Energize offers resources to unpack worldviews and current affairs with activities to promote exploration and understanding.
Children and teenagers are becoming young adults at a much younger stage in their lives than previously. This must therefore be reflected in the way that we work with the young people that we have contact with through our youth work.
You will of course have young adults who are in your group who are ‘typical’ teenagers and are still at school and trying to work out what to do with their lives. They are studying for exams and aiming for college or university etc. However you may also have those who are already living a more grown up type of lifestyle, like those who are participating in apprenticeships or college. Trying to engage with them about ‘typical’ teenage things is not going to be so relevant. They are trying to fit into a grown up world, learning about work ethics etc., so the way that you engage with them is very different.
This is the challenge and joy of working with the 15+ age group – the sheer diversity of this age group requires you to be able to engage and interact with different types of young adults. You will need to be flexible, interested, non-judgemental, patient and willing to admit you are wrong and strong when you know you are right! It is all about relationships. If they think you are just there to meet child protection number criteria, neither of you will get anything from your involvement. However, if they feel you are there because you want to be and because you are genuinely interested in them, then you may have the honour of being invited into their lives.
Need further advice about how to work with 15+?
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Energize has a growing range of meeting plans for working with this age group. Why not take a look and see what's on offer:
Search for meeting plans for 15+
Not sure where to begin? We've developed a syllabus that allows young adults to test the boundaries of their faith, as they explore what the world and the Bible has to say to them: