The following is an excerpt from my opening chapter in Journeying Together. Growing youth work and youth workers in local communities. The book is a 144 page collection of writings looking at the practical issues effecting locally-based youth work. Although it is based around the experiences of The Rank Foundation, it will be of great interest to anyone working with local youth projects and agencies.

You can order a copy from Amazon here.

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Local Youth Work (Part 3)

3. There is a concern with learning and well-being
Many may assume that youth work developed simply to give young people things to do – activities that would stop them causing problems for other members of society. In reality, however, youth work holds a strong tradition of providing welfare services and education for young people. It is motivated by a concern for the opportunities available to young people.

What we now call ‘youth work’ grew out of a desire to help and educate. The early history of the work is linked to Sunday schools that sprung up in churches in the late 18th century, which worked informally to provide Bible reading and basic skills to those who attended (Sutherland, 1990: 126). By the mid 19th century, ragged schools were educating young people ‘in far from ideal settings like stables, under railway arches, church halls and run-down houses’ (Smith, 1999).

As society began to recognise adolescence as a particular life stage, with its own needs and issues (greatly helped by G. Stanley Hall’s (1904) influential work) specific youth institutions began to form. There are various examples of early youth agencies that provided services such as food, clothing, basic health care, and even financial support, in addition to activity and community.

I love the job that I do. We give accommodation to vulnerable young adults, providing places for them to live and stay and be independent. It allows them to learn how to be an adult and how to cope with all those things. I love making a difference to their lives in this way.

Although the government today provides most mainstream welfare and educational services in the UK, youth work is still significantly involved in supporting young people. Usually, this is through informal and relational methods that are difficult for more formal state services to utilise. As such, youth agencies continue to provide advice and information on issues relevant to young people, such as careers, sexual health, and accommodation, amongst others.

The concern with education is still central. While it might be unusual to see a maths class take place in a youth club, workers constantly use informal methods to encourage learning. Examples might include using outdoor activities to build cooperation and esteem, or planning a celebration event as a tool to advance organisational and interpersonal skills among a group.

4. Cooperation, community and belonging are encouraged

The term ‘association’ is perhaps one that is not commonly understood or used in everyday talk, yet it has always been a defining aspect of youth work practice. Association is about individuals coming together for a purpose, allowing them to take part in a larger group or organisation (DoyleandSmith, 1999: 44) as in the example below:

The teenagers at the club were really keen on skateboarding but there was nowhere locally. They decided to petition the local council and with help from our youth agency, organised meetings, events and surveys over a number of months learning valuable skills along the way. There was a real sense of achievement and belonging amongst the group.

Many clubs and activities provide a setting to meet and make friends with people. They facilitate association almost accidentally through an environment of cooperation and participation, where members feel valued and included. These sorts of groups help to provide a sense of community for young people. This idea of ‘community’ is of central importance to youth work as it ‘plays a crucial symbolic role in generating people’s sense of belonging’ (Crow and Allan 1994: 6).

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Part 4 will be published next week. Click here for the full series of posts.

Other posts you may find interesting

• Local Youth Work (Part 2)
• Local Youth Work (Part 1)
• Journeying Together

Break down the youth work divide
Over the years, I have often picked up on a perceived divide between the voluntary and statutory youth sectors.

To illustrate what I mean, there was one guest lecture at a university youth work course where I was asked to talk about the benefits of the voluntary sector. During that presentation, one of the students took great exception to my description assuming that I was, by extolling the virtues of the third sector, dismissing the value of statutory youth work.

While many voluntary organisations work closely with statutory agencies, this either/or attitude is still quite common. I’ve heard statutory workers criticise voluntary organisations for their lack of professionalism and ad hoc approach, and have myself been vocal on the constraints and outcome-focused approach in the statutory world. Many writers have also commented on the distinctions, drawing neat dividing lines between the two.

The result is that these sectors can sometimes be unintentionally framed as mortal enemies, set against each other in an epic battle for young people’s attention.

Of course, this is nonsense. So why does this “them and us” mentality continue? I’ve come to the conclusion that it is simply based on a misunderstanding of the other sector.

I recently spent a Saturday training with a group of part-time statutory youth workers on accreditation in the local youth service. Personally, I was interested in how accreditation was being successfully integrated into generic activities, but these workers were there to learn how it must be incorporated into their work in order to meet the service’s targets.

What was noticeable during that session was how enthusiastic and passionate these workers were, even though most had given up their time voluntarily to be there. I had naively assumed that they would simply accept outcomes and accreditation as normal practice without question, but many of them were incredibly self-reflective and critically thoughtful about how accreditation affects their work.

Learning and laughing together was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and my preconceptions were proved very wrong.

There must be a whole bunch of workers in both the statutory and voluntary sectors who, like me, would benefit from spending some time learning about how each other’s organisations work. In fact, it should be a mandatory part of training.

Of course, there will always be differences in ethos and approach between agencies and sectors, with workers drawn to particular styles of working. We need that diversity. But in these difficult times when many youth work jobs and services are under threat from budget cuts, maybe we should finally forget about our differences and join forces to promote the excellent and vital work that we do.

You can view all my Youth Work Now articles here.

Other posts you may find interesting

• YWN Article: Leave the hidden agendas behind
• YWN Article: Youth clubs do not foster risk takers
• YWN Article: Cannabis row leaves us all in a blur

The following is an excerpt from my opening chapter in Journeying Together. Growing youth work and youth workers in local communities. The book is a 144 page collection of writings looking at the practical issues effecting locally-based youth work. Although it is based around the experiences of The Rank Foundation, it will be of great interest to anyone working with local youth projects and agencies.

You can order a copy from Amazon here.

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Local Youth Work (Part 2)

1. There is a focus on young people
Given the term – ‘youth work’ – it should come as no surprise that it is concerned with young people! But the title does beg a more important question: why has work with young people developed as a specialist activity?

According to Savage (2007), young people view their experiences as being different to other age groups; they also seek out each other’s company. We know both from personal experience and biological study that the period of adolescence and puberty is a unique time of change and transition for a young person, where they start to test and form their own sense of identity (first proposed by Erikson, 1995:211). Due to these internal changes and the way in which they view themselves, young people can perceive the world differently to those of other ages. This is a distinctive feature of youth work; to provide a suitable response to those experiences.

Youth work aims to respond creatively to the needs of young people in a way that is appropriate and relevant to them.

“We recently started up a girls’ group, in response to what the young people were telling us. There are a lot of boys’ activities locally, but there was nowhere for girls to come and talk about the issues affecting them. Now they have that space and we’re busy getting to know them all and supporting them with their concerns.”

The challenge of working with youth, therefore, requires workers to understand and respond to the particular needs and experiences of this age group (Jeffs 2001: 156). However, the term ‘youth’ itself can be very difficult to define. Different agencies have differing criteria to define who they will – or will not – work with.

In addition, evidence suggests that adolescence is lengthening, due to rapid ‘changes in technology, economics, culture, politics, demographics, the environment, and education’ (Lloyd 2005: 17). This is leading to a widening in the definition of those classed as ‘youth’. Regardless of individual definitions, there is underlying agreement that a transitional period of ‘youth’ remains distinctive.

2. Young people choose to be involved
Youth work is not an enforced activity; it is about working with young people on their own terms. Young people do not have to go to a youth activity, they can decide whether or not they would like to join in. This idea of voluntary participation distinguishes youth work from other disciplines (Jeffs 2001: 156).

Another aspect that makes youth work, as we define it, distinct is that it allows young people the freedom to choose when and where they want to engage in activities and relationships with youth workers. Surprisingly, most other activities for or with young people are compulsory. Whether it is school, probation services or targeted projects, young people are required by law, or coerced by adults, to participate.

The ultimate control of a youth work activity is with the young people. An individual may decide to attend a youth club for a day, a week or a number of years – it is down to them. Voluntary participation also allows young people to be able to choose when they want to end these relationships or disengage from activities – they can vote with their feet! This can be problematic for workers, as there can be no certainty over the length of time young people might be involved. Instead, a worker must rely on their skills to engage young people and keep them interested in participating.

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Part 3 will be published next week. Click here for the full series of posts.

Other posts you may find interesting

• Local Youth Work (Part 3)
• Local Youth Work (Part 1)
• Journeying Together

The following is an excerpt from my opening chapter in Journeying Together. Growing youth work and youth workers in local communities. The book is a 144 page collection of writings looking at the practical issues effecting locally-based youth work. Although it is based around the experiences of The Rank Foundation, it will be of great interest to anyone working with local youth projects and agencies.

You can order a copy from Amazon here.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Local Youth Work (Part 1)

Learning gets passed on. You can’t help it. A young person gets some training, becomes a youth worker and then starts the cycle again with other young people. It’s just how youth work – works!

This Chapter introduces the idea of local youth work. I begin by clarifying the meaning of the term ‘youth work’, before looking at how it grows and flourishes in a local setting.
My aim is to present the case for the importance and benefits of growing locally based youth work and youth workers.

All quotations in this Chapter are taken from conversations with youth workers.

I became a youth worker almost by accident. I had been looking for a job in the town where I grew up and saw an advert for a part-time worker at a local youth project. Although I had done some voluntary work with children and had attended a youth club as a teenager, I had no real idea of what youth work entailed. Still, I went for an interview and to my surprise was given the job.

Over those first few months I found myself getting to know a core group of young people, taking them on outings, visiting homes, wandering the streets and learning a great deal.

Now, many years later, I realise that my own experience of starting out in youth work is far from unique. Growing youth work (and youth workers) in local communities is a common occurrence:

I joined a church small group as a teenager and really liked the environment. After a while I got asked to help out with one of the groups. I found that I loved it and it wasn’t long before I became a youth worker!

Later, I will argue that these locally based youth workers are essential to the success of youth work. However, before we explore that debate, we need to be clear about what we mean by youth work.

Defining youth work
Many diverse clubs, activities and ways of working with young people are commonly described as examples of ‘youth work’. From traditional youth clubs and uniformed groups, like the Scouts, to detached work, work in schools, organised sports activities and more. The sheer variety of work with young people makes it very difficult to identify common ground.

The National Occupational Standards for youth work, updated by the National Youth Agency and Lifelong Learning UK in 2008, provide a starting point for trying to define what is common to good youth work practice. The document includes a statement that defines the key purpose of youth work. It is to:

‘Enable young people to develop holistically, working with them to facilitate their personal, social and educational development, to enable them to develop their voice, influence and place in society and to reach their full potential’ (LLUK, 2008: 3)

There is some useful information here: the terms ‘young people’, ‘educational’ and ‘society’ give some hints towards its focus. However, while this statement contains part of the puzzle, it does not give us a clear picture of the nature of the work. For example, how is youth work able to develop young people holistically? What differentiates it from other educational disciplines?

To fully understand what youth work is we need to examine some common characteristics in its practice, rather than rely on general statements in isolation. Jeffs & Smith (2009: 4-6) identify five characteristics that form the foundation of youth work practice and provide a purpose to the work. Over the next few pages I will draw upon these five characteristics, explaining their importance and interdependence.

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Part 2 will be published next week. Click here for the full series of posts.

Other posts you may find interesting

• Local Youth Work (Part 3)
• Local Youth Work (Part 2)
• Journeying Together

These are my youth work, youth ministry, childrens ministry and schools work links for 7th December to 23rd February. For more related links, check out my links page

• Aiming High for Young People: Engaging through social media – Every Child Matters – DCSF have created a set of materials to help communicate and collaborate with young people through social media and inspiring video content. This advice will help reach out to a youth audience by promoting activities and encouraging innovative ways of communicating.
• The Barna Group – New Research Explores the Long-Term Effect of Spiritual Activity among Children and Teens – What is the connection between childhood faith and adult religious commitment? A recent study conducted by the Barna Group provides new insights into this age-old question.
• Assembly ideas – Assembly ideas and other bits for schools!
• REYouthPastor – REYouthPastor.com– a youth ministry website that reactivates amateur theologians and missonal leaders within the youth pastor population.
• DCSF Publications: Risky Behaviour and Social Activities – A sudy to explore whether risky behaviour is reinforced or counterbalanced by various types of social and individual activities and the impacts on educational outcomes at age 16.

Other posts you may find interesting

• Youth Work Links for 1st October to 22nd October
• Youth Work Links for 24th August to 2nd September
• Youth Work Links for 8th March to 2nd April

I just read over on the Plings blog that the DCSF has just published two guides and a set of videos on using social media to promote positive activities.

The guides aims are:

• To explain social media technologies and functions using simple language.
• To provide you with the tools to increase interest and attendance at your project by working with young people and promoting your activities through social media.

So if you want to better understand social media and to use it in your work with young people, go check out the guide now!

Other posts you may find interesting

• Youth Work Links for 7th December to 23rd February
• Youth Work Links for 25th October to 25th November
• Youth Work Links for 1st October to 22nd October

There’s some interesting developments in my work role at Arun Community Church with a leadership transition and subsequent reorganisation. It’s all very exciting, but does have implications for me which we are working through. I’ll post more as things become clear.

In the meantime, I’m going to start posting some excerpts from my chapter in Journeying Together. I’ll have the first part up next week.

Image credit: karola riegler on Flickr

Other posts you may find interesting

• Love Your Neighbour
• Youth Work and Social Media: Boundaries and Guidelines
• Youthwork Article

Leave the hidden agendas behind
I recently read a quote from London mayor Boris Johnson about the need to “build human capital”.
Now we all know Johnson has a habit of making flippant remarks, but this one caught my attention. Talking at a charitable conference, he said: “Faith groups who want to slip in the odd coded message in favour of salvation: I have absolutely no problem with that.”

Although I work for a faith organisation, I have a problem with the approach that Johnson advocates.

I’ve spent a huge amount of time trying to justify to members of the faith community why we run generic youth work with no faith content. Conversely, I’ve often had to defend the faith aspect to those colleagues in non-faith environments who assume we are trying to convert young people. It’s a difficult tightrope to walk, especially when people are unsure of your motives.

What I’ve learned from all this is that faith groups need to be upfront and honest about their intentions – both to the general public and to young people. If we’re going to run a generic youth club, then it should be just that. If we want to do an evangelistic event, then it should be clearly communicated so that young people are not tricked into attending a religious service. Slipping in a “coded message” is simply not acceptable practice.

The same principle applies in the wider youth work context. Think how ridiculous it would be for youth workers to try to hijack an organised activity to promote a particular message. Imagine 15 young people sign up for an ice-skating trip, yet as soon as they get on the minibus, the worker starts a lecture on safe sex complete with hand-outs. Those young people would feel that their trust had been betrayed.

While that may be an exaggerated example, there have been a number of claims over recent years that youth workers across the sector are forced to become more dishonest in order to achieve targets. I have heard workers talk of “playing the system” or inventing ways to get the young people to “want to learn things” so that recorded outcomes can be completed. Many lament this, but feel unable to do anything else.

This manipulation of young people is dangerous territory. When we start to enforce a hidden agenda into our work, we limit the possibilities for open and honest relationships. Our craft is based on our ability to earn respect, so a secret agenda is damaging to our work.

Of course, there are always times when opportunities for dialogue and conversation present themselves, and it might be appropriate to broach certain subjects or introduce particular themes. At times we may even need to give our opinion or argue for a distinct course of action. But this should come out of relationships, not a prescribed agenda.

Youth workers, including those in the faith communities, must continue to be upfront about their motives.

It’s vital if they want to earn young people’s respect.

You can view all my Youth Work Now articles here.

Other posts you may find interesting

• YWN Article: Break down the youth work divide
• YWN Article: Youth clubs do not foster risk takers
• YWN Article: Cannabis row leaves us all in a blur

The basic thesis Time To Know is operating under is that today’s current classroom is following a teaching paradigm designed in the industrial age, i.e., a teacher standing in front of a class, a blackboard on the wall and students at their desks. Think of it this way… Imagine time warping a teacher from the 1800’s and implanting her in a classroom in 2010. She could basically hit the ground running with little to no adjustment in teaching style. Quite scary when you think about it.

Time To Know believes there are three main reasons why today’s classroom is ineffective: First, relevancy—or rather, irrelevancy. Kids are living in a digital world with a tremendous amount of stimulus. Expecting them to happily and effectively embrace ‘passive learning’ that requires them to just sit, listen and provide output in exams is simply unrealistic. Second, variance. There no such thing as a homogeneous level of learning and comprehension in a classroom of students. Third, assessment—aka, the feedback loop. In today’s classroom a student could have gotten lost with the material three weeks back, but the teacher would be oblivious to it.

It’s an interesting concept that I tend to agree with. I see so many young people that are uninspired with school and disengaging from their education. I’m not sure if Time To Know is the solution to this problem, but it is certainly refreshing to see someone trying to tackle the issue.

This (slightly too long) video is their sales pitch about the product, but it gives the general idea:

T2K: a Paradigm Shift in K-12 Education from Time To Know on Vimeo.

Click through to their website to see the full product and adaptable curriculum.

Most Popular Posts

• Starting Out In Youth Work
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The following youth group session is designed for church groups and can be used to explore the events of the Holocaust, while also explaining the Gospel message. It is based upon a BBC News article about a British Soldier who snuck into the notorious Auschwitz during the Second World War. Unbeknown to him, his actions saved the life of another.

Caution: This session requires the young people to understand some of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and should therefore be handled sensitively. Background information for this session was mostly taken from this Wikipedia article. I also used certain historical images to illustrate the conditions at Auschwitz. These were taken from the official memorial website.

Take My Place
Background: Auschwitz
To understand the significance of the story, we need to know a little bit about what happened at Auschwitz. You might want to briefly cover the information below with some pictures in a powerpoint presentation.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps and extermination camps, operational during World War II. The three main camps were Auschwitz I, II, and III.
Auschwitz I, the original concentration camp, served as the administrative center for the whole complex, and was the site of the deaths of roughly 70,000 people, mostly ethnic Poles and Soviet prisoners of war.
Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was an extermination camp and was the site of the deaths of at least 960,000 Jews, 75,000 Poles, and some 19,000 Roma (Gypsies). This was the largest of all the Nazi extermination camps.
Auschwitz III served as a labour camp.

Most prisoners to Auschwitz arrived by train. Thousands of Jews were crammed into carriages with no food or water for hours on end until they arrived at the entrance to the camp nicknamed “The Gate of Death”. This is a transcript of the message that played to them when they got off the train:

“Gentlemen and Ladies,
“We know that you are very tired, that you had a very long and exhausting journey. Neither food nor water was plentiful. We are sorry, but this is not our fault. Now, that is behind you. We will put you into a Camp. Those who are able will work. All will live in normal conditions.
“We are sorry that we have to give you some bad news. To the Camp, where you would live and work, are some 3 km and so happen that just today we do not have transportation. Thus, we are asking now that:
“All females, mothers with their children no older than 14, all men sick or disabled to go to the left.
“The rest that are able to work, and thus able to walk to the Camp, to stay put on the right of the ramp.”

The was part of the Nazi’s infamous “selections”, where incoming Jews were tricked and divided up into 2 groups. Those deemed able to work were admitted to the camp, and those who couldn’t were immediately taken away and gassed. Less than an hour after stepping off the train, families were separated forever.

Everyone had their personal belongings taken away and were made to wear identical striped clothes. When the Soviet army eventually invaded the camp in 1945, they found 348,820 men’s suits and 836,255 women’s garments! Those who were able to work lived in terrible conditions. There are horrendous stories about what happened to those in the camp. Many died from the hard labour, lack of nutrition and terrible conditions. Many were also shot or experimented on. Most people however were killed in the gas chambers. The first gassings were carried out at Auschwitz in September 1941. People were stripped naked and crammed into empty chambers which were then pumped full of cyanide gas.

In early 1943, the Nazis decided to increase the gassing capacity of Birkenau. By June 1943 four crematoria were in use. Most victims were killed during the period afterwards. No one knows the exact amount of people killed in the camp, but estimates are around 2 million men, women and children. The bodies of these millions of people were never buried, but piled outside and burned.

At the end of the war when the Nazi’s knew they were losing, they evacuated Auschwitz and forced those who were fit enough to walk 35 miles through the snow. Of 60,000 prisoners, 15,000 died on the way.

Game: Sweetie Smuggling
In order to lighten the mood and to keep the group active and interested, you could play the following game.

Promote two people in the group to become ‘guards’ and station them outside of the room. Tell the rest of the group that they are ‘prisoners’. The aim of the game is for the prisoners to smuggle as many sweets (candy) past the guards as possible, and the guards to confiscate as many items as possible. The winning side is the one with the most items at the end.

One by one, the prisoners have to choose if they want to smuggle an item, then walk out of the room past the guards. If they are carrying an item, it should not be visible. This should lead to some very creative hiding items on people. The two guards are only allowed to ’search’ half the number of people in the group. For example, if you have a group of ten prisoners, the guards can only search five of them. This way, the guards must choose carefully who they want to search.

Obviously it is not a good idea for the young people to physically search each other, so an adult should keep an eye on who has an item, and make sure they are honest when challenged by the guards. If the guards catch someone smuggling, then they confiscate the item. If a prisoner makes it through with an item, then they get to keep it. If a prisoner is accused of smuggling but is not carrying an item, then they can go free.

When the game is finished, get everyone sitting down again and tell the story of Denis Avey.

Denis
Denis Avey was a British soldier in World War II, who was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in a camp connected to Auschwitz. Even though he was a Prisoner of War, he was treated well and had relative freedom including sending and receiving letters from home.
Denis was a red head. He says: “I had red hair and a temperament to match. Nothing would stop me.”
Denis had heard rumours about what was going on inside the main camp and wanted to find out the truth about the gas chambers, so he could tell others.

After careful planning Denis built the trust of a Jewish inmate and arranged to swap places with him for one night at a time. He exchanged his uniform for the filthy, stripy garments that the inmate had to wear. For the Jewish man it meant valuable food and rest in the British camp, while for Denis it was a chance to gather facts on the inside.
Denis described the camp as “hell on earth” and says he would lie awake at night listening to the ramblings and screams of prisoners.

“It was pretty ghastly at night, you got this terrible stench,” he says.
He talked to Jewish prisoners but says they rarely spoke of their previous life. Instead they were focused on the hell they were living and the work they were forced to do in factories outside the camp.

“There were nearly three million human beings worked to death in different factories,” said Denis. “They knew at that rate they’d last about five months”.

Denis traded places twice and slept overnight in Auschwitz. He tried a third time but he was almost caught and the plan was aborted.

Discussion:
Imagine what it must have been like to sneak into somewhere like Aushwitz. Discuss in your group what you would have done in that situation.

Jesus:
The Bible tells us that Jesus did exactly what Denis did. He chose to put himself in a dangerous situation and swap places with those who were going to die. But unlike Denis, Jesus actually died on our behalf. Read the following passages:

But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us. We saw his suffering and thought God was punishing him.
But he was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him,
and we are healed because of his wounds.
We all have wandered away like sheep; 
each of us has gone his own way. But the Lord has put on him the punishment 
for all the evil we have done. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God. (2 Cor. 5:21)

Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right. And you are healed because of his wounds. (1 Peter 2:24)

Theologians call this trading of places ‘Substitutionary Atonement’. It’s a complicated way of saying something very simple: Jesus died in our place.

Ernst
Denis’ story is one of bravery, but that’s not the end… It was in the camp that Denis met Jewish prisoner Ernst Lobethall. Ernst told him he had a sister Susana who had escaped to England as a child. So back in his own camp, Denis contacted Susana via a coded letter home to his mother.
He arranged for cigarettes, chocolate and a letter from Susana to be sent to him and then he smuggled them to Ernst in the camp. Cigarettes were more valuable than gold and Ernst hoped he would be able to trade them for favours to make life easier. He traded two of those packs of cigarettes in return for getting his shoes resoled.

Denis never saw Ernst again, but did meet his sister Susana when he got home after the war. Both of them thought Ernst was dead. Miraculously though he had actually survived, thanks – in part – to the smuggled cigarettes. His new thick-soled shoes helped save his life on the notorious death march out of the camps during the winter in 1945. Where 15,000 people died in the snow, he survived.

Ernst moved to America after the war, where he had children and lived a long and happy life. He died never even knowing the real name of the soldier who he says helped him survive Auschwitz. But before he died Ernst recorded his survival story on video. In it he spoke of his friendship with a British soldier in Auschwitz who he simply called “Ginger”. It was Denis, now aged 91.

This is a short clip of Denis watching the video that Ernst made before he died (The clip doesn’t seem to be available to download but you can view it online here).

Discussion:

• How did Denis’ actions save Ernst?
• How is it similar to Jesus’ actions on the cross? How is it different?
• What do you think Ernst would say to Denis is he were still alive?
• What would you say to someone who had done that for you?

Prayer:
Spend some time praying for those effected by the horrors of war. Thank Jesus for what he achieved on the cross and what it means for us.

Other posts you may find interesting

• Values Session 11: Share (Part 2)
• Values Session 10: Share (Part 1)
• Values Session 9: Support (Part 2)