A foot on the bottom of the ladder!

It is May 2007 and I am in a small church hall surrounded by a bunch of friends, they have gathered to hear about this slightly crazy idea to support youth and kids ministry across the area. I was wearing a suit, which almost never happens and I was nervous about what people would think of my idea. After some time sharing a vision, praying, and then asking for donations to support the first year, we collectively sensed God was in this and so the267project was born. My hope was simple, to ‘encourage and equip’, as our first tagline suggested, all ministry, of any size, to support any leader, whether they a volunteer or a paid worker. I had felt hugely privileged to work for a church as a youth worker but often wondered how other churches supported their youth and kids work without a specific individual. This was the next step on my journey of understanding churches, valuing volunteers and navigating the complexities of ministry!

Fast forward 16 years to May 2023 and I am about to begin a very full week of gathering with youth leaders on three occasions in three different locations, from London, to Birmingham to Hertfordshire! My hope is no different to 16 years ago, I want to encourage and equip, to support whoever God puts before me.

Interestingly I begin my week by having a picture in my mind, which I think is from God, of someone climbing a ladder to fix something and my foot is at the bottom of the ladder, ensuring the ladder does not slip. This image has come from watching far too many ‘epic fail’ videos with my son where someone is attempting to use a ladder without support. Every time someone falls I go “why do they have someone filming them but no one with a foot on the ladder to stop it slipping!”

This image stuck in my mind and reminded me of my calling to support youth and kids leaders, which is no different to when I first began. I may, at times, not feel like my job is that important but what I am doing is enabling leaders to ‘climb’, I will be enabling leaders to confidently do what they are called to do.

So after spending hours and hours in the company of phenomenal leaders this week I am more convinced than ever that all of us need to know ‘there is someone at the foot of the ladder!’ It was such a joy this week to hear stories, to learn together and to pray significant prayers for our combined youth ministry. But through all these beautiful stories and interactions there was a sense of ‘a weight’, a burden, a weariness, maybe a sense of ‘looking down and wondering whether the ladder is going to slip’!

As I write this at the end of my full week, my conviction to support ministry is greater than ever, I must be at the foot of the ladder enabling leaders to climb. As leaders ‘climb’ to serve young people and create spaces where they can connect, I want to be there offering stability and support. They need to know the ladder is secure. In recents months we have found also that there are situations where others are actually ‘shaking the ladder’ and making any ascent harder and more precarious for youth leaders. It is here that my calling is clearer than ever; to secure the ladder and do all I can to remove the cause of the shaking.

We know, more than ever, young people need someone to journey with them, we know they need spaces where they can gather and build real community and we know they need to hear truth about who they are and how God is calling out to them.

As I began my youth ministry journey 30 years ago it was clear that I needed to spend time with young people. But now, after such a wealth of experience and learning has been given to me, I feel called to spend time with leaders, to pour myself into their lives and do all I can to help them thrive. There are less individuals choosing a life of youth ministry than ever before and I believe it is because there hasn’t been enough done to ‘support the ladder’, but more than that, we have actively allowed ladders to be shaken.

Paul, Matthew, Jane, Nick, Giles, Jon, Mark, Stu, Janet and Dave are just names to you, but to me they are the people I have seen as I turned and looked down to the foot of the ladder I was on. Without them I would have fallen long ago, and maybe not chosen to climb again.

So, I am not going anywhere, my foot stays here, supporting, encouraging, stabilising and enabling those on the ladder to climb higher.