Youthblog : Christian Youth Work & Ministry

Possible issues:

Fear of litigation
the non-clergy non laity gap
Underpay and overwork
misunderdtanding of what it is we do
for some women in some situations being ok to be pastoral but not the preach the gospel
ok enough late night ramble...

Knowing why you do it or more specifically NOT knowing why you do it

i don't know if it's at all relavent but the hardest thing the Chaplaincy finds is the prejudice of students to what the Chaplaincy is and how it works. We have students turining down free stuff because they assume it must come with a bible message. How do we publicise that we don't bring up faith/god/church unless we're asked?? Grrrr.

finding people worth employing is the big issue in Sussex at the moment - don't know a church that hasn't had to re-advertise. Also, the discrepency between what people are being trained for and what churches are looking for.

For a voluntary worker, time is the biggest issue - you see what you want to do but then don't have enough time because of work and family constraints. The potential for being involved is exciting and immense but you can't throw yourself in completely because you know you'll get to a point where you'll end up letting someone down, be it a youth group member, fellow worker, a family member or the person who pays your wages. Unfortunately you have to hold back a bit.

Alison,

Thanks for the volunteer perspective :-)