Why it’s good to be at the YMCA

We must not forget the greatest commandment is to love God and our neighbours, says Gareth Sherwood, who combines being an Elim associate minister with heading the YMCA in Bournemouth

“Love has legs,” says Gareth Sherwood, CEO of the YMCA in Bournemouth, “We’re looking to extend the kingdom of God into people’s lives, their homes and communities.” Gareth is also associate minister at BH1, the local Elim church.

Sometimes we forget that the greatest commandment is not the Great Commission but to love the Lord with all our hearts and, in the same way, love our neighbours as ourselves. “You cannot fulfil one without the other,” says Gareth.

And as he shares about his role heading up the YMCA in Dorset, it is this, he explains, that fuels his passion for his work. Gareth has been chief executive of this YMCA for the past four years, directing the development of its housing, leisure, youth, children’s and family services across the region.

In each of these sectors, the Christian foundations on which the 143-year-old charity has been built underpin everything.

“We’re looking to extend the kingdom of God into people’s lives, their homes and communities,” says Gareth.

“We take a body-soul-spirit approach, represent Jesus in who we are and make sure our facilities and environments reflect the culture of his kingdom. We look at that culture through the framework of the Beatitudes, for example, ‘blessed are those who are broken and lost because here they will find healing and belonging’.”

So what does this look like in practice? Bournemouth YMCA runs a range of services for the homeless and provides supported housing to more than 100 people who have been or are in various stages of the challenge, including those with life-controlling addictions and mental health problems.

“That can be cannabis all the way up to the full-blown crack and heroin addiction, or low-level depression through to paranoid schizophrenia and brain injuries; sometimes all at once,” says Gareth. “We have dedicated teams who offer counselling, peer support, personal fitness and chaplaincy.

“They work with people on a one-to-one basis to get them to a place of independent living and wholeness of body, mind and spirit.

“We provide accommodation for all sorts of people, including working women. We are their safe place even if they are not yet free.”

While the YMCA doesn’t actively evangelise, its chaplains were excited to baptise three people in one of its leisure centres during Covid.

“We had swimming lessons and a mums and babies session at one end of the pool, with a chaplain baptising a homeless guy at the other. That’s the church, right?” says Gareth.”

Another area of focus is the YMCA’s children’s and family services team, which helps around 1,000 vulnerable children and 350 families in crisis each year through parenting support, family support workers, early years work, counselling for ages 11-plus, food banks and more.

“We also have special educational needs support to help parents caring for children with special educational needs, and we offer youth work where we work with around 350 per week, 50 who are neurodiverse.

A third area of focus for Bournemouth YMCA is leisure, which includes running gyms and leisure centres, offering swimming, soft play, children’s parties and space for community groups, events, churches, dance groups and drama groups.

Despite the challenge of the pandemic, Gareth says the organisation has grown by around 30 per cent in the past few years, blessing more people than ever before and becoming a key provider of sustainable compassion to the region. He attributes this to his dedicated staff and ultimately to the favour of God.

“You do what seems right between you and the Holy Spirit. When God’s hand is on something, it grows,” he says. Looking ahead, Gareth has his sights set on transforming local leisure centres into whole person centres – community hubs which could offer family support, children’s and youth work, chaplaincy, counselling and GP surgeries in one place.

“There’s no stigma attached to leisure centres, so imagine a single parent with three children, one of whom has special educational needs – they could come to a leisure centre, have an hour’s support session, then the mum could go to a café and meet friends while her kids go swimming. Love has legs,” says Gareth.

What he enjoys about the work of the YMCA is its ability to take a broken family and help put them back together or welcome and support those with active substance abuse and uncontrolled mental health problems.

“It’s about the next broken person. Do I give them time and something of God? Do I leave something of the Holy Spirit that will breathe life into them? When they look at me, do they see Jesus?”

Spiritual significance of the everyday

Are you tempted to consider ‘ministry’ as only the activities which happen in church buildings or services? Think again, says Gareth, who highlights the spiritual significance of everyday life and work beyond church walls.

“We sometimes get so preoccupied with serving and excellence in a church building or organisation that we forget our call is to love people everywhere.

“There is deep spiritual significance in being a good parent, for example.

That means that supporting a mother whose child has just been diagnosed with autism, for instance, is a form of ministry. As significant as any other.”

This everyday work is evangelism. Some plough, others reap, he adds.

“Someone without faith might struggle to engage with the music in church but they will get it when you show the love of God to a single mum and cross the road to help her.

“How are we going to engage with our communities outside our services and show them who Jesus is?

“I see the Spirit of God at work all week in small and large ways in every area of society, often far more than in Sunday services. God is at work everywhere, the invitation is to seek him, find him and join in!”

About the YMCA

While Bournemouth YMCA has a broad focus on housing, families and leisure, not all YMCAs are the same.

Around the country, the work of the more than 100 independent branches is defined by their leadership and the needs of their communities, explains Gareth.

“While we’re all in the same brand, some YMCAs focus on youth housing, some on nurseries and pre-schools, others on gymnastics clubs or youth groups,” he says.

YMCAs have varying connections to their Christian roots too.

“Many have severed those ties, many tip their hat to the Christian faith, then some, like us, have a strong connection to the Christian heritage and history.”

This article first appeared in the February 2023 edition of Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.