What is GYM?

GYM is for all young people aged 14-18, school years 10-13, to meet together & grow in faith in a safe space.

Every evening we have a teaching element that aims to inspire and strengthen the young peoples personal faith & life journey but also to strengthen their understanding of the Church.

What happens at a typical session?

GYM is a place where the faith teaching is at the centre of the sessions. Teaching usually involves a short talk, small group discussion and activities and ends with dynamic prayer and reflection. All this happens in a really relaxed atmosphere where we provide lots of space for chilling out, making friends and having fun.

When does it happen?

Every Friday evening during term time. 8-10pm in St Joseph's Catholic Church Hall, Guildford.

Can I just show up?

Yes! GYM is not exclusive to parishioners of the Catholic churches of Guildford. It is open to any young person who has a desire to know Jesus more.

Confirmation

Confirmation is run as part of our regular GYM sessions. Find out more here.

The History

Tim Spurgeon was invited by Fr Ian Byrne (former parish Priest for St Joseph's Church) to set up GYM, with the remit to create a 'youth movement' rather than a 'youth club'. The idea behind a youth movement was to create an environment for young people in the Guildford area where they could grow as a community. Tim says "For me, GYM has come to represent a model of the way in which Jesus met with people, on one level - open, accepting, non-judgemental and yet at the same time a powerful, life-changing encounter". After 5 years of amazing work at St Joseph's, Tim is taking a well deserved break to spend some quality time with his family in lucky NZ.

The Present

GYM is now run by Aseel, who was appointed by Fr Colin Wolczak(moderator of the Guildford cluster) as Parish youth coordinator for St Joseph's Church in September 2007. GYM is a space for all young people from across the cluster and beyond. GYM has evolved into a place where the faith teaching is at the centre of the sessions. It has been our vision for a number of years to provide a continuous formational programme that allows all youth grow in faith and love of the Church in a fun and dynamic environment. And for the first time the Confirmation programme will be part of this continuous formational programme and take place as part of the normal Friday night GYM sessions.

Parents

Parents please find out more here.

The National Symbol for Youth Ministry hosted by GYM

The National Symbol for Youth Ministry, blessed by Pope Benedict on the steps of Westminster Cathedral, visits Guildford Youth Ministry (GYM). Click here to find out more.

Resources

Every evening we have a teaching element that aims to inspire and strengthen the young peoples personal faith/life journey but also to strengthen their understanding of the Church.

Courses that we have run include to help us achieve this are:

Youth Alpha Tech Stream. The Youth Alpha course is an opportunity for anyone (church goers or non-church goers alike!) to explore the Christian faith in a relaxed, non-threatening way over ten thought-provoking sessions. GYM started off the back of a youth alpha course many years ago and it has been run a few times since. We highly recommend it!

Soul Action video resources. We like to run a social action/teaching course alternatively to a faith course.  These videos give a few little investigations into what following Jesus and responding to God's heart for justice are all about. Each video were powerful and thougth provoking and really got our young people talking and praying. A really great resource that needs no preparation. Highly recommended.

 Discipleship training series 1 by Tim Hawkins. We didn't actually finish this series but it is definately something that we will revisit.

LightLive, a Scripture Union resource. LightLive provides an online Bible-based resources for children’s and youth ministry. It has a syllabus with a great choice of activities. It's easy to put together. Highly recommended.