. But what is an assembly?

assembly n. gathering of persons, esp. of deliberative body.

The pioneering mountaineer, Mallory, was once asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. He replied simply: 'Because it is there'.

One of the main reasons we should be taking the gospel into schools is because we still can. We should make the most of this opportunity. If we follow suit with the Americans, as so often, the freedom might not be there forever.

'Okay, class, term's over, have a lovely holiday. There is one more thing though. That is the small matter of your homework for the summer. This year I would like you to have a go at the six 'Rs'.'

Review

Take the time to look back over the last 12 months. Ask yourself what has worked well and what has not. Did you set any goals last year? Were they achieved? What have been the high spots and the real buzzes? What would you rather forget? Is there anything that you would approach differently if you were given a second chance?

The appetite of this youth worker is certainly part of his reputation. But my appetite runs to more than food. I have a healthy appetite for fresh air. I love to be outside, preferably doing something active and exciting.

It was this appetite that led to two jobs working in Christian outdoor centres. Sharing the gospel with young people is what these centres are about. Their speciality is building relationships with the young through outdoor pursuits. Rather than coming in cold to an evening meeting, first of all they can chat about the day, laugh about who fell in when kayaking, re-live the extreme climbing!

'Let's get into the Bible', 'listen to what the Bible says', 'let's dig a bit deeper'.

I'm constantly trying to find ways to say what I mean. I want to encourage young people to get stuck into understanding the Bible, working it out and applying it to their lives.