United Reformed Church
Contact: Ivan Andrews, 23 Carlton Road, Broadfields, Exeter EX2 5NS
Tel: 01392 411861
E-mail: igandrews@eclipse.co.uk
The Fellowship of United Reformed Youth (FURY) - SW Synod of the United Reformed Church.
Many local United Reformed Churches in the South West (particularly those within Devon) are struggling to relate to teenaged young people. New initiatives are being tried but these are aimed mainly at children rather than youth. Because of this fact more work is going on to help local Churches focus on the needs of teenagers as well as children. The main problem for local Churches seems to be the increasing lack of willingness on the part of adults to volunteer to work with teenaged young people - the loudest cry is for "more leadership". A growing phenomenon arising from this problem is that some Churches are looking for ways in which to raise the money to employ youth workers. This has led to much more work having to be done to help Churches understand good employment practice.
Major recent work within Devon has included preparations for a Youth Exchange with the United Church of Christ in Wisconsin USA (taking place in 2003), further work on publicising and helping local Churches work through the implications of 'safeguarding Children' (a recently revised publication called "Good Practice" has been launched), and the development of new initiatives for outreach to young people in Exmouth, Kingsteignton, Uffculme and Exeter etc.
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