Ben Putt tells the recent story of the well-known Christian youth centre
I had never planned to go into full-time gospel ministry.
Despite being dragged along to a 9:38 conference (when I was a student) to spend a weekend being taught about the need for gospel workers, I was intent on carrying out my plan. Hence, I completed my PGCE the following year and got a great job in Birmingham, doing what I had always wanted to do – teaching Geography with enough sport on the side to make sure that I could get away with wearing a tracksuit most days. However, just five years later, I found myself moving to the Herefordshire countryside with my wife Jessica to restart a residential youth ministry at Gaines Manor. How and why that switch came about is another story, but ever since we’ve been here I’ve had the privilege to be involved in an exciting work of God that is slowly growing, flourishing and, I pray, bearing fruit for his kingdom.
Long history
Gaines Manor itself has a long history of Christian youth ministry. It has been run as a youth centre ever since the late 1950s, and we regularly get visitors turning up unannounced, coming to reminisce about the significant times they spent here as a teenager. In 2008, Camp XL took on the stewardship of the whole site with the aim of relaunching Gaines Manor for the next generation. The plan was to re-establish the centre as a long-term sustainable venture that would benefit local churches for many years to come. So Jessica and I moved in and began to get things off the ground. During the last ten years we have witnessed so much progress. Most excitingly Gaines Manor now hosts church and school youth groups most weekends from March through to October, as well as running an increasing number of Christian holiday camps. The capacity of the site is slowing expanding and there is plenty of scope for more gospel opportunities. In short the ministry has grown, and is continuing to grow, and I’ve personally learned a lot along the way. Here are a few things that have struck me since moving here:
God is completely & utterly reliable
Burst pipes have caused untold damage to the buildings, teams have come and gone, sewers have leaked along the driveway, the bank account has just about kept above zero; but we have never had to shut the doors or turn people away! God is totally and utterly dependable. It hasn’t always felt like it at the time, but we have always had enough. Volunteers have given countless hours in the kitchens, doing practical work, or serving on summer camp teams. Individual people and churches have been extraordinarily generous financially to keep us going. When our 45-year-old boiler finally gave up, an emergency appeal letter to supporters and friends raised over £25,000 in less than ten days so we could replace it within the month: we didn’t have to cancel a single group.
It hasn’t been plain sailing by any stretch of the imagination. There have been many tears and moments of heartache along the way; a number of times it would have been easier to simply walk away. But God has always been there. He has been completely consistent, and he alone has kept me going. He’s provided everything Gaines has needed unfailingly, even when I’ve struggled to trust him.
Training workers is key
There is a big difference between faithfully discipling people and intentionally training them to be involved in ministry.
The greatest joy I get each year comes from training our Gap Team. While we make sure that we do what we can to help them grow and mature as disciples of Christ, we also want to equip them for ministry.
They lead Bible studies with the children and teenagers that come through our doors each weekend, they study on the MGP training course in Birmingham every week, and we have regular debriefing sessions wrestling with what they are learning. Our desire is that they leave us with the tools to be able to serve in whatever local church context they end up in. Wonderfully, some have gone on into other ministry positions and further theological training.
Intentional training really helps cultivate a heart for the lost and a love for the people you are serving. One of the most striking memories of my time here was when one of the Gap Team came to me in tears after leading a small group Bible study. I assumed that she was upset because she hadn’t led it well; but then through her tears she told me she was crying because the teenagers in her group weren’t interested in Jesus, and she couldn’t bear to think of the eternal consequences of their ambivalence.
Hearing about what our former Gap Team members are up to is always exciting – running the youth meetings, leading a homegroup, doing one-to-ones with women, organising mission events for the CU at university… it’s such a privilege to have played a small part in equipping them for future ministry and to see God multiplying our work in so many varied ways.
Young people need to be stretched
Many of the groups that come through our doors will bring a good number of teenagers who have grown up in church all their life. It’s a wonderful blessing, but it can lead to a lot of head knowledge without anything making it to the heart.
The result is that often it is only when a young person leaves home that it becomes apparent whether or not they really are a disciple of Jesus – by then it becomes much harder to do anything with those who have drifted away.
Anecdotally, I also believe that many churches make the mistake of not expecting much of teenagers. There is a really low bar – if they are reasonably regular in attending church or youth group and they ‘know the right answers’ then it’s assumed that they are saved and they are left to get on with it.
I think that this low bar ultimately contributes to eventual indifference. Teenagers value things that are worth committing to – they like to think that they are involved in something with consequences. If there is no challenge in the youth work, if there is no real call on them to serve or take responsibility … then it becomes something that isn’t worth giving that much time to, and an easy thing to drop when they get older.
Raising the bar
In short, the bar needs to be raised. Christians teenagers need to be encouraged to serve the wider church body – not as a one-off, but regularly. They need to be challenged in their battle against sin, and in their evangelism with their friends. Don’t be too scared to make life uncomfortable for churched teenagers for fear of scaring them away. The Christian life isn’t comfortable, and so isn’t it much better that they experience that when they are surrounded by a supportive family and church community?
Raising the level of expectation helps to reveal the heart of each individual. Those who are saved will rise to that challenge as the Holy Spirit equips and sanctifies them, and grow in maturity. Those who are not saved will be so much easier to recognise, and there will still be time for the parents, church and youth ministry to do all they can to win them for Christ before they leave home.
