This is just what we say it is: no bells, frills or whistles attached. Just our favourite youth work veteran and web expert John Allan’s run down of the most useful websites for youth ministry. Enjoy.
Every day about a billion new pages appear online. If you wanted to read them all you’d be absorbing 69,000 pages a minute, with no coffee breaks. Or sleep.
So, in my search for the hundred best website for youth ministry, I may have missed a few! You may be astounded to find that some of your favourites don’t feature. If so, write in and tell us about them. Also, I’ve omitted the ‘obvious’ ones that youth workers use all the time, such as Google, Facebook and YouTube… and that includes Youthwork magazine’s website (even though there probably isn’t a site anywhere which is more packed with appropriate stuff for a youth worker’s needs). I’m assuming you know all about these biggies, but don’t forget them… especially Youthwork.
I’ve grouped websites in categories, just for your convenience, but obviously some could fit into several categories. If some categories look a bit thin, that’s simply because I couldn’t find much that was truly excellent in that group. If some amazing youth organizations aren’t mentioned, it’s because their work may be great but their website isn’t as valuable as others. Oh, and all the resources mentioned are freebies; there are lots of great websites that involve paying out money, but they’re not mentioned unless they also contain a fair chunk of free stuff. I am Scottish, after all.
So here we go. Out of the hundred million domain names registered since 1985, who’s made it on to the one-in-amillion list? Let’s have a look…
INFORMATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
1 Childline www.childline.org.uk/Explore/OnlineSafety/Pages/OnlineSafety Great advice pages keeping young people safe online. Everything from cyberbullying to sexting.
2 National Youth Agency www.nya.org.uk/youthinformationcom/justice-and-equality Offers help to teenagers – particularly young carers – and links to other helpful places, including stuff on young people’s legal rights.
3 YouthNet www.youthnet.org Their tagline pretty much sums it up: ‘YouthNet is the UK’s leading online charity, providing advice, information and support to young people aged 16 to 25. We are a one stop shop for every issue.’
4 The Site www.thesite.org YouthNet’s version of Childline for the next age group up.
5 Youth Access www.youthaccess.org.uk/links/ Supplies important links for teenagers, parents and youth workers alike.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND SPIRITUALITY
6 Christianity Explored www.christianityexplored.org This isn’t a youth site specifically, but it’s a great introduction to Christianity for many teens.
7 Gospel Journey www.gospeljourney.com Explains the gospel, and offers a chance to respond, in clear, striking, uncompromising style.
8 Word 4U 2day www.ucb.co.uk/w4u A simple online daily Bible reading system for young people. Includes an optional read-it-in-a-year scheme.
9 Soul Survivor www.thebibleinoneyear.wordpress.com Also challenges you to read the Bible in a year – and the resources are very youth-friendly.
10 WordLive www.wordlive.org/145176.id Scripture Union’s daily Bible reading scheme. Ok for some teens if not all.
11 Tear Fund’s ‘Rhythms’ website www.rhythms.org All about ‘taking actions to change the way you live so that together we can change the world’. Registration needed.
12 Fusion and UCCF www.fusion.uk.com and www.uccf.org.uk. Great for linking up your young people with Christians on campus when they go off to university.
13 24-7 Prayer http://uk.24-7prayer.com/schoolsand-youth Provides lots of ideas and resources for making prayer an exciting adventure for young people – even at school.
14 Agape www.agapetoolbox.org Resources to help un-confident teens learn skills in sharing their faith with others.
15 New Generation www.newgeneration.co.uk Offers help, resources, advice and inspiration to get CUs started and flourishing in UK schools.
16 Festive www.festive.org.uk Supports Further Education college and Sixth Form Christian groups, with tailor-made Bible studies, programme suggestions and evangelism ideas.
THINKING ABOUT YOUTH WORK
17 Infed www.infed.org Will stretch your thinking – it tries ‘to provide a space for people to explore the theory and practice of informal education, social action and lifelong learning’.
18 Youthwork Summit www.youthworksummit.com Features all the dynamic minitalks from Britain’s amazing TED-like youth ministry forum. (And while you’re improving your mind don’t forget www.ted.com either – not often Christian ideas, occasionally even hostile, but still valuable to chew over.)
19 Youthworker www.youthworker.com Produces free weekly youth lessons (with hand-outs) and a magazine. Useful page surveying what youth workers are currently blogging.
20 We Love Our Youthworker www.weloveouryouthworker.org.uk What should the deal be between a youth worker and a church?
21 Youth Specialties www.youthspecialties.com/articles Hosts several categories of useful articles for youth workers.
22 Frontier Youth Trust www.fyt.org.uk Always features valuable resources for your thinking about youth work.
23 Rethinking Youth Ministry www.rethinkingyouthministry.com/ A lively blog-style exploration of many topics.
RISK ISSUES
24 Drugscope www.drugscope.org.uk Solid facts; many links; brilliant 144-page PDF that everybody should have for reference.
25 CCPAS www.ccpas.co.uk The premier Christian name in child protection issues, with lots of valuable documents to download.
26 Self-Harm www.selfharm.co.uk/home Just shaded it ahead of www.nshn.co.uk and www.selfharm.net.
27 Drinkaware www.drinkaware.co.uk An indispensable tool on alcohol, but so are www.dontserveteens.gov/index.html and www.thecoolspot.gov
28 Bullying www.bullying.co.uk This is tops, but also check the others listed at www.antibullying.net/resourceswwwlinks.htm
29 Online safety www.kidsmart.org.uk, http://ceop.police.uk or www.parentsprotect.co.uk/internet_safety.htm - and even better yet is www.thinkuknow.co.uk.
30 Eating disorders www.b-eat.co.uk is great, and don’t miss www.eating-disorders.org.uk and www.eatingdisorderexpert.co.uk.
BIBLE AND REASONS TO BELIEVE
31 Bible.cc www.bible.cc Annoyingly clunky but contains most Bible study tools you’ll ever need to teach a passage responsibly.
32 Bible Gateway www.biblegateway.com Instant searches, commentaries, the lot, with over thirty English versions (and check out www.youversion.com for your mobile).
33 CAR M www.carm.org A good, careful apologetics site, but also remember www.rzim.com, www.bethinking.org, and the amazingly thorough www.christianthinktank.com.
34 Evolution and creationism? In the red corner, Biologos (www.biologos.org/ ); in the blue corner, Christian Answers or Reasons To Believe (www.christiananswers.net, www.reasons.org).
35 Best evangelical RE site by miles is ReJesus www.rejesus.co.uk. Clear explanations, lucid arguments, and attractive presentation – not just to be used in the classroom.
36 Faith questions From the Faraday Institute, Test of Faith (www.testoffaith.com) helps young people approach scientific questions sensibly. It looks great too.
37 Great blog by a top Christian scholar: www.patheos.com/blogs/bibleandculture. Ben Witherington often deals with wild claims about Jesus in the media, giving facts calmly and clearly. He answers readers’ questions too.
38 And another: www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts. Valuable archives of past blog entries giving important evidence about the reliability of scripture and the identity of Jesus.
PROGRAMME IDEAS
39 Creative Youth Ideas www.creativeyouthideas.com says, ‘I’m offering the best youth ministry ideas including games, icebreakers, teaching ideas, illustrations, devotionals…’ Registration needed.
40 YouthPastor www.youthpastor.com – stacks of free resources since 1997.
41 Jonathan McKee’s The Source www.thesource4ym.com deserves its great reputation. All the usual stuff, just more of it, and better.
42 Rod www.rodschristiansketches.co.uk has a sketch for every occasion.
43 Schoolswork www.schoolswork.co.uk Lots of the resources can be used outside of school too. They’re cracking.
44 Puzzlemaker www.discoveryeducation.com/freepuzzlemaker This regularly saves my life. You can make crosswords, word squares, and other puzzles with one click, and print them out straight away.
45 Jonny Baker www.jonnybaker.blogs.com Down with all things worship-related. (Look especially for his ‘worship tricks’, but read the whole blog – always engaging and thought-provoking.)
46 Worship leaders sites? It has to be Engage www.engageworship.org or Resound www.resoundworship.org.
47 Construct your talks with Talkbuilder www.youthalpha.org/talkbuilder. Why has nobody thought of this approach before?
48 Weird stories and bizarre facts www.mentalfloss.com/ Honourable mention www.weirdfacts.com. Make your talks arresting and engaging!
49 Scripture Union’s amazing free programme resources Schoolslive www.scriptureunion.org.uk/49490.id and Lightlive www.scriptureunion.org.uk/123553.id. Used by thousands, and they aren’t wrong.
50 Energize www.energize.uk.net You pay for it – but there are lots of giveaways and it’s great. From Urban Saints.
51 Simply Youth Ministry www.simplyyouthministry.com Click on ‘Freebies’. Simply loads.
MEDIA
52 Damaris www.damaris.org Has a superb Culturewatch podcast (and much more). Stay up to date with what’s happening around you. Much of this site you pay for, but the free bits are great.
53 Muziic www.muziic.com/dj Lets you DJ online without any gear! Instant youth club fun.
54 KOR Emedia www.kore.uk.com Some astounding video resources, and showcase them
55 Viral Friday www.viralblog.com/viral-friday/ Keeps you abreast of the top video clips everybody’s watching. A weekly summary.
GAMES AND RECREATION
56 Simply the greatest Egad www.egadideas.com. Helpfully categorised into indoor, outdoor, large group, small group and so on.
57 Youthwork Practice www.youthwork-practice.com 2000 games from Germany. Also includes intriguing stuff about the theory and purpose of games… worth thinking through.
58 Icebreakers www.icebreakers.ws The unique specialists in start-up games for all occasions.
59 UK Campsite www.ukcampsite.co.uk This has a terrible design format, but contains authoritative articles and an indispensable campers’ checklist.
60 Card games: www.pagat.com/ alpha/. For board games see www.boardgames.about.com/od/rules/Rules_and_Instructions_for_Board_ Games.htm. Indispensable for those awkward what-do-we-do-next house-party moments.
61 Definitive rules for sports? Sports Know-how: www.sportsknowhow.com/rules/index.html Claims (probably correctly) to be the only place to go for other producers too. Lots here you could use, and often updated.
COUNSELLING AND ADVISING YOUNG PEOPLE
62 Living Life to the Full www.llttf.com Brilliant life skills help from a Christian psychiatrist.
63 Mind and Soul www.mindandsoul.info Churns out acres of useful practical stuff on churches, Christians and mental health.
EFFICIENCY
64 Zoho www.zoho.com One place where you can create documents, write letters, and make presentations online. (But check out Google Docs too; or Google Drive, as it now is - www.drive.google.com).
65 Simplenote www.simplenoteapp.com Stores every note you make, instantly, in your own online notebook. (Use it with www.resoph.com on your computer, or www.notational.net on a Mac – everything’s synched instantly!)
66 Dropbox www.dropbox.com A brilliantly simple way to store and transfer stuff online. Like having a massive extra drive on your computer!
67 Web2pdf www.web2pdfconvert.com When you save a webpage, turn it into a PDF first. Makes it much easier to store and read!
68 Jottit www.jottit.com ‘Makes getting a website as easy as filling out a textbox’. (But there are other similar services too: www.alternativeto.net/software/jottit ).
69 Producteev www.producteev.com This has got to be the ultimate task manager and to-do list-er. Turn e-mails into tasks with a click!
70 Doodle www.doodle.com lets your team set up meeting dates online – saves ages in committee meetings, and arguments too.
71 The “Swiss Army knife” of websites You won’t believe all it does www.1dl.us.
72 Droplr www.droplr.com Hello makes sharing files with friends simpler than you’d ever believe.
73 Tidypub www.tidypub.org Lets you publish anything you like online - instantly, perfectly, easily. Everything from a paragraph to your life story!
74 Flexlists www.flexlists.com Creates databases for addresses, books or equipment lists faster than you can dream them up.
AUDIO, VIDEO AND ARTWORK
75 Wordle www.wordle.net Creates logos and ‘word clouds’ quickly and easily. Impressive artwork without really trying.
76 Creately www.creatly.com Is great for instantly making stunning diagrams, but it has rivals: www.smashingapps.com/2011/08/26/45-free-onlinetools- to-create-charts-diagrams-andflowcharts.html
77 Prezi www.prezi.com For those tired of Powerpoint - this is the future.
78 Wordpress www.wordpress.org or Weebly www.weebly.com. Both make website making as simple as writing a letter in Word.
79 Zamzar www.zamzar.com Helps you to download and convert YouTube videos. Alternatively try Keepvid www.keepvid.com. If you use Firefox, try DownloadHelper www.addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper You pay for some features but the basic ad-on is free and stupendously powerful.
80 ‘Think of Spotify as your new music collection,’ they urge www.spotify.com. Millions of tracks, there online for you to pick up and use. Nearly as good: Last.fm www.last.fm and Grooveshark www.grooveshark.com.
81 Cooltext www.cooltext.com generates instant logos and text-based artwork (so does www.logomaker.com).
82 Stockfreeimages www.stockfreeimages.com and Stockxchng www.sxc.hu is great for free pictures – in fact I’m going for PicFindr www.picfindr.com which searches many sites for whatever you desire.
83 At Slideshare www.slideshare.net you can store your Powerpoints and you’ll always have them available. (Plus everybody else’s too… Some interesting stuff to plunder for your own purposes!)
84 Indezine www.indezine.com from India stands supreme among Powerpoint resource sites. Free templates, new software, training and tips.
85 Voicebase www.voicebase.com lets you store your talks, podcasts and audio files safely online. You can even record stuff directly to the site – audio or video. What nice people. (Just a thought: don’t miss www.eyejot.com for making instant, simple videos. If you have a webcam you’re sorted in seconds.)
86 Impressive www.impressive.sourceforge.net makes an instant slideshow presentation from PDF pages or a bunch of photos.
WORLD AWARENESS
87 Open Doors www.opendoorsyouth.org is best for the persecuted church but I also like www. persecution.tv. Great videos which bring important stories to life for young people.
88 Human Rights Watch www.hrw.com and Amnesty www.amnesty.org.uk can’t be missed. Check them constantly for what’s happening.
89 Avaaz www.avaaz.org Both alerts you to breaking issues, and provides something you can do immediately.
90 Stop the Traffik www.stopthetraffik.org Sensitizes kids to the evil of people trafficking. Many resources (including film and Powerpoint) to launch youthful participation in campaigning, and www.startfreedom.org to keep kids involved.
91 Ekklesia www.ekklesia.co.uk will make you think about issues in the news and their biblical bearings. You needn’t share their basically Anabaptist stance to benefit enormously from the questions they raise.
YOUTH WORKERS TALKING TO YOUTH WORKERS
92 Whyismarko www.whyismarko.com The legendary Mark Oestreicher’s blogthoughts.
93 US youth work blogger Patrick www.adventuresinministry.com is great, and there’s also veteran Walt Mueller www.learningmylines.blogspot.co.uk, Canadian Danny Ferguson www.proyouthworker.blogspot.co.uk or the voluminous Life in Student Ministry www.studentministry.org.
94 One of the first and best UK bloggers, still going, still enormously relevant: Ian Macdonald www.youthblog.org.
95 Schools and Sixth Form workerTim Abbott is always reflective and profitable to read: www.timabbott.co.uk.
96 Mike Capener gets youth workers discussing key issues at www.talkingyouth.wordpress.com.
97 Devon-based Dave Pegg blogs Bible book explorations, tutor group sessions and more at www.davepegg.blogspot.co.uk (not to mention www.thepeggcast.podbean.com).
98 Chris Kidd www.chriskidd.co.uk thinks more deeply and widely than most of us – but his heart is in youth ministry too.
99 Jon Jolly www.jonjolly.com digs up some surprising (and very rewarding) topics.
SOURCES OF MORE USEFUL WEBSITES
100 Finally, if this wasn’t enough Internet candy for you, try Steve Hayes’ great collection at www.myfishbites.com/ , or Youth Ideas www.youthideas.co.uk/yw/links/index.shtml. Because even beyond our top hundred, you’ll find gigabytes upon gigabytes of useful youth worker websites.
Just make sure you switch off your computer occasionally and put some of it to use in actual youth work!
John Allan is the chaplain of Exeter school and a regular contributor to Youthwork.
