Pause, Breathe, Reboot reflection tool for Youth & Kids Leaders by Becky Lawrence, St Mark’s Milton Keynes/Youthwork+

 

It is so good to stop and reflect on our ministry every now and then, perhaps this is a habit we are used to doing once a year or once a term, or perhaps it’s something you haven’t done yet.   Reflecting gives us a chance to evaluate what went well, what didn’t go well, a chance to listen and recall what we think God has been saying to us and think about where we want our kids/youth ministry to be and perhaps set some goals or make some plans to help get there.

The practice of reflecting and reviewing our work with kids and youth can help us refine our vision and be more effective with the activities and format we offer in the future.   This is especially important after the last 18 months we’ve had dealing with COVID and different restrictions, perhaps some of your work needs a reboot to meet the new needs of your kids and youth or to continue doing some new things you tried that really worked.   Perhaps you need to revisit or come up with a vision statement to remind yourself and your team why you are running activities for children and young people and the transformation you’d like to see.

Pause, Breathe, Reboot is a fab tool to help you do just this.  It’s been written by Church of England Birmingham and they are kindly offering it as a free pdf download for any youth or kids leaders reading this review.  It is mostly aimed and worded for churches but I think it would still make a good useful tool for schools ministry or any Christian ethos youth and childrens work context.

The resource is split into 3 sections, Pause – giving you a chance to reflect by looking back on your ministry over the last 12 months. Breathe – leads you to consider God’s voice and his lead and calling for your ministry, and anything you’ve noticed about your children/young people as well as thoughts, feelings and observations.  Reboot – is about considering any changes you need to make to your work and revisiting or making a vision statement for your ministry.

You could use this on your own or with your team.  It would be a great way to get your volunteers on the same page, give them some ownership by allowing them input into the review and enable much better informed chance to work together on a shared vision for your ministry.

The booklet features key questions to get you thinking, a SWOT analysis tool to help you identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in different areas of your work.

 

You can view or download the resource booklet yourself as a pdf here

Pause Breathe Reboot Youth and Childrens Work-4

 

If you’d like any further help or advice or just someone to bounce your thoughts or ideas off, we’d love to do that over a coffee or Zoom.  Please get in touch.

 

Huge thanks to Adam Larkin and Church of England Birmingham for letting us feature their resource and offering it as a free download.