Coronavirus: A youth ministry liveblog

We've been posting a lot on this liveblog and we don't want you to miss out, so we thought we’d give you a mid-week round-up of some our highlights you might have missed over the last seven days:

• Together Apart session three and session four came out this week! These comprehensive session plans are part of a short series enabling you to explore life and faith with young people, designed specifically for the context of online youth work.
• There have been several great podcasts released in the last week but in particular, we recommend checking out Dr Kate Middleton’s insights into the mental health of young people during isolation. There are tips and practical advice applicable to both young people and youth leaders alike. On a similar theme, another great article to check out is Young Minds blog post 'Young people's self-care tips for self-isolation’ which features practical advice from young people themselves!
• Writer and broadcaster Andy Robertson shared some excellent content on the ‘Spirituality of Games’. He challenged us to reevaluate the way we view video games and how these games are more than just entertainment to young people – they are a new way to tell stories, to engage with the world and make sense of life.
• Our friends at Open Doors Youth have created some incredible resources for young people and youth leaders for this time of isolation – learning lessons from the persecuted church. These resources are available in several different media forms and explore themes of uncertainty, isolation, lack and fear.
• The ultimate ‘Lockdown Listicle’ appeared on the liveblog just in time for the start of the Easter ‘holidays’! This list brings together 99 fun, thoughtful and creative ideas young people can try out over the next couple of weeks.

These are just a few highlights from a week of all-around incredible content. 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!

"Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family." (Proverbs 18:24 MSG)

Tonight we’re praying for young people’s friendships. During the teenage years, friendships take on a powerful new dimension in helping young people gather a deep sense of belonging and confidence. On the flip side, it’s also the time when young people are most vulnerable to feelings of rejection and loneliness if they don’t find close, supportive friends, or if they are caught up in peer groups that assert a negative influence on them.

Let’s pray that when the regular routines that provide social connection, stability and purpose are removed, young people in our churches and communities will find existing friendships growing stronger, make new positive friendships and find brilliant ways to support each other.

Father, friendships are a brilliant gift from you.
We thank you that young people are often the best at demonstrating the kind of loyalty, sense of adventure and compassion in their friendships that delight your heart. Tonight we pray that you will bless the young people in our churches and communities with even greater skills to develop positive friendships that will build their confidence and increase their hope in this difficult time.

May they find opportunities to be honest and vulnerable with each other, in a way that’s safe.

May they be courageous in reaching out to peers who may feel lonely or are struggling at this time.

For young people who may have felt socially isolated and lonely before covid19, may this break from the regular routine give them new ways to express themselves and find good, lasting friendships.

For young people who may be feeling trapped or overwhelmed in their peer groups, uncertain who their friends are or suffering bullying online, may they have the strength to reach out to peers and adults who can support and love them.

For young people whose struggles to accept themselves and feel that they fit in is exaggerated by social media, may they find safe and meaningful ways to connect with peers online.

May the young people who know you, find the confidence to take the risk of sharing you with their friends.
Amen.

The Diocese of London Children & Youth has a page full of useful resources: helpful links for young people, children and families. They've also been running online discussions; you can tune into them or watch videos of previous discussions. Find it all here.

"Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help." (Hebrews 4:14-16 MSG)

Tonight we’re praying for young people in our churches and communities to experience the goodness and mercy of God. Whether we are able or not to stay in contact with the young people we’re called to serve, we can rest in the confidence that God is more than able to make his presence known to each and every young person right now. Social isolation is no barrier to the Holy Spirit. If you can, bring young people before God by name. Ask God to pour out his blessing and comfort on the young people who are living in your community.

Father, every young person is known and loved by you. Tonight we pray that the young people in this community who you have called me to serve will reach out for you and will find you. Bless them in their homes. Bless them online. Bless them out on the streets. Bless them as they sleep. Bless them as they adjust to this new way of living. Above all, may they see and understand how wonderfully they are made and how powerfully they are loved by you. Amen.

A new network of churches which are looking to help their communities during the Covid-19 epidemic is growing rapidly. YourNeighbour.org - an initiative of the Good Faith Partnership - is seeking to ‘help churches to be good neighbours’ by equipping leaders, connecting churches with people in need, and by working with the government. It’s free and quick to join, and by doing so you’ll get access to a range of online resources, including some from Youthscape.

During Holy Week, Christians around the world will be remembering the sacrifice of Jesus that makes it possible for us all to draw close to God. It’s good to be reminded that we can have this intimacy with the Father through the Son. And now more than ever, it’s good to pray for young people in our churches and communities to know this intimacy with the Father too. So every day this week we’re inviting youth workers and those who care about young people to join us in praying for them. Each day at 6pm we will share a prayer and a few pointers for how we can be praying for young people at this time.

We would love you to join us.

Kintsugi Hope are giving the chance for people to run their wellbeing groups online. You can find information about it, including a downloadable brochure, on their website. They've also moved the training for group leaders online.

Our friends at Open Doors Youth have created resources for young people and youth leaders for this time of isolation, learning lessons from the persecuted church. You can subscribe here to receive weekly emails, videos, podcasts and reflections around these themes: uncertainty, isolation, lack and fear.

A group of collaborators from across the Church have created a crowdsourced Google Doc with advice for churches during the pandemic. It's regularly updated and includes tips for live-streaming, links to webinars, advice for crisis management and links to helpful blog posts.

We want to reach young people where they are - and right now, young people are at home more than ever before. If you want some ideas for how to support parents/families as they do this, or if you're a youth leader juggling youth work and homeschooling, Kitchen Table has a great list of "faith at home" resources here and some helpful advice here.

The NSPCC has shared useful guidance about how to talk to children worried about coronavirus, alongside practical ideas about dealing with isolation: how to structure a day; keeping in touch with family, and helping young people maintain a sense of control. Childline, part of the NSPCC, has also produced this coronavirus information page aimed specifically at young people.

Childline last week reported it has faced "unprecedented demand for its services" in the wake of COVID-19. More than 900 children and young people worried about coronavirus had counselling sessions with Childline between the 21st of January and 22nd March. Sessions peaked on the day (18th March) that the government confirmed UK school closures.

The NSPCC reported that "Over half of young people who spoke to Childline last week about coronavirus were counselled for their mental and emotional health around issues like isolation, arguments at home and removal of professional support from schools and the NHS."

Last week, Youthscape Luton launched a Digital Mentoring program to serve young people in Luton looking for support, you can find out about it here.

The Archbishop of York Youth Trust has produced a set of activities and resources for young people, particularly aimed at developing young leaders. You can download them all for free here.

The NHS has issued a call for volunteers, from driving patients home after they've recovered, to taking food/medical supplies to the vulnerable, to checking in/calling lonely people. So far, over 250,000 people have signed up to volunteer. It's only for people aged over 18, so only the older youth in your group could get involved. But it might be a positive thing to get young people talking about: how can they seek to support the vulnerable people they know? Prayers, a phone call, a card or letter?

On Friday, Youthscape and safeguarding charity thirtyone:eight published a new guidance document for staying safe while moving parts of your youth work online. You can download the first draft of the guidance here, but we want to keep adding the caveat that this is designed as a basis from which you can create your own online safeguarding policy; it’s not a policy all on its own.

The teams behind this free resource are continuing to think around this developing area of youth work, and keeping the guidance under constant review. They are already working on a revised version which should be available by the end of the week. It will again be available to download from this liveblog page, and directly from thirtyone:eight’s website.

Several organisations across Luton have partnered together, with Youthscape, to form a response group as a central place for children, young people and families to get in touch and access town-wide support.

On Friday schools across Luton will close for the foreseeable future for the majority of students. In addition, many face-to-face support services and provisions in Luton already have already been suspended due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

We are aware this will be a significantly challenging time for many children, young people and families, as the impact of the current situation will cause financial, emotional and social strain on many in our community.

We know that your schools are working hard to ensure there will be on going support available over the coming months. Voluntary services across Luton also remain wholeheartedly committed to providing care and support for those who need it, particularly during this time. The group currently comprises of Families United Network, Level Trust, Luton Borough Council, Luton Food Bank, Tokko Youth Centre and Youthscape and more are likely to join in the coming days.

This is a local, rather than a national project, but we hope it's a helpful example to others across the country thinking about how to collaborate, at a chaotic time, to help support struggling communities.

To access this support or find out more, you can fill in the online referral form here.

Various events have been postponed and cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, both within and outside the Christian community. Earlier this week Big Church Day Out, which was due to run over the May Bank Holiday weekend, announced that it would not run in 2020. The organisers were this year planning to launch a dedicated youth stage and stream - Big Church Youth - but due to the extraordinary circumstances, the next BCDO event will not run until May 2021. You can find their full announcement here.

Then on Wednesday, long-running Evangelical event Spring Harvest announced that it was cancelling all four of its 2020 events, which were due to run in Minehead, Skegness and Harrogate over the course of April. In a video and statement shared on their website and social media, the organisers said they would now be looking at using ‘creative online methods instead’ to share the content they had planned and prepared for the event. You can read the statement here.

Youth leaders and groups will have been planning to attend both events in considerable numbers, with significant youth programmes planned at each. Wednesday also saw the announcement that schools in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be closed from Friday, an expected move but one that will place more pressure on parents, families, and home life for young people. GCSE and A-Level examinations in England and Wales have also been cancelled.

"We must look after one another, knowing that in an uncertain world with a new virus we are best protected with honesty, compassion and care." Our patron and the Archbishop of York offer guidance for a time of dread in this comment piece.

Here are just some of the questions we now face:

What happens to face-to-face youth work when we’re all social distancing? We know that social distancing is vital in slowing the spread of the virus, but we also know we can’t just give up on our relationship networks, particularly for those who may have no one else to support them.

How can youth workers help protect the vulnerable? (e.g. older volunteers they usually work with, as well as young people who are also at risk)

What are the theological resources for Coronavirus? What does Christian hope look like in this situation? What happens to church when we no longer gather?