Faith based youth work in Northern Ireland
On Friday 2nd March '07 Youthnet, an umbrella organisation for the Voluntary youth work, launched a research report on faith based youth work in Northern Ireland. The event was attended by over 100 representatives from organisations working with young people, as well as the leaders from the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist churches. Our own Bishop Harold was also in attendance.
One of the key findings of the research report is that 68% of youth groups (working with people from 5-25 years) registered with their local Education and Library Board in Northern Ireland are faith/church based. However the point was made by some of those attending that, as the majority of groups are not registered (including Sunday Schools), this percentage is likely to be much higher.
The report goes on to say that 74.4% of all volunteer leaders in registered youth groups in Northern Ireland are volunteering in faith/church based groups.
In addition there are 1405 registered faith/church based groups in N.I. with a total of 98,902 members , 16,457 volunteer leaders and 160 full-time youth workers.
Youthnet believes ‘this piece of research marks a significant step forward in recognising the extent of faith/church based youth work in Northern Ireland and its positive contribution to social capital in local communities.'
The full report can be downloaded from the Youthnet site or you can now get a summary from almost any faith-based youth agency.