Crusaders no more
Apologies I wrote this yesterday but then didn’t get to post it for various reasons!
So I know I’m late with this as it has already been discussed by Youthblog and HolyPhil and they raise an issue that yes I think does matter. The new name as I’m sure many of you know is ‘Urban Saints’ an interesting name and in some respects I like it but at the same time as a Rural youth worker it makes me think that anything Urban Saints are providing is no longer going to be relevant to my work and that they may not be that interested in supporting the kind of work I do. This is not a major problem as I have not had a lot to do with them within my work although where as I might have looked to them for certain things they probably would not figure now, not because I have anything against them, I know what they have done in the past has been good quality but the new name to me is exclusive rather than inclusive and I don’t fit in with the group they are aligning themselves with. The idea that they have suggested “We don't work together because of what we are called - we work together because we are 'called'” is all very well and a fair point but I can’t see many of the young people I work with wanting to be an ‘Urban Saint’ some of us are rural and proud to be rural, we feel called to be ‘Rural Saints’ this name change just reminds me of the big thing that wound me up about 10 years ago when all we heard was about the church needing to work in Urban Priority areas, yes we do but we can’t focus on one group at the expense of the rest, once again rural Britain is being marginalised by the church as well as the rest of society. I’m going to stop writing now as I am TOO passionate about this and will end up going over board I think you get the gist!
So I know I’m late with this as it has already been discussed by Youthblog and HolyPhil and they raise an issue that yes I think does matter. The new name as I’m sure many of you know is ‘Urban Saints’ an interesting name and in some respects I like it but at the same time as a Rural youth worker it makes me think that anything Urban Saints are providing is no longer going to be relevant to my work and that they may not be that interested in supporting the kind of work I do. This is not a major problem as I have not had a lot to do with them within my work although where as I might have looked to them for certain things they probably would not figure now, not because I have anything against them, I know what they have done in the past has been good quality but the new name to me is exclusive rather than inclusive and I don’t fit in with the group they are aligning themselves with. The idea that they have suggested “We don't work together because of what we are called - we work together because we are 'called'” is all very well and a fair point but I can’t see many of the young people I work with wanting to be an ‘Urban Saint’ some of us are rural and proud to be rural, we feel called to be ‘Rural Saints’ this name change just reminds me of the big thing that wound me up about 10 years ago when all we heard was about the church needing to work in Urban Priority areas, yes we do but we can’t focus on one group at the expense of the rest, once again rural Britain is being marginalised by the church as well as the rest of society. I’m going to stop writing now as I am TOO passionate about this and will end up going over board I think you get the gist!
posted by simo at 2:44 pm
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