You, Equipped to Serve

People talk about us not to us

Today's edition of "Society Guardian" is written and edited by young people. In the edition they interview Ed Balls, young people speak about their lives, get their hands dirty with the environment and talk of missing out as they have nowhere to go and nothing to do . . . talking of "nowhere to go", across the country there are an estimated 12,000 youth centres (how many of these are church based is anyone's guess, I doubt they are counted in these figures). A survey by the charity 4children revealed that in the most deprived areas of the country there are more than 14,000 childre per club. Here is a key thing for the church to reflect on - even when these clubs are open - young people claim they are open at the wrong times, diffiuclt to access, badly publicsed and under-resourced.

With a national wealth of buildings, and the resources of 1,000s of volunteers, can and should the church be bridging this gap in provision for young people?