M13’s working values are strongly influenced by a process of action and reflection, involving the outworking of an inclusive Christian theology, our work with young people, the urban-poor environment we work within and the principles and practices of informal education. We have been privileged to be able to cultivate our values through discussion and reflection in a spirit of respect, humility and learning, with many groups and partners, both those who share our faith and value base and those who don’t, enabling us to learn and grow. Consequently, we have established very positive working relationships with young people and youth agencies from all sectors, whilst maintaining and nurturing our particular faith basis and values, which many of our partners and the young people we work with value and appreciate.
Historically, the project has grown out of a broad-thinking evangelical Christian tradition with a strong emphasis on holistic mission. Over time, this theological perspective has been shaped by our work, our training and our environment, challenging us to learn from other traditions; we find we have much in common with a number of Christian traditions, particularly Liberation Theology and Christian contemplative practice, from the early desert fathers to present day expressions of this tradition.
There are many aspects of contemplative practice which not only resonate with the principles and practices of informal education, but which speak strongly into the environment in which we work;
for example;
• listening and paying attention to God and people,
• loving God and neighbour,
• seeking and finding the presence of Christ in people and situations,
• a desire to relinquish one’s control over others,
• strictness in dealing with oneself and compassion in relationships with others,
• hospitality and the importance of community,
• an acknowledgement of the ‘divine darkness’ and seeking to be faithful to God and learn within this darkness,
• and living out God’s love in one’s life through interaction with others.
The contemplative tradition seems to us particularly suited to our praxis-based work, using the continual and dynamic ongoing cycle of reflection-on-action and action-from-reflection to inform and develop work.
As informal educators we would describe ourselves as ‘reflective practitioners’, practitioners who pay attention to others and ourselves in our work. As Christian informal educators, we might also describe ourselves as ‘contemplative practitioners’, denoting that we seek to pay attention to others, ourselves and God in our work; the word ‘contemplative’ suggesting that as we look at and reflect upon ourselves and others, we also look at, reflect upon and contemplate God.
In our work we seek to understand what God is doing within us and others, informed by our experiences out on the streets with young people, our reflection on theory and our contemplation of God; and we seek to work alongside Him, doing what we see Him doing. We hope that together with young people, we may see Christ revealed in the situations we (workers and young people) find ourselves in. Much of this thinking and contemplation is done is our weekly team meetings and in staff retreats, where we reflect upon our work from professional and theological perspectives and listen to God, praying for each other, for local young people, communities and our work together. Core staff members would, we hope, participate in this journey with us, through taking an active involvement in our times of reflection and prayer together. We have by no means arrived at the end of this journey, but hope that we will continue to learn.
A while back, we spent time thinking through what we would like our ‘statement of faith’ to say, and felt it was important that it reflected the faith we have in both God and young people. This is what we came up with.
We believe all people are created, loved and valued by God, as revealed in Jesus. Therefore, we believe all young people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and that each young person can:
• love
• think
• reflect
• create
• achieve
• and make a positive difference to their world.
We would be keen to emphasise that we work openly and respectfully with young people of any faith, or none, and with young people from many different ethnic and national backgrounds and cultures, reflecting our equal opportunities policy.
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