Switch

Switch is a 12 session course designed by Bath Youth for Christ to introduce skateboarders to the Christian faith. It has been written by One Eighty; Bath YFC’s skateboarding outreach programme, to take the Good News relevantly to skateboarders.

Sessions include topics such as: ‘What is Prayer?’, ‘Does God Exist?’ and ‘Who is Jesus?’ Booklets are provided for each young person who takes the course. The booklets have a similar look and feel to skate magazines and are designed to accompany the course as well as to encourage further thinking and reflection.

A leader’s pack is also provided, with a DVD, full guidelines for planning, preparing and running the course and practical ideas on what to do after the course has been completed. One of the sessions is a weekend away similar to the Youth Alpha format and the Bath team were recently able to run a weekend residential for Switch participants at a PGL centre. Jake, 13, enthuses: “I took Switch to find out whether God was real. The course helped me to understand more and on the weekend away I had an amazing experience of God and became a Christian, which has made my life much happier!”

Jo Dolby, the original Skate Outreach Manager for Bath YFC, developed the course and ran two successful programmes before moving on to complete an MA in Theology and to pursue work with a local church. Jo explains what led to the production of the course: “We wanted to develop a course that was suited to the young people we were working with through One Eighty, to give them the opportunity to explore what they believe in a context that they could relate to and present the Gospel to them in a relevant way.” The course has proved so popular it has even been used further afield in Sweden, South Africa and the United States. The course is online and available to buy and download through the One Eighty website, www.one-eighty.org.uk.