Faith-based Youth Work: Education, Engagement and Ethics

The research informing this chapter focuses on inclusion in faith-based youth work settings. The practice explored is conducted by individuals and small faith organizations rather than large movements with faith-based origins. The present work explores practice in a range of faith traditions, and supports Stanton’s (2013) previous findings that inclusive approaches are often more embedded in the youth work provision of religious organizations than in wider faith communities. Our research shows how faith-based youth work challenges and extends the inclusivity of wider institutions (e.g. mosques, Gurdwaras and churches). The role that faith-based youth work plays in extending inclusion is also supported by the wider literature. Singh (2011), for example, found that Sikh youth leaders set up camps and societies for other Sikh young people to explore their faith in more accessible ways. Gould (2015), exploring the practice of the Glasgow Gurdwara, found that its volunteer youth worker had broken new ground in securing young people’s representation on the Gurdwara’s leadership committee. Ahmed (2015) outlines how the Muslim Youth Helpline was set up as an accessible and inclusive ‘space’ for Muslim young people to discuss and be offered support around issues that were difficult to discuss in other contexts. Our research found that faith-based youth workers facilitate different forms of inclusive practice – both aimed at young people of particular faith traditions to enhance their sense of inclusion, as well as open access provision for young people more broadly.