Jobs

Hours: 3–4 days/week

Salary: up to £32,000 FTE

Location: Oakwood Youth Challenge, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 3DA

Job Description:

Step into a role where faith, fresh air, and young people’s growth come together. Oakwood Youth Challenge is looking for an energetic, people-loving Christian Youth Worker to spark belonging, build community, and help local young people discover their potential physically, socially and spiritually.

You’ll lead our Roots Youth Ministry, delivering engaging sessions, champion young people’s wellbeing and faith journeys, and help Oakwood connect more deeply with schools, churches, and the wider community. There’s plenty of room to shape, stretch, and grow this role as you go.

If you’re a relational disciple-maker who thrives on connection, creativity, and a bit of outdoor adventure, we’d love to hear from you.

About us

Oakwood Youth Challenge is a Christian charity with an outdoor activity centre and climbing facility. We help young people grow physically, socially, and spiritually through adventure, community, and faith.

We’re looking for a passionate, relational Christian Youth Worker who will lead and grow our youth ministry, and help Oakwood deepen its engagement with the wider community. This is a role with room to shape, develop, and expand with the right person.

This position is available as a three-day or four-day work week. The final pattern will be agreed based on your skills, experience, and availability.

The heart of the role (primary focus)

Youth Work / Roots Youth Ministry (approx. 60–70%)
You will:

• Lead Roots Youth Ministry, running weekly youth sessions and events.
• Plan engaging programmes that help young people thrive, belong, and explore faith.
• Build supportive relationships with young people, families, and volunteers.
• Deliver Christian teaching in line with Oakwood’s Statement of Faith, helping young people connect with Jesus and local churches.
• Develop and support volunteers, creating a healthy, joyful ministry culture.

Community Engagement / Partnership development (approx. 20–30%)
You will:

• Build and grow relationships with schools, churches, councils, and community groups.
• Listen for local needs and identify opportunities for Oakwood to serve and collaborate.
• Help Oakwood widen its reach in ways that support and amplify young people’s wellbeing and faith journeys.
• Shape and evolve this area of work with the CEO – this part of the role can grow into something bigger over time

Access to Oakwood / widening participation (approx. 10%)
We want to maximise access for young people who might not otherwise get these opportunities. You will:

• Champion and develop pathways that help more local young people connect with Oakwood.
• Work with SLT and staff to keep this a shared commitment, while providing focused leadership so it’s done well and sustainably.
• Support re-Vision/FACE-aligned ambitions to remove barriers and increase participation.

Other key contributions

You will also:

• Support outdoor activity delivery alongside our team (training provided).
• Help communicate Oakwood’s story through impact reporting and marketing input.
• Safeguard young people, following Oakwood policies and best practice; act as Deputy Safeguarding Lead when needed.

Who we’re looking for

You’ll be someone who:

• Is a committed follower of Jesus, able to model discipleship (Genuine Occupational Requirement) and regularly attends / serves in a local Church.
• Has experience in Christian youth work and feels confident leading sessions and faith-based programmes.
• Is relational, enthusiastic, emotionally intelligent, and naturally connects with young people.
• Brings adaptability, initiative, and an entrepreneurial mindset – you spot opportunities, try things, and learn fast.
• Can collaborate well, build trust, and work across different groups and settings.
• Enjoys the outdoors and is happy supporting activity sessions (experience helpful but not required).

Essential requirements

• Willingness to undertake/maintain DBS clearance and safeguarding training.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to plan and deliver youth programmes and Christian teaching.

Desirable:

• Ability to drive a 16-seater minibus.
• Background or some experience in outdoor activities.

Why join Oakwood?

You’ll be part of a supportive team doing meaningful work with real community impact – helping young people grow in faith, confidence, character, and belonging through challenge and care.

To apply: Please send your CV and a short covering letter explaining your suitability to ryan@oakwoodyouth.co.uk.

Salary: : £11.44 - £14.42 per hour - £23,861 - £30,077 (pro-rata) depending on qualifications and experience

Location: Oakwood Youth Challenge, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 3DA

Job Description:

Reporting to: Outdoor Activities Manager

Working Hours: various positions available – full time & casual worker/flexible positions available.

Working pattern: Most work will fall within a standard working week with some evening, weekend and bank holiday sessions, according to the operational needs of the Centre.  You will also be required to help the Youth Club team on Tuesday nights (term time only).

Good to know: It is a Genuine Occupational Requirement that the holder of this post is a practising Christian whose lifestyle is consistent with the values and doctrine of the Christian faith since this role plays a key part in fulfilling Oakwood’s charitable aims.

About Oakwood

Oakwood Youth Challenge is a Christian outdoor activity centre registered as a charity that aims to provide physical, social and spiritual challenges to those who visit us. Our primary focus is local youth aged between 8-18.

We offer exciting activities including a High Ropes course, Mountain Biking, Archery, Mountain Boarding, Climbing, Low Ropes and more high elements such as the Flying Kiwi and Leap of Faith.

We offer residential experiences ranging from 1-night to 4-night stays, activity days and parties as well as short activity sessions to a wide variety of returning customers.

The Role

We are offering an exciting opportunity to develop your skills and serve! If you have a passion for Jesus, the outdoors, people and enjoy being an inspiration to those around you- this role may be your next step.

As a member of the instructor team, you will be leading and delivering a range of high quality outdoor activity sessions to school children, youth groups and adults that visit our centre each year. In addition to this, you will also be part of a team of staff and volunteers who run a weekly, term time, evangelistic Youth Club at Oakwood.

Although Experience and relevant qualifications are useful (such as Climbing Wall Instructor (CWI), GB Archery Leader, relevant and valid First Aid with CPR ) we care far more about your character and personality and we will provide full training in each of our on-site activities.

Candidates should enjoy working in a young person-centred setting, ideally with some experience either paid or voluntary of working with children, and be able to demonstrate enthusiasm for adventure activities outdoors in all seasons and weather conditions.

 

Oakwood Youth Challenge is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

 

All applicants are subject to thorough screening, which include references (one referee should be a church leader or someone in pastoral leadership at the church you currently attend) and successful candidates are subject to relevant criminal record checks with the UK’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

 

How to Apply

For more information please contact enquiries@oakwoodclimbingcentre.com

To apply, please send your CV along with a covering letter to enquiries@oakwoodclimbingcentre.com with the reference “Outdoor Activities Instructor.

Interviews will be conducted on an ongoing basis until the role is filled and any interested applicants are welcome to come to Oakwood for a tour once CV’s have been received.

If you would like to find out more about Oakwood, please visit www.oakwoodyouth.co.uk

Hours: Varied according to demand

Salary: Hourly rate of £12 - £18 depending on qualifications and experience

Term: Ongoing

Location: Wokingham, RG40 3DA

Job Description:

Oakwood Youth Challenge operates all year round delivering outdoor adventure to a many different types of groups. Our bread and butter is delivering multi activity residential experiences for local schools with stays of between 2 and 5 days. We also run outdoor activities for many other groups, from church youth groups to corporate bookings.

There is a core perminant staff team at Oakwood, and on many occasions throughout the year our group sizes can fluctuate dramatically requiring the use of freelance / casual staff. We have some great freelancers on our books but we are always open to growing our network.

The Freelance Role

The role will require you to fit into our staff team and help Oakwood deliver our activity sessions to the high standards that our customers have come to expect from us. As such, it is important to have a well rounded set of hard skills that can be drawn upon to run the activities on offer at Oakwood as well as a wide knowledge base of individual and team development methods.

Applicants will need to have at least one the following qualifications/experience: 

• Single Pitch Award (SPA)/Rock Climbing Instructor (RCI)   (CWI considered)
• GNAS/ArcheryGB Archery Leader
• Holds a relevant and valid First Aid Certificate
• Instructing experience in running bushcraft, orienteering, archery and low ropes
• Experience in training and developing staff; and focusing a team of enthusiastic and experienced individuals

Ideally with:

• Mountain Leader (ML)
• ERCA High Ropes Instructor and Rescuer
• Mountain Bike Leader (MBL) (or equivalent, plus navigational proficiency)

Personal Attributes

• Highly motivated and energetic, with a positive attitude and excellent work ethic
• Able to play an active part in a team in and contribute positively to team dynamics
• Supportive of Oakwood’s ethos and keeping this represented through the delivery of activities.

Oakwood Youth Challenge is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All applicants are subject to thorough screening, and for applicable roles, successful candidates are subject to relevant criminal record checks with the UK’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

About Oakwood

Oakwood Youth Challenge is a Christian outdoor pursuits centre registered as a charity. The aim of our centre is to make a significant impact on local youth, challenging them holistically.

Oakwood Youth Challenge is situated within 15 minutes’ drive of over 30 schools which regularly visit our centre. Activities are offered throughout the year with an average of 100,000 visits per annum for both the outdoor and indoor centres.

If you would like to find out more about Oakwood, please visit www.oakwoodyouth.co.uk for our outdoor centre, and www.oakwoodclimbingcentre.com for our climbing centre.

If you are interested in being added to our freelance list then please send us an email and we will sort out the details from there.

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