A CHRISTIAN PRESENCE IN OUR SCHOOLS YOUTH WORKER/CHAPLAINS IN THE DIOCESE OF BLACKBURN

N A O M I M A Y N A R D

PREFACE

This report has been commissioned to gain a deeper insight into the Diocesan project of placing Youth Worker/Chaplains into High Schools over the past thirteen years.

During this period, there have been changes to key personnel within the Board of Education and the senior staff team of the Diocese, leaving no real continuum of understanding about the rationale for the project, the success criteria and whether these had been achieved. As the funding ran out for the Youth Worker/Chaplains posts, the senior staff team reflected on the question of whether this strategy had been the right approach to youth work engagement in the past and whether it was the right path for the future.

In commissioning this work, the Board of Education is seeking an objective analysis of the work to give clarity and to inform future plans. It is hoped that the report will explore the original perceived intention of the project and whether this has been/continues to be realised. In addition, that it will focus on the achievements of the Youth Worker/Chaplains in schools, the impact on young people and the relationship with local parishes. There is a desire to understand what lessons can be learned from the past in order that a new vision can be set for discipling young people in the Diocese that draws on the strengths of the previous work and improves the work with young people in parishes and schools.

Stephen Whittaker – Director of Education

CONTENTS

CHAPTER SUMMARIES ...... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 5

1.1 METHODOLOGY ...... 5 1.2 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH ...... 5 1.3 OVERVIEW OF APPOINTMENTS ...... 5 2. VISION ...... 7

2.1 MEETING YOUNG PEOPLE WHERE THEY WERE ...... 7 2.2 THE SCHOOL-AS-PARISH ...... 7 2.3 INWARD FACING, OUTWARD LOOKING ...... 8 2.4 MEASURING SUCCESS ...... 9 2.5 TENSIONS WITHIN THE VISION ...... 9 3. MODELS OF WORKING ...... 10 4. UNDERSTANDINGS AND EXPECTATIONS OF THE ROLE ...... 11

4.1 YOUTH WORKER/CHAPLAIN UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE ROLE ...... 11 4.2 CLERGY UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE ROLE ...... 13 4.3 TENSIONS WITHIN THE UNDERSTANDINGS ...... 14 5. RELATIONSHIPS IN PRACTICE: IMPACTS AND CHALLENGES ...... 16

5.1 WITHIN SCHOOLS ...... 16 5.2 WITHIN PARISHES ...... 18 6. SCHOOL-AS-PARISH ...... 20

6.1 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE WIDER SCHOOL COMMUNITY ...... 21 6.2 MISSIONARY OR PRIEST? ...... 21 7. MEASURING SUCCESS ...... 25

7.1 WAS THE GOSPEL BROUGHT TO YOUNG PEOPLE, WHERE THEY ARE? ...... 25 7.2 HAVE SCHOOLS RECOGNISED THE VALUE OF THE ROLES, TAKING ON GREATER RESPONSIBILITY FOR FUNDING THE POSITIONS? ...... 26 7.3 HAS THERE BEEN INCREASED SUNDAY ATTENDANCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN CHURCH OF ENGLAND CHURCHES? ...... 26 7.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT ...... 27 8. LOOKING AHEAD: YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE DIOCESE ...... 29

8.1 KEY QUESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE ...... 30 APPENDIX 1 TIMELINE OF APPOINTMENTS ...... 31 APPENDIX 2 STATUS OF YOUTH WORKER/CHAPLAIN POSITIONS POST APRIL 2018 ...... 33 REFERENCE LIST ...... 34

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CHAPTER SUMMARIES Chapter 1: Introduction

Over the last thirteen years the Board of Education within the Diocese of Blackburn has undertaken a project to deploy Youth Worker/Chaplains within their ten Church of England High Schools. This research seeks to listen and learn from the experiences of those who have been involved in this project, to inform the Board of Education as they look to the future.

Twenty-four people were interviewed for this research, including eleven Youth Worker/Chaplains, ten clergy who engaged with these roles, and three past and present employees of the Board of Education.

Twenty Youth Worker/Chaplains have worked across nine of the ten Church of England High Schools in the Diocese. From April 2018 there will be three Youth Worker/Chaplains in post employed by the Diocese. A further two will be employed by individual schools. The remaining four schools have chosen not to continue with Youth Worker/Chaplain role beyond April 2018.

Chapter 2: Vision

There were three elements to the vision behind the creation of the Youth Worker/Chaplain roles. Firstly, going to young people in schools, rather than expecting them to come to church. Secondly, envisaging the school-as- parish. The Youth Worker/Chaplain role was not envisaged by Peter Ballard as a post to minister just to young people, it was also for staff and the wider school community. The Youth Worker/Chaplain was the priest in this parish – whether lay or ordained. This vision raised key practical and theological questions: How would this make clergy feel? Can and should the school community be a separate worshipping community? How can the school as a parish operating within an existing parish structure? Thirdly, the roles were to be inward facing, towards the school context, but outward looking, offering support to local parishes.

Success of the project was to be measured by the willingness of schools to take over funding for the positions, after approximately an initial five-year period. Success was not based on whether there was an increase in Sunday attendance of young people at Church of England churches, although this discussion was evident from the onset of the project. There are tensions between each of the elements of the vision.

Chapter 3: Models of working

Each role was understood to be context specific. However, it is possible to identify three, broad models of working:

Model 1: Within and Beyond School: A Youth Worker/Chaplain whose role was based within the school and engaged with clergy and parishes within the context of the school (e.g. working with clergy on the school grounds, within school hours) and outside of the school context (e.g. assisting with parish-based youth ministry).

Model 2: Within School Only: A Youth Worker/Chaplain whose role was based within the school and engaged with clergy and parishes within the context of the school but did not generally engage with clergy and parishes outside of the school context.

Model 3: Dual Role: A Youth Worker/Chaplain whose role was formally contracted to divide their time between a school and a parish context (this may involve one or more parishes).

Chapter 4: Understandings and expectations of the roles

Youth Worker/Chaplains said the purpose of the role was to be a ‘Christian presence’ in the school and to foster and shape a Christian ethos.

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Youth Worker/Chaplains expected that clergy had been consulted in the creation of their positions. They hoped to be partners in mission with clergy and that clergy would support their ministry primarily within the school context. Youth Worker/Chaplains working in Model 3: Dual Role had varying understandings over the purpose of their role within these parishes.

Clergy understandings of the roles varied depending in their levels of involvement in the creation of the positions. They hoped Youth Worker/Chaplains would act as a link person between school and parish. The reality of the roles did not match the expectations of many of the clergy. This is due to a failure to adequately consult clergy in the creation of the roles.

Chapter 5: Relationships in practices

Youth Worker/Chaplains sought to raise the profile of Christianity within the school and introduce young people to different expressions of the Christian faith. Being employed by the Diocese, as opposed to the school, enabled them to be an outside and, at times, prophetic voice to school Senior Leadership Teams. Roles were made more challenging by a lack of consultation with staff. Youth Worker/Chaplains faced challenging conversations surrounding whether their role could be evidenced as value for money for the school. At times, Youth Worker/Chaplains felt they had ‘too many masters’, answering to both school and Diocese.

Clergy found Youth Worker/Chaplains to be a useful first point of contact for coordinating their involvement within the school. Differences in churchmanship between Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy strained relationships both within, and outside, the church context. Tensions centred around instances where confirmation classes were conducted outside of traditional parish structures.

Clergy perceptions of the impact of the roles on their parishes varied: some identified a flow of young people between school and parishes, although several reported that the impact was minimal. Clergy appreciated when Youth Worker/Chaplains lived and worshipped in local parishes. Some clergy felt threatened by the ministry of Youth Worker/Chaplains, particularly when they were seen to be directing young people to non-Anglican worshipping communities. Others expressed an interdenominational-Kingdom mind-set.

Chapter 6 School-as-parish

The vision of the school-as-parish centres around two elements: how Youth Worker/Chaplains engaged with the wider school community, and the theological understandings underpinning the idea.

The engagement of Youth Worker/Chaplains with the extended school community, including the families of pupils, was not as wide as envisioned. This was because of the geographical spread of pupils across large catchment areas, and the time constraints of the roles. Engagement was more evident by Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplains, with one taking a wedding blessing and funerals for families connected with the school community.

Some Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy had theological reservations about the original vision of the project, which framed Youth Worker/Chaplains as priests to the school community. Instead they framed themselves as missionaries: being sent by The Church into a secular environment, seeking to connect young people into (Anglican) churches. Two examples are given where Youth Worker/Chaplains were experimenting with the idea of the school as a worshipping community. Others were concerned about sending young people into potentially unsuitable parish contexts, and therefore felt it necessary to foster the vision of school-as-parish.

This vision raised concerns from clergy about confirmation, discipleship and the movement away from multi- generational churches. Further practical and theological exploration is needed before continuing to implement this element of the vision.

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Chapter 7 Measuring success

Three questions can be asked to help assess the success of this project.

Was the Gospel brought to young people where they are? Yes, thousands of young people were exposed to the gospel on a regular basis through these roles. Most Youth Worker/Chaplains struggled to quantify the number of young people who had directly become Christians or started attending a church through their roles, however they believe seeds were sown for future discipleship.

Have schools recognised the value of the roles, taking on greater responsibility for funding the positions? Partially, five schools have continued to employ or look to employ a Youth Worker/Chaplain into this role in varying capacities beyond April 2018.

Has there been increased Sunday attendance of young people in Church of England churches? No, or at least this has not been significantly observed. This criterion was not put forward within the original vision. Several Youth Worker/Chaplains reflected that their roles would have taken a very different shape if this had been communicated as a desired outcome. Youth Worker/Chaplains challenged the perception they believed held by the Diocese that their roles do not represent value for money, citing the opportunities they were afforded to preach the gospel to large numbers of young people.

Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy put forward detailed recommendations on how these roles could be improved going forward.

Chapter 8 Looking ahead

The Youth Worker/Chaplain role was identified by many as the best way for the Diocese to support secondary school-aged young people. There is a need to recognise what is potentially lost by not continuing with these roles. This was identified as:

1. Having the opportunity for a Diocesan employee to connect with large numbers of young people on a regular basis, ensuring young people know an active Christian. 2. Having someone within a Church of England school for whom sharing the gospel and maintaining the Christian ethos of the school is their top priority. 3. Having someone who can ‘open the door’ into the school for local clergy, coordinating and developing clergy involvement. 4. Having someone with time prescribed into their job description to listen to young people and offer a Christian perspective on at times challenging pastoral situations.

There was, however, recognition that it would not be right to simply revert to the old models of working; there is a need to improve the connections between schools and parishes. Suggestions were offered to foster these relationships. Throughout, schools were still seen as vital place for mission and ministerial engagement with young people.

Key questions for all dioceses looking to support secondary school aged young people to consider:

1. Where do you primarily envision mission with secondary school aged young people to take place? 2. Where do you primarily envision discipleship with secondary school aged young people to take place?

Once these questions have been answered, then dioceses must return to questions of how this can be resourced. If mission and discipleship is to primarily to take place in schools, then Youth Worker/Chaplains provide an encouraging starting point for the realisation of this vision. If discipleship is to primarily take place in churches, dioceses must ask: What work needs to be done to ensure churches are places where young people can become rooted in their faith and the Christian community?

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1. INTRODUCTION

Over the last thirteen years the Board of Education within the Diocese of Blackburn has undertaken a project to deploy Youth Worker/Chaplains within their ten Church of England High Schools. This research seeks to listen and learn from the experiences of those who have been involved in this project, to inform the Board of Education as they look to the future.

In doing so, this research asks many questions, some of which may be of interest to those beyond the boundaries of this diocese. These concern mission and discipleship of young people, fresh expressions of Church and how the impact and success of Kingdom work can be measured and understood. This report does not offer the answers to all the questions posed. Instead it is intended to cause reason for pause and reflection, as both the Diocese of Blackburn, and the Church of England as a whole, consider how best to engage with secondary school aged young people within our schools and across our parishes.

1.1 METHODOLOGY

Eleven Youth/Worker Chaplains, both past and present, were interviewed for this evaluation. This included at least one Youth Worker/Chaplain from each of the nine schools. They were asked to reflect upon their understandings of the purpose of their role, their expectations for the role at initial appointment, their relationships with the school and local parishes and their perceptions of the impact of their role.

Ten of the clergy who have engaged, to varying degrees, with the role of the Youth Worker/Chaplains were interviewed for this evaluation. This included at least one clergyperson connected with each of the nine schools. They were asked to reflect upon their understandings of the purpose of the role, their expectations for the role, their interactions with the Youth Worker/Chaplains and their experiences of how this role impacted parishes local to the school.

As the Director of Education Stephen Whittaker explains in his introduction to this report, understanding the vision behind this project is essential for both evaluating its impact and moving forward. Peter Ballard (Director of Education 1998-2010), Craig Abbot (Diocesan Youth Officer 2005-2012) and Stephen Whittaker (Director of Education 2015- present) were interviewed to offer insight into this vision. Existing Diocesan documents have also been used to understand the vision; these are listed in the Reference List.

All of those interviewed were asked to reflect broadly on the project of employing Youth Worker/Chaplains and were invited to consider how the Diocese can continue to work with secondary school-aged young people into the future.

1.2 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH This research is grounded in the experiences of three of the four main actors surrounding the creation and implementation of these roles: The Board of Education/Diocese of Blackburn; Youth Worker/Chaplains and local clergy who engaged with these roles. The fourth actor: staff and senior leadership with the Church of England High Schools have not been involved with this research.

As introduced above, this research offers broader reflections for those interested in questions of church and chaplaincy. A detailed literature review was beyond the scope of this paper and has been offered elsewhere.1 Where relevant, this research signposts to sources of further theological reflections, which are detailed in the Reference List.

1.3 OVERVIEW OF APPOINTMENTS

1 See for example Caperon, Todd et al, 2017. 5 | Page

Since the appointment of the first Youth Worker/Chaplain Susie Mapledoram to St Michael’s Church of England High School in November 2004, twenty Youth Worker/Chaplains have worked across nine out of ten of the Church of England High Schools in the Diocese. There has not been a Youth Worker/Chaplain at St Christopher’s Church of England High School. Seven of these schools appointed more than one Youth Worker/Chaplain during the thirteen-year period. Appendix 1 contains a timeline of appointments.

Youth Worker/Chaplains stayed on average 4.12 years in post 2 – moving on due to a range of reasons including family commitments, the pursuit of alternative careers and the uncertainty surrounding the loss of funding for the positions since 2015.

Four of the twenty chaplains appointed between 2004-2018 were ordained clergy at the time of appointment: Revd. Adrian Thompson, Revd. Andy Froud, Revd. Susanne Irvine (Vernon-Yorke) and Revd. Helen Houston. Revd. Sam Cheesman undertook the ordination process whilst in post.3

From April 2018 there will be three Youth Worker/Chaplains in post employed by the Diocese. A further two Youth Worker/Chaplains will be employed by individual schools. The remaining four schools have chosen not to continue with Youth Worker/Chaplain role beyond April 2018. Appendix 2 contains a table detailing the status of the positions at each school.

2 This excludes the three Youth Worker/Chaplains currently in post. 3 See Buckley (2013) for an exploration of the dynamics of moving from parish to chaplaincy ministry. 6 | Page

2. VISION

This following section outlines three elements to the vision behind the creation of the Youth Worker/Chaplain roles, before reflecting upon how the success of this project was to be measured. This section concludes by highlighting some of the foundational tensions within this vision.

2.1 MEETING YOUNG PEOPLE WHERE THEY WERE

Peter Ballard traces the origins of the vision behind this project to 1991; the start of his friendship with Brian McConkey, a youth worker at the time. Detailed in his article in Mission Shaped Youth (Sudworth et al, 2007), Peter Ballard recalls how over the years Brian McConkey and he became ‘despondent’ at the lack of young people in churches on Sundays:

We realized that we were looking for young people in churches to share and to work with when actually there were hundreds of such young people, not in our parishes but in our High Schools. What could we achieve if we could get alongside young people in the schools? [Ballard, 2007:38]

For this research he reflects:

For me it was a no-brainer. We had to meet young people where they were […] It is simple really, this was not a complicated vision. Many churches spend a lot of time going looking for young people and even more time wondering how they can attract them and when they do, how to keep them. In our High Schools there was a large concentration of young people: many times more than the number even the most optimistic church census suggested were in the pews of the parish churches on Sunday. They were also there five days a week not one. If we are going to work with young people we need to be where they are not where we, or more correctly vicars and PCCs, would like them to be. [Peter Ballard]

Focusing on ministry with young people in schools was both an opportunity, in terms of numbers - being able to speak about Christianity to thousands of young people each day, and a matter of theology - going to young people rather than expecting them to come to The Church.

2.2 THE SCHOOL-AS-PARISH As the seeds [of the vision] began to grow we were no longer merely looking at our High Schools as places where we could meet young people, we were now looking at new forms of church and new forms of parish […] The vision that was unfolding was of a Youth Worker/Chaplain working in the school alongside young people, but also in the places where they lived and played. If somebody in the school had a relative who was ill, it was the Youth Worker/Chaplain we saw visiting not a clergyman who had no other contact with the family. Schools are vibrant communities, and we wanted our Youth Worker/Chaplains to also work with the staff and the extended community which surrounds any school. [Ballard, 2007:39]

The Youth Worker/Chaplain role was not envisaged by Peter Ballard as a post just to minister to young people, it was also for staff and the wider school community, including parents and governors. Taking this vision a step further, Peter Ballard explains:

By the time we were talking to heads and governors, we had developed a vision of a school as a parish church and all those involved with it as the parish. We were turning upside down and inside out the model of minister and parish which had existed in the Diocese of Blackburn for the whole if its 75-year history. [Ballard, 2007:39]

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School communities were envisioned to become parishes or worshipping communities. 4 The Youth Worker/Chaplain was the ‘priest’ in this parish – whether lay or ordained. Peter explained that it was important that the Youth Worker/Chaplains were understood to be doing more than youth ministry; this was reflected in both the title of the role and their employment package which, in 2004, mirrored that of incumbent status.

Detailed in Section 6 of this report, this reimagining of the school as a parish, although foundational to the vision, was not always communicated clearly to or understood by both Youth Worker/Chaplains or clergy.

This radical vision also raises key practical and theological questions. How would this make clergy feel? Support for the project from both parish and senior clergy was desired by the visionaries. However, as the Board of Education in 2004 was able to fully-fund or majority-fund these positions, extensive consultation was not considered essential to getting the project off the ground. Furthermore, there were fears that extensive consultation may have slowed down or potentially irreparably hindered the process of implementing the positions. Reflecting concerns expressed by the visionaries, it is important to question the extent to which consultation is productive and/or appropriate when developing new mission strategies?

Further questions arising from this part of the vision were perhaps not fully wrestled with theologically at the start of this project. Can and should the school community be a separate worshipping community? How can the school as a parish operate within an existing parish structure? These questions are returned to in the conclusion to this report

2.3 INWARD FACING, OUTWARD LOOKING

Each Youth Worker/Chaplain role was envisaged by Peter Ballard and Craig Abbott as ‘context specific’, however there was an expectation that whilst the roles would be inward facing, focusing on the school context, they would also be outward looking, to the wider community and parishes.

The Youth Worker/Chaplain was to be a Christian presence in schools, potentially assisting with RE lessons, Christian Unions and after-school faith clubs. The role was also envisioned as having a pastoral dimension, akin to ‘traditional’ chaplaincy. Craig Abbott explained they were ‘not counselling services but listening services, someone who could offer spiritual support’ to both pupils and staff. He described their work in school as a form of ‘incarnational ministry’.5 They were to be a visible active Christian. The Church of England’s Talking Jesus (2017) research identified knowing an active Christian as an important aspect of young people coming to faith – 15% of their respondents said a conversation with Christian has been the most important factor in their journey to faith, yet 45% of non-Christian young people said they did not know an active Christian.

Looking outwards, Youth Worker/Chaplains were to help with Diocesan youth activities. They were also to work with clergy local to the High Schools to, in Craig Abbott’s words: ’offer some backing and support for what they were already doing with their young people’.

Tailoring each role to their context meant that the extent of this outward looking element to the roles varied substantially across the positions and caused challenges around unfulfilled expectations (see Section 5.2). From the start the challenge of this aspect of the vision was acknowledged:

There was always that hope that the young people would have an active relationship with their local churches, but you are dealing with a diverse range of parishes, they are coming from lots and lots of parishes, so the capacity for a chaplain to have relationship with all the clergy from which their young

4 See Ryan (2015) who notes that chaplaincy has evolved from its previous position as an ancillary service that extended the core business of the parish to those outside of a normal parish context. It is now increasingly becoming a significant in situ meeting point between Christianity and society. 5 See Todd (2018) for a discussion of the incarnational theology of chaplaincy. 8 | Page

people were coming from was impossible. But I think part of the vision was that because the chaplain was like the living, breathing example of the Church of England in their environment, that they would be an advert for the Church of England spirituality, for the Christian faith. [Craig Abbott]

2.4 MEASURING SUCCESS

It was pump fund money, I never believed that the Board of Education, or the Diocese would be able to fund these post ad infinitum […] I always believed that if these people were successful they would be so important to schools that they would want to fund them themselves […] it was never intended to be a forever project. [Peter Ballard]

Initially one of the success criteria was we would look to make the Diocese almost redundant from the process and let the schools get on and shape it in their own way. You do lose a bit of governance and oversight and a commonality in what a chaplain looks like from one place to the next if you let schools go on and do it, but I don't think the Diocese can justify continuing to fund the chaplains in the way we were doing it. [Craig Abbott]

The visionaries were clear that these roles would be considered successful if the schools recognised their value and, over time, the schools were willing to fund the positions themselves. In terms of timescale Peter Ballard hoped that by the end of the first five-year cycle of Youth Worker/Chaplains schools would want to fully fund the positions.

For the role to be successful, the Youth Worker/Chaplains were to become:

The centre of the schools […] meeting young people where they were, on their terms and not expecting young people to come to something else, success was not based on numbers. [Peter Ballard]

The discussion of whether the creation of these roles would lead to increased attendance of young people within Church of England churches was prominent from the start. Peter Ballard explains that he was clear that 'bums on seats was not the criteria, it was the Kingdom’. He was not against young people becoming engaged in their local parishes, but he observed many churches in the Diocese were not equipped to effectively engage and minister to young people – therefore the Youth Worker/Chaplain role was designed to create an environment within school to meet and minister to young people where they already were.

2.5 TENSIONS WITHIN THE VISION As will become evident throughout this report, tensions between the core elements of this vision affected how the Youth Worker/Chaplain roles were interpreted, practiced and evaluated. Three interconnected tensions are identified below:

Firstly, as one clergyperson asked: ‘If the school community was fully envisaged as a parish in and of itself, why did this model also seek to engage with local parishes?’ Could both elements of the vision be fulfilled with the Youth Worker/Chaplain being outward facing, engaging with local parishes and encouraging the realisation of the vision for the school to be a parish?

Secondly, this project seeks to meet young people where they are, but, Stephen Whittaker points out, ‘they are only in school 190 of the 365 days a year […] when the school is not in session or they are absent from school, they are not in chaplaincy. Who is supporting when the child is off sick?’

Thirdly, if the school communities, centred around the figure of the Youth Worker/Chaplain, were envisioned to become young people’s primary worshipping communities, then it would be unrealistic to hope that the creation of these roles would impact the numbers of young people attending local Church of England churches. What then were the motives and hopes for the Youth Worker/Chaplain’s involvement in local parishes?

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3. MODELS OF WORKING

Each Youth Worker/Chaplain role was recognised from the start to be ‘context specific’, developing in different ways depending on the individual school and parish contexts. This personalisation was possible due to the relatively small numbers of Church of England High Schools in the Diocese.

Three summary models of working are described below. These broad models, developed for this report, are used to nuance the analysis of the Youth Worker/Chaplain roles in the following sections:

Model 1: Within and Beyond School: A Youth Worker/Chaplain whose role was based within the school and engaged with clergy and parishes within the context of the school (e.g. working with clergy on the school grounds, within school hours) and outside of the school context (e.g. assisting with parish-based youth ministry).

Model 2: Within School Only: A Youth Worker/Chaplain whose role was based within the school and engaged with clergy and parishes within the context of the school but did not generally engage with clergy and parishes outside of the school context.

Model 3: Dual Role: A Youth Worker/Chaplain whose role was formally contracted to divide their time between a school and a parish context (this may involve one or more parishes).

Over the last thirteen years, schools moved between Model 1 and Model 2 depending on the understanding of the role and outlook of the individual Youth Worker/Chaplain, Head/Senior Leadership Team within the school, and clergy within the connected parishes.

Two schools have had Youth Worker/Chaplains working under Model 3, in a dual role: Balshaw’s Church of England High School and St Aidan’s Church of England High School. Five of the twenty Youth Worker/Chaplains worked in these schools over the last thirteen years (see Appendix 1). Of these, three were interviewed for this research

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4. UNDERSTANDINGS AND EXPECTATIONS OF THE ROLE

The following sections outline the understandings and expectations surrounding the Youth Worker/Chaplain role held by the Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy. Included within this is an examination of any differences in understanding of the role held by ordained Youth Worker/Chaplains and those engaged in Model 3: Dual Roles.

4.1 YOUTH WORKER/CHAPLAIN UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE ROLE

The Youth Worker/Chaplains and the clergy involved in this research were asked to describe the purpose of the Youth Worker/Chaplain role and reflect upon their expectations on taking up this position.

4.1.1 WITHIN THE SCHOOL Almost all the Youth Worker/Chaplains said the purpose of the role was to be a ‘Christian presence’ in the school. Some were swift to point out that they did not want to be the only Christian presence or ‘token Christian’ within the school, but that their role was to foster and shape a Christian ethos throughout the life of the school.

To develop this ethos, several understood their role as to work alongside the Senior Leadership Team, being a ‘voice from the outside’ – challenging the team to keep Christianity at the forefront of the work of the school.

Each Youth Worker/Chaplain outlined a variety of tasks included in their role. Each position had elements of pastoral care and a responsibility for coordinating collective worship, alongside other context-specific tasks:

I felt like my role was to pray for the school, the church and the local area. To live out my Christian faith in that school community. I felt my purpose was to provide staff and students with pastoral care, and parents. And to signpost other sources of support depending on what the issues were - whether that was in school or out of school, and additional support that they could access. I felt my role was to support local churches in their youth work, and to encourage the young people who were Christians in those churches to live distinctive Christian lives. To organise collective worship opportunities in the school and in the churches, and to celebrate and explore the Christian faith. [Lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

To be a Christian presence in the school, upholding the Christian values but generally just being there for the young people in the school. For me it was I guess as a missionary, pointing people towards God, being on their turf, where they were, engaging in conversation and helping in any aspect that the school needed. [Lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

I always said that it was about service, so that would look different in different ways and in different seasons and different times because the school would need and require church in different ways. There were the staples that needed to be fulfilled which were communal worship, class worship, form worship, prayers, staff prayers, training for staff, those things that were requirements of the job. But then after that it was just doing whatever I thought the school required but doing it always as a prophetic voice. So being able to speak from the outside. [Lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

For some of the Youth Worker/Chaplains, the role involved significantly less pastoral time with pupils than they had expected. Instead they found the roles were dominated by shaping school structures and/or ensuring the school was ready for SIAMS inspections.

4.1.2 WITHIN THE DIOCESE The Youth Worker/Chaplains understood the Diocesan commitments of the role.

These involved planning, facilitating and leading Youth Camps (previously known as Confirmation Camp), the Resource Conference for 16-24-year olds, Young Leaders weekends, Young Vocations events and Sanctuary Events. Youth Worker/Chaplains also represented the Board of Education as members of teams running 11 | Page

ecumenical events/training, for example Hotpot Training days, Xcel Transition days and The Youth Evangelism Conference.

This element of the Youth Worker/Chaplain role did not feature significantly in the narratives of Youth Worker/Chaplains, who tended to frame it as the third element to their position.

4.1.3 WITHIN PARISHES AND WITH CLERGY The Youth Worker/Chaplains were asked to reflect upon their hopes for their relationships with clergy and with local parishes.

Expectations of these relationships were described using phrases such as ’collaboration’ and ‘partners in mission’. Youth Worker/Chaplains expected that clergy had been involved in the creation and appointments of their positions. They were surprised to find this had not been in the case in all the schools, with positions instead being found to be the ‘brain-child’ of the Diocesan visionaries and/or spearheaded by the Head/Senior Leadership Team within the schools.

The recollections of the Youth Worker/Chaplains primarily centred on how they had hoped clergy would support their ministry within the school context. Expectations for the relationships between Youth Worker/Chaplains and local parishes were less well articulated, with Youth Worker/Chaplains being unsure of what was expected of them in terms of time commitments beyond the school context.

For some, relationships with clergy exceeded expectations:

I hoped that they would be supportive, but they exceeded my hopes in terms of how they engaged with me and I met with [a clergy person] once a month by the end. [Another clergy person was] completely different to me in churchmanship and theology, however I have never felt that they would in any way undermine or push or do anything different. If anything, they really helped bring me along in my understanding and yeah, the other clergy would be the same, so they really exceeded what I thought that the clergy would do. [Lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

For others, these expectations were not met. For example, one Youth Worker/Chaplain had been misled about the relationship between the school and the local clergy. They expected greater levels of collaboration between school and clergy, presuming that the clergy had been consulted about the appointment of a Youth Worker/Chaplain. It took over three years to repair these relationships and develop ‘a strong clergy team’ within the school.

Understandings of the role and expectations about relationships with clergy and parishes do not appear to vary significantly depending on whether the Youth Worker/Chaplain was ordained or not. One ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain commented that they had been prepared for clergy to see them as a ‘free pair of clergy hands’ but has not found this to be the case. On the contrary they found that they have had less ‘welcome’ into the clergy community than expected:

It was a bit underwhelming when I first arrived. I was surprised that the Area Dean hadn't been in touch. Very few clergy came to my licensing which was a bit disappointing. Yeah it was a sort of ‘I'm a stranger in your midst and no one’s welcoming me’. [Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Three of the Youth Worker/Chaplains interviewed for this project had experience of the Model 3: Dual Role where part of their time was formally dedicated to work in local parishes. Each recognised there were connections between their role in the school(s) and parish(es), however, the extent to which they either compartmentalised the roles or saw the primary function of their role to be a link person between the school and local parishes varied.

One Youth Worker/Chaplain explained:

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I thought ‘this is going to be great because we can work together and make the connections so that in the morning and the early afternoon the young people have me in the school and other people from the local parishes, and in the afternoon and evening they can go to activities in the local parishes and on the Sunday and at the weekend they can go to the churches’. But that hasn't worked at all really sadly. [Lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

They saw their role as complimenting existing work within parishes, rather than initiating parish-based youth ministry.

In contrast another Youth Worker/Chaplain understood their role:

As a traditional youth worker role, I guess. So, help to run youth groups: we would do all sorts of normal things that youth groups do, outreach events, weekly meetings where we would read the Bible together. And then outreach events where they might be able to invite people along or where I might even be able to invite kids that I’ve got to know at school: I might be able to invite people along to groups. [Lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

They understood that their role may involve a cross over between the young people they engaged with at the school being invited to parish events, but also that they were fulfilling the role of a traditional church-based Youth Worker.

4.2 CLERGY UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE ROLE Clergy understandings of the role varied depending on their levels of involvement with the creation of the positions and their existing involvement with the school. For example, clergy who were involved as school governors held a more detailed understanding of the breadth and day-to-day elements of the Youth Worker/Chaplain role than those who were only invited into the school occasionally to take communion services.

Some clergy praised the value of having a Christian within the school who was typically closer in age to the pupils than the clergy, and therefore potentially able to ‘bring a more contemporary message to young people’. These clergy also recognised the limitations of their own availability, and therefore welcomed a Christian presence in the school who had the time to invest in often complex pastoral relationships with young people.

Clergy were asked to reflect upon their hopes for how the Youth Worker/Chaplain role may relate to their work in their parishes, and then consider if these expectations had been met.

Several hoped that the Youth Worker/Chaplain would act as a link person between the schools and the parishes, with one explaining that they hoped the position would gently introduce young people to the Church of England yearly patterns and structures so that ‘when pupils went to church they weren’t adrift’.

One clergy person described how they hoped this connection would work, explaining that they had found this to be the case in their context:

I'd be hoping that a Youth Worker/Chaplain would be for our young people who are receiving Christian input, discipleship and support within our local church, then go back into school where there are also people who are able to bring that message, offer that support, create a peer group with them so that their Christian ethos is being reinforced between school and church. And I think that was happening. [Clergyperson]

For the majority of the clergy, who were not involved with a dual role model of working, the reality of the Youth Worker/Chaplains roles did not match their expectations, they had ‘hoped for a bit more contact with parishes’. Despite the disappointment, some were pragmatic about the limitations of engagement – citing geographical, financial or time constraints.

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One clergyperson, who was involved in initial discussions about the creation of the role, ‘hoped the role would be a link in to parishes to support youth work’ and held the understanding that the Youth Worker/Chaplain would work largely in school in term-time but then in the parishes in school holidays. They were initially enthusiastic about the creation of the position with the understanding that it created an ‘opportunity for this person to help develop youth work in the church’ but reflected that there were ‘too large expectations’ of this role and that these hopes ‘never materialised’.

Another clergyperson had envisaged the role as part of a two-way relationship with the Youth Worker/Chaplain supporting the work their church was doing in the parish with young people, children and families. They explained:

My anticipation was that they would have, not a weekly involvement but certainly a contribution to make and possibly have some kind of a spiritual home within [my church]. That was a kind of working assumption [however] in my experience it was clearly an almost school-based job/role as opposed to a link role between parishes and school. It was clearly very much a school based on the spot chaplain model […] I thought there might be more flexibility around that. [Clergyperson]

Clergy engaging with Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplains were split over the impact of this, with one reflecting that it didn’t affect them, but another ascertaining:

It is easier if the person is ordained as, from a parish-priest perspective, you then have a colleague you can relate to on a sacramental and parish basis. And you can work together probably easier than you can with a non-ordained youth worker. [Clergyperson engaging with an Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain]

For clergy involved with a Youth Worker/Chaplain undertaking Model 3: Dual Role, there were differing expectations of how the work in the parishes would relate to work in the schools. One clergyperson explained how their hopes for the role had not come to pass:

I think perhaps the two roles are separate, they have been put together. The work of the chaplain in the school is to provide pastoral support and Christian leadership and education to the pupils at the school, and also for the staff. The work in the parishes, the Youth Worker role, was less well defined and has been less effective. The amount of time that the Youth Worker/Chaplain has had to spend on school work and work for the Diocese, confirmation camps and so on, has meant there has been very little time for them to spend in the parishes. And when they holiday's come along they has used them to take their leave, which they are entitled to. We haven't seen much of them and I think that side of the role hasn't worked as much as we hoped […] We were hoping to see them in the local schools, especially in the church primary schools and in the churches as well, working to get groups of people trained and get groups set up and then slowly back off and leave people to run them themselves. I think we were hoping we would learn from them about what we might do for children and youth. I think maybe the assumption about the children may have been our misunderstanding about the Youth Workers role, because clearly, the Youth Worker/Chaplain was more focused on youth, so the primary school children were not their main concern, but that is what we hoped for. [Clergyperson]

In contrast, another clergyperson (at a church which already had its own children’s and youth ministry) was less concerned about how the role would impact their own work with young people. They framed it instead as an opportunity to ‘strengthen and deepen the relationship between parish and school’, and ensure the church was seen to be actively supporting what was going on in the school.

4.3 TENSIONS WITHIN THE UNDERSTANDINGS

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These sections have shown how there was significant variation in understandings of the role amongst both Youth Worker/Chaplains and amongst clergy.

One of the tensions highlighted in these discussions has been a mis-match of the expectations of some clergy around the role. This was exasperated by a lack of communication over the vision for the roles, with some of the clergy commenting that they knew of colleagues who ‘didn’t know anything about the appointment’. These clergy, they explain felt ‘offended’ from being omitted from consultations and perceived that Youth Worker/Chaplains were appointed ‘over their heads’. One Youth Worker/Chaplain felt that the failure to adequately consult clergy at the start of the process meant that they spent a large proportion of their first few years in post justifying their purpose to clergy.

In roles where there was a lack of clergy consultation at the start of the process, on-going engagement with clergy was often strained. Roles in which Youth Worker/Chaplains had originally intended to follow Model 1: Within and Beyond school, frequently retreated to Model 2: Within School Only. Developing and sustaining relationships with clergy which were based on difficult foundations of miscommunication took large amounts of time and resource from the Youth Worker/Chaplains. Therefore, in amongst an already demanding role, continuing to try to engage with ‘offended’ clergy out of the school context became one element of the role that could be given lower priority.

For Youth Worker/Chaplains, some of whom were working in at-times hostile environments yet continued engaging with local parishes beyond the school context, this took high levels of relational and emotional energy, and spiritual maturity.

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5. RELATIONSHIPS IN PRACTICE: IMPACTS AND CHALLENGES

5.1 WITHIN SCHOOLS

5.1.1 YOUTH WORKER/CHAPLAINS As outlined in Section 4.1.1 Youth Worker/Chaplains undertook a variety of tasks within schools. This section highlights some of these, whilst reflecting on the impact the Youth Worker/Chaplains perceived their roles had on the school community. It also identifies some of the challenges and tensions of performing these roles within these contexts.

Although difficult to quantify in terms of numbers, most of the Youth Worker/Chaplains found it easy to list the impact their role had on the school community. They had introduced or developed Spirituality Days, been a listening ear and facilitated ‘safe spaces’ for pupils and staff undergoing difficult pastoral situations (e.g. bereavements, relationship breakdowns and questions of sexuality), developed worship resource, and coordinated and delivered collective acts of worship. Through developing relationships with primary schools, some Youth Worker/Chaplains also reported having played a central role in supporting transitions for pupils from primary into the secondary schools.

Several emphasised the value of the role in introducing young people to a ‘different face of Christianity’:

A lot of the pupils had this frame of reference, where it was this more traditional high church, aging congregations or they have quite a catholic view. And then they threw me into the mix and the music is different, the way we do prayer is different. I am quite conversational. I don't put on a vicar voice. So, for a lot of pupils it meant they could have a different frame of reference when somebody talks about what a Christian looks like [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Most Youth Worker/Chaplains explained how they sought to raise the profile of Christianity within the schools – pointing to this as one area where they could see their role had a significant impact, either anecdotally or evidenced within SIAMs reports:

As I left I knew the school was in a different place. The Christian identity was far more founded: it actually had a faith which was real, they were seeking to promote a faith the Senior Leadership believed in. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

The impact on schools is that a lot of them would identify more freely and readily and talk about themselves being Christian schools, rather than them being Church of England schools. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

This impact was also observed by Craig Abbott during his time as the Diocesan Youth officer:

For me the impact was about a change in atmosphere. How do you measure that, well you can't! But you almost feel it in a tangible way. You can see the difference a chaplain has just by the way they walk around school and interact with pupils, by the issues children and young people have that would never get dealt with ordinarily. [Craig Abbott]

One of the ways to raise the profile/foster this ethos was to develop resource and staff capacity to lead acts of worship:

I think one of the aims was to normalise Christianity and have it as an aspect of everything and not just the bit we put on the end and for that to be totally normal […] It wouldn't be normal if it was just me because it would just be the chaplain going on about those things, so the capacity of the whole staff body had to be upped in their ability and desire to do this so. We put on training events, spirituality

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days for them […] I think that really, really worked, and I'm not just being contrite about the fact that I get one mention possibly two in the last SIAMS report, because it talks about how the staff lead spirituality about how they do form worship […] staff training on form worship is led by staff who are good at form worship. And that was a huge intention. So, we wanted to normalise it but to do that we needed to increase that capacity and obviously that was my job. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Several Youth Worker/Chaplains identified the importance of their position sitting outside of the formal school staffing structures through being employed by the Diocese, enabling them to challenge the Senior Leadership Team within schools. Looking ahead, they were fearful this ability to be an outside voice may be lost if, as per the original long-term vision, Youth Worker/Chaplains were employed by the individual schools instead of the Diocese:

I saw the use of being able to go into the Head's office and say, without fear of my job, without you being able to change the expectations of what you want from me, without you messing with my contract as to what I can and can't do, and say, 'I'm sorry but that’s not right.’ [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

One Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain reflected that being ordained may have been an advantage within schools – with their visible, formal qualifications helping staff to ‘take them seriously’. Another Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain felt that being ordained over time a hindrance to the role:

My being a vicar meant that’s what they kept wanting me to do: all that sort of formal stuff. And also, they could get me to do the communion services within the school and so forth. But I thought actually for phase two [once a school has established patterns of worship] me being a vicar was disabling because it was better, and they got stronger links if they had to use vicars from outside for that kind of thing. And if the person within the school wasn't ordained then they could spend more time being relational.

One challenge faced by several of the Youth Worker/Chaplains was of explaining and justifying their role to both Christian and non-Christian staff members. Several found that they were entering into contexts were staff had not been consulted about the appointment; for some this lingered throughout their time in the role:

The staff, except the leadership team, seemed to have absolutely no grasp on what my role was. I even had staff querying my salary! That was quite galling because I worked so hard! If they were going to do this again they would probably need to encourage a bit more understanding […] Some understood it by the end, but I was regularly 'blanked' [...] There were some staff who were absolutely lovely and really supportive, others who weren’t bothered but others who were, not hostile about it but annoyed. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

This issue became even more pertinent over the years as financial contexts for schools became more challenging. Youth Worker/Chaplains had to demonstrate that their role was value for money, which, they perceived contributed to the mixture of decisions by schools of whether to continue to support and fund the role.

Some Youth Worker/Chaplains explained how they saw being an extra and willing pair of hands to help around the school as an important part of their role. For some this was rooted in a theology of servanthood, however it was also a strategy used to ensure they were seen as an asset within the school community, mitigating against the fears and uncertainties of some staff and, at times, Senior Leadership Teams. Additionally, investing time in relationships built the foundations for Youth Worker/chaplains to witness to staff members:

I did lots of things that were probably outside the remit of my job really. But to be able to establish a role in the school that was respected and appreciated, which then gave me a lot of the opportunities of what I wanted to do which was share the Christian faith and to share the Gospel with people, I felt like I had to earn the opportunity. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

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The Youth Worker/Chaplain role, like all roles within a school context, demanding large amounts of energy and time. For some, this was challenging- particularly when this was combined with a Model 3: Dual Role. Youth Worker/Chaplains identified the challenges of having ‘too many masters’, both within the school, potentially answering to the Head alongside staff members in charge of pastoral care and Religious Education, but also through the added dimension of being employed by the Diocese. Diocesan commitments, and in some roles local parish commitments, took time away from the school context. A lack of communication, and at times clear lines of oversight, between the three spheres put strain on Youth Worker/Chaplains.

5.1.2 LOCAL CLERGY Local clergy were involved in the Church of England High Schools in varying capacities. Typically, they would be invited to take assemblies or end-of-term/special occasion (e.g. Easter) services, with some also undertaking responsibilities as year-group chaplains and school governors. Youth Worker/Chaplains would usually coordinate the visits of clergy to the school.

The majority of clergy said that the presence of the Youth Worker/Chaplain within the schools had a positive effect on their own relationships with the schools. They identified the Youth Worker/Chaplain as a useful, central and often ‘first point of call’ for coordinating their involvement. For some the development of this role provided an ‘entry point’ into previously non-existent relationships with the schools. A few clergy identified that the Youth Worker/Chaplain was undertaking work that otherwise they would have needed to do within schools – freeing their time to focus on other parish ministries. Connected to this, one clergyperson (speaking about an Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain) praised their ability to engage deeply with pastoral concerns, particularly surrounding bereavement, an opportunity this clergyperson believed they would not have been given as the parish priest.

Differences in churchmanship was highlighted by both Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy as a significant potential point of tensions between the groups (and between clergy engaged with the school). For example, one clergyperson had ‘deep concerns pastorally’ around how the more-evangelical Youth Worker/Chaplain would handle issues concerning young people and sexuality. Nevertheless, despite recognising this potential point of tension, several Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy sought to work through these differences – with some Youth Worker/Chaplains recalling how they deliberately tried to introduce pupils to a variety of styles of worship and include clergy from across the spectrum of churchmanship. This approach did not work in all contexts, some of which differences in churchmanship contributed to significant breakdowns in relationships between clergy and Youth Worker/Chaplains and/or the schools.

Some clergy raised specific concerns over the appearance of some of the Youth Worker/Chaplains, commenting that they did not dress in what they perceived to be appropriate clothing for their role within the school and/or church context. Behind this concern and echoed within considered reflections on this topic by one Youth Worker/Chaplain, is the question of the positionality of the Youth Worker/Chaplains within the school as a professional environment. Youth Worker/Chaplains worked hard to be seen by pupils as distinct from staff, being addressed by their first names, however they operated within a liminal position of also wanting to be seen as colleagues with staff members.

5.2 WITHIN PARISHES Contextual and individual variations in understandings and practice surrounding the involvement of Youth Worker/Chaplains in local parishes have been evident throughout this report. This section highlights some of the joys and challenges of this engagement, whilst reflecting on how Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy perceived the impact of the roles to be on their parishes, and (if present) on their parish-based youth ministry.

Some clergy cited confirmation classes, where conducted within parishes or across benefice/deaneries, as a positive example of effective working between Youth Worker/Chaplains and local parishes. They provided an opportunity to strengthen connections between schools and parishes. Confirmation and post-confirmation classes

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were identified by some Youth Worker/Chaplains as positive impacts their role had on local parishes. However, detailed in Section 6.2.1, tensions surrounded instances where confirmation classes were conducted outside of parish structures.

Several Youth Worker/Chaplains and one clergyperson ascertained their ability to both signpost and connect young people within parishes into Diocesan youth structures (e.g. youth camps and events) as one of the most significant impacts their role had on local parishes.

Where Youth Worker/Chaplains were attending local parishes, and/or proactively investing time in building relationships with local clergy and parishes, clergy were more likely to identify positive impacts. For example, one clergyperson engaging with a Youth Worker/Chaplain following Model 1: Within and Beyond School identified a ‘cross fertilisation’ of young people between school and church. They emphasised the benefit of the Youth Worker/Chaplain being able to ‘continue to build relationships [with young people] in church time’. Similarly, in one of the parishes who employed a Youth Worker/Chaplain on Model 3: Dual Role identified a ‘flow of young people coming to things going on at church and parish activities’, which they attributed to the work of the Youth Worker/Chaplain. Another clergyperson praised the Youth Worker/Chaplain for making the presence of the local churches more visible, through bringing pupils into their buildings for worship – an impact also identified by one Youth Worker/Chaplain.

In contrast, clergy who engaged with Youth Worker/Chaplains following Model 2: Within School Only, said they saw ‘minimal’ impact of the roles on their youth ministry and/or parishes. Some clergy perceived there to be a lack of signposting from the Youth Worker/Chaplains of young people to their parish-based youth work. Others expressed disappointment with the levels of Youth Worker/Chaplain-led or Youth Worker/Chaplain-supported youth work within parishes. For example, developing a new approach to engaging young people and their families in worship, one clergyperson reflected that the Youth Worker/Chaplain ‘didn’t take it on and run with it as I might have anticipated that they would [...] it felt as if I was asking them to do something that was beyond their brief, as opposed to integral to their brief, and that is where there was a clash of expectations.’

Clergy within these situations recalled difficult conversations with parishes who were funding (or considering funding) the Youth Worker/Chaplain roles as they struggled to identify or communicate the tangible impact these roles had on their contexts.

Nuancing this distinction between models, similar tensions were also encountered by a clergyperson working alongside one Youth Worker/Chaplain employed in Model 3: Dual Role:

It was a tension about timing and availability, more than anything. And it was issues around the Youth Worker/Chaplain’s availability for some of the things we had on Sunday’s, because of their own worship pattern at their own church […] I have had to do a lot of work with the parishes to convince them that the Youth Worker/Chaplain was value for money, because they only know what they saw and parishes would say 'we are paying this money towards them but we have seen them once in 12 months’. I would say although we might not be seeing them in the parishes, they are still doing a lot of good work with young people that live in our villages [the clergyperson would also explain to their parishioners that that the parish would need to do the work with the school if the Youth Worker/Chaplain was not wasn't doing that role]. There was a constant tension when I was talking with local clergy and church wardens and treasurers about the money to support them. [Clergyperson]

This extract reiterates two challenges. Firstly, that of Youth Worker/Chaplains not worshipping in local parish churches (a stipulation which was not in the original vision but was a point of disappointment/mis-expectation for some clergy). Secondly, that understanding the value to parishes of Youth Worker/Chaplains was a question of mind-set – as stated in the previous section, having Youth Worker/Chaplains within schools potentially released clergy to concentrate on other types of parish mission and ministry, but this was difficult to articulate and communicate within some parish contexts.

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This concept of mind-set, or framing of the role, also arose in discussions about whether clergy felt threatened by the ministry of Youth Worker/Chaplains. This centred on fears Youth Worker/Chaplains were directing young people to non-Anglican worshipping communities or initiating their own youth ministry. One clergyperson (who did not feel threatened by this, but acknowledged others might) recalled how one Chaplain:

Had a number of young people who were very dedicated to them [as an individual], and indeed I think they ended up getting baptised, confirmed through school […] So in a sense the chaplaincy was becoming kind of church to a group of young people who really connected with the chaplain. [Clergyperson]

Although this research did not hear specific examples of this, there were fears that these types of actions were potentially drawing young people away from existing parish youth ministry. These sentiments were expressed by several of the clergy, although they frequently referred to how they perceived ‘other clergy’ to feel, distancing themselves from these feelings:

I think this is a problem with the Church of England system in so much as because we all have parishes people tend to be a little bit parochial about their young people, and so if someone was setting up a youth initiative outside of their parish there were certain clergy who felt that their youth work was slightly threatened and that’s a really narrow view. I've never worked on that view. It’s always been well actually it’s for greater Kingdom values, but perhaps if someone only has a few young people they get a little bit possessive [Clergyperson]

I wonder if a possible difficulty is that clergy can be territorial? ‘My young people’, ‘My youth group’, when in actual fact young people do need to meet in bigger groups than one, two, or three, and that means relaxing the boundaries, and finding places where young people can be gathered. [Clergyperson]

Not all clergy felt threatened by the Youth Worker/Chaplains, some praised another clergyperson described it as important to recognise ‘we are all playing on the same team, even if we are not really playing together’.

One clergyperson (who already had a ‘successful’ youth ministry) articulated what could be termed an interdenominational-Kingdom mind-set:

It was more about the Kingdom of God than it was about building the Kingdom of my church. So, any young person makes their way to church or a faith community where they were encouraged and supported, great! It didn't have to be us. [Clergyperson, engaging with a Youth Worker/Chaplain in a dual role]

In discussing how relationships worked in practice, this section has pointed to some encouraging impacts brought about by the Youth Worker/Chaplain roles – thousands of young people daily heard and encountered the gospel across the Diocese of Blackburn. This section also noted how these roles can be significantly impacted (and at times hindered) by complex inter-personal and theological differences. It has again highlighted tensions and challenges rooted in mismanaged expectations and poor communication between the four key actors: Diocese, clergy, schools and Youth Worker/Chaplains.

6. SCHOOL-AS-PARISH

This section focuses in on how one element of the vision, that of the school-as-parish, was understood by both the Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy, and put into practice. This vision, and therefore the corresponding sub- sections, are divided into two parts: engagement with the wider school community, and the theological understandings underpinning the school-as-parish.

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6.1 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE WIDER SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Section 2.2 outlined how the concept of school-as-parish was contained within the original vision behind this project. It was based on a theology looking to minister to both the school and young people holistically. Youth Worker/Chaplains were to be placed within schools, where young people spend a large proportion of their lives but were also to engage with ‘where they lived and played’ [Ballard, 2007:39].

The Youth Worker/Chaplains understood that their role was to include the wider school community; all of those interviewed engaged pastorally with staff. Some recalled interactions with families – for example around bereavements. Where Youth Worker/Chaplains also engaged and worshiped within local parishes, relationships with the extended families of school pupils developed. The development of such relationships, however, was not as frequent or as wide spread throughout all the roles as potentially envisioned.

Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplains offered more examples of such interactions – including taking a wedding blessing and attending and conducting funerals. One of the Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplains, however, reflected that despite awareness of this element of the vision, in practice this didn’t materialise as a large part of their role.

Two reasons emerged through this research as to why this engagement with the extended school community did not, for several of the Youth Worker/Chaplains, form a large part of the roles.

Firstly, geographically the catchment areas for several of the High Schools are very large, making it impossible for Youth Worker/Chaplains to engage with young people outside of schools. This was exasperated by the fact that several of the Youth Worker/Chaplains did not live (or to the disappointment of some clergy, worship) in close proximity to the schools. One of the Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplains highlighted the lack of provided accommodation as a particular challenge to fulfilling the expectations for his role beyond the school gates.

Secondly, the requirements of the role within school hours, the time needed to prepare worship resources outside of these times, and, within some contexts, the expectations to engage with local parishes left little time for this element of the role. This was accentuated when the contracts for Youth Worker/Chaplains were reduced from 6 to 5 days a week.

6.2 MISSIONARY OR PRIEST? This vision was about more than engagement with the extended school community, schools were envisioned as potential worshipping communities.

As outlined in Section 2.2, ensuring young people engaged with local churches was not an original aim of this project (although the visionaries were not against this). Peter Ballard commented that he was ‘not expecting young people to come to something else’ (i.e. also necessarily attend a church on a Sunday) but through this project was exploring if school communities could become worshipping communities.

Several of the Youth Worker/Chaplains reported that this element of the vision was not routinely communicated to them either before appointment or during their time in post. Two explicitly said they would have theological reservations within this element of the vision: citing the lack of religious oversight within a school community and that ‘the church is the people of God working together […] I think that is very hard in the school because the focus will always be academic’. Another said:

I wouldn't have seen the school as a church, I would have seen myself as a missionary in the school trying to encourage children into a local church I know there were other chaplains who took that approach, they were sort of the vicar, minister of their school and that was their church, but I wouldn’t have seen my role like that and I didn't work like that. [Lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

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Alongside some of the other Youth Worker/Chaplains, they were framing their role as a missionary: being sent by The Church (or in this instance the Board of Education) into a secular environment, seeking to connect young people into (Anglican) churches. 6 In contrast to the language used in the original vision, these Youth Worker/Chaplains were not positioning themselves as the priest of the school community.

Two examples emerged where the vision of the school as a worship community was being explored. One Youth Worker/Chaplain, previously employed at Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy, narrated their excitement about how the vision was enacted:

We have worship every single morning and we would have services at the end of every half term and communion at the end of every term, it was always a service. It was very clear as to what it was and we would send people to out to other local churches, […] the Ripley mission statement is really useful because it doesn’t say ‘as a training academy’ or ‘as a school’, it says ‘as a worshipping community we […] we see ourselves as a worshipping community that wanted to bring young people up and educate them but to also educate them in their physicality, their sensuality, their spirituality, their aesthetic everything to do with them, life in all its fullness, and that was always really exciting to be able to say, you know someone says well 'why do we do this?' because you came to a school that starts off by saying ‘as a worshipping community’, and that was always dead exciting. [Lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

In conjunction with the ordained pioneering minister for the local parish, the Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain in post is cautiously exploring this idea at St George’s Church of England Academy. Echoing sentiments made by Peter Ballard they feel that until the wider Church is positioned to effectively cater for young people then it is worth exploring fresh expressions and alternative forms of church:

I'm imagining it'll be a youth congregation but I would want it to have all generations involved […] as long as The Church is as it is I find it impossible with a whole heart to say to students, ‘look you can continue your Christian journey in this church or this church’ or you know, because they are not ready for our young people […] I think that this is kind of the case of the ‘old wine skins and new wine’ analogy that Jesus used, that, Chaplain Youth Workers are being asked to help to generate new wine and if we pour it into the existing structures they are just going to break and the wine's going to be lost and I'm afraid that's what I see. [Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain]

For some Youth Worker/Chaplains the decision to act as ‘priest’ to pupils within the school was not singularly out of choice, but rather because they perceived the local church contexts to be unsuitable to direct young, potentially new Christians into. One Youth Worker/Chaplain laments:

We are doing discipleship stuff and being missional in terms of sharing the gospel but there wasn’t anywhere to go with it. It felt like it was sort of in-house. This [the school] is where you get discipled, this is where you can connect with, unless you feel there is somewhere that might identify [with you]. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

To direct young people to local churches, Youth Worker/Chaplains needed to feel confident in the welcome and spirituality that young people would receive there.

6 See Ryan (2017) who, building on the work of Threlfall-Holmes (2001), outlines secular and theological models of chaplaincy. His analysis troubles the presentation in some chaplaincy context of a chaplain as a missionary. 22 | Page

6.2.1 CLERGY RESPONSE Several of the clergy interviewed for this research were not aware of the vision of school-as-parish. Some of the clergy revealed that they either personally felt threatened by this idea, or knew of other clergy (perhaps some of those who declined to take part in this research) who felt this way:

I was very upset when the head said: ‘oh the Chaplain has the cure of souls in this place, not you’ but it was in my parish! [Clergyperson]

One clergyperson, who was unaware of this vision, offered that ‘if young people have only had experience of ‘church’ in their school then going into a parish is going to be a big shock’.

This clergyperson held theological reservations about this vision. These centred on concerns about a single- generation church, and questions of discipleship – if they are not rooted in a church7, what happens to young people after they leave the school worshiping community? These observations echo reservations held by Stephen Whittaker about some manifestations of this vision:

My personal view is that I don't think that model works. I can understand why the concept comes about because there is an active community there, that is an active worshiping community and therefore this could be an expression of church that could have long term impact, but I think where that concept falls down is that it is not multi-generational. It comes down to the debate of: is a traditional youth church, led by youth for youth a successful model? You will get different views on that; my personal view is that I don't think it is. I think a worshiping community needs to be intergenerational and I think anyone in that community needs to see the next generation above them having an active part in church life to be able to see their future place, and therefore that church is relevant to them. And the schools don't have that, as that next generation doesn't exist. My only caveat to that is that I think there is a place for multi- generational church to be worshiping within the church as a worship centre, almost as a satellite congregation and in that sense I think you could say that the school is the parish because you could create a community that is multi-generational, works in the church but draws on the parents, the teachers and the associated community members into a school. So, in that context I would say, yes that works. But the idea that the school is in and of itself a parish, a worshipping community that is self-sustaining and all the rest of it falls down on the fact that in most of our schools that's a 5-year journey, and that isn't sufficient for developing discipleship habits that will last a lifetime. [Stephen Whittaker]

In practice, for clergy once again tensions centred around questions of confirmation. Who was coordinating confirmation preparation? Would young people be confirmed into schools or parishes?

I did hear that the Youth Worker/Chaplain was offering confirmation preparation, and if this is in fact true, it would be disappointing. Personally, I would see it as necessary that young people are encouraged to seek out youth work and confirmation preparation in their parishes, rather than be prepared and possibly confirmed at a school. [Clergyperson engaging with a lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

This concern was not held by all clergy interviewed for this research:

I’m not bothered about whether baptism or confirmations are happening in the school or not that doesn’t, if it’s authentic I’m for it, so that wasn't any kind of issue for me [Clergyperson engaging with a lay Youth Worker/Chaplain]

7 See The Church of England’s Education Department (2016) report ‘Rooted in the Church’ analysing parish-based ministry and discipleship with young people within The Church of England. 23 | Page

One clergyperson praised the way an Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain had addressed and alleviated these concerns, ensuring that local clergy were engaged in discussions with the Youth Worker/Chaplain about preparation for confirmation and where this should take place. They went onto say:

Parish priests don't like the idea that schools are going to take over their role and become churches. One of the great joys of having an Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain was that they understood the tensions and they related extremely well to the individual parishes which took that angst away […] I don't know whether sometimes the Non-Ordained Youth Workers understood the political niceties of ecclesiastical politics [Clergyperson engaging with an Ordained Youth Worker/Chaplain].

Echoing the observations made in the previous section that mind-set was essential to how clergy understood this project, one clergyperson identified that a shift in attitude of the clergy was needed:

I think that if they are in a church school, then that is their worshipping community. That is their church and we shouldn't be looking just at numbers in their parishes churches and saying: 'oh we don't get any young people in here'. We should be rejoicing that those young people are worshipping in the schools and we should be accepting that that is their church, that is where they worship, and that the chaplain is in the role of a priest, whether they are ordained or not. And so, we must try and get our heads round that model ourselves. [Clergyperson]

This section has revealed some of the challenges of enacting this vision in practice. As one clergyperson commented, the question of how the school-as-parish with Youth Worker/Chaplain as priest is enacted needs greater thought. This would involve theological discussions with local clergy, but also practical decisions – allowing enough time for Youth Worker/Chaplains to cultivate relationships with the extended school community.

Looking beyond this project, questions surrounding how chaplaincy is framed are asked across all models of chaplaincy work. When working in a setting on the interface between religion and secularism, is it productive to frame the work of chaplains as missionaries or priests? What do these terms, used here in practice, communicate about the intention and vision for chaplaincy in these contexts? It is essential that in each context the relationship between Chaplaincy, Church and Society is established and communicated to both those undertaking and those interacting with this ministry.

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7. MEASURING SUCCESS

Section 2 set out the vision behind this project. This vision did not explicitly set out criteria by which to measure the success of this project, nor did it build in routine monitoring of ‘key performance indicators’ into these roles. Yet this vision did contain some qualitative criteria for assessing its success, contained within the first two questions asked within this section. The third question, firmly rebuffed as part of the success criteria by the visionaries, has always been in the shadows of this project and therefore is still important to address.

7.1 WAS THE GOSPEL BROUGHT TO YOUNG PEOPLE, WHERE THEY ARE?

Yes – Young people aged 11-16 spend a significant proportion of their lives at school. Across the Diocese, thousands of young people heard and encountered the gospel on a regular basis through acts of collective worship within Church of England High Schools. Prior to the appointments of Youth Worker/Chaplains, acts of collective worship were already taking place in the majority of these schools, however most clergy and Youth Worker/Chaplains reported that by having a dedicated person to coordinate these across the school the quality and relevance of them had improved.

In bringing the gospel to school communities, both through words (e.g. preaching, leading worship) and actions (e.g. pastoral care) Youth Worker/Chaplains believed they had contributed to transforming how young people thought about God:

For me it was successful in that the pupils thought the nature of God was positive out of it. One of the things I said in my interview that if pupils could leave the school and be positive about the idea of God and the Christian faith then for me that was a success because a lot of them were coming in very anti to it. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Echoing the hopes of the visionaries, Youth Worker/Chaplains felt they had brought the gospel to young people where they were, gaining opportunities that may be missed if the Diocese waited for young people to come into churches:

The big challenge is being in schools: you bump into an awful lot of people who you won’t ever bump into in the church. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Some Youth Worker/Chaplains reflected upon the scale of this opportunity:

It’s always hard to quantitatively do youth work, or do chaplaincy, or do pastoral engagement. Looking at it, I personally engaged with over 850 people from my school work and then probably a hundred or so through my parish work every week. So, I have the personal engagement with between 800 and 1000 people per week. Now there aren’t many parishes, even the biggest parishes in our diocese that would ever engage with that many people, have such a reach and also see so much fruit. I have seen people become Christians. I think about the Christian Union in school that I have set up: you know it's grown from three people to twenty. And I’ve seen people, like dozens and dozens, go through Alpha courses. And so, on a spiritual quantitative level I think it’s been amazing. On a level where you say a thousand people or if you say 850 people in a school engage every single week, nearly every single day with a deep spiritual truth they hear about Jesus they have opportunity to grow in their own faith. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Most Youth Worker/Chaplains struggled to quantify the number of young people who had directly become Christians or started attending a church through their roles. Repeatedly they used the Biblical metaphor about sowing seeds for future discipleship:

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I sowed lots of seeds. People heard stories about Jesus. People saw somebody offering them time and care, encouragement, people were offered challenges about the way of discipleship. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

It’s difficult to measure an impact because we are not always going to see what God is doing in someone’s life. So, I don't know if in ten years whether there will be kids that come back to churches on the back of remembering something that they heard that one of the Youth Worker/Chaplains say about it. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

In parishes you are income generating, whereas chaplaincies you’re not. But I do know that cash has to have a part in it, because you're funding a post where you don't get any immediate payback. But I'd like to think that I'm sowing seeds into the future. And in the future, you know we will see this part of the country having churches that are fuller and vibrant. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Reflecting on the visions, Peter Ballard states that ‘our role is marketing, the Holy Spirit’s role is sales’. The Youth Worker/Chaplain roles brought (or marketed) the gospel to young people in spaces where they spend the majority of their term-time week, ensuring it was heard by young people who may rarely grace the threshold of a church.

7.2 HAVE SCHOOLS RECOGNISED THE VALUE OF THE ROLES, TAKING ON GREATER RESPONSIBILITY FOR FUNDING THE POSITIONS?

Partially- Five High Schools have continued to employ or look to employ a Youth Worker/Chaplain into this role in varying capacities beyond April 2018 (See Appendix 2).

Given the complexities surrounding school and Diocesan funding – which are in substantially different situations than in 2004, this was recognised as one, albeit limited, measure of success for this project:

It is a measure, not the measure, but a measure because school budgets […] but I think when a school puts its money where its mouth is then it shows that it values the model and it's worked but it is a blunt tool. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

One clergyperson associated with a school which is not formally continuing with the role still recognised the project as a success:

I think I can say it was successful because the school have now given time to one of the teachers to do a bit of the previous Youth Worker/Chaplain’s role. So, in that sense they’ve obviously judged it as important and successful in that they have laid aside some money for somebody to have non-teaching time to do some of what the Youth Worker/Chaplain did. Obviously, it's far less than the Youth Worker/Chaplain role, they obviously can’t do what they did, but the school has judged it successful in that they felt it important enough to find the finance to continue something of what the Youth Worker/Chaplain was doing. [Clergyperson]

7.3 HAS THERE BEEN INCREASED SUNDAY ATTENDANCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN CHURCH OF ENGLAND CHURCHES?

No – or at least this has not been significantly observed by both Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy. As ascertained in Section 2.4, this criterion was not put forward within the original vision. Several Youth Worker/Chaplains reflected that their roles would have taken a very different shape if this had been communicated as a desired outcome. There was significant frustration expressed by Youth Worker/Chaplains about this topic.

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As discussed in Section 6.2, for some Youth Worker/Chaplains directing young people into local churches did not fit with the vision of school-as-parish:

It would be a happy coincidence if more children went to a church, but we really saw our school as a worshipping community [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Others recognised that they would not necessarily signpost young people into Church of England churches, a tension also acknowledged by Peter Ballard:

How many children are we seeing in churches because of the impact of chaplaincy? We couldn't evidence that, or we couldn't prove that, or we couldn't say these kids are in church because of chaplaincy and we also couldn't say these kids are in Church of England churches. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

I never had any focus on building up the numbers in the Anglican church. More just on encouraging kids into Bible teaching churches whatever denomination they were. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

Does it matter how people find God? Well the answer to that has to be 'no', but you can't get away from the fact The Church of England is an institution which we have to maintain. [Peter Ballard]

Several Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy also recognised the tension surrounding this question, with some questioning whether the Youth Worker/Chaplain roles were seen by the Diocese as value for diocesan money:

The Diocese, and I don't just mean Blackburn, are still focused on Sunday numbers. And if that is what you are asking people to report on, that is what people are going to be putting effort into […] So much of the work is focused on Sunday attendance, but that is not the way works now, certainly not if you are 14 years old! [Clergyperson]

I think it’s sad that the Diocese stopped the funding for the posts because, I get that there are pressures financially, but when does anyone get a platform to speak to a thousand children and share the gospel with them? And that is what I got to do every week. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

If I am being honest, I don't think this project will ever happen again, as dioceses don't see it as value for money [...] If they could spend a year’s salary on a chaplain or a year's salary on a missional person in a church that missional person can go and pull in 50-60 new congregation members and they start paying into the parish, and the parish can then pay their parish share. In terms of High School chaplains, we can't ask the young people to start donating to the school or the local churches, as that is not our context. So, there is no return for the Diocese from our positions, at least not instantly. And then you run the risk of when these young people leave school, you might start journeying with them when they are 11 years old you can take them up to the ages of 16, 18 then quite a lot of them will leave and either go to university or more to a different area and they might start going to a local church in another Diocese or another area. But then it’s not actually paying into the Blackburn pot for example, or the return is really far reaching. It might mean they can't start paying into the local church for 15 years and to invest in something for 15 years without instant results, it's not value for money. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

7.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

It was a good model but unless it is completely backed by the local clergy, the school and the Diocese it will inevitably fail [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

It works if people are willing to invest time and effort into relationships, it doesn't otherwise. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

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Both the Youth Worker/Chaplains and clergy were asked how, in hindsight, they would improve this model of working. The responses of both groups echo what has been written throughout this report and are summarised in the points below. They contain valuable insight for both the Board of Education, and other dioceses considering deploying a similar model – although these should be read alongside the questions and concerns presented in section 2 (e.g. considering the extent to which consultation is productive and/or appropriate when developing new mission strategies).

7.4.1 Recommendations by Youth Worker/Chaplains

1. Clearly establish the expectations of the division between time spent in parish, schools and on Diocesan commitments. 2. Ensure these are communicated effectively and that roles are understood and supported/valued by all actors involved in the position: clergy, school (including Senior Leadership Teams) and Diocese (including both Board of Education and senior Diocesan staff). 3. Review the line management of the roles and consider developing a steering group for each role. 4. Regularly review and renew the vision for the roles in consultation with all actors. 5. Continue to work to develop the culture of all local Anglican churches – making these places of welcome and vibrancy for Youth Worker/Chaplains to direct young people into.

7.4.2 Recommendations by clergy

1. Be consulted and included in the appointments of the roles. 2. Recognise the importance of historical parish contexts and local issues of churchmanship – whilst these are not insurmountable they should be considered at the appointment stage. 3. Appoint Youth Worker/Chaplains with an understanding and appreciation of Anglicanism. 4. Have a clear definition of the roles: their aims and the time split between school and parishes 5. Continually review working practices and relationships, for example through both local and Diocese- wide annual meetings of Youth Worker/Chaplains, school and local clergy. 6. Encourage Youth Worker/Chaplains to worship within local Church of England churches.

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8. LOOKING AHEAD: YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE DIOCESE

Everyone involved in this research was asked how they would like to see the Board of Education and the Diocese of Blackburn supporting secondary school-aged young people in the future.

Many still identified the Youth Worker/Chaplain role as the best way for the Diocese to support secondary school-aged young people. There was considerable frustration with the Board of Education that funding for these roles had not been found to ensure the roles continued in schools which had not taken up the funding responsibilities:

There is the money, I'm going to gently push back, if it’s a priority then there is the money- system did need reviewing though […] I think it wasn’t valued and that was because, but I think that was a direct result of the decisions made by the funding [to reduce contracts to 5 days, to employ ‘cheaper’, less experienced Youth Worker/Chaplains], and so I think the narrative of there isn’t money I think it is disingenuous one […] I think how can we support them, how can we support young people in schools, I think it’s about properly resourced, properly supported, full time chaplains in schools and I’m not sure there is a way that is as good as that, everything else will be sub-optimal. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

I would like to see chaplaincy posts reinstated […] it strikes me as hypocritical really that we're saying in some parts of the Diocese ‘yes we're reinvesting because we want you to know the Diocese hasn't given up you’, and yet we've as far as I can see we've given up on some of our secondary schools and the links we have there. [Youth Worker/Chaplain]

There was a sense that there is a need to acknowledge what may be lost by not continuing to fund these roles:

1. Having the opportunity for a Diocesan employee to connect with large numbers of young people on a regular basis, ensuring young people know an active Christian. 2. Having someone within a Church of England school for whom sharing the gospel and maintaining the Christian ethos of the school their top priority. 3. Having someone who can ‘open the door’ into the school for local clergy, coordinating and developing clergy involvement. 4. Having someone with time prescribed into their job description to listen to young people and offer a Christian perspective on at times challenging pastoral situations.

Within several responses, however, there was recognition that it would not be right/enough to simply revert to the old models of working. An overwhelming number of responses to this question centred around the need to improve the connections between schools and parishes. This sentiment was also stated by Stephen Whitaker who identifies what he sees as a troubling ‘disconnect between school and parish’ in the present models.

It is significant to note that throughout the responses schools were still seen as vital place for mission and ministerial engagement with young people. One clergyperson explained how focusing solely on parish youth work was not the answer, they needed to connect with young people where they are:

I know there is a lot of support from the diocese, I’ve got a huge amount of respect for the support from the diocese, my problem is getting the secondary aged young people to work with in the first place, I’ve got a colleague and we banged our heads together to break walls to know we have got any confirmands this year but the last two or three years to try to get that group together, we offer food, we offer bowling, we offer films and you know just really struggle to get them together for anything. [Clergyperson]

Some reflected on what should be done in places where there were no longer Youth Worker/Chaplains in post. Emphasis was placed on the parishes to foster and develop these relationships with the school as it cannot be expected to be seen as a top priority from already-stretched schools. But on whom within parishes should this

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responsibility fall? Some ascertained that clergy should develop this relationship, commenting that they felt lay people would not have the availability in school hours to sufficiently engage with young people. Clergy emphasised that if this was the case, ‘resourcing is a key issue to make sure that the clergy has sufficient time to be able to forge proper links within the academies’. Others suggested that suggested churches or deaneries share a youth worker, whose remit included engaging with the local high school. What has been learnt from this project is that developing effective and useful relationships between parish and school is a hard task for any one individual – a team of people connected in the parish may be needed to fulfil this role.

8.1 KEY QUESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE The ideal would be to have both parish and school working in tandem […] In an ideal world I would have loved for the work [of Youth Worker/Chaplains] to have carried on, whilst be developing the parish world [but] for the moment the schools' work has stalled because some of the schools have stopped investing in that, the parish work might develop. I can see a world in the future where the churches and the diocese would go back to putting chaplains into schools and perhaps looking to fund that because of the link with the newly established parish work. [Stephen Whitaker]

I still think the greatest opportunity to meet young people and pass on the faith is in schools. The statistics speak for themselves; since 2004 the numbers of children in church schools/academies has increased whilst those in our churches has fallen. [Peter Ballard]

These concluding comments from the former and current Director of Education point to the key questions all dioceses must address as they look to the future:

1. Where do you primarily envision mission with secondary school aged young people to take place? 2. Where do you primarily envision discipleship with secondary school aged young people to take place?

Once these questions have been answered, then they must return to questions of how this can be resourced.

If mission and discipleship is to primarily to take place in schools, then Youth Worker/Chaplains provide an encouraging starting point for the realisation of this vision. This approach can be refined through the recommendations in Section 7.4.

If discipleship is to primarily take place in churches, dioceses must ask: What work needs to be done to ensure churches are places where young people can become rooted in their faith and the Christian community?

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APPENDIX 1 TIMELINE OF APPOINTMENTS

Timeline of Youth Worker/Chaplain and Diocesan Youth Advisor appointments, complied by Ben Green, Diocesan Youth Advisor.

1. Susie Mapledoram (St Michael's Nov 2004-Jan 2009)

2. Craig Abbott (Diocesan Youth Officer Jan 2005-May 2012)

3. Andy Froud (St George's Sept 2005-July2009)

4. Suzanne Vernon-Yorke nee Irvine (Ripley Sept 2006-July 2011)

5. Ruth Taylor nee Corner (Balshaws Sept 2006-July 2008)

6. Adrian Thompson (Archbishop Temple Sept 2008-April 2011)

7. Fiona Krawiec nee Radcliffe (St Aiden's Jan 2009-Dec 2012)

8. Ben Green (Bishop Rawstorne April 2009-April 2017)

9. Sarah McAlister nee Ferguson (Balshaws June 2009-April 2016)

10. Andrea Couzens nee Jackson (St Michael's June 2009-April 2014)

11. Dave Buckley (Archbishop Temple May 2011-April 2016)

12. Sam Cheesman (Ripley Sept 2011-July 2017)

13. Kat Gregory-Witham (Diocesan Youth Officer July 2012-Sept 2016)

14. Helen Houston (St George's Sept 2012-Present)

15. Steven Mitchell (Hutton Sept 2012-Feb 2017)

16. Opa Geibel (St Aiden's Sept 2013-Present)

17. Jax Matthews nee Houghton (St Wilfrid's Sept 2013-April 2015)

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18. Dan Bishop (St Michael's April 2014-August 2017)

19. Tabitha Halliwell nee Smith (St Wilfrid's Sept 2015-Present)

20. Joe Houghton (Archbishop Temple April 2016-Present)

21. Fiona Conway (Balshaws September 2016 – July 2017)

22. Ben Green (Diocesan Youth Advisor April 2017-Present)

23. Adrian Wolton (Ripley St Thomas) September 2017-Present)

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APPENDIX 2 STATUS OF YOUTH WORKER/CHAPLAIN POSITIONS POST APRIL 2018

School Chaplains (2004-2018) Chaplain post-April 2018? Details Archbishop Temple Adrian Thompson; Dave Buckley; Joe Houghton Yes School to fund position; chaplain to School employed by the Diocese Balshaw’s Church of Ruth Taylor; Sarah McAlister; Fiona Conway No School have employed a Worship and England High School Christian Distinctiveness Coordinator Bishop Rawstorne Ben Green No School has created roles within Church of England Religious Education to continue some Academy of the work Hutton Grammar School Steven Mitchell No School has created roles within Religious Education to continue some of the work Ripley St Thomas Suzanne Vernon-Yorke; Sam Cheesman, Adrian Yes School to fund position; chaplain Church of England Wolton employed by the school Academy St Aidan’s Church of Fiona Krawiec; Opa Geibel Yes Part-time chaplain, employed the England High School Diocese St George’s Church of Andy Froud; Helen Houston Yes Chaplain funded by school and England Academy private trust, employed by the Diocese St Michael’s Church of Susie Mapledoram; Andrea Couzens; Dan Bishop Yes School to fund position; chaplain England High School employed by the school

St Wilfrid’s Church of Jax Matthews; Tabitha Halliwell No School to create additional roles for England Academy teachers to continue some of the work

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REFERENCE LIST

Ballard, P., (2007), ‘Youth Ministry based in high schools, Blackburn Diocese’, in Sudworth, T., Graham, C., and Russell, C., (eds.) Mission-shaped youth: Rethinking young people and church, Church House Publishing, London, pp 37-43.

Buckley, A., (2013), ‘From Parish to Chaplaincy’ in Ling, T., (ed.), Moving on in Ministry: Discernment for Times of Transition and Change. Church House Publishing, London.

Caperon, J., Todd, A. and Walters, J., (eds.) (2017), A Christian Theology of Chaplaincy, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London.

Evangelical Alliance, Church of England and Hope Together, (2017) Talking Jesus: what can I do? Available at: http://www.talkingjesus.org/research/upload/Talking-Jesus-web-short.pdf [Accessed 02/03/18]

Church of England Education Office, (2016), Rooted in the Church, available at: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017- 11/Rooted%20in%20the%20Church%20Summary%20Report.pdf [Accessed 02/03/12]

Ryan, B., (2015), A Very Modern Ministry: Chaplaincy in the UK, Theos, available at: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/cmsfiles/archive/files/Modern%20Ministry%20combined.pdf [Accessed 28/02/18]

Ryan, B., (2017), ‘Theology and Models of Chaplaincy’ in Caperon, J., Todd, A. and Walters, J., (eds.), A Christian Theology of Chaplaincy, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, pp 79-100.

Sudworth, T., Graham, C., and Russell, C., (2007) Mission-shaped youth: Rethinking young people and church, Church House Publishing, London.

Threlfall-Holmes, M., (2011) ‘Exploring Models of Chaplaincy.’ In M. Threlfall- Holmes and M. Newitt Being a Chaplain. London: SPCK, pp 116-126.

Todd, A., (2017), ‘A Theology of the World ‘in Caperon, J., Todd, A. and Walters, J., (eds.), A Christian Theology of Chaplaincy, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, pp 21-42.

Witham, K., (2015), 10 years of developing school based chaplaincy, The Diocese of Blackburn. Available from the Diocese on request.

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