1

Good News Magazine

2

Youth for Christ exists to see young people’s lives changed by Jesus. We represent God’s heart by showing Jesus in a relevant way to young people in places like schools, prisons, churches and local communities using sport, music, the arts and so much more.

This magazine contains stories from across Britain of young people being impacted and transformed as they hear about and encounter Jesus. Our hope is that you’ll feel stirred and motivated to be part of it.

Contents

Bringing Hope

Lifting Spirits and Touching Lives

Taking Steps of Faith

The Age of Anxiety

Rebecca’s Story

Gen Z: The Digital Generation

Get Involved

Editor: Tim Adams

Design: Gary Kendrick

Contributors:Neil O’BoyleLaura Hancock Aundrea Smith Jim Overton

4-5

6-9

10-11

12-17

18-19

20-21

22

4 5

Bringing HopeBy Neil O’Boyle

In everything we do, we represent God’s heart, showing Jesus in a relevant way to young people. As we do this our desire is to help them navigate the often tricky roads that lie ahead. Whatever these look like we are here for young people because we know that Jesus changes lives.

In this edition of Good News, we tackle one of the most important issues of our time – mental health and well-being. Our approach to it has to be informed because young people can be struggling and suffering in silence. That’s why Andrew Bennett shares his advice on how to help those affected and the importance of giving young people the space to share how they’re really feeling. As a movement committed to seeing young people’s lives changed by Jesus, we carry hope to young people no matter how dark things may seem for them.

You can also read about our new Waltham Forest Youth for Christ Centre Leader, Aundrea Smith, who shares her amazing testimony of coming to Christ and her passion for young people. I love it when dynamic and passionate people full of faith join us to use their gifts, energy and experience to connect with young people and introduce them to Jesus.

One of the most long-standing ways we do this as a national movement is by running residential experiences for youth groups. At Fort Rocky, our evangelistic residential weekend, 11-16 year old young

people are given an opportunity to decide to become followers of Jesus on the most fun and memorable weekend of their year. We also run residentials to help 8-11 year olds engage with God and Christian young people take steps forward in their faith.

Today’s young people (Gen Z) are the digital generation and spend most of their time online. So, we have conducted an important second piece of research on young people’s habits and views of the digital space to help us understand how to engage with them there and relevantly share the good news of Jesus. Wherever young people are, that’s where you’ll find us because they need to encounter Jesus. We continue to explore what that could look like for today’s digital generation.

We have been given the immense privilege of sharing Jesus with young people and seeing Him shine light into darkness and bring hope to the hopeless. Whether it’s young people hearing about Jesus at youth clubs in their local area and deciding to follow Him or taking steps of faith at one of our residentials, be encouraged today that God is at work in the lives of young people.

Lifting Spirits and Touching LivesBy Aundrea Smith

Waltham Forest Youth for Christ’s new Centre Leader on why she is using her musical gifts to share her heart, soul and the truth of the gospel with local young people…

Some young people meet Jesus in church or at a youth club but I met Him in an extraordinary way when I was 24. While I’d grown up in church, I became very disillusioned with Christianity as a young person. I basically told God that I was never going to church again and that if He wanted to save me, He would have to come down from His throne and do it Himself. To my amazement I then met the Lord when I was in my living room and high from smoking weed!

I think my passion for young people began when I started teaching Sunday School in church at the age of 15. I saw the way that I could engage with them and the impact that I had. I did vocal coaching from the age of 18, so I was constantly teaching young people, going to youth clubs. I thought there had to be a reason why I was so young at heart and young people seemed to gravitate towards me. Even now, my 21 year old and all her friends live in my house, eat all my food and tell me their problems because they feel able to be really open to me. I tend to have that a lot so I thought, ‘Lord, there must be a reason why you’ve made me that way so I really want to use it for your glory’.

When I saw an advert on Premier for someone to lead a local Youth for Christ centre I was intrigued so I applied. 5 others were interviewed with me but I felt so sure it was right for me that I even wished one of the other candidates luck

in the interview for their next job because I told them: “This one is mine!” Following the interview, I actually got offered another job, accepted it and started the training but 2 weeks in, I was offered the role at Waltham Forest Youth for Christ. Though the job I was in paid more, God said: “I didn’t call you to that. I called you to this.” So I handed in my notice.

I officially started as the leader of Waltham Forest Youth for Christ on the 5th of November 2018; a date I’ll have absolutely no trouble remembering! It’s early days but I know I can’t do everything so I’m seeking God to give me direction on what is the best way to move forward. At Conference in January I gathered ideas from other centre leaders and met lots of other people that are passionate about young people.

As I begin leading the centre, I’m aware that I have to play to my strengths. As a motivational vocal coach for the last 20 years, the arts are going to feature heavily in the work we do at Waltham Forest Youth for Christ. One of things that people gravitate towards is Gospel Choirs. I know a number of centres have already done great work using them and since the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, everyone wants a Gospel Choir! I’ve even been asked to come into one of the local schools in the area that is predominantly Muslim because they want one.

6 7

9

As a singer and songwriter, I’ve toured with The Beautiful South and P Diddy. I’ve also studied performing arts so have some knowledge of acting and dance. I have taken on the role of Waltham Youth for Christ Centre Leader part-time, this allows me to continue to run my motivational arts academy, called ‘The Voice of Excellence’. After appearing on ‘The Voice’, I started a twitter live broadcast show which later led on to me starting my now Facebook Live show called ‘Sassy Sunday’ and I got a lot of young followers. Off the back of it, a few of them came to know Jesus Christ and stopped self-harming, just from watching me be silly, talk about my faith and be myself. I’ve now been doing the show for about 2 years and one of my most watched videos has had about 7000 hits, to date. Recently, a young person who is transgender decided to do an Alpha course and reconnect with their faith, off the back of watching Sassy Sunday and loving the ministry, which is huge.

In addition to music, I have a passion for hair, makeup and interior design, my mix of interests also includes fixing cars, bricklaying, welding and tiling. With so many varied experiences, I feel able to talk to young people about almost anything and everything. My heart is to reach young people who ordinarily wouldn’t go to church and sometimes being the only Jesus that some people get to see because they never go to church and get to know Him the way that

we have. I feel like God has called me to bring young people into the kingdom in a really dynamic, loud, crazy, funky and exciting way!

Please pray for direction from the Lord and wisdom for me as we move forward. We need people to pray for us, people who are going to pray into the vision and also people who want to donate to us and say, ‘we love what you’re doing’. I want to continue building a legacy in Waltham Forest, that has longevity so that people would notice if we’re not there. I want our presence to be felt in the community as we touch young people’s lives and see them changed by Jesus in Waltham Forest. I want young people to be able to connect with us so that we can connect them with Jesus.

8

10 11

Tim Adams speaks to Bethan Newman about Youth for Christ Residentials and the impact they have on young people’s lives…

What led you to Youth for Christ?I first got involved with Youth for Christ by joining the street dance crew, Stance on my year out after my degree. On my ministry year, using things that I loved to reach others, I found that I really enjoyed working with young people. Afterwards, I carried on working for Youth for Christ in more of a youth work than a performing arts capacity. I’m now in my third year of heading up our residentials.

Why do you run residentials?At every residential, our heart is that young people would take a step in their faith journey with God, whether that’s moving them from a 0 to a 1 or a 9 to a 10. It could be them thinking about God for the first time, making a decision or those who’ve already followed Jesus for a while deciding they want to step it up and tell their mates. We want young people to take that step over a memorable weekend where they can have loads of fun, with their youth leaders and mates.

Why do youth workers come along? Residentials are also a chance for youth and children’s workers to spend time building great relationships with their young people. They don’t have to plan anything, all they need to do is book their group and turn up to enjoy it. The accommodation, food, main sessions, after-hours fun and all the outdoor activities are sorted by us, as is the material for weekends with youth work time, so that youth leaders can choose if they want to use it or not. They also get to participate and engage with the same content as their young people which means they can continue conversations long after they leave the weekend.

Taking Steps of FaithBy Tim Adams

What challenges do you face in running residentials?Trying to plan a weekend to help young people you don’t know can be challenging, though I’ve found that after planning and praying about our themes year on year, they seem to hit home for the majority of young people. It’s a challenge to choose them but it makes us focus on God and press in to Him, which is a good thing.

What sort of changes have they made in young people’s lives?I’ve seen big changes and small changes. I’ve seen young people making commitments to follow Jesus on every single residential I’ve been to. Other moments are equally as beautiful. Recently, we did some bite-size 15 minute seminars, including one on self-esteem. A girl on one wrote a list of negative things she thought about herself and at the end wrote the opposites next to each of them, referencing Bible passages. Another young person received a Bible for the first time at a residential so seeing them carry it around, asking their youth leaders questions and getting them to write in it was amazing.

How important is a group dynamic to a Youth for Christ residential?It’s massively important because if young people come as part of a youth group, youth leaders can keep building on what they’ve learnt after the weekend with the young people they see week in, week out. We have found that there’s power in community and in young people journeying together with others.

What residentials are you running in 2019 and why should youth groups come?This year’s Big Academy, which is for 8-11s and is growing year on year, takes place in June. September’s Switch (formerly Evangelism Weekender) will help young people to share their faith. And our residential for 11-14s, Fort Rocky, will be in October 2019. The heart behind Fort Rocky is to reach young people with the good news of Jesus so it’s perfect for groups with a mix of Christian and unchurched young people. Youth groups should come to a Youth for Christ Residential in 2019 because it could change their young people’s lives!

12

The Age of AnxietyBy Tim Adams

In the age of social media, anxiety among young people is on the rise. A recent YouGov poll shows that the number of young people in the UK who say they do not believe life is worth living has doubled in the last decade1. At 2019’s Youth for Christ Conference, I met Andrew Bennett, who works as a Chaplain with children and young people, much of which is in mental health, and has experience of supporting young people. Last year he took up the role of Centre Director of Dundee Youth for Christ.

1 www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/05/youth-unhappiness-uk-doubles-in-past-10-years

14 15

As we sit down to chat, Andrew has an instant easiness and warmth about him. Having moved to Dundee in 2010, he now volunteers with the centre there while working full-time as a chaplain for NHS Scotland. As well as working with young people, Andrew provides NHS staff support appointments in well-being and mental health. He is qualified in pastoral supervision, is a Scottish Mental Health First Aid Trainer in young people’s First Aid and works closely with other healthcare professionals.

But Andrew’s route into his profession hasn’t been straightforward. “Sometimes the courses of our lives appear more like a meandering river than a straight line” he tells me with a knowing glance. Some of his journey, “particularly over the last wee while, has not felt very direct” he adds before leaning forwards and laughing heartily. He confesses to wondering why God has taken him through so many twists and turns at times but acknowledges that through them, he has “developed so many pastoral skills and abilities”. Nowhere are these more evident than in the listening project he runs in a high school. Through it, Andrew has supported young people’s well-being and the project is so highly evaluated by the pupils, the school and GPs, that it’s attracting attention from the Scottish Office.

Andrew notes that the CAMHS (Children and Adolescents’ Mental Health Services) are oversubscribed and the NHS is struggling to cope with the number of young people needing their services. He likens the situation to young people being in a river and going beneath the water. They don’t only need help to

get out but work needs to be done to stop them falling in, in the first place. “I feel there is great opportunity for us to provide safe spaces and places where young people can talk, have their experiences validated and be given hope as they’re helped to see things in a slightly different way.” That’s what the listening project he runs in the high school does. “As you listen to young people and spend time working pastorally, well-being and mental health quickly become part of it as you encounter distress and anxiety.”

For Andrew, it’s vitally important for youth workers to get equipped. “Your own experience is not enough anymore. It’s simply not enough to tell a young person that someone else will deal with what they’re going through” he cries as he urges youth leaders to find good training in identifying young people who are struggling. “As youth workers, we may be the first port of call for a young person going through a really difficult and dark place” he says, his face etched with seriousness. Some signs are “fairly easy to spot” but training “enables us to identify young people who are becoming at risk.” Andrew maintains that listening to young people is absolutely key “because an appropriate question or an appropriate bit of support, at the right time might make all the difference”.

The man that sits opposite me is quite evidently a mental health and well-being advocate for all young people. Yet I wonder what impact his faith has on the way he approaches the subject. “There is a real richness within faith and within the Bible itself of people who went through some of the toughest and most difficult

times” he says, before listing Elijah, Moses, Naomi and David. The Bible, he adds, tends to speak of despair and brokenness as opposed to depression and anxiety but Andrew sees the things they went through as the crucible of faith. “It’s not that we ever choose to go through such things but they are the places that we learn and grow in God. We have a very real and practical faith that isn’t spared from difficulty but goes through it.” Andrew speaks of the centrality of the cross to Christianity but feels we can skip past Jesus crying and sweating blood in Gethsemane all too easily. “There’s that amount of angst and anxiety going on,” he declares, “and then there’s the road to the cross, which was not easy to walk”. His face then softens as he recalls all that Jesus experienced – of being lonely, being betrayed and experiencing desperate pain and suffering. It gives Andrew great hope “that Jesus is with us in difficult situations because He knows intimately what we go through”.

And hope is essential for us to offer young people who are facing well-being or mental health issues, according to Andrew. As Christians, we need to be carriers of hope to young people” he passionately declares. “We need to be able to tell them that there is light at the end of the tunnel. That there’s a new day and, whatever struggle they are facing, it doesn’t have to be all there is.” As followers of Jesus, Andrew maintains we have a hope that kept those mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 going through thick and thin. “They kept their eyes fixed on God and His promises and we must also as we bring hope to young people who are struggling behind the scenes.”

Andrew Bennett

16 17

Sadly, many young people don’t have a consistent community or person in their life, which makes all the difference, according to Andrew. “When I speak to young people, it’s often the dance teacher, the guide teacher or the youth worker that is their significant support rather than their parents.” He accepts that youth workers can’t be stand-in parents “but we can bring hope to our young people”, Andrew says, his voice wavering with emotion. “That may be simply by giving your time, listening or most of all by bringing hope”. This is what motivates the Dundee Youth for Christ team as they run a bi-monthly youth community, made up of a mixture of young people from different churches and youth groups around the area. Andrew is looking at how it can grow and what it could look like in future, as they seek to best serve the City’s young people.

In a fast-paced world, where young people create avatars of themselves online and constantly try to present who they want people to see, Andrew calls for youth workers to be real with young people. “Social Media gives us people’s highlights and lowlights but rarely the in betweens”, he says plainly. As young people are influenced by the culture around them, he stresses how vital it is that youth workers show young people they are loved. “They must be allowed to be themselves because they often don’t say how they really are.” Allowing young people to be hurting and broken is key because “if someone is crying, they don’t need to stop – they need someone who cares”, according to him. “We need to model what it is to be a community that is authentic and supports young people”, he declares. “We need to lead and model

what it’s like to honestly say how we are and not hide it. That way young people will see that we are being authentic.” It requires more than flashing lights and high-energy youth meetings for Andrew. He argues that “we have to be better at doing stillness and silence because young people need a community in which they can read God’s word and hear what He is saying to them”.

I recall the words Jesus stood up and read in the temple from Isaiah 6 about His mandate and Andrew nods slowly in agreement. “God is close to the broken hearted”, he states, “and in the Bible people don’t put a brave face on things when they are facing difficulties and feel low. In psalm 88 the psalmist is ‘overwhelmed with troubles’, ‘in the darkest depths’ and their ‘eyes are dim with grief’.” If a young person comes to a Christian meeting that’s high energy and full of joy, Andrew explains, how do they fit if they’re feeling absolutely rubbish? And ultimately, how do they meet God?

With our time together drawing to a close, he speaks movingly about young people needing to bring their pain, tears and all their rubbish to God, without being asked to be something they are not or fearing to be real with Him. What matters to Andrew is that we care for young people by being with them, validating what they’re going through and helping them come to God in their brokenness. “Whatever our situation,” he smiles, “we all need to bring our brokenness to Jesus and allow Him to work things out in His own time, remembering He is the God of the new day and the resurrection”.

16

18 19

At the age of 10, Rebecca joined a new weekly group called Beautiful Baking Queens (BBQ), where a bunch of friends her own age met to chat about Jesus while creating things in the kitchen. It was a lot of fun, and although they sometimes got distracted with butter and sugar, they enjoyed discussing questions of faith.

In 2018, Rebecca (now in year 8) and her friends from BBQ, attended the launch event for a city-wide mission co-ordinated by Youth for Christ across the county. Along with 5 of her friends she responded to the gospel that night. “When the chance came to invite Jesus into my life, I knew it was the right thing to do”, she says. “I had always thought what Bev and the other leaders had been saying was right but I realised that night that I had to choose for myself to believe in Jesus.”

By the time of the next BBQ meeting, she had downloaded a Bible app on her phone and was starting to read it. The only trouble was that the app was set to the King James version and she didn’t know how to change it! During the mission, some of Rebecca’s friends heard the Christian message through a band visiting their school. Rebecca then became the evangelist as two of them started coming with her to BBQ.

Every year, the National Board of Youth for Christ organise a meeting to take place near a centre so that they can hear more about the work. Last year, they chose to meet in Cambridge and heard

Rebecca’s story. Inspired by the example of Youth for Christ, the local church and a city-wide mission combining to life-changing effect in the life of a young person, they decided to give a copy of our Good News Bible: The Youth Edition to Rebecca, with each member of the board signing the inside cover. “This Bible is amazing!” Becca said when she received it. “I can’t believe that people chose to give it to me. It is really going to help me live for Jesus into the future”.

“This Bible is amazing! I can’t believe that people chose to give it to me. It is really going to help me live for Jesus into the future”

Rebecca continues to grow in maturity as a disciple of Jesus. She particularly loves being part of the outreach activities with BBQ, recently taking part in reverse trick-or-treating (where they knocked on doors and handed out chocolate!). The group have also shared their baking talents with the local retirement home and have prayed for marginalised kids in their school.

Rebecca’s StoryBy Jim Overton

Rebecca grew up in the most deprived area in Cambridge – recently ranked as the most unequal city in the UK by a Centre for Cities report2. Her local church, Christ The Redeemer, knew the challenges of reaching their community and enrolled in LimitlessCommunity – a youth ministry training programme run by Cambridge & District Youth for Christ. Inspired by the programme, they decided that in order to capitalise on the opportunity of their after-school club for children, they would form smaller groups for older children. These would meet in homes where they could deepen their understanding of the gospel.

18 19

2 www.centreforcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/18-01-12-Final-Full-Cities-Outlook-2018.pdf

20 21

studies that it’s a widespread problem. Only 5% said that social media made them feel anxious and 4% that it affects their confidence. 18% said that it makes them feel calmer and 56% said that it makes them happier. Have Generation Z become so desensitised to digital media that short-term dopamine hits are blinding them to its long-term effect on their sense of well-being?

We then began to see how Generation Z view their online friendships and connections. When asked who they normally interact with directly online, 94% of young people unsurprisingly said their friends. However, when asked how they view most relationships that they build online, only 52% said they consider those involved friends. With so many young people engaging with others online, yet only just over half claiming to build or make friendships in that space, raises concerns. Does this reflect that young people see social media as a source of social entertainment and interaction, but not as a tool for cultivating relationship? When a young person’s online experience is just as real and significant to them as their face-to-face experience, how does it affect how they see others in the long term?

The second half of the research was specifically about YouTube. YouTube was the most likely online activity for a young person to engage with in their spare time. 86% of young people view YouTube by themselves but do not see it as a solitary form of entertainment. Generation Z are used to contributing to and curating the content that they engage with. To them, YouTube is a communal digital art gallery. 39% of young people say they create and upload their own content and many like or dislike (70%), follow (61%), comment (64%), share (60%) or subscribe (58%). In this space, a lack of authenticity is one of the few things not tolerated. These interactions rarely lead to direct contact with the creators of the content, though.

As we look to lead, nurture and engage this generation in a new way and in a space that is native to them, we must not neglect our role as gatekeepers. We are the last generation to know a world without digital dependency so there is much for us to share with and learn from Gen Z as we build a new sort of world together.

In 2017, Youth for Christ launched a piece of research called ‘Gen Z: Rethinking Culture’. This highlighted that their third favourite place to spend time each week (other than being face-to-face with their friends) was online. We then began to consider what it would look like for young people to encounter Jesus there.

In September 2018 we asked a group of 1000 11-18 year olds a long list of questions, and the research ‘Gen Z: The Digital Generation’ was born. We asked young people across the UK questions about their perspectives and habits using digital media, specifically, their day-to-day use of social media and YouTube and how they affect them as individuals. The results have stimulated some insightful discussions about this digital generation.

One of the keys areas of reflection from the research was around authenticity, which is a highly valued characteristic of this generation. When we asked the young people ‘What makes you view a YouTuber

or vlogger as inauthentic or false?’, 46% said that they “could just tell”. Their tone and sponsored content also affected how they were perceived. However, 85% claimed they themselves felt able to be completely authentic online. This is fascinating, given the way young people edit the material they post. The rise in ‘Finster’ accounts (fake Instagram accounts followed by close friends that show an unedited and unfiltered version) raises questions about how they view authenticity.

What are we to make of increasing numbers who have two social media accounts or multiple social media platforms? One for their public, edited persona, the other for raw and often more playful content. This could show that Gen Z is a generation that no longer understand what raw authenticity looks like, or that they are ignorant to the filters that they apply to themselves. Alternatively, this generation may see their online profile as the equivalent of your CV or personal marketing.

The research also highlighted an apparent lack of awareness among young people of the long-term effects of digital media. When asked, only 36% considered themselves addicted to social media, despite growing evidence from scientific

Gen Z: The Digital GenerationBy Laura Hancock

20 21

22 23

Get Involved

ConnectWe have around 60 local Youth for Christ centres across England, Scotland and Wales. These are locally focussed, locally driven outreach projects, where churches work together to communicate the love of Christ to young people. To partner with us as a church, email yfc@yfc.co.uk. Find your local Youth for Christ ministry and how you can get involved at yfc.co.uk/local

Buy‘Gen Z: The Digital Generation’ is the second in what will be a three-part trilogy of research exploring who Generation Z are and their primary concerns. To view online or purchase a printed copy of either of our released pieces of research, please visit yfc.co.uk/rethinkingculture or yfc.co.uk/digitalgeneration as we explore how we might see more young people’s live changed by Jesus.

Book Residentials bring people together. Together with each other and together with God. Our heart is to see young people’s lives transformed at every amazing weekend. Residentials this year include the Big Academy Weekend for 8-11s 7th–9th June, Switch (formerly Evangelism Weekender) 20th-22nd September and Fort Rocky for 11-14s 18th-20th October. Visit yfc.co.uk/residentials for more information.

GiveYour support makes it possible for more young people in Britain to hear about Jesus and decide to follow Him. Giving to Youth for Christ enables new resources, projects and missions to be created and more local communities to be impacted by the good news about Him. You can donate monthly or via a one-off gift at yfc.co.uk/getinvolved

24

Youth for Christ, Coombswood Way, Halesowen, West Midlands, B62 8BHT 0121 502 9620 E yfc@yfc.co.uk www.yfc.co.ukRegistered Charity 263446. SC039297A company limited by guarantee. Registered in England and Wales. Registration Number 00988200