Haverhill & District Youth for Christ is a local youth work centre chartered to British Youth for Christ.
Our aim is to take the Good News relevantly to every young person in Haverhill and the surrounding district.
Our senior youth worker is Sarah Glasswell.
Sarah worked for Bath Youth for Christ when she left school and is pleased to be back with the organisation following a career in Occupational Therapy. She loves baking, crafts, stationary and red pandas. She thinks young people are great too!
Sarah is supported by a committee, comprising of trustees (executive members) who ensure the charity is well governed and does what the law expects it to do, complies with the charity’s governing document and manages its resources well.
The trustees are Rev Paul Graham (chair), Jill Davis (secretary), Tom Parker (treasurer), Jane Baillie and Rob Nicholas.
Alongside the trustees there are non-executive members who provide guidance, support and spiritual oversight to the work of the centre. These people are Brian and Jan Watts and Nick Vosper.
We also have volunteers who help with some of the admin, youth work in schools and Illuminate youth group.
Why we do what we do
As a Christian youth work organisation we believe that Jesus is good news for young people.
We know that an estimated 95% of children and young people do not attend church*, and therefore have few opportunities to hear about Jesus from people with a living faith.
We want to see young people exploring the Christian faith and finding out about how relevant it is to us today.
We want to see young people’s lives changed by Jesus.
We want to see young people feeling positive about themselves, their abilities and their potential.
*Peter Brierley, UK Church Statistics 2, 2010–2020, Tonbridge: ADBC Publishers, 2014
Aims
We aim to demonstrate the love we believe God has for each young person, for every aspect of their life, in practical ways. This will be evident in the way we treat, listen and speak to them and encourage them, aiming to build them up and show that they are valued. It will also be demonstrated though practical care and help when needed.
At appropriate times and places we will speak more overtly about Jesus and the Christian faith. We will encourage and listen to their questions and welcome debate. We will always respect their views and opinions, and put across our own thoughts and experiences gently.
We will encourage young people to think about matters of faith and spirituality for themselves and to explore further if they wish to. We will provide opportunities for them to look more closely at the Christian faith and support them along that journey. We will be there if they decide to follow Jesus and we will be there to help them learn more, develop their faith and join a church.