Oasis Church
Having previously worked in a country church in Nottingham, Chris Easton arrived at church.co.uk in the centre of Waterloo in January 2009 as Youth Projects Manager. Here Chris is interviewed about the challenges of making disciples...
Why is youth work and making disciples out of young people so important to you?
I became a Christian at 14. The couple who had led me to faith were really great. I guess it can be quite daunting to let a rabble of young people into your house, but these guys did, and were so loving, caring, and trusting. That was really when I became passionate about God, and youth work; I know how important it was for me to have people I could look up to; to have role models. I wanted to follow in their footsteps because they cared about me. If you want to be an effective leader you have to let people get in to your life. It's no good saying one thing and doing another; young people will soon see through you!
What kind of challenges do the young people here face?
It's a very difficult area for young people to grow up in. Lambeth has one of the highest levels of teenage pregnancy in the country. Youth crime is a real issue, and even in the last few weeks we've seen levels of youth violence rising significantly. Having said that, the opportunities for us to meet the needs of young people are fantastic. For example, in 2010, teaching on sex and relationships is becoming mandatory in every school, and we're hoping to provide that through Oasis Esteem (a training course run by Oasis). We also want to open Hub House at the weekends, especially on a Friday and Saturday between 2pm and 9pm, as that's the worst time for crime in this area. If we can get 40 lads off the street between those hours then that will help. But we need money and volunteers for that, as with everything else!
There's often a division - and possibly a tension - between the 'God time' and 'fun time' in youth clubs; how do you get around that?
I think it's all about bringing discipleship into every aspect of your activity. For example, I'm very conscious that on a Sunday, youth group is not a baby sitting service, and so we're working really hard to ensure young people are getting solid theological teaching.
But there's a way of ensuring disciple training is going on no matter what the situation. For example, we run Hub Athletic football team, and we want to develop that work by enabling the older guys to start coaching younger ones. Football is very different from a church service, but we're teaching young people how to have a positive influence on other young people, which is tremendously important.
Oasis churches run activities that benefit the whole community. For example, fair-trade coffee shops, aerobics classes, youth clubs like Hub House, parent/carers and children's groups - or whatever the community needs. This costs a huge amount of money every year, so please give a gift to our work today.