Youth View

I was intending to write about the success of the Basildon Youth Club; how, over three years, this village church, with its (then) elderly congregation has run activities for young people who mostly live on the local estate; how it has grown, such that teenagers from outside of the village have heard about it from word of mouth and come along.

But, it's been a bit quiet at youth club recently. In spring, we took 18 young people to the lambing at Rushall Farm, 35 went ice-skating and we had a regular weekly attendance of 20-30. This term, we have yet to hit double figures and sometimes leaders have outnumbered young people.

Which highlights a big issue in rural youth work and a challenge for the youth worker. What do you do when only a few turn up? Or worse, what if none turn up? Or (worse again) what if it's only one? It is very difficult to motivate helpers, if they feel they are not needed, or that the group is no longer relevant. But it is with small groups that we can make the most impact and build the best relationships.

There is a pressure on us to strive for quantity, particularly in outreach. After all, we want to communicate to the greatest number of people. So, we try to create activities that will have general appeal. If we have only a few young people in our community, we may feel we should bus them out to a bigger event, or send them to the church down the road that seems to be more successful.

But, the problem with large numbers is that the quality of relationships becomes increasingly superficial. Small groups, or (better yet) informal chats with individuals, are where the real work is done. Recent successes, where young people have become part of our church community, or wanted to find out more, have come from working with small groups, or pulling a few people out of a bigger group.

Large events should be a result of many small groups coming together for mutual support and fun - not an attempt to pack as many unsupervised teenagers into a building as possible.

Ray Ellis is the church youth worker for Basildon, Bradfield and Bucklebury, Berks