- Practical Pointers for Anyone Working with Children and Young People

by Viki Brackpool, Helen Franklin & Steve Hutchinson

Another little quick guide from Scripture Union's Top Tips series, this one offering sane and sensible insight and help on running the Holiday Club, something that can be quite daunting but incredibly tiring fun for any children’s or youth worker. As always it provides a nice overview of why and how Holiday clubs can fit into the churches ministry, how they can outreach in a way other activities may not and best of all practical ideas from the setting up, organising, financing of the club all the way through to a simple idea of how a session might go. This really is an invaluable little booklet, especially for anyone new to the whole Holiday Club ministry.

Review by Melanie Carroll (26/01/12)

Stapled A5 Pbk.
Price: £3.50
Publisher: Scripture Union (SU)
Published: 2011
ISBN: 978-1-844-27541-0

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Mega Top Tips: On Dealing With Challenging Behaviour

- Practical Pointers for Anyone Working with Children and Young People

by Sue Brown & Alice Langtree

Mega Top Tips are expanded versions of the very good Top Tips series from Scripture Union, however even in mega size they are still small, concise and handy.
The one on challenging behaviour is filled with not only helpful hints on how to deal with the issue but also with helpful insight into what can and may cause such behaviour and as such it makes for a good beginners tool as well as a great helpful refresher for those who have been active in children’s ministry for longer.
The only issue that I had with this one is that ‘Challenging Behaviour’ is largely seen as being a euphemism for naughty behaviour these days and so to see the chapter on ‘Additional Needs’, i.e. Special Needs, included in here was to my mind out of place and inferred really rather the wrong thing even though this was clearly not the intention.
Other than this one concern though, this is a handy little book and well worth adding to any children’s ministry library.

Review by Melanie Carroll (24/01/12)

Stapled booklet
Price: £4.99
Publisher: Scripture Union (SU)
Published: 2011
ISBN: 978-1-844-27531-1

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Top Tips :On Working With Mixed Ages

- Practical Pointers for Leading Small Groups with a Wide Age Range

by Maggie Barfield & Terry Clutterham

If you mention mixed age groups and/or worship to most of those involved with any type of children’s ministry you will most likely be met with a slight frown, sigh or groan because truthfully it can be one of the hardest things to do. However if you are a member of a smaller church then it’s also entirely likely you are going to have to do mixed age sessions to start with at the very least, and that is where this Top Tips booklet will really come into it’s own. It provides practical help, talks you through the design and plan of a mixed group session and even gives a suggestion for how best to set up a room to be used by a mixed age group. Best of all it’s short and concise and really easy to read, it won’t add to the feeling of being overwhelmed that can frequently come when faced with starting and doing mixed age groups, but will instead help you focus on how, why and what you can do so that you and the children end up having a great experience.
Another invaluable little booklet from the Top Tips series.

Review by Melanie Carroll (24/01/12)

Stapled booklet
Price: £3.50
Publisher: Scripture Union (SU)
Published: 2011
ISBN: 978-1-844-27542-7

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Top Tips: On Working With Lads

- Practical Pointers for Anyone Working with Children and Young People

by Richard Witham & Maggie Barfield

Another excellent little resource from the Top Tips series produced by Scripture Union.
Slim, easy to follow, practical, concise and invaluable to any church group that wants to include and encourage young lads in their groups – something that is a real challenge these days. Including as it does twenty-five really short but totally key and practical insights into working with lads, a chapter that addresses the gender differences amongst other things and a lads ministry evaluation tool that really asks some key questions, make this is a fantastic little book indeed. Essential for all children’s and youth ministries, even if, - no, especially if - you haven’t got many lads or male leaders! And given how short it is and how little it costs there is no excuse for not having a copy of this invaluable little guide.

Review by Melanie Carroll (24/01/12)

Stapled booklet
Price: £3.50
Publisher: Scripture Union (SU)
Published: 11 November 2011
ISBN: 978-1-844-27567-0

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Conspiracy of the Insignificant

by Patrick Regan & Lisa Hoeksma

It’s the straightforward story of how one young person can make a huge difference if they follow Christ, persevere and keep learning.
Young people don’t always get good PR and sometimes for good reasons. Gang violence, teenage pregnancies, anti-social behaviour, lack of education, employment and general delinquency can all add up to ruining young lives. These issues can be especially entrenched in some of the poorer estates of our nation.
In Conspiracy of the Insignificant the churches response is led by Patrick Regan and his team of school and youth workers for XLP (The Excel Project). This book gives encouragement as to the value of good schools work, the value of young people and the leadership they can bring.

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Review by Phil Whittall (16/01/12)

Paperback
Price: £6.99
Publisher: Kingsway see David C. Cook
Published: 11 November 2007
ISBN: 978-1-842-91369-7

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The Faith of Generation Y: Explorations

by Sylvia Collins-Mayo, Bob Mayo, Sally Nash with Christopher Cocksworth

If you work with young people then this is a fantastic book to read and really does offer forward some quite strong insights into how the younger generation are identifying and reacting to and with faith. This is a crucial understanding that we need to get to grips with if we really want to communicate our faith to them and have them engage with it. I think the chapter on Bedroom Spirituality and Lost in Transmission were perhaps the strongest chapters for me but I expect that different chapters might resonate more with others depending on their engagement with youth and the settings they work in.
It is largely an intelligent and well formed study on Generation Y, with some interesting theological considerations included and an interesting section on Fresh Expressions as well. It is of course in nature biased towards an Anglican audience as one would expect coming from Church House Publishing but nevertheless still relevant to any faith group at its core level. I’m not sure I agree with all their conclusions but I certainly think it is a good book and something people need to read – and not just the youth leaders of the church either.

Review by Melanie Carroll (14/07/11)

Paperback
Price: £14.99
Publisher: Church House Publishing (CHP) part of Hymns Ancient & Modern
Published: 2010
ISBN: 978-0-715-14206-6

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Street Smart - Practical Skills for Connecting With Young People by John Robinson with Jan Greenhough
ISBN: 978-1-854-24903-6 Price: £8.99	Published: January 2011
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Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dogs’ Tails - Helping Boys Connect with God by Carolyn Edwards
ISBN: 978-1-844-74523-4 Price: £8.99	Published: April 2011
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Lazy, Anti-social and Selfish? - Stories of Hope From a New Generation by Gavin Calver & Simeon Whiting
ISBN: 978-1-854-24916-6 Price: £7.99	Published: 2009
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Mend the Gap - Can the Church Reconnect the Generations? by Jason Gardner
ISBN: 978-1-844-74284-4 Price: £8.99	Published: 2008
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Youth Work after Christendom by Jo and Nigel Pimlott
ISBN: 978-1-842-27605-1 Price: £9.99	Published: July 2008
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Revealed - A Catholic Youth Formation Ministry Resource by Karen North, Rebecca Barber, David O’Connell, and John Toryusen
ISBN: 978-0-852-31348-0 Price: £11.95	Published: February 2008
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Mission-Shaped Youth - Rethinking Young People and the Church by Tim Sudworth
ISBN: 978-0-715-14082-6 Price: £7.99	Published: 2007
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Young People + Worship - A Practical Guide Edited by Mark Montgomery
ISBN: 978-0-715-14057-4 Price: £11.99	Published: 2007
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Young People + Mission - A Practical Guide Edited by Alison and David Booker
ISBN: 978-0-715-14060-4 Price: £11.99	Published: 2007
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Top Tips: On Welcoming Special Children - Practical Pointers for Anyone Working With Children by Denise Abrahall
ISBN: 978-1-844-27126-9 Price: £2.99	Published: 08 August 2005
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Top Tips: On All-Age Worship - Practical Pointers for Anyone Working With Children by Nick Harding
ISBN: 978-1-844-27125-2 Price: £2.99	Published: 08 August 2005
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Top Tips: On Handling Difficult Behaviour - Practical Pointers for Anyone Working With Children by Graham Finch
ISBN: 978-1-844-27124-5 Price: £2.99	Published: 10 October 2005
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Top Tips: On Reaching Unchurched Children - Practical Pointers for Anyone Working With Children by Helen Franklin
ISBN: 978-1-844-27127-6 Price: £2.99	Published: 08 August 2005
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The A-Z of Ministry With Children by Owen Shelley with Michael Perini and others
ISBN: 978-1-876-79442-2 Price: £8.99	Published: 2005
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