Christian Youth Work in Theory
and Practice: A handbook
Sally Nash and Jo Whitehead, editors
SCM Press £25
(978-0-334-04643-1)
Church Times Bookshop special price £20
Here Be Dragons: Youth work and mission off the
map
Richard and Lorimer Passmore
Frontier Youth Trust £14
(978-0-9927570-0-7)
THE book Christian Youth Work in Theory and Practice
uses a wide variety of voices from around the world to define
contemporary youth-work theory and practice. Some contributors act
as chapter authors, and others as chapter responders. Here Be
Dragons looks at how its authors' long-term example of
detached youth work can be interpreted and named as "symbiotic
youth work", with an analysis of its theory and practice, and
plenty of advice on how to use such an approach. These two books
are both committed to relating youth work in practice to youth work
in theory, and vice versa. The differences in approach, style, and
format result in starkly different reading experiences.
Sally Nash and Jo Whitehead as editors have helped capture
thought and experience in a presentable and digestible way. The
A handbook moniker is fully merited, in part because of
the diverse authorship. Another valuable feature is the useful
quantity of references, not just for each chapter author, but for
the chapter responder. All of this, combined with a subject and
scripture index, makes for an ease of navigation for the reader and
an immediate sense of the related literature. Between chapter and
response sit "questions for reflection", which have a depth and
breadth that compel the reader to stop and contemplate a panoply of
theological ideas, such as: would Joseph, son of Jacob, have
benefited from a youth worker; do your own notions of youth work
and the Kingdom of God correlate; and is your practice more at risk
of under-involvement or over-involvement?
Topics range across a wide spectrum from "ethical dilemmas",
"education and the curriculum", and "leadership and management" at
one end, to "mission", "spiritual practices", and "theological
inquiry" at the other end. Both these and the mid-spectrum
attention on inclusivity, adolescent identity, youth culture, and
reflective practice mean this is a must-have volume for any youth
worker starting out, student of youth ministry, or experienced
practitioner looking for a handy contemporary summary.
Proponents of detached youth work or those pondering taking an
"off-the-map" approach to youth ministry will welcome the
thoroughly analysed and instructional narrative born out of the
decades-long experiences of the Passmores, their co-contributors,
and the countless people they have worked with. The honest warning
of "dragons" in the domain and detailing of the risks of heading
"off-piste" are covered in depth.
The level of advice, for instance, reaches to whom to leave your
number with when going into dangerous places and what steps that
nominated person is to take before phoning the police (including
driving around the area looking for you). There is, throughout, a
"wise narrator" speaking to the reader as "you", which will suit
some tastes better than others.
The abundance of ideas, experiences, and theological reflection
justify the book's endeavour to articulate a definition of
"symbiotic youth work": an approach to detached youth work, taken
by the authors, which requires the spiritual transformation of the
youth workers just as much as the youth.
The substance of the book is not equalled by the publisher's
house style. Further judicious editing and improvements to layout
would reduce the intensity and density of exploring the volume. The
simple things of narrower margins, and a reduction in many and
various types of lists would have reduced my distraction and
encouraged me to note only how enriching youth work can be when
spiritual vulnerability is put at the centre.
The Revd Dr Jeremy Clines is the Anglican Chaplain at the
University of Sheffield.