Coronavirus: A youth ministry liveblog

Our local YS team are giving young people across Luton an opportunity to learn to cook, try out new ingredients, experiment with new recipes, and cook a delicious, fresh and healthy meal for the whole family.

Families can sign up for ‘Cook With Youthscape’, every week they will receive a recipe bag which includes all the ingredient they will need to make a tasty meal for everyone in their home. Every pack includes a recipe card and a link to our tutorial video on Youtube - with tips from our very own professional chef!

Trying to find creative ways to stay connected to the young people in your area? Why not get in touch with your local authority and see if they need any help distributing food? There are some ideas in this blog post by YS Luton Director, Jemimah.

Trying to get a sense for how many young people are engaged with the groups and services you're running online? Mark Crosby, Director of Communications for the Vineyard Church, has written this helpful guide to understanding the metrics for online stats.

If your youth group has toured museums and landmarks together, embraced social action, had a stop motion movie marathon and encouraged each other to try new skills, then why not try a virtual zoo or aquarium trip? Multiple zoos and aquariums across the world have set up live webcams showing footage of popular tanks and enclosures. Since many video chat platforms have a share screen function, the entire youth group is able to experience something together through one person’s screen.

ZOOS

• San Diego Zoo has perhaps the greatest number of webcams providing live snapshots into various animal enclosures from baboons to elephants to tigers.
• Houston Zoo also has a varied mix of webcams to view, showcasing animals such as giraffe, rhino and leafcutter ants.
• Edinburgh Zoo is another zoo with some excellent webcams to check out. The penguin enclosure is particularly entertaining!
• The Chester Zoo YouTube channel features pre-recorded tours of exhibits and animal feeds. This is definitely where to go if the live webcams in other zoos aren’t loading or the animals are hiding off-screen!

AQUARIUMS

• Georgia Aquarium has several webcam tanks letting you look in on beluga whales, jellyfish and more. Georgia Aquarium is home to some ocean giants, including whale sharks and manta rays. You can view these magnificent animals and more in the Ocean Voyager exhibit.
• Monterey Bay Aquarium has webcams highlighting some of their most popular tanks. The sea otter and shark cams are some of the most viewed. The aquarium only shows footage during certain hours but plays pre-recorded clips when the live-feed is off.

INTO THE WILD

While zoos and aquariums are great at promoting species awareness and championing conservation, sometimes you just want to see animals in their natural habitat. The Explore website offers just that! While there is still aquarium and zoo footage on the site, the majority of cameras are hidden in real life nature reserves and known wildlife hotspots.

For an online session, it’s important to remember that not all young people will be interested in seeing animals in zoos and aquariums. Keep the tour short. Check it out for yourself beforehand and identify where the best webcams are so as to direct the group to the most interesting exhibits. It is also worth noting the times the live cams are running considering some of the suggested sites are based in the United States.

Make the session interactive. Ask each young person what their favourite animal is beforehand and try and find webcams or footage of that animal to highlight to them during your tour.

The Bible Project has created weekly small group and church bible study resources. You'll receive an email every week containing: a Bible Project video, a short audio message, 2-3 scripture readings and 6-8 discussion questions. You could adapt these resources into material for your youth group - or maybe it'll just be the inspiration you need, as a youth leader, to care for your own spiritual life. Check out their most recent video...

Last week we asked you some questions for the Thursday 3x3 a weekly survey of three quick questions, to take the temperature of the youth ministry community during the Coronavirus pandemic. It was another quiet week, thanks to Easter so thank you to the 57 people who answered our questions. Remember, the sample is not representative of the wider Christian youth work tribe so we shouldn’t assume that they apply to everyone!

This is a short summary of the Monday report. Head here to see the extended results.

1. KNOWNS AND UNKNOWNS: BOREDOM, ANXIETY AND POOR SLEEP

We presented a non-comprehensive list of issues young people might be facing during lock-down and asked you whether you knew young people were facing this, were concerned they might be, didn’t think it was an issue or just didn’t know. Head to the full report to see the results.

80% said they knew young people were experiencing boredom, while 68% highlighted anxiety and 67% poor sleep. It’s interesting that 56% are concerned about young people’s use of technology (too broad a concept really), but only 32% know this is actually an issue. 95% said that loneliness was either a known issue, or something they were concerned young people were experiencing, and 42% said they knew young people who had family members with COVID-19. It is interesting to look at what shows up at the bottom of the list too. There is concern that young people will be increasingly likely to be victims of exploitation, bullying or domestic violence during the lockdown, but most of our respondents either said this wasn’t an issue or they didn’t know if it was. Do we know how to spot the signs, if this was happening to a young person? Finally, two-thirds said that ‘not enough food’ wasn’t likely to be an issue for young people they supported, with only 7% highlighting that this was a known problem.

2. ONLINE CHURCH AND YOUNG PEOPLE: THE ACTION IS NOT ON SUNDAY

Many of us will have experienced multiple weeks of online church services by now, so we asked, ‘What’s that like?’ Most churches seem to be taking a pick n’ mix approach to the platforms they are using for online church services. At one end of the spectrum, some are exclusively pre-recording and broadcasting the service on YouTube while others are running highly interactive gatherings using Zoom (games, discussion, readings). In-between are the many who are blending ‘broadcast’ material alongside chat boxes or WhatsApp groups that are open for prayer/feedback or chat before/after or during services, and activities for children emailed in advance to families.

When it comes to Sunday services, the general sense was that they aren’t youth-friendly enough and that as a result, youth workers are leaning more heavily on supplementing these services with sessions straight after the Sunday service, at other times in the week (online youth groups), and with contact using other platforms (see week 1). Of those who mentioned young people specifically in relation to Sunday services, 14 of the 22 comments were negative, with only two being positive about the impact that moving online was having.

“No real provision for young people - even though we've asked for it. Church leaders seem blindsided by this, and are just focusing on their 'core flock’.”

3. THAT'S A KEEPER: ONLINE TOOLS, NEW IDEAS AND REGULAR DEVOTIONALS

Four weeks into lockdown we asked you to tell us up to three things that you’ve been doing differently in your youth work/ministry that you would like to continue doing when this period is over. Of course, the jury’s out on what ‘over’ means, but you get the idea. This one feels perhaps most important of all, so although this is a very quick analysis of your answers, I hope we can revisit this question again.

1. Making better use of online platforms and tools: Zoom for team meetings, youth group and mentoring; individual/group messaging; YouTube; Instagram and better use of social media and video in general
2. New content or approaches: Worship Wednesdays, online baking sessions, video-recorded interviews, digital detox, weekly shuffle challenges. Whether it’s new ideas, or a slightly different approach (simpler, shorter, less focused on content) there is lots of ‘new’ happening.
   
3. Supporting young people’s faith. Lots of you want to keep sharing regular ‘devotional’ content, whether that’s publishing video reflections, sending texts or letters of encouragement or Instagram posts of scripture.
4. More regular and one-to-one contact with young people. There’s a desire to continue to invest in relationships through checking in with individual young people, often through text, phone calls or post.
   
5. Parents and prayer. And then finally, respondents wanted to maintain a greater level of communication with parents and to continue to pray more in the future.

SEE YOU NEXT THURSDAY

Thanks to those who took part. Why not put Thursday 3pm in your diary and check back here each week to take part yourself?

Student Christian Movement (SCM) are holding part 2 of their series: "Preparation in Exile: How do we help young people prepare for university during Covid-19?" - an open discussion for youth workers, church leaders, Chaplains and those involved in further education. Tune in on Wednesday 22nd April from 11.30am via Zoom.

Premier Youth and Children's Work have published a really helpful article, written by Mark Arnold, about how to help children/young people with additional needs to understand Coronavirus. Mark is the Additional Needs Ministry Director at Urban Saints. The article lists some useful resources and gives some practical tips.

Are you drafting volunteers in to help with your youth group? Trying to get people up to speed with online youth work? Or maybe you're still looking for some help and support. Youth for Christ has a whole range of resources, including sample sessions, video tutorials and physical resources you can get on their website. Check it all out here.

Are you planning to get some extra training in during this time? Esteem Acet UK are running a four-day accredited Relationships and Sex Education Training programme online. You'll learn how to:

• Support young people in building self-esteem
• Support young people in developing healthy relationships
• Develop confidence in talking openly and sensitively about sexual health issues
• Support young people to develop skills and resilience to deal with the influence and impact of modern technology on relationships and sex (including porn)
• Communicate to young people the importance of making healthy life choices about sex
• Plan and deliver effective, fun and interactive sessions with young people
• Apply best practice and recommended government policy guidelines

They are also posting out a pack of physical resources to use during the training, including #isitOK?, the sexting resource that Youthscape and Esteem Acet UK worked on together.

Onelife Leaders have put together some ready-to-use resources for youth workers during the pandemic, including online gatherings for youth workers, discipleship tools and some helpful blog posts. Check it all out here.

Girls Brigade Ministries hosts an online blog for teenage girls, called "KoKo" (Keep on Keeping on). They've just released a new spoken word poem on their YouTube channel, titled: "A new normal". It's aimed at teenage girls and could work for parents/youth workers to use as a discussion starter.

Things have been a little quieter this week with the bank holidays on Friday and Monday and people taking time off to celebrate Easter. That being said there’s still been some great content on the liveblog and, like last week, we want to bring you the highlights of posts you might have missed:

• It’s been great to see whole organisations embrace life online and so encouraging to see both Princeton Theological Seminary and The National Youth Agency bring events and training on to a digital platform. On Wednesday 29th April, Princeton Theological Seminary's Institute for Youth Ministry is running a Digital Forum on Youth Ministry titled "Revisioning Youth Ministry: Failure, Grief, and Hope". This is set to be an informative and engaging event designed to bring support and encouragement to youth leaders on a personal level, as well as in a professional capacity, as they seek to minister to young people during this challenging time. Before then, The National Youth Agency is holding a free webinar over Zoom about how to do detached youth work during Covid-19. The event takes place this Friday, 17th April, from 2-3pm.
• Unfortunately, several Christian conferences have had to cancel this year due to the current circumstances. However, Spring Harvest Festival have put together a completely free, online Christian conference, available for anyone via their Youtube channel. There are talks, devotionals and worship all around the theme of “Unleashed – The Acts Church Today" and it’s definitely worth checking out.
• Dr Lucie Shuker, Director of the Youthscape Centre for Research, released a very interesting Monday Report which examined youth leaders’ responses to questions about flouting, furlough and finding new connections. The research team are doing weekly 3x3 questions (3 minutes, 3 questions, every week at 3 o'clock) and your input in those surveys is greatly appreciated. We've changed the day to Thursday, to give you a bit more time! Find out more about this research in this week's podcast.
• We've released the latest in our "Together Apart: youth work online" series. We've been creating free, easy to use session plans for your youth work. Find the latest one here.

Again, we want to thank you so much for your support and if there’s something you’d love to see or even something you want to contribute in coming weeks please get in touch!

Youth leaders! Do you know any young people who are passionate about issues around social justice and making a difference? Tearfund has created a new online course to help train young influencers.

On their website, it says: "Emerging Influencers is a six-week leadership programme for 17-23-year-olds that connects you with like-minded game changers, helps you develop a theological understanding of justice and equips you to positively impact people living in poverty facing the coronavirus pandemic."

Young people can apply here - it will start on Monday 4th May and will include webinars, mentoring, opportunities for fundraising, and being part of an online community. If you know anyone who'd be interested, why not encourage them to apply?

As a youth leader, investing in young people is at the heart of what you do. You want to see young people thrive in all areas of their lives. In this time of online youth work, it’s difficult to know how best to come alongside your youth group and continue to offer them holistic support.

With some young people becoming increasingly frustrated with life in lockdown, one practical way you can encourage them is by inspiring them to explore new activities, hobbies and skills during the isolation period. Young people have more time than ever to try new things and pursue new skills. Many organisations, both educational and recreational, have responded to the current lockdown by putting material online which is readily available for anyone to access. This is the perfect time for young people to experiment with something they’ve never done before – they just need to know what’s out there!

Here’s a list of things you can inspire your young people to try:

• Cooking classes – several chain restaurants have recipes and cooking tutorials available via their social media accounts or youtube channels. These include Wagamama’s ‘wok from home’ and Zizzi’s #zizzirecipes.
• Khan Academy – this free online programme might sound a bit too much like your usual school work but there’s a far greater variety of courses available online than in your normal classroom. There’s everything from a course on Storytelling, which has you create your own theme park, to World History, highlighting key moments in various cultures throughout time.
• Learn how to code – Hour of Code offers free beginner tutorials on how to code. Everything from Google logos to apps to Minecraft landscapes.
• Photography classes – during the month of April, photography giant Nikon, is offering courses for free!
• Learn a language – there are several apps available to download that will help you get started with learning a new language. Apps such as ‘Memrise’ and ‘Duolingo’ are free, easy to use and fun to explore.

Why not direct your young people to some of these courses/activities and help them make the most of the time they have during quarantine? At the end of a youth group session, you could challenge your young people to try out at least one new activity before you meet again. For something like the cooking classes, why not encourage them to make something and send in a picture? Before recommending young people to certain websites, please make sure you follow your usual safeguarding procedures regarding consents and pre-evaluating content.

Last week we asked you some questions for the Friday 3x3 – a way to take the temperature of the youth ministry community during the Coronavirus pandemic. Every Friday at 3pm we’ll ask three questions which will take you no more than three minutes to answer.

It was quieter this week. Last week, lots of those who engaged with our survey told us they were expecting to carry on at the same pace over Easter. But we only had 35 of you glorious people respond to our Thursday survey (a day early!) so maybe we were winding down after all! So, a quick reminder, with only 35 responses this is not representative of what the wider Christian youth work tribe thinks or feels. You can read the full-length breakdown and reflection here but a brief summary is below:

1. FLOUTING: ARE THEY OR AREN'T THEY?

Ministers and public health officials have been under fire for ‘flouting’ (great word) government guidelines, and to some extent so have teenagers. Obviously youth workers won’t really know what young people are doing 24-7, but the majority of those who responded felt that young people were compliant. In contrast, an article in the Telegraph reported that government polling showed teenagers to be a "problem" group when it comes to compliance. If that’s right and teenagers are more likely to gather socially, what is the responsibility of youth workers? On the one hand, we need to help young people #stayathome but we may also need to advocate for them, especially where they may lack safe spaces. Here is a great blog post on that topic.

3. A MINORITY CONNECTING WITH NEW YOUNG PEOPLE, PARENTS AND PROFESSIONALS

We asked who you had been engaging with since the lockdown, to get a sense of how many of us have experienced our networks expanding or new opportunities for connection presenting themselves. It’s reassuring to find that all respondents told us they are in contact with young people they were already in contact with before and 97% are in contact with parents they were engaged with before. What is more interesting is that these youth workers report being more likely to engage with new parents (57% said ‘yes’ or ‘somewhat’) than new young people (34% said ‘yes or ‘somewhat’). Why is that?

Thanks to those who took part! If you missed it why not join us next time – see you Friday at 3pm?

Spring Harvest Festival was due to take place this week, but due to the lockdown, they have had to cancel. But they have pulled together to create Spring Harvest Home - a completely free, online Christian conference, available for anyone. On their YouTube channel, you'll find talks, worship and devotionals for all age groups. The theme this year is “Unleashed – The Acts Church Today". There's lots of material for your youth group to enjoy together. Check it out!