Adults! We need you!
Have you ever considered working with young people? Do you have the heart and passion to walk alongside teens as they traverse the landscape of adolescence? Major Mat Badger needs you!
Just prior to the global pandemic, I had the privilege of visiting the heart of downtown London, England. In a moment, I gained an insight into what it must be like to be a young person standing at the noisy and confusing crossroads of adolescence.
It was 6pm, getting dark and the peak of rush hour and my friend Scott and I were walking through Piccadilly Circus. My senses were overwhelmed by the activity happening in all directions: people, cars, buildings, large electronic signs, classic double-decker buses, buskers, street performers, street vendors, car horns, loud music playing from shop fronts—it was all–consuming.
I was on high alert so I didn’t get swept away in the rushing river of people coming towards me. I was glad to have Scott with me as he had been to the area before, and at that time I didn’t know where I was going.
AT THE CROSSROADS
Author Walt Mueller believes that adolescence is a crossroads. There is constant change, questions and a lot of searching for solutions. Emerging generations are bombarded with conflicting signals and possibilities, unsure of which path to pursue. In response to their silent teenage inner scream of ‘show me the way’, they usually choose the most appealing, loud and convincing signposts to follow, but some may fail to see the consequences of doing so.
Teenagers can get swept away as they try to navigate the rushing river of toxic values that rages against them. For others, the choice is made easier when they see their peers and friends moving as a group in a certain direction.
POSTMODERN WORLDVIEW
Ever since John Watkins Chapman first coined the term ‘postmodern’ in 1914, with each new generation the worldview surrounding it has gotten successively louder and louder. Today, the voice of the postmodern worldview has not only grown exponentially louder, but it’s also become more invasive. It screams in the sphere where teenagers live—at school, at home, online or through the dopamine kick they get as they use their smartphones. No matter where young people position themselves at the crossroads of adolescence, values of the postmodern world fill their field of vision and tingle their senses, yelling, ‘This is the way!’ But the values from this worldview tend to contradict the narrow way of the gospel.
Teenagers are experiencing things that previous generations did not. Fact. For example, we live in an age of misinformation that bombards people through the internet. Issues such as global warming and overpopulation can be paralysing for teens. Poor mental health amongst young people is currently at a record high.
THE MINISTRY OF FUN
That’s why we need you! We need good, solid, reliable and authentic adults to journey alongside teenagers, with a holistic, family honouring, Christ-centred, strengths-based approach to assist teens navigating the crossroads of adolescence. We need role models—but not perfect ones! Young people need to know, hear and see that they can recover from mistakes. We need adults who are prepared to share their own learnings and listen. We need adults who aren’t easily shocked or fazed, who know the message of the gospel and who have a heart for young people. We need adults who are prepared
to have some fun! We need adults who will extend the parameters of their families to include young people who are floundering in their adolescence.
If this is something you are interested in, then there are several things you can do. First, take time to pray. We are looking for people who are called to this task. This will sustain you in the times that will be challenging. Second, if you want to volunteer, figure out how many hours a week you have available to give. Third, once you have done this, proactively initiate a discussion with your corps officer, centre manager or key youth worker. Make sure that you scale your volunteering within the hours that you have available. Remember, quality is better than quantity. If you can’t commit to something on a weekly basis, you might be able to help at your local centre by doing other things, such as being a volunteer driver for youth events. We currently have several places around Aotearoa New Zealand where young people miss out on getting to wider youth events or camps simply because there aren’t enough reliable adults to help with transport. I know that this has also been an issue in the past in both Fiji and Tonga.
If you are feeling that God might be calling you to work with young people, it doesn’t matter what age you are. It’s the calling that is important. And we want to set you up to succeed!
Not only will you make a difference in the lives of the next generation, but you will leave a legacy that could make a difference generationally for a whole whānau (family) or community. How cool is that?
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If you receive an all-clear to volunteer from your local key leader (and remember, they have the right to say no), the next step is to undergo a Police Check and complete our Keeping Children Safe (KCS) course and subsequent refreshers. You will need to familiarise yourself with our ‘Safe Practice for Youth and Children’s Work’ manual. This protects both you and the young people you will work with.
It doesn’t matter if you volunteer at a drop-in centre, coach a sports team, mentor a young person, help run a youth group or a youth Bible study, training is essential. Make sure that you check out our ‘Foundations of Youth Work’ course. This is a four-part course that is specifically designed to equip local volunteers to grow in their leadership; there is no financial cost to you or your centre, and if you complete it you get a ‘Foundations of Youth Work’ certificate, recognised across The Salvation Army. We have 15 places per year on this course and the information comes out in December for the following year. If you are interested, talk to your local officer, leader, or contact your divisional/regional youth officer. Complementing ‘Foundations of Youth Work’ is the mid-year More Conference which is open to anyone working with youth or children.
Also, we are always looking for adults to train as professional youth workers. If this is something that you might be interested in, we have a three-year, full-time training programme that you could apply for. It is called the L.A.B. (Living and Breathing) programme. Email firezone@salvationarmy.org.nz for more info!