Together, Apart online youth material review by Jonny Titman, Assistant Youth Worker, St Leonard’s, Eynsham

Together, Apart is a new 6 session resource by Youthscape designed to be used online with young people. Here’s what Youthscape say about it on their website:

“Quarantine is unchartered territory for youth workers. While it is an anxious time, as we strive to keep up contact with our socially distant young people, it is also an opportunity for a completely new approach to youth ministry.

It is the current forefront of innovative youth work – rethinking how we previously engaged teens and what that looks like now in a digital context. However, innovation takes time and while we explore new possibilities for online youth work, it’s important to continue to support our young people as they try to find their feet in this new normal.

These session plans are a suggestion of how you might run a traditional youth group in an online format. Technology is not failproof – if what you’ve planned doesn’t work, that’s ok. It’s about connection rather than content. This is not revolutionary youth work, rather a basic tool to help you continue to care for your young people, to keep sharing Jesus with them, and to bring them together to have fellowship with one another.”

I used Youthscape’s ‘Together, Apart’ material while meeting with my youth group online. The group was split by age, and the material was used with Year 7-9’s and Year 10-13’s. Both groups seemed to engage with the material, though the older ones were more forthcoming during the discussion (no doubt affected by meeting online).

I found that the sessions were thoroughly planned and well explained. There was more material than we could get through in our 45 minute sessions, so we skipped the starter “Challenge” and “Game”, but would usually use the “Opening Thought” questions which proved to be useful for introducing the topic.

The “Video” and “Story” sections worked well with the online format, and transitioned well into the choice of scripture for the “Questions and Discussion” sections. All the topics covered in the sessions where thought provoking and interesting, although Session One and Two seemed to garner the most engagement with our young people.

Ultimately, the material was well thought through and produced to a high quality. It was a real relief to not have to create a teaching series during this time. I have planned to use the follow on “Together, Apart 2” resources, and have recommended them to other youth groups. If you are looking for a great resource to use online with youth, definitely check this out for yourself.

Together, Apart is available for free as a download on the Youthscape store https://www.youthscape.co.uk/store/product/together-apart

Together Apart 2 features 7 sessions (also free download) and you can find them here https://www.youthscape.co.uk/store/product/together-apart-2-all