Both sides have tended towards a stereotypical view of their opposite number that doesn't engender respect for what the other is doing or trying to achieve.
But if it is true, as Danny Brierley of Christian charity the Oasis Trust suggests (see p15), that the church employs more youth workers than local authorities do, it is not an area that can be taken lightly. Church-based youth work is a significant part of work going on with young people. And many would argue that the roots of voluntary youth work lie within the Church.
Local authorities may have traditionally seen church youth workers as well-meaning amateurs, but there's a new mood of professionalism sweeping the sector, evidenced by the Church of England's national strategy that aims to put young people at the heart of its decision-making (YPN 9-15 April).
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