Working for
young people for 30 years

Our youth centers were created because we wanted to be where young people really are – in their districts, their schools, their everyday lives. It all began in 1996 with Matt‘n’Pete – an open youth club in an old pub opposite the employment office in Neumünster. Young people who didn’t feel they belonged anywhere found acceptance, encounters and a bit of a home here. The project later moved directly into the Gustav Hansen School and became part of the all-day program as @home. With homework help, lunch, a leisure room, conflict training and an “island group”, hundreds of young people were supported in their development.

In 2008, the Café Royale was born out of the need of a group of young people in the Tungendorf district who had no place to meet. The café was founded together with the school, police, youth welfare office and churches – as a place to meet, participate and take responsibility. Here, young people were allowed to help shape everything from gala evenings to kiosk sales. All of our youth centers were characterized by relationships, trust and the idea: “You are welcome – you are valuable.”

Since 2002, we have been active with various all-day programs at schools – always with the aim of being present in the middle of pupils’ lives. At the Gustav Hansen School, we founded @home, which was directly integrated into the school day. We supported young people there every day with a hot lunch, creative clubs, open leisure activities and homework help. For a while, we were even there early in the morning for breakfast because we noticed that many pupils were coming to school without breakfast. While the number of participants in our youth center always fluctuated greatly, we had 20-30 students in our activities here every day. Here they found acceptance, structure and new perspectives. We were also active at the Theodor Storm School, the Freiherr-vom-Stein School, the Hans Böckler School and the Vicelin School.

For over 20 years, we were the German sponsor of the international Pais Movement. In 2002, we launched the first Pais teams in schools – one of the first initiatives to bring youth work directly into everyday school life. Young adults came to us for a year to accompany pupils with workshops, mentoring, project days and creative impulses. Hundreds of thousands of young people were reached, supported and encouraged in this way. Our Pais work was a bridge between school and community, faith and everyday life, head and heart. In 2023, we handed over the sponsorship to Pais DACH – full of gratitude for a movement that has shaped generations.

Over 20 years, we have sent over 880 young adults – all over Germany and all over the world – to almost every continent: Neumünster, Hildesheim, Krefeld, Singen, Greifswald, Bochum, Dresden, Freiburg, Cochem, Zeitz, Velbert, Uffenheim, Erfurt, Schenefeld, Hamburg, Großenaspe, Parchim, Bonn, Schorndorf/ Winterbach, Marienheide, Geesthacht, Heilbronn, Kaltenkirchen and Great Britain, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Germany, Poland, Brazil, Thailand, Denmark, South Africa, Ghana, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Faroe Islands.

The Strengths Sieve began with a simple idea: to help young people discover their gifts. We sat together in classrooms, youth groups and in one-to-one conversations, listened, asked questions – and saw eyes light up. Like Jens, who had no idea what he wanted to be after school until he found his strength in organizing – today he is happy in his apprenticeship. Or Tom, who dreamed of music but never dared. He found courage in Strengths Sieve – today he works as a musician in a church.

After coaching more than 1,200 young people, we can tell: Many of them can no longer be reached in youth centers, but in digital worlds. That’s why we are now bringing the Strengths Sieve online – as an interactive tool that meets young people where they live: on their cell phones, honestly, closely and encouragingly. This is how a method becomes a movement – and discovery becomes the future.

Just give the digital Strengths Sieve a try!

In 30 years, we have filled the Stadthalle and Holstenhalle with life and enlivened the city center with festivals. We have invited Daniel Kallauch with his cheerful participatory shows, helped organize over 50 Willi church services, celebrated a techno party in the middle of a community and brought faith to the city centre at the “Jesus in the Park Party“.
The annual Adonia musical in Neumünster has been a project close to our hearts since 2015. We have already hosted it nine times: Over 70 young people rehearse a gripping musical in just four days, stand on a large stage – often for the first time – and tell a biblical story with passion, music and light that speaks to the heart of today. For us, this is living youth work: honest, creative, courageous and full of hope. In total, we have had well over 25,000 visitors to our concerts.