« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 »
June 30, 2005
Creature Comforts
I've been watching a couple of the Aaardman "Creature Comforts" DVDs and they have made me laugh BIG TIME! If you're not familiar with them they are basically voices of "the great British public" but the words are instead delivered by some exsquisitely animated animals. For example there's one chapter where people have been asked about their experience of flying, the dialogue is then voiced by an assortment of birds. The thoughts then take on a whole new life.
Thses two DVDS are fantastic as late night entertainment on residentials, discusssion starters, fillers and a sideways look at the human condition. Fantastic stuff!
Posted by ian at 09:35 AM | Comments (1)
June 29, 2005
Subversive blog and the gagging order
Just had a meeting with the communication department and have discovered that my blog is potentially politically dangerous (today, the Diocese *maniacal laughter* tomorrow the world).
There are Synodical elections coming up and no Diocesan publication (turns out that Youthblog is one) can allow free comment and access which could allow promotion of individual candidates. Even though the chances of a Synodical delegate/wannabe reading youthblog are akin to finding Elvis is alive and an Anglican minister in Lower Slaughter, the embago stands. Thus from July 11th to September the 30th all comments to Youthblog must be moderated. Obviously I'll be voting for _______________ ! Hehe
So apologies but that's the way the cookie crumbles, comments will appear automatically til then. After that there will be a deelllaaayy before they appear.
Posted by ian at 03:19 PM | Comments (4)
Get Connected
YFC are running a training day at Newbury Baptist Church on July 19th
In their words,
"The Training day has a particular focus on YFC’s exciting resource – ‘The Art of Connecting’. This is a resource which encourages young people to overcome their inhibitions about sharing their faith, connect deeper with God and see their relationships changed forever! We are hoping the day will encourage you, inspire you and be helpful to you where you are at in your current Youth Work"
e-mail Nicola for details natinnbc@aol.com
Posted by ian at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2005
Batman Begins
Went to the cinema last night to see Batman Begins. What a film, fantastic stuff, it's huge, it's cool, it rocks! It's a comic book surf ride but somehow on the waves of credibility.
The film has some really interesting themes which I think will become Matrixesque type sermon and Youth talk fodder for some time to come. It's about redemption, it's about the question of when are things too bad to be saved, it's about the danger of revenge and it tackles justice, courage and fear.
You should see this film at the cinema, small screen will just not be a big enough canvas.
On the drive back the teenager that I took to see it just kept saying, "woooa that was awesome!"
Posted by ian at 08:55 AM | Comments (1)
June 27, 2005
Getting Perspectives
Huzzah, the latest edition of Perspectives is out. I love this journal and its great to have a publication that aims to reflect on Christian youth work. Being a subscriber is fun too, it's like joining a secret society. The mag comes out X number of times a year (where X is a number somewhere between 1 and 4) and appears each Y (Where Y is a random unpredicatable date) and is published in understated monachrome. No criticism intended though as the content is FIRST CLASS and its a great bunch of people who put it together voluntarily.
This edition is around the oft discussed Christian youth work / youth ministry / Mission etc debate and is well worth a read. Good pieces from Richard (Taff) Davies, Maxine Green, Steve Griffiths and Paul Hopkins!
(Maxine once interviewed me for a job but was not impressed with my lack of formal qualification, the feedback she gave me was "You've done very well to get this far on enthusiasm alone!").
Oh and there is also a reflection on having a retreat in a city from Doctor H!
You can read previous articles on their web site which they've generously made available. Then subscribe, it's worth it ... fab value and you'll NEVER know when it might pop through the letter box :-)
Posted by ian at 10:02 AM | Comments (2)
June 25, 2005
Cuisine a la Slough
Visitied a funky youth group last night in Slough. It was a volunteer led group for 13-17 year olds and met in a kind of a Church hall as it has done for about 3 years. Really good crew and the group clearly enjoy being together.
Anyway the group worked (mostly) together on cooking a three course meal which we eventually sat down to. During the meal (very tasty!) there was a great debate on Young peoples rights and whether smoking should be illegal! The debate(s) were high energy affairs but only the person holding the "talk stick" could speak, some really good debate and some interesting points from all.
Cool group though! The cookery formed part of some healthy eating work they've been doing (this was working well as there was lots of salad, veg and fruit consumed), the debating was a real engagement with issues as well as giving young people chance to explore what they thought and giving the confindence to talk about it. All this plus the normal relational stuff and a lot of fun.
Posted by ian at 09:57 AM | Comments (1)
June 24, 2005
How may I direct your call
I get lots of phone calls here at the DYO hot desk in a kind of RAC for youth work sort of a way. I really enjoy this aspect of my job especially when I can help. (Big frustration at the mo' is having very little to offer the crisis, "Help we need a/several minibus(es) for the summer cry, hey ho)
One of today's calls was, help, I need a primary school assembly on Saints! Cool request hey.
Oh, if you are looking for some primary assembly ideas then have a look at the Collective Worship pages at Culham!
AND the most obscure question of the week was,
"What can you tell me about the current generation of young people?"
Posted by ian at 03:32 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2005
Postcards from the Edge
You will I think have heard about the Postcards site where people can send in anonymous confessions. The site itself is a fascinating insight but Phil has linked to a flash presentation that uses these and fuses them with Psalm 139. I think it's brilliant but as Phil warns it will not be suitable for all churches.
Posted by ian at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)
Taming the Tiger
I've just finished reading "Taming the Tiger" which is the story of how former world Kung fu champion Tony Anthony came to faith.
I'm not normally a great reader of Christian paperbacks but as Tony is coming to Newbury to speak in July I thought I'd have a look. Anyway the book is fantastic, I was humbled, challenged and inspired by his story! If you are in Berkshire (sorry rest of the world) then I reckon it will be well worth going along on the 1st July and taking the older youth group with you, especially the blokes. If you're not in Berkshire, have a look at the book.
Posted by ian at 08:08 AM | Comments (2)
June 22, 2005
Professional Arm Model
I have a varied job! One of my recent roles was to be the arm model for a piece on wristbands for the Diocesan Newspaper, "The Door" I reckon this could be a useful sideline and I'm available as a professional arm model! Either uppper limb can also be booked for arm double work.
Here's a picture from my portfolio of a specialised forearm modelling project in Oxford!
Posted by ian at 12:55 AM | Comments (3)
June 21, 2005
Mars n Venus, an attempt at understanding
This was a great piece of work that I've been meaning to write up for ages, it's some cool group work that was about girls understanding blokes and vica versa!
Even cooler it was completely designed by the teenagers!
Prior to a residential for the Firm (14+ group) it was a typical Friday drop-in at the youth building. A few of the teens were in the office and we were talking about blokes not understanding girls and the girls obviously pointing out confusing things that blokes do!
The idea was flagged up of doing something on the residential that would help there to be a degree of understanding. Anyway this is what they designed:
Split the guys into one group, the girls into another! Each group had a couple of leaders of the same sex. They had a series of questions to answer as honestly as possible and only answers that there was agrement on were recorded. A useful exercise in itself! But here was the genius ..... The girls then joined the male leaders, the blokes to the female leaders. They had the chance to see if they could work out what had been written down for each question, they then obviously got the real answers and the chance to ask a bit more.
After the formal bit there were some great conversations over the rest of the weekend and a MUCH greater degree of understanding!
Here are the questions:
If boys could get girls to understand one thing about them it would be?.
What do boys want in a romantic relationship?
What makes boys most insecure?
What are boys ashamed of about themselves?
Why do boys drink?
What makes it difficult for boys to be themselves around girls?
What question would boys most like to ask the girls?
What do boys do to impress girls?
What?s the most important thing about being a boy?
What are boys biggest fears?
If girls could get boys to understand one thing about them it would be?.
What do girls want in a romantic relationship?
What makes girls most insecure?
What are girls ashamed of about themselves?
Why do girls drink?
What makes it difficult for girls to be themselves around boys?
What question would girls most like to ask the boys?
What do girls do to impress boys?
What?s the most important thing about being a girl?
What are girls biggests fears?
Posted by ian at 08:17 AM | Comments (3)
June 20, 2005
Role Models
Interesting article from the LICC looking at Young Women and role models. Unsuprisingly celebrityhood holds a strong attraction.
Posted by ian at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)
Check into Cheesy City
Although the Christian music scene has some majorly cheesy ghosts it's nice to know that it has by no means a monopoly! Found these via Mike, fantastic. The moral of this pictoral laugh down memory lane is, Matching Outfits? NO!
Posted by ian at 07:46 AM | Comments (3)
June 17, 2005
So what does a DYO do?
The old what does Diocesan Youth Advsier do question has sufaced more often than usual in the last couple of weeks so I thought I'd try and answer it (partly for my own benefit). Then I realised that was actually quite difficult so I thought I'd write about what I've done this week!
On Sunday afternoon I was at a youth group in Oxfordshire leading a session called, "Lets talk about Sex!" Great fun, good bunch of young people and in the malarky before the session I managed to fall off the trampoline!
On Monday I was at a meeting in a Youth Centre about the Tuesday night group I have a placement with. I had lunch with a Church based youthworker and then headed up to the office to deal with phone calls, in-tray, letters and the like. Went on from there to an evening AGM meeting in Aston Clinton (great place name eh?) of the Bucks Council of Voluntary Youth Council. (Long drive home and ate too many Revels on the way!)
On Tuesday morning I was in the office early and then on to college for a lecture on Multi Agency Working!
Office type jazz and the like in the afternoon and nipped home before going on to the Tuesday night sess' at the Youth group I'm placed with.
Wednesday I went to Sainsbury's first thing in the morning to buy LOADS of Sandwiches for the Network of Full Timers meeting. Stopped at McDonalds to answer my e-mails via wi-fi and then went on to the Boiler Room to set up for the Network. (Discovered there's a great event happening in Didcot in July with Social Action and a free gig, It's called SID!) Great day with a bunch of youth workers, catching up, praying and general malarky. In the evening I was in Twyford running a training session for volunteer Youth leaders on "Working with Tweenagers!" Good session BUT got lost in Lower Earley and finally made it home just after 11pm.
On Thursday I was engaged with more office based jazz and lots of organisational stuff for the Diocesan Camp (the tragically named, Yellow Braces!). I also did a bit of modelling, if you get the next edition of the Door (Diocesan Nespaper) it's my arm on the front sporting the MPH band! Thursday afternoon I cycled to the other side of Oxford for a review meeting with a Licensed Youth Minister and his vicar. Moved then into my voluntary role of Mentor and took a lad I work with to see "Mr and Mrs Smith" at the cinema! (It was terrible and I really enjoyed it).
On Friday morning I was somewhere near Great Missenden helping a bunch of churches interview for a youth worker. Friday afternoon in the office tackling the north face of the IN-TRAY but procrastinating by blogging :-)
Still doesn't answer the what I do but I thought it was important to answer the what I did question.
Posted by ian at 02:18 PM | Comments (1)
Silence, but also noise and laughter
"God is taken seriously but not solemnly; worshippers are participants, not spectators; there is silence, but also noise and laughter; there is structure, but also informality"
I lifted the above from a Guardian article that Phil found. I really like the above description of a Church.
Posted by ian at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2005
Fusion: Youth and Community
I've written before about Fusion who are a radical youth and community organisation from Australia. They've been working in the UK for a while to see if their approaches work here. I am gobsmacked by what they've achieved and am really keen on their approach to youth and community work. It's been so encouraging for me to see Churches having great success with their open festival approach, it's been fantastic to see community and church working together for young people.
Anyway I'm really pleased that they are putting on a training day in Oxfordshire on November 26th. There'll be more details to follow but I reckon you should put the date in the diary now.
Posted by ian at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
Cannabis: What teenagers need to know
Panorama on the good old BBC are taking a look at Cannabis and the risks associated with it. Have a word with your VCR and get it to record the prog on 19th June 10:15pm BBC1.
Posted by ian at 08:38 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
Reading Boiler Room
We had a great time at Reading Boiler Room. It really is a 21st Century Monastery, the place revolves around Prayer, Justice, Mission and Creativity, Awesome! If you haven't been, you should go! (Oh and if you have any money then that would be cool too as they are skint). The amazing thing is that the 24-7 Prayer thing has now spread to 50 countries!
Great to catch up with lots of the full timers too! We had a bit of discussion about Line Mangement and one of the Parish based workers asked (genuinely) "What exactly do you mean by line management?" I think I have a bit more work to do with the Churches who employ youth workers!
And the Sandwich dilema? It turns out there's a third catergory, People who told me they were coming but I'd forgotten :-( doh!
Posted by ian at 11:29 PM | Comments (1)
Network of Full Timers
Today is a get together for some of the Parish Employed Youth Workers which I've been really looking forward to. We have around 40 or so in the Diocese and one of the big frustrations of my job is not having enough time to catch up with them one-to-one, I would love to be able to offer more of a support structure but the whole 3 counties, 620 Parishes thing and the vital focus on volunteers gets in the way.
Even cooler though we are getting together at Reading Boiler Room and taking part in their week of 24-7 Prayer!
AS ever though I am facing a catering dilema! Trying to work out, Of the bods who've booked how many will not turn up AND conversly of those who haven't booked, how many will turn up? BTW these two catergories have never balanced each other out!
Posted by ian at 12:45 AM | Comments (3)
June 13, 2005
The things young people take in
Met up tody with an Assistant Minister/Youth Worker who was a young teenager on a camp I spoke at in 1993. It was very cool to catch up with him after a dozen years and we had a great chat. What had really made me laugh though had been his e-mail when he'd got in touch, he'd said some nice stuff about the effect of the talks and camp on him then added this paragraph:
"Some negative impact though. For years I tried to emulate your writing style and drew my 'd's in one circular motion from half-way round, to the left, then down, round and up, taking the stalk towards the left in one flowing movement, leaving the 'd' without a tail. Thing is, I could never really pull it off, people couldn't read my writing and it took me years to unlearn it! "
Made me laugh .... and a bit self conscious about the way I write "d's" I've spoken before on how we communicate so much by example but it's the first time I've had to face the implications of my bizzare handwriting.
I wonder if there's some bizzare skill or trait that you've picked up from a former youth leader? Do tell!
Posted by ian at 04:45 PM | Comments (2)
June 12, 2005
Thinking about Sex
I spent quite a lot of the weekend thinking about sex!
In order, I should add, to prepare the session I ran for a youth group this evening! It seemed to go well and I really enjoyed the humour and engagement of the group as we looked at the subject. Not quite as much discussion as I would like but I guess we were cruising quite close to the edge of the comfort-zone at times.
Great evening though and it was fun chilling with the group before and after the sess' too, especially the trampoline laughs.
I'm wondering if there would be any take up if I was to put together some training in the Diocese on "How to do Sex with your youth group!" Although probably the first step is to come up with a better title!
Posted by ian at 10:27 PM | Comments (1)
Therefore Humble yourselves
Another de-motivational poster that made me laugh
Posted by ian at 08:47 AM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2005
Lets talk about Sex
I'm off to a youth group this weekend to do a whole bunch of stuff on sex and sexuality, so I'm putting the sessions together now. Got most of the stuff I need but I'm open to anyone else's good ideas?
Also has anyone got "Cabbages for the King" by Adrian Plass, I cannot find my copy. In it there's a fantastic sketch which I think is called "Navigation"
(If you haven't read it you should) which I think is a great kick off into the subject of sex. If you have a copy can you e-mail me pleeaaaassseeeee!
Posted by ian at 09:19 AM | Comments (3)
June 09, 2005
Jedi Council of Diocesan Youth Advisers
Had a really good meeting with the South East (Jedi Council) DYO's and feel really energised. We started with Eucharist and prayer before we assembled for the "business" of the day.
Biggest positive of the day is the sense that this is a Kairos time in the Church of England with experiment, change, mission and young people breaking out and breaking in.
Biggest negative of the day was identifying how BIG an issue poor employment practice is in the way [some] Churches take on, manage or get rid of youth workers/ministers.
Very positive day though and re-visiting the youth strategy, "Good News for Young People" and the 1996 "Youth A part" Strategy was helpful. Keep coming back though to the fact that the strategy is not backed with the resources to deliver on it! Without these how does it support and enable the volunteers who minister to/with young people week by week, the Churches who are disconnected from young people and the growing arena of employed youth ministry? Who'd be a DYO? .... oh, me I guess! pray for me and the other Diocesan youth bods :-)
Posted by ian at 12:07 AM | Comments (1)
June 08, 2005
The darker side of creosote substitute
Try as I might I cannot make it higher than number 3 on google when the heady question of "Creosote substitute" is asked? Although I'm fine about my youthwork credentials I'm not sure I can hold my head up in the Emerging Shed fraternity when I fail to have a prophetic voice on wood preservatives.
I thought therefore I would let you know you can buy Creosote Substiture Dark and Creosote Substitute light. Nothing that interesting there BUT here's the weird part:
They look identical when poured!
They look identical when applied to the wood!
It's only when they dry that they take on their lighter or darker form! I would at this point write a reflection on the Wheat and the Tares from Matthew 13 but then again, no!
Posted by ian at 09:34 PM | Comments (3)
June 07, 2005
More stories
I'm in a story kinda mood today so
here's two more stories:
The Bizarre rapture story
The Spitting Llama story!
Thanks Tim, Thanks Robert!
Llama one made me laugh, may have to add a don't annoy the Llamas rule for our next residential!
Posted by ian at 02:45 PM | Comments (2)
Listening to Young people
Long term readers of youthblog know that "Listen to young people" is one of my oft repeated mantras. You'll also know that a failure to listen to young people is one of my regular rants! Here's a great (true) story that I was told by a sixth former recently:
A School had a day put aside to work with the pupils on creative ways of thinking. They received a whole bunch of input based around Edward de Bono's "Six thinking hats" All well and good so far. In the afternoon there was a chance to put theory into practice. In groups the pupils were given the question, "How could this school be improved?" The group flexed their newly enhanced thought processes and recorded their insights on pieces of paper.
Here's the funny/sad bit (delete as applicable)
The pupils then received a summary of the day and the hope that the theory and practice had been helpful. As the pupils left, the staff cleared up the pieces of paper on which the pupils had recorded their insights and put them in the bin!
Arrrrrggghhghhghh! True Story!
Posted by ian at 02:26 PM | Comments (1)
June 06, 2005
Mettle Resource from YFC
I've been asked several times recently about resources for working with 14-18's and I've not had much to offer. However YFC have now launched Mettle and it looks good. I've only seen the sample but it's built around Courage, Spirit and Character, has some good media stuff in there AND VERY IMPORTANTLY acknowledges that 14-18's work is much more about discussion than "teaching at!" You should have a look!
Posted by ian at 10:37 AM | Comments (1)
After Club Church
Great article in the Church Times about a Baptist Church in Hereford that opens it's doors from midnight til 3am to clubbers. Well worth a read .... encouraging stuff!
I reckon I might start a new linked page where I can upload encouraging stories from churches and encouraging stories about young people. If you stumble across any, please let me have them.
Posted by ian at 08:34 AM | Comments (2)
June 05, 2005
Nasty NOS and the completed write-up
Phew, am sitting in McDonalds on Sunday evening where I've just completed and SENT my placement write up! 13,596 words in diary, write ups and evidence that show I have, in my placement, delivered on the components of the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work! Ouch. I have worked like stink this weekend and completed (past tense, YES!) parts of the write up in the car, in the shed (obviously), at home and in a pub before landing in McDonalds to use their fassssssttt wi-fi to lob the whole lot collegeward.
Huzzahhhhh and double Huzahhhh, Am now two thirds of the way to being a JNC qualified youth worker. *Sings* in a bad ABBAesque kind of a way
"I have a talent for wonderful things
'cos young people are engaged when I'm youthworker-ing
I'm so grateful and proud
all I want is to sing it out loud
So I say thank you for my youth work calling ..... for givvvviiiiiing it to me!"
Staff now staring at me ...... time to leave!
Posted by ian at 09:13 PM | Comments (1)
June 04, 2005
Angels and Demons
I've just read an amazing speech/sermon from Dan "Da Vinci Code" Brown's book "Angels and Demons" All credit to Paradoxology for discovering it! You should go there and read the text, there's some awesome stuff in there for youth ministry and helping young people to engage with Faith/Science tensions.
"You ask what does God look like. I say, where did that question come from? The answers are one and the same. Do you not see God in your science? How can you miss Him! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather than our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God's hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we simply chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have we become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us?”
"Whether or not you believe in God," the camerlengo said, his voice deepening with deliberation, "you must believe this. When we as a species abandon our trust in the power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faith ... all faiths … are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable . . . With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth. Religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed. If the outside world could see this church as I do ... looking beyond the ritual of these walls . . . they would see a modern miracle... a brotherhood of imperfect, simple souls wanting only to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control. . . .”
The full text is here
Posted by ian at 12:47 AM | Comments (8)
June 03, 2005
Grove Booklets and Small Youth groups
I've been asked to write a Grove booklet in part of a new Youth work series! My title is along the lines of "Small is Beautiful!" A look at small youth groups and how they work, what they contribute etc!
So blog-buddies, some questions?
1. Should I do it?
2. Can you think of a better title?
3. oh and what should I write?
4. When I sell the film rights, who should play me!
I have said I'm interested if we can design a cover other than the regular one with the 1950's line drawings!
Posted by ian at 12:50 AM | Comments (8)
June 02, 2005
Creosote substitute, the continuing saga
Special agent Nick has just let me know that "creosote substitute" remains a good way to find Youthblog!
"You'll be pleased (or possibly alarmed!) to know that Google is not the only one where you feature - you're 5th on MSN Search and 12th and 14th with Yahoo. Shedtastic!" Nick J
I guess I owe it to non youth workery types who visit in the hope that I'll provide a good covering on all things creosotian to let them know Homebase do an own-brand version called "Creocote"
Here's an up-dated photo of the shed: roller blind, proper electrics and perhaps a tad obsessively organised pliers etc :-)
Posted by ian at 09:33 PM | Comments (2)
June 01, 2005
Images of worship
Chris at Paradoxology has asked a series of questions about evangelical protestant worship. He's done this by posting some photo's and then just leaving a question to be considered, very interesting!
At the moment I'm part of a great bunch of people who are aiming to put on a BIG event for young people in Oxfordshire. The aim is to get loads of Christian teens together and have a core event that is dedicated to helping them/challenging them to be salt and light in their communities. But what should the event look like, how do we "do" worship across a spectrum of Church experiences that is meaningful and authentic?
Posted by ian at 08:40 PM | Comments (3)
Religion and Spirituality
Lev's written some stuff today on spirituality and I believe this is a key subject for us to be working with. I also believe this is a real point of connection with a post-christian post-athiest society that wants to explore spirituality. With this is mind I ordered the above very youth workery type book on "Religion and Spirituality" from RHP
intriguing quote in the write up from RHP:
"[Religion and Spirituality] will convince any human services professional that ignoring these issues is no longer an option"
I figure if I mention it here I'll definitely read it so I can tell you if it was helpful!
Posted by ian at 02:34 PM | Comments (2)
Assimilated into the shed collective
Regular youthblog visitors will have followed the "emerging shed" stream and some have even got quite into it! "Really enjoying the shed strand" (thanks Dan). One youthblog agent even e-mailed me this shed site and I've discovered a whole new world. I e-mailed the host, Uncle Wilco, and expressed concern that I might be becoming a sheddie, his reply made me laugh:
"you aren't turning into a sheddie, everyone has some shed in their genes, from birth, it just needs to be nurtured and thats what we are here for"
Anyway impressed by the irony and humour I have joined the collective. You can see the rather cool Flash or slide show here and then vote for my shed!
Posted by ian at 01:02 PM | Comments (2)