Missional Youth Church Network – Ignite resource

Missional Youth Church Network Ignite Resource – developing young people

Messy Church, with its core value of being ‘for all ages’, provides many opportunities to encourage young people to get involved on the team, and for some to grow their leadership skills.  One of the key recommendations from our 2024 survey includes being more intentional about creating pathways for the discipleship of young people as they grow through Messy Church.  This is a particular challenge for smaller Messy Churches in areas without youth provision and an area that we’re grappling with in our Messy Momentum project.

The good news is that help is at hand.  Aike caught up with Andy Milne ( L photo) and Jane Henderson (R photo) from Missional Youth Church Network (MYCN), to hear about their new Ignite resource, designed to help young people grow in faith and develop as young leaders.

Aike: Tell us about MYCN new Ignite resource – firstly, what is it and how could it help a local Messy Church encourage their young people to grow in discipleship and leadership?

The Ignite resource has been developed to help young people who are exploring faith, or who have recently come to faith, to go deeper in their faith and then explore discipleship and leadership through using the 5 Marks of Mission.

We want to enable young people to discover God’s love and then get on a discipleship journey, especially those who are unchurched or on the edge of Church and so this resource has been developed with those kinds of young people in mind.

Knowing

Before we can do, we need to be. There are core things that we need to be aware of to help us start to see ourselves as God sees us. This resource aims to start or help young leaders along that journey of knowing, so that any leadership participation can come from a growing faith in Jesus.

The Knowing sessions include: –

1. Knowing God’s love
2. Knowing faith
3. Knowing identity
4. Knowing family (church)
5. Knowing my God friends…

Sharing

The last 5 sessions are focused on how we share faith in word and action with the people we encounter every day. The sessions include a bit more content than the previous ones and include a lot more scope for you, as the group leader, to shape the conversation.

These sessions use the 5 Marks of Mission as a basis for thinking about how we start to share faith with others. These sessions include: –

6. Tell
7. Teach
8. Tend
9. Treasure
10. Transform.

Aike: What’s the ethos and background behind Ignite?

The aim is simple – to help young people grow in faith and begin to develop as young disciples and leaders. We want to work with what the Spirit is already doing in young people’s lives, so that what develops is healthy and fruitful.

Our hope is that there will be many more young disciples and leaders in God’s church as a result.

To do this requires wisdom. It means getting the right approach in how we mentor young leaders, but also how we create the right kind of culture within our youth group, or church, so that young leaders grow with God’s values in mind.

Across MYCN – we’ve seen many churches and projects build relationship and form groups with unchurched young people who begin exploring faith. As this happens, so often these young people need to get involved in the life of the youth group, or youth church. As they gain a sense of ownership, young people begin to understand how their newfound faith connects to their lives and this can be an important moment for them.

Aike: Have you got any advice of how you might practically run this course within a Messy Church setting?  For example, what if I have only three young people, is there a minimum number required?

This course is video based, with some activities for the leader to do which are in the accompanying booklet.  Each session takes about 30 minutes, and would need a minimum of 2 young people, obviously more would be better for discussion.

As a session just takes 30 minutes, it can be slotted within an existing Messy Church session format. You might begin with food and conversation before moving into an Ignite session, then finish the session with a fun activity.

As a leader, simply read through the booklet (its not very long) for tips on some of the expectations you might want to set when encouraging young people to experiment in using their gifts. These are things like – working as a team, being accountable to a leader, getting appropriate support from a leader and praying together.

As a leader, we would encourage you to watch each session video (15 minutes in length approx), each week before your session, whilst prayerfully considering how the session will chime with your young people i.e. what questions might they ask? Can you involve them in the session in small ways? These little bits of preparation should enhance the experience for the young people.

Aike: Some young people don’t see themselves as ‘leaders’ – can they still take part in Ignite?

Yes, the course is for those who are exploring faith and simply want to get involved, discover their gifts and have a go, as well as those who already see themselves as leaders. Ignite focusses on young people who might not know what their gift is, as well as those who are aware of their gifts.

Using the word ‘leader’ may need unpacking. Ignite is about letting young people use their gift, take on a role, be part of a team and do some leading; all with adult support and oversight. It’s about creating an environment where young people can safely explore who God is calling them to be and what gifting He might be giving them. So lots and lots of encouragement, but also support and oversight to keep everyone safe. E.g. If a young person starts bossing their peers around, an adult is needed to curb unhelpful behaviour. If a young person does some teaching, it’s helpful for an adult to check over what they might say, as well as encouraging them.

Aike: What age group is Ignite aimed at? Does the material work if I have a spread of secondary school ages?

Secondary school age, and yes it works well with a spread of ages.

Aike: Awkward question – how much does this resource cost? Do I need a lot of equipment to deliver this?

It’s free to download from our website www.mycn.org.uk

Aike: Wow, that’s brilliant news.  Where can I find out more?

From our young leader’s networker jane.henderson@churcharmy.org

Here’s what one young person, who has used the Ignite resource, says:

Corey:

“Before doing this MYCN course I wasn’t sure what my religion was. I wasn’t completely religious; I wasn’t completely atheist. So doing the course helped me to learn where my faith stands and where I stand within faith. The vibe of the group has been very open; everyone is very happy to share their own feelings. When we first started, we were all a bit quiet; but towards the end, everyone knew that we were comfortable, and [we were] willing to be open with each other. It has really taught me about faith and how to communicate with others, and about how faith works within family and friendships. A standout moment for me was when we were all talking about what our faith was to us at the very start, and I was able to sit and think about what it actually was and what it meant to me. That moment had an impact on me, and I found out that what I believed was actually faith, a faith I didn’t know I had until that point. It has been amazing.”

Aike Kennett-Brown

BRF Ministries Messy Church ministry lead