Alice Cooper Opens Up Christian Youth Center (!)

This is one story that really blows my mind!

Check out this report from Reuters:

Alice Cooper, once known as the "Prince of Darkness," is now a committed Christian and planning to open a youth center in Phoenix for at-risk kids. He needs to raise $7.3 million to turn a piece of property at Grand Canyon University into a center that gives kids an opportunity to explore the world of music. The 29,000 square-foot center will have a recording studio, sound room, concert hall and a coffee house with a performance stage. All activities at the center will be underscored by a Christian message.

William Booth on Youth Work

William Booth on his 80th birthday made a profound statement affirming The Salvation Army's commitment to youth work.

He said,

"It is in the clatter of young feet that we hear the tramp of the coming worlds. It is from the arsenals of the playground, the schoolyard, and the nursery, that we alone hope to replenish our resources and march our armies to contend for God and truth, when we ourselves are marshalled above."

The Future of Children

Great articles on youth at-risk by high calibre academics.

William Booth on the Twenty-First Century

Here's an interesting quote from William Booth on the twenty-first century:

"I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be .... religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regenerations, politics without God and heaven without hell."

A City Without Fathers: The Blight of Newark, NJ Shows What Happens When Men Abandon their Children

Check out this horrifying news report. This is Newark, New Jersey, where Railton School students engage in ministry with The Salvation Army's Newark Urban Ministries.

A City Without Fathers: The Blight of Newark, NJ Shows What Happens When Men Abandon their Children

Steven Malanga
City Journal
Saturday, August 11, 2007

The horrific, execution-style killing of three teens in Newark last weekend has sparked widespread outrage and promises of reform from politicians, religious leaders and community activists, who are pledging a renewed campaign against the violence that plagues New Jersey's largest city. But much of the reaction, though well-intentioned, misses the point. Behind Newark's persistent violence and deep social dysfunction is a profound cultural shift that has left many of the city's children growing up outside the two-parent family -- and in particular, growing up without fathers. Decades of research tell us that such children are far likelier to fail in school and to fall into violence than those raised in two-parent families. In Newark, we are seeing what happens to a community when the traditional family comes close to disappearing.
According to 2005 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, only 32% of Newark children are being raised by their parents in a two-adult household. The rest are distributed among families led by grandparents, foster parents and single parents -- mostly mothers. An astonishing 60% of the city's children are growing up without fathers. It isn't that traditional families are breaking up; they aren't even getting started. The city has one of the highest out-of-wedlock birthrates in the country, with about 65% of its children born to unmarried women. And 70% of those births are to women who are already poor, meaning that their kids are born directly into poverty.

The economic consequences of these numbers are unsettling, since single parenthood is a road to lasting poverty. In Newark, single parents head 83% of all families living below the poverty line. If you are a child born into a single-parent family in Newark, your chances of winding up in poverty are better than one in five, but if you are born into a two-parent family, those chances drop to just one in 12.

And the social consequences are even more disturbing. Research conducted in the 1990s found that a child born out of wedlock was three times more likely to drop out of school than the average child, and far more likely to wind up on welfare as an adult. Studies have also found that about 70% of the long-term prisoners in American jails, those who have committed the most violent crimes, grew up without fathers.

The starkness of these statistics makes it astonishing that politicians and policy makers ignore the subject of single parenthood, as if it were outside the realm of civic discourse. And religious leaders, who once preached against such behaviour, now also largely avoid the issue, even as they call for prayer vigils and organize stop-the-violence campaigns.

Often, in this void, the only information that our teens and young adults get on the subject of marriage, children and family life comes through media reports about the lifestyles of our celebrity entertainers and athletes, who have increasingly shunned matrimony and traditional families. Once, such news might have been considered scandalous; today, it is reported matter-of-factly, as if these pop icons' lives were the norm.

Faced with such a profound shift in attitudes, even well-designed, well-intentioned government programs that have worked elsewhere may have only limited success in a community like Newark. The city's dynamic new mayor, Cory Booker, has moved quickly to import successful ideas and programs, including rigorous quality-of-life policing from New York City. Booker is advocating sensible changes to fix the city's troubled school system, which graduates a shockingly low number of students, and he's looking at job training programs to get fathers involved, at least economically, in their children's lives.

But Booker has also shown frustration at the slow pace of change in Newark, and earlier this week he observed that the city's problems didn't start yesterday and won't be solved tomorrow. Given that some 3,750 kids are born every year into fatherless Newark families, Booker's prediction may be depressingly correct. - Steven Malanga is senior editor of City Journal and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

History of Youth Work Timeline

Over the next while, I am going to use this post to consolidate a variety of primary and seconday source materials to assemble a timeline for the history of youth work. There are a variety of different starting points that people identify. If you have any additional recommendations, I would appreciate your help! (Last update: February, 2008).

I have delineated between youth ministry in black; youth service in red; and youth work and ministry in blue. For Salvation Army references, I have colored these green.

Here's what I have put together so far:

155
Justin Martyr comments on how so many men and women became disciples of Christ from childhood in his I Apology 1.15.
(May et al, 2005: 91)

374
Emporers Valentian, Valens and Gratian make infanticide a crime punishable by death. This was largely due to the advocacy of Christians to help protect the lives of young children.
(May, 2005: 91)

325-450
The catechumenal form of Christian education reaches its peak of popularity. It declined in effectiveness once it became expected of children to be baptized and when pagans, lacking genuine motivation for joining the faith, were commanded by law to attend church.

These schools provided a context for learning that integrated religious values, philosophy, and high moral standards. These were associated with local church congregations but welcomed both Christians and non-Christians in the community of study. The curriculum included Bible, theology, literature, philosophy, history, science, and critical thinking and rhetorical debating skills.
(May et al, 2005: 92f.)

4th Century
Augustine of Hippo wrestles with the concept of whether infants who died without being baptized were condemned. He writes about the innate depravity of infants and children in his Confessions. He introduces the doctrine of original sin.
(May et al, 2005: 93)

5th Century
Infant baptism becomes a well-established practice, with godparents playing a more significant role in the responsibility of teaching the faith. During this time, oral traditions, (Apostles Creed, Lord's Prayer, Commandments, moral instruction, etc.); popular practices of piety (holy days, processions, wayside shrines, pilgrimages, adoration of saints, passion plays, dramas) and visual representations (stained-glass windows, carving, and statues illustrating Biblical scenes) were all used to aid in teaching and instruction of children. Monastaries were also introduced to preserve and develop instruction in the Christian faith. Monastic instruction was guided by moral and religious purposes and included reading, writing, arithmetic, singing and the elements of Christian doctrine.
(May et al, 2005: 94)

9th Century
Alcuin of York leads a palace school under the orders of Charlemagne - who sparked a major educational revival when he insisted that every cathedral and monestary had to establish a school. Alcuin helped to develop new teaching methods including positive motivation, simplification of complex concepts, valuing individual gifts, and conversation.
(May et al, 2005: 94f)


1586
(ITALY) Cardinal Borromeo in Milan, Italy founds the first Sunday School for the instruction of the young. He was a significant personality in the counter-Reformation of the Roman Catholic church.
(International Sunday School Convention, 1905: 113)

1699
(FRANCE) Abbe de Salle established the first Sunday School in Paris. He was considered an innovator in Christian education.
(International Sunday School Convention, 1905: 113)

(UK) The Reverend Joseph Alleine was in the habit of drawing young pupils together for instruction on Sundays.
(Lee, 1885: 73)

1703
Bishop Wilson instituted schools in the Isle of Man.
(Lee, 1885: 73)

1740 - 1747
(USA) Euphrats, Lancaster Pennsylvania, the Seventh Day Baptists begin a Sunday School.
(Lee, 1885: 73)

1763
Mrs. Catharine Cappe and Rev. Theophilus Lindsey gather the young at Catterick.
(Lee, 1885: 73)

1770
Dr. Kennedy establishes a Sunday School in Bright parish.
(Lee, 1885: 73)

1769
(UK) Hannah Ball founds a school in Buckinghamshire, England. She was a Wesleyan Methodist. This was the germ of the modern Sunday School movement and drew on the methods of instruction used by Luther, Knox and St. Charles Borrmeo.
(Wikipedia, Sunday School; Lee, 1885: 73 )

1778
Reverend David Simpson opened a Sunday School in Macclesfield and another by Adam Crompton.
(Lee, 1885: 73)

1780
(UK) Robert Raikes provides minimal secular and religious education to new classes of people. people who were victims of but potential agents in the rising industrial order. He is often considered the founder of the modern Sunday School.
(Marty, 1970: 75; Lee, 1885: 168)

1790s
(UK) Hannah More, a friend of William Wilberforce organizes a program of elementary education, religious instruction and vocational training.
(Brierly, 2003: 30)

1785
(USA) William Elliott established a Sunday School in Accomac County in Virginia, USA.
(Marty, 1970: 75)

1816
(USA) In Boston, the Sunday School Union is formed.
(Marty, 1970: 76)

1817
(USA) In Philadephia, a Sunday School Union is formed.
(Marty, 1970: 76)

1824
(USA) The American Sunday School Union is chartered
(Marty, 1970: 78)

1826
(USA) The American Temperance Society is established. Within five years there are 2 200 local chapters with 170 000 members who pledge to abstain from drinking alcoholic bevereges. Within ten years, there are over 8 000 local groups and more than 1 500 000 members. These organizations were focused on the preservation of literate, respectable and evangelical youth.
(Wikipedia, American Temperance Society, 2007; Senter, 1992: 87)

1830
(USA) ASSU announces its intention to institute "a Sunday School in every destitute place where it is practicable throughout the Valley of the Mississippi."
(Marty, 1970: 78)

1831
(UK) There are 1 250 000 children who attend Sunday School weekly in Great Britain - approximately 25% of the population.
(Wikipedia, Sunday School)

1832
(USA) The New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen condemn child labor.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1836
(USA) Early trade unions at the National Trades' Union Convention propose state minimum age laws for factory work.
(Child Labor, 2007)

(USA) Massachusetts creates the First state child labor law where children under 15 working in factories have to attend school for at least 3 months per year.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1842
(USA) Massachusetts limits children's work days to 10 hours. Many states follow, but do not consistently enforce.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1844
(UK) George Williams, inspired by the Sunday School movement, founded the Young Men's Christian Society, later known as the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA).
(Brierly, 2003: 30)

1851
(USA) YMCA comes to America.
(Senter, 1992: 90)

1853
(UK) Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is founded
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

1858
(USA) YWCA comes to America.
(Senter, 1992: 90)

1860
(USA) President Abraham Lincoln visits and speaks at the largest Sunday School in America, led by D.L. Moody
(Wikipedia, Dwight L Moody, 2007)

1861
(USA) The first modern summer camp is founded by Frederick and Abigal Gunn (from Washington, CT), who took their home school for boys on a two-week hiking trip. They named this 'Gunnery Camp.'
(Wikipedia, American Camping Association, 2007)

1865
(UK) William and Catherine Booth begin The East London Christian Mission which eventually becomes The Salvation Army.
(Magnuson, 1977: 2)

1866
(USA & UK) Child evangelist, E.P. Hammond, at the invitation of D.L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon, develops The Wordless Book - intended to help the illiterate understand the gospel (modifying the book in 1875 by adding a fourth color to the three colored book)
(Moore, 2008)

1867
(UK) The Children's Special Service Mission (CSSM) begins after Josiah Spiers takes his Sunday School class to a special children's meeting led by American evangelist, Payson Hammond. This helped to develop the idea of age-appropriate service content - designing these meetings specifically for children. This eventually becomes Scripture Union.
(Brierly, 2003: 36; Scripture Union, 2007)

1868
(UK) Josiah Spiers begins a beach program for children where he tells them stories about Jesus.
(Scripture Union, 2007)

1875
(UK) The Girls' Friendly Society (GFS) is the first Anglican organization run entirely by lay women.
(Brierly, 2003: 36f)

1876
(USA) Working Men's Party proposes banning the employment of children under the age of 14.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1878
(UK) Lord Shaftesbury, concerned for the safety of middle class lives and property, recognizes the need for a peaceful, happy and moral population. The Archbishop of York declared, "If we in the Church of England do not deal with the masses, the masses will deal with us."
(Brierly, 2003: 33)

(UK) Maude Stanley develops work with young women around the Five Dials area of London.
(Wikipedia, History of Youth Work, 2007)

(UK) The Christian Mission officially becomes The Salvation Army.
(Magnuson, 1977: 3)

(USA) Eliza Shirley at age 16 along with her parents arrive in Philadelphia and unofficially begin the work of The Salvation Army.
(McKinley, 1980:2f)

1880
(USA) The Salvation Army officially begins its' work in the United States when George Scott Railton and the seven Hallelujah Lassies arrived in New York City on March 10, 1880.
(McKinley, 1980: 1)

1881
(USA) Christian Endeavor is founded in Portland, Maine by Francis E. Clark. He began training and equiping young leaders to become leaders within the local church. He crafted a pledge which listed all the things the young Christian would do to apply Christianity. 57 young people sign-up.
(Christian Endeavor, 2007)

(USA) The first National Convention of the American Federation of Labor passes a resolution calling on states to ban children under 14 from all gainful employment.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1883
(UK) Inspired by George Williams, William Smith founds the Boys' Brigade at North Woodside Mission Hall in Glasgow, Scotland. He fuses military-style drill and Bible study.
(Brierly, 2003: 31)

(USA) The New York Labor movement, headed by Samuel Gompers, successfully sponsors legislation prohibiting cigar making in tenements, where thousands of young children work in the trade.
(Chidl Labor, 2007)

1885
(USA) YMCA begins Camp Dudley, the oldest running continually running boys' camp in America in Westport, New York. This is founded by Sumner F. Dudley.
(Camp Dudley, 2007)

1888
(UK) Frances E. Clark comes to England upon the invitation of the Sunday School Union to help begin the Christian Endeavor.
(Brierly, 2003: 32)

1889
(USA) The Salvation Army opens a creche or daycare on Cherry Street, New York for infants whose mothers were forced to work, were in jail for short terms, or who had simply been neglected.
(McKinley, 1980: 55)

1890
(UK) Maud Stanley states that clubs for working girls were important because they could 'make her conscious of her own responsibilities both towards God and man' and in doing so 'give her an influence over her sweetheart, her husband and her sons'.
(Brierly, 2003: 35)

1891
(USA) The Salvation Army's Headquarters orders each Corps to conduct two meetings for young people on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings. These were called 'company meetings' that were instructional in nature, teaching children doctrine, singing and the basic practices of Salvation Army methodologies. After a period of preparation, the young people signed an affirmation of The Salvation Army's eleven doctrines and joined the ranks as 'junior soldiers.'
(McKinley, 1980: 85f)

1892
(USA) Democratic Party adopts platform plank based on union recommendations to ban factory employment for children under 15.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1894
(USA) The first Vacation Bible School takes place in Hopedale, Illinois led by D.T. Miles.
(Wikipedia, 'Vacation Bible School', 2007; Wright, 1994; Moll, 2003)

(USA) In The Salvation Army, the "Band of Love." This was to provide for children drawn to the Army from non-Salvationist practices. This 'Band' was designed to be a magnat for erring youth. It offered useful instruction in things that appealed to the children of the 90s, like 'overhead scarf drills' and the proper use of the double hoop, while it exacted from the little trainess a pledge of good living, which included a promise to be kind to animals.
(McKinley, 1980: 86)

1896
(US) The Volunteers of America begins when Ballington and Maud Booth resign from The Salvation Army.
(Magnuson, 1977: 4)

1897
(USA) The first Salvation Army fresh air camp begins in Kansas City's Fairmont Park in the summer of 1897. This was the brain-child of the divisional officer, Brigadier Harry Stillwell.
(McKinley, 1980: 98)

(USA) In partnership with the wife of President Cleveland, Emma Booth-Tucker (the Consul) opens The Salvation Army's first home for orphans called Cherry Tree Home in Fordham, New York. This is soon relocated to Rutherford, New Jersey.
(McKinley, 1980: 86)

1898
(USA) Eliza Hawes, director of the children's department at Epiphany Baptist Church in New York's East Side, begins an "Everyday Bible School" for slum children at a rented beer parlor. She continues her efforts for seven years.
(Wikipedia, 'Vacation Bible School', 2007; Moll, 2003)

(USA) The Salvation Army appoints a 'Junior Soldier Staff Secretary' to oversee the work of the junior corps in that division. In addition, there was to be a special non-commissioned officer in each Corps called the "Young People's Sergeant Major" (YPSM) to take charge of the youthful recruits. The two youth meetings per week continued at the minimum standard. Those among the young soldiers who felt inspired to offer themselves as officers in the Army were expected to enroll for further instruction as 'Corps Cadets. By 1900, there were 500 Corps Cadets.'
(McKinley, 1980: 86f)

1899
(USA) The Salvation Army reports that it has established 396 regular junior corps.
(McKinley, 1980: 86)

1904
(USA) The Salvation Army begins Camp Lake,Wisconsin. This was donated by The Chicago auxilliaries. It is considered the oldest continuing Army camp in the country.
(McKinley, 1980: 98)

(USA) National Child Labor Committee forms and launches an aggressive national campaign for federal child labor law reforms.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1906
(INTL) Christian Endeavor has 67 000 societies worldwide with 4 000 000 members.
(Christian Endeavor, 2007)

1907
(UK) The Boys Scouts Association is founded by Robert Bayden-Powell following the success of his book, Aids to Scouting. His inspiration was the Siege of Mafeking during the second Anglo-Boer War. On August 1, 1907, he tested his ideas on a camping trip on Bronsea Island which is seen as the beginning of scouting.

[NOTE: Harold Begbie wrote the biography of Robert Bayden-Powell as well as the biography of General William Booth - an interesting connection between The Salvation Army and the Boy Scouts http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17300]
(Duncan, 1999a: 195; Wikipedia, History of Youth Work, 2007)

1908
(INTL) Canada becomes the first overseas dominion with a sanctioned Boy Scout program, followed by Austrailia, New Zealand and South Africa.

(USA) The Salvation Army begins to make use of Day Trips for slum children. These included day excusions across Long Island Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Lake Michigan, the Hudson River, and the Monongahela. These also included grand all-day trips for fifteen hundred Cleveland poor children who filled seven chartered streetcars for a trip to Euclid Beach to an amusement park and trip to the movies (led by Colonel Holz); driving fourteen automobiles to a nearby camp for the day (led by Colonel George French).
(McKinley, 1980: 97f)

1909
(USA) The Salvation Army transforms its' last farm colony, Fort Herrick into a fresh air camp for Cleveland slum children.
(McKinley, 1980, 98; American War Cry, August 14, 1897, 7)

(USA) Ellen Key publishes Century of the Child
(Key, 1909)

1910
(UK) The Girl Scouts Association (or Girl Guides) is founded by Agnes Baden-Powell.
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

(USA) The Boy Scouts of America is founded by the progressive movement (a conservative response to the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution). After a visit to London, England in 1909, Chicago publisher, W.D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America.
(Wikipedia, Boy Scouts of America, 2007)

1911
(UK) National Organization of Girls' Clubs (NOGC) founded
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

1913
(UK) The Girls Friendly Society has 200 000 members and 40 000 associates. However, they were criticized for failing to break down the class barriers that separated servants from masters and for not sufficiently backing the political emancipation of women.
(Brierly, 2003: 37)

(USA) In Chicago, Illionois, The Salvation Army coordinates its' first American Young People's Councils. Called 'an original plan,' the Councils offered three days of rallies and lectures for corps people responsible for youth work. Their young charges attended as well.
(McKinley, 1980: 98; American War Cry, November 8, 1913, 8)

1914
(UK) Boys' Club 'pioneer' Charles Russell appointed to government post to tackle juvenile delinquency.
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

1916
(UK) Philanthropy receded with the end of the First World War. Whole youth groups had been slaughtered during the 'Great War'. No longer could the middle classes patronize working classes with acts of charity to the families of those who had lost so much in service of their country. They had proved their self-discipline, patriotism and industry. Just as the treatment of women could not return to the pre-war condition, so too, young people could no longer be ignored.
(Brierly, 2003: 34f)

(UK) Government encourages local authorities to support Juvenile Organization Committees (JOCs)
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

(USA) First federal child labor law prohibits the movement of goods across state lines if minimum age laws are violated. This law was in effect until 1918 when it was declared unconstitutional.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1918 & 1921
(UK) Education Act empowers local juvenile organization committees to coordinate and stimulate youth provision. This is due to a rise in youth crime after World War 1. The Juvenile Oranization Committee enabled voluntary organizations to contribute to public policy.
(Brierly, 2003: 38f)

1920
(INTL) The first World Jamboree of the Boy Scouts takes place in Olympia, London, England led by Lord Robert Baden-Powell.
(Scoutbase, 2007)

(USA) The Salvation Army's Lt.-Colonel John Allan pioneers the Army's first band camp.
(McKinley, 1980: 170)

1921
(UK) The Christian Allaiance of Women and Girls is formed as a breakaway from the YWCA.
(Brierly, 2003: 37)

(UK) Board of Education circular empowers locals authorities to set up JOCs.
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

1922
(USA) Dr. Robert Boville of the New York Baptist Mission Society becomes aware of the work of Mrs. Eliza Hawes and uses it as a model for other churches. Utilizing students from Union Theological Seminary, he founds The World Association of Daily Vacation Bible Schools.
(Moll, 2003)

1923
(USA) Standard Publishing produces the first printed VBS material.
(Moll, 2003)

1924
(INTL) Second World Jamboree takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Five thousand Scouts from 34 nations assemble.
(Scoutbase, 2007)

(USA) First attempt to gain federal regulation of child labor fails.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1925
(UK) National Association of Boys Clubs (NABC) founded.
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

(USA) The Salvation Army begins Sunbeams - an import from Englad which was a version of Girl Guards for smaller girls.
(McKinley, 1980: 167)

1926
(UK) NAOG becomes National Council of Girls' Clubs (NCGC)
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

1929
(INTL) Third World Jamboree takes place in Arrowepark, Birkenhead. Thirty-five countries are represnted by 30 000 Scouts.
(Scoutbase, 2007)

1933
(INTL) Fourth World Jamboree takes place in Godollo, Hungary. Nearly 25 000 Scouts attend from thirty four countries.
(Scoutbase, 2007)

1934
(USA) The Salvation Army begins Central Music Institute (CMI) at Camp Lake, Wisconsin, north of Chicago.
(McKinley, 1980: 170)

1935
(USA) The Salvation Army begins Star Lake Musicamp in New Jersey.
(McKinley, 1980: 170)

1936
(UK) Only 36 local committees are sponsored by the Juvenile Organization Committee still function - only 6 have full-time secretaries.
(Brierly, 2003: 39)

(UK) Local committees organize themselves into new national bodies such as The National Organization of Boys' Clubs and The National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs.
(Brierly, 2003: 39)

(UK) Eleven organizations sponsor the Standing Conference of National Youth Organizations.
(Brierly, 2003: 39)

(UK) SCNVYO set up
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

(USA) The Walsh-Healy Act states that the U.S. government will not purchase goods made by underage children.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1937
(UK) In preparation for war, the Physical Training and Recreation Act empowers local authorities to fund facilities designed to raise the level of national fitness. Some youth centers are established to help support this. Local authorities were not only funding youth work, they were also capable of organizing it. Therefore, the State began to get involved in the Youth Service.
(Brierly, 2003: 39f; Duncan, 1999a: 195)

(INTL) Fifth World Jamboree takes place in Volgelenzeng, Holland. 27 000 Scouts attend from 51 countries.
(Scoutbase, 2007)

(USA) Second attempt to gain federal regulation of child labor fails.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1938
(UK) The Boy Scouts grow in membership from 152 000 to 438 000 in 15 years.
(Brierly, 2003: 38)

(UK) The Boys' Brigade increases from 65 000 to 161 000.
(Brierly, 2003: 38)

(UK) The Central Youth Council of the Church of England is launched.
(Brierly, 2003: 39)

(UK) Club Leaders Association is founded
(Duncan, 1999a: 195)

(USA) Federal regulation of child labor achieved in Fair Labor Standards Act. For the first time, minimum ages of employment and hours of work for children are regulated by federal law.
(Child Labor, 2007)

1939
(UK) The King George's Jubillee Trust publishes a report on the needs of young school-leavers. It acknowledges the repsonsibility of the State towards meeting the needs of young people.
(Brierly, 2003: 40; Duncan, 1999a: 195)

(UK) Urban young people are evacuated to the countryside to be cared for by other communities.
(Brierly, 2003; 42)

(UK) Government issues Circular 1486, The Service of Youth. which lead to the launch of the modern Youth Service.
(Brierly, 2003; 43; Duncan, 1999a: 196)

1940
(UK) Government issues Circular 1516, The Challenge of Youth which provided a philosophy of youth work. It defines the primary purpose of youth work as being to provide young people with social and physical training. Character building was a reoccuring theme of this war-time initiative.
(Brierly, 2003; 44)

(UK) National Conference of Youth Service Officers established.
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

1941
(UK) During the past two years, the rate of youth under 17 who are found guilty by the courts in England and Wales rise by over a third.
(Brierly, 2003; 43)

1942
(UK) National Council of Girls' Clubs (NCGC) becomes National Association of Girls' Clubs (NAGC)
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) Board of Education Youth Advisory Council set up.
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) Compulsory registration of all 16 to 18-year olds.
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) Beveridge report Social Security and Allied Services published
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

1943
(UK) Youth Advisory Council's first report Youth Service After the War published
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) Board of Education white paper Educational Reconstruction published
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) Training of Service for Girls of 14-16 published
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI) inspection of youth organizations introduced
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

1944
(UK) The Education Act: Sections 41 and 53 places further responsibility on local authorities to provide 'adequate facilities' for the educational and recreational needs of young people without specifically mentioning the existence of the Youth Service.
(Brierly, 2003; 44; Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) Board of Education becomes the Ministry of Education
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) NAGC becomes the National Association of Girls' Clubs and Mixed Clubs (NAGC&MC)
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) McNair publishes Teachers and Youth Leaders
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(USA) Youth for Christ is founded by the Reverend Billy Graham and evangelist Charles Templeton. Torrey Johnson was the first president.
(Wikipedia, Youth for Christ, 2007)

1945
(UK) Second report of Youth Advisory Council entitled Purpose and Content of Youth Service
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) MAYC founded
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

1946
(INTL) After World War 2, European children face famine and disease. UNICEF is created in December, 1946 by the United Nations to provide food, clothing and health care to them
(UNICEF, 2007)

1947
(UK) School leaving age raised to 15
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) Central Advisory Council on Education report School for Life
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

1948
(UK) 1 800 full-time youth leaders are employed: the majority with volunteer organizations. Professional training is provided by one-year university courses, with additional training provided by the YMCA and the National Association of Boys' Clubs.
(Brierly, 2003; 44)

(UK) BYC established
(Duncan, 1999a: 196)

(UK) PEP report on Service of Youth Today
(Duncan, 1999a: 197)

1950
(USA) The Salvation Army youth work gains recognition for its' role in the White House Conferences on Children and Youth in 1950 and 1960.
(McKinley, 1980: 191)

(INTL) Bob Pierce founds World Vision to help children orphaned in the Korean War. Their goal was to provide ongoing care to children in crisis.
(World Vision, 2007)

1952
(UK) the trial of Derek Bentley and Christopher Craig for the muder of a policeman appears to be symptomatic of a general rise in youth crime. Prejudice against immigrants also leads to race riots involving 'Teddy Boys'.
(Brierly, 2003; 45)

1953
(UK) The number of full-time youth leaders had fallen by almost two-thirds. The post-war baby boom was projected to increase the number of fourteen to twenty year olds by 800 000 (20%)
(Brierly, 2003; 45)

(INTL) UNICEF becomes a part of the United Nations. They immediately begin a campaign against yaws, a disfiguring disease affecting millions of children, and one that can be cured with pennicilen.
(UNICEF, 2007)

(INTL) World Vision begins its child sponsorship program.
(World Vision, 2007)

1954
(INTL) Danny Kaye becomes UNICEF's Ambassador-at-large. His film, Assignment Children is seen by over 100 million people.
(UNICEF, 2007)

1957
(UK) Compulsory education is extended to the age of 15; and the abolition of National Service leads to an increase in free time for adolscencts. This fuels a moral panic which fears an increase in anti-social behavior.
(Brierly, 2003; 45)

1959
(INTL) Tenth World Jamboree takes place in Lagune, Phillipine Islands. 12 000 Scouts from 69 nations attend.
(Scoutbase, 2007)

(INTL) The United Nations publishes their Declaration on the Rights of the Child. This defines children's rights to protection, education, health care, shelter and good nutrition.
(United Nations, 1959; UNICEF, 2007)

1961
(INTL) UNICEF expands to look at the needs of the whole child, firstly addressing education issues in newly independent countries.
(UNICEF, 2007)

1964
(USA) The Salvation Army's Major Mary Nisiewicz begins a crusade on East 125th street among New York's ghetto youth and drug addicts.
(McKinley, 1980: 1999)

1965
(INTL) UNICEF is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 'for the promotion of brotherhood among nations.'
(UNICEF, 2007)

1969
(USA) Youth Specialties is founded by Mike Yaconelli and Wayne Rice.
(Youth Specialties, 2007)

1970
(USA) Youth Specialties hosts their first annual Youth Worker's Convention.
(Youth Specialties, 2007)

1974
(USA) Zondervan begins to publish books by Youth Specialties
(Youth Specialties, 2007)

1978
(USA) Brigadier Leslie Hall directed a special bureau for the development of federal grants in the Southern Territory in 1978-79. Governmental agencies have helped to finance 'juvenile delinquency prevention services' in five southern cities.
(McKinley, 1980: 212)

1979
(USA) Urie Bronfenbrenner publishes The ecology of human development
(Bronfenbrenner, 1979)

(INTL) International Year of the Child is marked by celebrations around the world. People and organizations reaffirm their commitment to children's rights.
(UNICEF, 2007)

(USA) Dan Spader founds SonLife Ministries to help youth leaders build effective youth ministries.
(SonLife, 2007)

1980
(USA) Bill Wilson begins Sidewalk Sunday Schools in Brooklyn, New York - which eventually becomes Metro Ministries.
(Metro Ministries, 2007)

1984
(USA) Youth Specialties begins to publish their Youthworker journal to help elevate professionalism in youth ministry. The editor was Noel Becchetti.
(Youth Specialities, 2007)

1986
(USA) Robert Coles publishes The moral life of children
(Coles, 1986)

1989
(INTL) Convention on the Rights of the Child coordinated by the UN General Assembly. It becomes the most widely- and rapidly- accepted human rights treaty in history.
(United Nations, 1989; UNICEF, 2007)
1990
(USA) Robert Coles publishes The spiritual life of children
(Coles, 1990)

(INTL) World Summit for Children. Heads of state and government meet at the United Nations to set 10-year goals for children's health, nutrition, and education.
(UNICEF, 2007)

1992
(USA) Bill Wilson is appointed to President Bush's National Commission on America's Urban Families
(Metro Ministries, 2007)

(USA) Alex Kotlowitz publishes There are no children here
(Kotlowitz, 1992)

1996
(USA) Jonathan Kozol publishes Amazing grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation.
(Kozol, 1996)

1997
(USA) Robert Coles publishes The moral intelligence of children
(Coles, 1997)

2001
(INTL) The Global Movement for Children begins mobilizing every citizen of every nation to chang the world with children. The Say Yes to Children campaign builds on the momentum, with millions of children and adults around the world pledging their support for critical actions to improve the lives of children.
(UNICEF, 2007)

2002
(INTL) A special session of the UN General Assembly was convened to review the progress since the World Summit on Children in 1990 and reenergize commitment to children's rights.
(UNICEF, 2007)

2003
(INTL) Twentieth World Jamboree takes place in Sattahip, Thailand. 35 000 Scouts attend from almost every country in the world.
(Scoutbase, 2007)
________________________________________

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brierly, Danny. (2003). Joined up: An introduction to youthwork and ministry. Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Authentic Lifestyle.

Bronfenbrenner, Urie. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Camp Dudley. (2007). 'Mid Mountains and Lakes.' http://www.campdudley.org/index.php/item/257/parent/44 (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Child Labor Public Education Project. (2007). 'Child labor in US history.' http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Christian Endeavor. (2007). 'Built to last beyond its time.' http://www.christianendeavor.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=34 (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Coles, Robert. (1997). The moral intelligence of children. New York: Random House.

Coles, Robert. (1990). The spiritual life of children. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Coles, Robert. (1986). The moral life of children. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press.

Duncan, Denise (ed). (1999a). A history of youth service in England. Volume 1: 1939 - 1979 From voluntaryism to state welfare. Leicester, UK: National Youth Agency.

Duncan, Denise (ed). (1999b). A history of youth service in England. Volume 2: 1979 - 1999 From Thatcherism to new labour. Leicester, UK: National Youth Agency.

Halpern, Robert. (2003). Making play work: The promise of after-school programs for low-income children. New York: Teacher's College Press.

International Sunday School Convention. (1905). The official report of the eleventh Sunday school convention. Boston, MA: The Fort Hill Press.

Key, Ellen. (1909). Century of the child. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Kotlowitz, Alex. (1992). There are no children here: The story of two boys growing up in the other America. New York: Anchor Books.

Kozol, Jonathan. (1996). Amazing grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation. New York: HarperCollins.

Lee, Sidney & Stephen, Leslie. (1885). Dictionary of national biography Vol 3. London: MacMillan & Co. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZCwJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=hannah+ball+sunday+school&source=web&ots=fpFE-laKB6&sig=XBvHiifpTqTLMKRhrVm_mjqEDHY#PPA73,M1 (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Magnuson, Norris. (1977). Salvation in the slums: Evangelical social work 1865-1920. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books.

Marty, Martin. (1970). Righteous empire: The protestant experience in America. New York: The Dial Press.

May, Scottie; Posterski, Beth; Stonehouse, Catherine; & Cannell, Linda. (2005). Children matter: Celebrating their place in the church, family, and community. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

McKinley, Edward. (1980). Marching to glory: The history of The Salvation Army in the United States. San Francisco: Harper and Row.

Metro Ministries (2007). 'About Bill Wilson.' http://www.metroministries.org/About/AboutBillWilson/tabid/2395/Default.aspx (Dowloaded: August, 2007).

Moll, Kaye. (2003). 'Standard publishing VBS celebrates 80th birthday.' http://lookoutmag.com/pdfs/111.pdf (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Moore, Waylon B. (2008). Mentoring: A method for witnessing to children. http://www.mentoring-disciples.org/witness.html (Downloaded: February, 2008).

Scoutbase. (2007). 'World Jamborees.' http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/history/inter/jambo.htm#1920 (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Scripture Union. (2007). 'History.' http://scriptureunion.gospelcom.net/page.php?subSection_id=18 (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Senter, Mark. (1992). The coming revolution in youth ministry: And its radical implication on the church. Wheaton, Illinois: Victor.

SonLife. (2007). 'History' http://www.sonlife.com/about/history.asp (Downloaded: August, 2007).

UNICEF (2007). 'About UNICEF: Who are we?' http://www.unicef.org/about/who/index_history.html (Downloaded: August, 2007).

United Nations. (1989). 'Convention on the rights of the child.' http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm (Downloaded: August, 2007).

United Nations. (1959). 'Declaration on the rights of the child.' http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/25.htm (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Wikipedia. (2007). 'American Camping Association.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_camp (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Wikipedia. (2007). 'American Temperance Society.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Temperance_Society (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Wikipedia. (2007). 'Boy Scouts of America.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Wikipedia. (2007). 'Dwight L. Moody.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_L._Moody (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Wikipedia. (2007). 'History of Youth Work.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_youth_work (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Wikipedia. (2007). 'Sunday School.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_More (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Wikipedia. (2007). 'Vacation Bible School.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacation_Bible_School (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Wikipedia. (2007). 'Youth for Christ.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_For_Christ (Downloaded: August, 2007).

World Vision. (2007). 'Word Vision's History.' http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/comms.nsf/stable/history (Downloaded: 2007)

Wright, Betsy. (1994). 'Fond memories of Vacation Bible School can last a lifetime.' The Virginian Pilot. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/vp940806/08060047.htm (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Youth Specialties. (2007) 'Youth Specialties Thirtieth Anniversary.' http://www.youthspecialties.com/about/30th/ (Downloaded: August, 2007).

Martin Marty on the History of Sunday School in America

Over this summer, I have been researching the history of youth work. Here is an interesting quote from historian Martin E. Marty on the challenge of establishing Sunday Schools in America. His book is called, Righteous empire: The protestant experience in America. I was surprised at how recently Sunday School was frowned upon - being perceived as something that threatened traditional Christianity!

Here's what he says:

"The third great invention at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century was the Sunday School. Originally designed to bridge sacred and secular worlds, it came to serve the religious world in a private way. Originally born in an un-denominational context, by 1830 it had been increasingly aborbed into the denominational system and became part of the competetive pattern.

The Sunday School was born in 1780 in England where a philanthropist named Robert Raikes wanted to provide at least minimal secular and religious education to new classes of people, people who were victims of but potential agents in the rising industrial order. Just as the transformation of the territorial parish to competetive, local churches was instantaneously international, so was the Sunday School movement an immediate Anglo-American instrument. In 1785, William Elliott established one in Accomac County in Virginia. During the next several decades Sunday Schools spread rapidly, despite opposition.

Because they were new and because they represented a threat to conventional modes of church life, they were often frowned upon by ministers and church leaders and at the beginning thrived on what amounted to virtual persecution. Many ministers were threatened by every kind of innovation. Lay teaching jeopardized clerical preaching; religious and secular subjects were blended; women acquired new roles in the churches. We are told of ministers who chased female Sunday School teachers with sticks and brooms, calling them servants of Satan. In Nashville, Tennesee in the early 1820s, one congregation posted a sign, "No desecration of the holy Sabbath, by teaching on the Sabbath in this Church" would be permitted.

The Sunday School was destined to prevail, for it was an effective instrument of evangelical values and a useful means for inculcating agreed-upon virtues. One slightly jaundiced commentator remarked on the curriculum: it was made up of Bible, catechism, spelling books, readers, and 'dull, prosy biographies of unnaturally good children, who all die young." Many evangelicals advertised that the Sunday Schools were great democratizing influences. Children of poor and rich were alike welcome. Actually, they met on middle-class terms. The poor were welcome, but countless observers in the 1830s reported how much stress was placed on having children scrubbed up and starched for their appearance at Sunday School. There they were brought into the context of evangelical moral values, the ethic of production and aspiration, and the simple manners. Without doubt, the institution did help lead to the birth of the democratic public schools in America.

The rise of the public schools meant that Sunday Schools had to concern themselves less and less with the teaching of reading, spelling, and other secular subjects. In this way, too, the Protestant meaning-system was separated and segregated from the larger world. Subjects which related to daily decision were removed from this realm.

Dedicated laymen and laywomen, working outside the church organizations, were so successful that they churches adopted their efforts. In Boston, the Sunday School Union was formed in 1816; in Philadelphia one was organized in 1817. (In the early nineteenth century Sunday Schools were primarily urban institutions). In 1824 the American Sunday School Union was chatered. In 1830, it announced its intention to institute "a Sunday school in every destitute place where it is pracitcable throughout the Valley of the Mississippi.""

(Marty, Righteous Empire, 75f.)

I am very interested in how the earliest forms of Sunday School forged together both spiritual and social well-being. It wasn't really until the emergence of the public school that the Sunday School relegated itself to spiritual lessons. Historial theologians call this the 'privatization of Christianity.' This comes out of the historical period known as 'the age of enlightenment' where there was a divide in society between things which are public and private. Tangible, 'provable' things such as science, public education and work were considered suitable for the public sphere, while aspects of life that were subjective or dependent upon the opinion of only a few people (such as religion, family practices, etc.) were relegated to the private sphere.

I am wondering as there is an increased interest in renogotiating the relationship of youth work and ministry, if it is worth revisiting this history?

"Me, MySpace and iPod" in Journal of Aggressive Christianity

Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice

Check out this incredible group called Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. They have 6 centers in the South Bronx:

• The Center for Arts Activism
• The Center for Education for Liberation
• The Center for Wellness
• The Center for Youth and Community Organizing
• The Center for Community Justice
• The Center for Community Development and Planning

Read the letter from the Executive Director,

The fires that led to the devastation of the South Bronx in the late 60’s and early 70’s still rage in my mind. I witnessed them day after day as a little girl perched on the ledge of my ninth floor window in the Bronx River Public Housing Projects. I was too little to understand things like "Planned Shrinkage", "Urban Renewal", "Disinvestment" and "white flight" back then. All I knew is that they were frightening and tumultuous times for me and all of the children of the South Bronx.

No wonder so many of us ran away. Understanding only that our success in life would be measured by how far from the "ghetto" we could someday escape.

In this sea of uncertainty, hundreds of young people, like me, anchored ourselves to the love offered us at the Youth Group of Holy Cross church. There we were formed as leaders and guided in the Franciscan principals of simplicity and servant leadership. It was our sanctuary, a place of refuge during those difficult adolescent years.

Teetering on the edges of these two very different realities, I began to grapple with questions that I know many young people struggle with ... I asked, "Does the God I know in there see what is going on out here?" "Does the One I worship on Sunday, understand how ugly it can be on Monday?" "Does He care?" I prayed that I could find a place where my faith could do more than get me to heaven, when all hell seemed to be breaking loose around me.

I had to experience one final fire before my questions would be answered. In 1992 after Fr. Mike, then pastor of Holy Cross, led the parish in an Anti Drug Prayer march, drug dealers vandalized and torched the church in retaliation.

Led by Fr. Mike and the youth group, we refused to let evil and despair have the last word. We marched again and as I witnessed the sea of people on that day…children, mothers pushing baby strollers, elderly men and women, immigrant families…those that the world would consider powerless…I understood so very clearly what true power was! It was there, God said to me, in His children from the center to the margins coming together not just hoping for miracles or praying for change but making it manifest by the power of our will and the courage to stand up and do something!

Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice was born on that day. Throughout the past 13 years, we have worked to create a space that forms young people to be prophetic voices for peace and justice and we have dared to believe 2 fundamental things: 1) We can rebuild our neighborhood 2) armed with faith and trained as community organizers, youth can lead that movement
And so they brilliantly have!!! Their accomplishments are numerous. They lead campaigns for environmental justice, community health, decent housing, police reform, education and immigration.

Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice stands in solidarity with these young comrades. Our presence reminds them that they are not alone and that we are committed to nurturing their mental, physical and spiritual development even as they work on the development of their community.

I no longer despair or wonder if God CARES. I have seen God bend down to pick up garbage along the Bronx River…I have heard her testify at hearings against highways that bring trucks and soot and asthma in my neighborhood…I have heard him stand up against the police officer that would stop and frisk him simply because he is a brown child. I see God care in the young people and staff of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice every day.