(First published in the Baptist Times, 8 April 2011)
Painter/decorator turned youth worker Mike Yates, 51, had become increasingly concerned about the groups of young teenagers on the streets of Christchurch, Dorset, celebrating Friday evening with alcohol, drugs and anti-social behaviour.
Mike, who had always been involved in voluntary youth work and 'had a heart for the underdog,' continued his job as part-time outreach worker with Dorset's Youth Service when he enrolled at Moorlands Bible College in 2000. While there, he developed a team to walk the streets on Friday evenings talking to the young people.
When funding stopped, he prayed. That was the germination of Impact – a Christian outreach, working with local social agencies but with the clear aim of addressing the spiritual needs of young people, especially those who shunned the youth clubs.
Mike's vision was long-term, beginning with detached work – taking church to where young people were, rather than trying to get them into church. By the time he was ordained in July 2010 as a Baptist minister youth specialist, the vision was a reality. The Friday night street work was supported by a van acquired in 2007 and a youth café set up in 2009, followed by a bike repair project and school mentoring.
For the future, he envisages a warehouse for employment skills training. Mike, youth worker Ruth Windo (soon to become Mike and wife Ali's daughter-in-law) and Neil Robertson, a former drug and alcohol outreach worker, form the nucleus of the current Impact team in Christchurch, supported by volunteers and local churches. A project in Swanage has been active since 2009, and a team is planned for Poole.
Impact teams focus on 13-19 year olds, though some as young as 11 are out on the streets till 10, 11 or midnight. Like Street Pastors, who minister to an older age group, Impact volunteers walk the streets in all weathers, gradually gaining the trust of the young people who regard certain areas as their territory, after dark.
Mike says, 'The first question we're asked is, "Why are you here? Are you police?" We say, "We're youth workers. We're here because we care about you and want to make sure you're safe." It may be their first experience of someone doing that.'
Family breakdown, Mike believes, is a major reason for the culture of drunkenness and aimlessness among increasingly young people. 'We hear from them about absent fathers, or unknown fathers, about step-parents who don't understand, or single parents who give their child money and tell them to get lost because they have their own social life to pursue.
'The culture of getting drunk on a Friday night permeates the family. A lot of parents don't see the harm in young people drinking. One young person had 12 bottles of Bucks Fizz given by his mother for "being a good boy and clearing his room up."
'A 15-year old girl, in a group of about 80 young people drinking, collapsed unconscious. I called an ambulance and found her mother's phone number. Mum arrived furious - told me off for ruining her meal out with her husband - and I had to remind her to go and see her daughter, who was in the ambulance receiving emergency treatment.'
Mike would like to see every church get involved in social action to reach young people and families. 'Some church people don't see the need to go into the community, or don't see how they can help. There does have to be training. You can't have people coming in being judgemental or with an agenda to convert young people.
'We have a policy of not talking about God, Christ or church – but to live our faith and treat young people with respect and care. Eventually, someone will ask, "Are you that God-squad?" and then we explain what we believe.'
Mike wasn't brought up on Christianity. A spiritualist from an early age, like both his parents, he says, 'I knew who Jesus was but I believed I had a hotline to God; I didn't need the middle-man. As I saw it then, I was helping people and giving them hope, letting my body be used by "spirit guides" for clairvoyance.
'Then I had a knee injury, had a lot of time to think, and two Jehovah's Witnesses came to the door, talking about heaven. I told them to go away, but I started thinking: what if they're right?
'I had become depressed, over a period of time. I grew up in a loving family but I was bullied at school and I didn't discover till I was 40 that I was dyslexic, so I thought – and was told – I was thick. Two marriages failed, and I lost houses and my business. My self-esteem was low and I didn't deal with my negativity. I thought, "I'm a bloke: I don't use Nivea and I don't need counselling!"
'By then I was living with Ali. I didn't want to get married again. One day she came in and announced she had given her life to Jesus and become a Christian. I thought that was the end - pack my bags and move on. But somehow I stayed, and one day I went along to a baptismal service at her church. Although it wasn't normal practice, that day the minister said he felt in his spirit that if anyone there wanted to be baptised, he would do it straight away.
'And I heard God's voice speak to me. It was so audible that I looked round. I was a spiritualist, used to hearing spirits, but this was very different – a calm, soft, authoritative voice, saying, "Get in the pool. I want you to be baptised." And I said, 'No way! Forget it!"
'But he said it again: "Do you trust me? Then get in the pool." So I told Ali, "Go home and get me a change of clothes," and she said, "What?!"
'I was pulling everything out of my pockets. My mate tried to stop me but I went and told the minister and he said, "Okay. Is there anything you can say – a little bit of testimony?"
'So I stood up in front of the church and said, "I was a spiritualist 30 seconds ago but now I know I want to give my life to Jesus," and I felt a release; the depression lifted.
'But after a year it was back, big-time. Some of the spirits I had channelled didn't want to leave, and I was ready to fight anyone, including my wife. The minister prayed for me and I had a major deliverance – screaming abdabs on the floor.
'Jesus said, "Anyone who isn't against us is for us," and spiritualism and those Jehovah's Witnesses were part of my journey – but their beliefs don't match God's word. Without believing in Jesus as Son of God, you can't connect people with God's love, and it's only that love that changes people's lives.
'Our aim is for every young person to hear the gospel and come to Christ. Impact is hard work: we get told to f-off, and multi-agency working has tensions. But seeing change, even small changes, in a young person's life is worth everything.'
More information: www.impactmakingadifference.co.uk
