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September 30, 2005
Check List
Working with the youth service means filling in a form after each session, it records numbers attending, outcomes, accreditation, areas for future development and the like. It also has a list of youth type issues so that you can run through them, ticking subjects that have been engaged with during the session.
Typically the list will be something like this:
SCHOOL
NON ATTENDANCE
FAMILY ISSUES
SPORT
YOUTH ACTIVITIES
EDUCATION
DISABILITY
ANTI RACISM
RACIAL AWARENESS
LESBIAN, GAY ISSUES
BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER
WOMEN AND GIRLS
EMPLOYMENT
UNEMPLOYMENT
HOUSING
HOMELESS
SUBSTANCE USE
ALCOHOL
SEXUAL HEALTH
HEALTH EDUCATION
TEENAGE PREGNANCY
CITIZENSHIP
CRIME
OTHER
I now also have to fill one in on a monthly basis for the mentoring work that I do.
Anyway it got me thinking that I might go back over the last couple of months of blogging and see how many I've covered (as it's my aim to write about youthwork and youth ministry). I also wondered what the list would look like if we were to design a Youth Ministry conversation check list? Obviously it would contain lots of other elements as well but would it include the above, to see if discipleship and ministry flow into and cover all issues that young people face?
Posted by ian at 08:59 AM | Comments (6)
How to run a residential event
Please excuse the blog going into "plug" mode but here's a reminder that on the 14th October at Church House in Oxford there will be a training event on running residentials. The evening runs from 7:45 - 9:45 pm and will cover the practical, legal, spiritual, silly and financial elements of taking a group away.
E-mail for more info or to book.
Posted by ian at 08:53 AM | Comments (2)
September 29, 2005
The end of the rainbow
Posted by ian at 02:29 PM | Comments (1)
September 28, 2005
Did Lot really do that?
Marko flagged up this slip up in a Youth Pastor's preach. Fantastic stuff. Currently thanking God that there are no video's of my verbal trip-ups floating around the web :-) Every sympathy to the speaker but thanks for the laugh!
Posted by ian at 10:10 AM | Comments (4)
September 27, 2005
Youth Ministry. Youth Work. Education
The relationship between youth ministry and youth work is a subject that keeps coming round. There's been a useful exchange of ideas happening on Deep Thought that has then flowed onto other sites. I've written about this before and speculated whether we'd actually understood the question?
I agree with Richard Passmore that to polarise the positions of "worker" and "Minister" is unhelpful (and in my view impossible)
A youth worker works with young people so does a youth minister and the two approaches are not contradictory. The terms both carry some baggage though and their interpretation varies (a lot). They can both flow into each other and mnistry can be/is also influenced by the field of formal education.
YW= Youthwork YM= Youth Ministry E= Education (formal)
As Christians are we called to Minister? I believe the answer is yes. Will being an effective youth minister require youth work skills .... again I believe yes.
In light of being part of a Royal priesthood (1 Peter), being sent (John 20:21) and commissioned (Matt 28) I believe I am called to Minister. (What we mean by minister I realise will be a whole other debate but I'm playing with a definition about being intentionally Christ-like in a situation and open to God's leading, guiding and empowering through/in his Spirit).
Now I think it gets messy because a lot of youth work skills are actually Biblical principles. Jesus was a superb informal educator (using experiences and events to promote learning, encouraging people to "do" in order to discover and grow). I therefore see a huge overlap (as above) between Youth Work and Youth Ministry. I'm sure that youthwork helps my theological reflection and that reflection helps my youthwork. There are overlapping skills as we journey with and help young people to become mature, whole & contributors to community. We can gain some great youthwork skills from theological reflection but they can still also be associated with youthwork practice.
Some Youth Ministry is also shaped and informed by formal education, educative in it's approach to ministry and less youthwork(ery)
I believe I am a Youth Minister and a Youth Worker, mostly with these being one identity that forms the main circle above. There may however be situations where I am much more of a minister in my approach (not just my motivation) and times where I am more a youth worker in my approach (but still motivated by my ministry calling). I am both but they are not seperate!
I don't in anyway reject youthwork in order to minister or reject ministry in order to youthwork, to do so would be to reject my faith or to reject important aspects or practice.
I see myself as a Minister existing in the circle (in my diagram), partially shaped and informed by youthwork practice and theory .... informed in some ways by education. I have skills that could exist in the arena outside the circle too .... in education or youthwork.
Anyway the whole point of this was to say that they (YW & YM) cannot be defined seperately. What we need to do is explore the relationship and seek to understand both elements more fully as well as how they could/should/do interact AND where they differ and are different in their practice.
Posted by ian at 02:15 PM | Comments (6)
September 26, 2005
It's a fact, it's a thing ......
Katie Melua is definitely cheering up my days at the moment. When I'm listening to the radio and her single comes on, it makes me laugh. There's something about the opening lyrics:
"There are nine million bicycles in Beijing that just induces laughter. I can't decide whether, as a piece of lyrical writing, it's brilliant or terrible BUT it does make me laugh :-) If you haven't heard it then you can watch/hear it here. Anyone else think of some REALLY terrible opening lines to a song? I reckon this could be great fun on a youth residential .... everyone finds and reads out a BAD opening line(s) and also people would have to guess the genre it belongs to (it could then be played if anyone had it on an I-pod with them). But get the ball rolling now with some examples eh .... (As an aside, the population stats for Beijing are 7.73 million which means that every bod there owns an average of 1.15 bicycles! That would have been interesting for Katie Melua to have woven into the song)
Posted by ian at 09:47 AM
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I was at a Church in California this morning (California near Finchampstead and very much in England I should add) visiting a Pathfinder (11+ group) and having lunch with the youth leaders and interested bods afterwards. Anyway: I was really encouraged that an additional nine people were at the lunch as well as the Youth Leaders and the conversation was fascinating as it flowed into mission and community. The Church is going to look at it's vision and aims in terms of young people's work which I hope will allow greater creativity in how they might approach the work and help in looking at who else to be working with. Weird (more trivial) challenge that the Church face though: They meet in a school and serve coffee from the official kitchen. They are therefore not allowed by the school to have biscuits in case that allows any trace of nuts loose in the kitchen! True story! No biscuits!! But for the last thousand years of the Christian Church, young people have made it to church on a Sunday morning, usually by not having time for breakfast, they are however sustained by the fact that, at the end of the service, they WILL consume two times their body weight in biscuits while the adults talk about eschatology and petrol prices. Biscuits are part of our ecclesiological norms.
Posted by ian at 08:54 PM
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I light of my debut as a small group tutor ..... anyone had any truly exasperatingly cringingly awful small group experiences that they'd like to share? "Ok,right, yes, OK, HELLO everbody .... welcome to THE group, perhaps we should each say our names and share why we chose the socks we are wearing today!"
Posted by ian at 08:54 AM
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Well I've decided to go on blogging for a while as I still enjoy it and I continue to learn a lot through the comments and interaction that youthblog generates. I am however having unwelcome advances from the evil cave dwellers of Spam-alot and so Trackbacks and Comments are having to be switched off if they are over a week old :-( Apologies for this if it stifles any debate.
Posted by ian at 08:10 AM
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It took me nine months to read the Bible cover to cover during which time Leviticus nearly finished me off completely! Now there's a Bible you can read it under two hours! The hundred hours Bible. Cool (I think) although it will add to an art installation in progress here, The tower of Bible The Christian Book Shops came to see the tower of Bible that publishers were building. The Publishers said, "Come, let us confuse and add to their choice so they will not understand what translation to read!" And the transaltions were scattered all over the book shelves of Christians around the world and people became confused and didn't understand. But There will come a time when people will re-discover the Good News Bible sayeth Youthblog with its groovy pictures that aideth understanding and readability. From Stokes Poges to the ends of the Earth people will read the word and all the people who sayeth only the KJV is of God will finally admit that "Verily" they don't actually understand the exoteric archaiac language therein.
Posted by ian at 09:45 AM
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Click here. Thanks Doug :-)
Posted by ian at 03:10 PM
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I'm part of the team at a Statutory Youth Club once a week. Last night we had a good session .... numbers were good, several of the young people that we have worked with over the summer seemed to have really developed and become more a part of things than railing against them. We got a badminton competiton going, one worker did some great discussion stuff based on a questionaire, Hamma beads mats were being created. Fab! BUT For some reason they kicked off completely in the last fifteen minutes. Some of them becoming abusive, obstructive and a major handful. Hey ho, chaos central! "Why do we do this?" I'm hoping to catch up with him this week to chat it through but it left interesting questions for me as to the differences and the similarities between Christian based youth work and its statutory cousin! It throws us back to our motivation, our hope and our belief that we can help young people. I reckon it's Faith thats the key. Faith that we can make a difference But most of all Faith that God is in the buiness of change, growth, grace and love, Faith that with God all things are possible. "There is no such thing as difficult person Filing this under "Non coherent but helpful to me posts"
Posted by ian at 10:29 AM
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One of the things that I do as the Diocesan Youth Adviser is host a "Network" meeting for the Church employed Youth workers in the Diocese. My theory is that Church based youth workers are the only people who actually understand the role (made more complicated by the army of people (congregation, PCC & vicars) who think they do and have wildy specific but differing ideas of how the job should be done and results that SHOULD be delivered) and so it's good to get together for encouragment, prayer, sharing the good and the bad stuff and to have some fun. This is great in theory but it is impossible to find a venue, agenda, location, day that will make 40 diverse youth workers/ministers all say "YES!" The Network meetings therefore are different every time and in a different place in the hope that over the course of the year most workers will have been to at least one! The other difficulty is that if it's too serious (heavy training type input) some will not come while conversely if fun is the agenda there are others who feel they cannot justify the time! Hey Ho ..... we're all different! Welcome and Coffee (Vaguely serious) There was a good turnout and I was really pleased that some of the new CYM students also came. It felt to me like it was a fun day that led into some supportive/encouraging conversations and prayer.
Posted by ian at 09:22 AM
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For my Anglican colleagues ..... here's something for the staff meeting agenda: Info below from national communication office. See also F4J Website "Campaign Group Fathers 4 Justice (F4J) said today that all 12,000 of its members will engage in a national campaign of civil disobedience designed to disrupt Church of England services across the country in December, including a march on St Paul's Cathedral on Friday 9th December with thousands of Father Christmases. The group says that it's 'D-ADVENT' campaign of 24 days of Christmas chaos will see protestors scale Church roofs, stage sit in's and deliver alternative services from the pulpit. Other groups are said to be preparing to blockade churches. A controversial religious Calendar and Xmas card are also planned by the organisation. F4J say that the C of E has failed to address the distress caused to children and their families when they are separated from their fathers after separation" "The group stormed a General Synod Service in York Minster in July 2004 and latterly climbed St Paul's in May this year. Representatives from F4J met the then Archbishop of York David Hope but no further progress was made. Said campaign co-ordinator Ray Barry, 'Christmas is a time for families but many kids will be asking 'where is my father this Christmas?' We are commanded to honour our father and our mother by the church yet fathers are being sidelined from christenings and confirmations and the church plays little or no role in trying to prevent relationship breakdown within families.' F4J Founder Matt O'Connor said 'We are going to rattle more than their collection plates this Christmas. The Church of England should be practising what it preaches rather than turning a blind eye to this problem. Where it should be setting an example of morality, equality and compassion in regard to family breakdown, it agonises over global warming and gay and lesbian priests. We will open their eyes and ears to the problems of fatherlessness and take the issue into the churches of Britain addressing directly as many congregations as we can.' F4J stress the campaign is directed at the Church of England as an organisation and not at Christianity" info from national communication office
Posted by ian at 07:00 PM
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The final episode is on Tuesday and it'll be great to see how it all pans out. There's been some encouraging stuff written in the blogosphere and I've been fascinated by some of the comments left (including messages for Dan n Rachel). You can find these here, here and here! I am probably going to go to one of the Romance academy leader training days .... plan to sign up for 14th Jan 2006 in Birmingham. ADDITIONAL: LICC are having another of their pop culture evenings on October 3rd. Among the guests and discussion subjects will be Dan & Rachel talking about the series/project. Details from the LICC website.
Posted by ian at 08:13 AM
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If you do your youth work within the Diocese of Oxford then here's something that could be fun. The Diocese are holding a photography competition .... with an under 16's catergory. The idea is that the photo flows from a Bible verse of the photographers choosing. (The title photo is one that I snapped of the "Splot Brothers" at Greenbelt this year)
Posted by ian at 02:49 PM
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Oxfordshire was £64 I would love it if we were able to produce similar figures for the contribution of the voluntary sector. Actually we'd need two figures, a) actual investment per young person and b) what the total spending would be if all the voluntary work was chargeable. Looking at Bucks for instance, the Anglican Church have 13 employed youth workers. It's probably not unreasonable to estimate at least another 12 in other denominations. At a conservative estimate of these projects at £27.5k per year, that adds another £16 per young person. Bearing in mind this is only christian employed youth workers then I can see how the figures could REALLY stack up if we had a way of working out stats with other organisations, volunteers, community projects et al.
Posted by ian at 08:48 AM
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Reactions againist Creation being taught in schools is a rich vein of silliness. The Flying Spaghetti monster has attained near cult status on the web (well worth reading the FAQ's page, made me laugh) and is still growing.
Posted by ian at 10:30 AM
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Managed to hit one of the young people in the face with a Basket ball last night (during a game I should add), no permanent damage but a slightly enlarged lip. Funniest thing was I think he was more distressed by the two sided official accident form we then had to fill in than he was by the injury! Hey ho
Posted by ian at 08:56 AM
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Went to see "Dukes of Hazzard" last night which I was sooooo looking forward to! Sadly I was really disappointed. It felt like one of the old half hour episodes dragged out to an hour and that didn't quite work. The inept bully had become all too serious, the innocence sold out to crassness and something got lost along the way. Beau, Luke and indeed Daisy looked the part but the story and writing let them down. The car did rock though, as did the driving .... plenty of tail happy sliding around corners. Even so I still came out of the cinema without that usual post-film buzz. Watchability for a youth weekend Usefulness for teaching or Discussion
Posted by ian at 02:50 PM
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Fascinating article by Roy Hattersley in yesterdays Guardian in which he, as an athiest, looks at the response to Katrina, then explores why faith groups are at the forefront of relief work. He considers his own position intellectually superior but admits that it's faith that makes people admirable. "Civilised people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags and - probably most difficult of all - argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment" Filing this as encouraging! Read the full article. While I'm flagging up interesting articles, this piece on the iphone is interesting. It looks at why, in this case, previous innovation has made innovation untennable.
Posted by ian at 08:10 AM
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A thousand thanks for your help! thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks etc .......
Posted by ian at 11:31 AM
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I had the privilege of being at such a cooool event last night. It's difficult to describe but it was called "Love Justice" and took place at the uber funky St Laurence Church in Reading. It was a kind of celebration, challenge, concert around Christian justice. St Laurence focuses on work with young people and so the hosting of this event meant it already had great energy as well as being a fantastic venue. I don't know the names of the Hip Hop acts but enjoyed them, loved this line and the way it came across: "Dream of the hour Ben Okafor was brilliant and he's a seriously cool guy and an awesome musician. Highlight of the evening for me was a Ska band playing worship songs (How often to you get invited to Skank along with worship?), they were called Sounds of Salvation and I definitely want to catch these guys again!
Posted by ian at 09:36 PM
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I blatantly nicked this quote from Roy's site but I thought it was worth re-quoting and challenging myself with too. "What happened to radical Christianity, the un-nice brand of Christianity that turned the world upside-down ? What happened to the category smashing, life threatening, anti-institutional gospel that spread through the first century like wildfire and was considered (by those in power) dangerous ? What happened to the kind of Christians whose hearts were on fire, who had no fear, who spoke the truth no matter what the consequences, who made the world uncomfortable, who were willing to follow Jesus wherever he went ? What happened to the kind of Christians who were filled with passion and gratitude, and who every day were unable to get over the grace of God?" Reminded me of a couple of Biblical testimonies: In the old testament Joshua and Caleb are declared to be "Men of a different Spirit" In the New Testament the early followers are refered to as "these men who have turned the world upside-down" Am very aware how easy/safe it is to be an employed Christian in a mainstream denomination, how far away I/my role can be from turning anything upside down! Mr Yaconelli, ouch but thanks!
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I've read plenty about "No Sex Please .." but I now have the video of the programme and am looking forward to watching that tonight. It's clearly had quite an impact and the search engines have been busy with searches for Dan Burke, Rachel Gardner and the TV Programme. Dan left a comment saying: "In the next 2 programmes you will see some amazing things" How's that for a teaser? He also mentioned the Romance Academy website which has got some great info on the project. There are more comments on the programme a couple of entries back! On the 6th September BBC2 began a series of three TV programmes entitled, “No Sex please we’re teenagers” a kind of reality TV show in which twelve young people aged between 15 and 17 pledge not to have sex for five months.
Posted by ian at 03:29 PM
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I've just got back from a consultation about the next Matrix conference. Today was just about reflections, ideas and broad thinking about how it might look, there are no specific details yet.
Posted by ian at 02:49 PM
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I found this picture on Planet Telex of a school fund raiser! Before you get excited about this as an idea you need to know that it nearly killed the teacher involved! Never under-estimate the benefit of a proper risk assesment! Todays equations Risk assesment = good I hope the above equations have not runined too many pieces of alternative worship for Sunday :-)
Posted by ian at 02:29 PM
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I didn't see the first episode of "No Sex Please we're Teenagers" last night as I'm trapped at Swanick conference centre (escape plan being hatched though).
Posted by ian at 08:16 AM
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"Young People need models, not critics!" John Wooden
Posted by ian at 12:54 AM
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Up until now I've struggled to write anything about Hurricane Katrina. I found it hard to comprehend the scale of the disaster as it became apparent, I struggled to understand how few resources the U.S were able to mobolize and it's been heartbreaking to hear the stories that are emerging. I pray that help as organised and practical as this reaches those still trapped SOON.
Posted by ian at 08:54 AM
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Made it to Church on time this morning, not that easy when there are three children to get organised and to a service by 09:45! (If you are thinking, "How hard can that be?" .... you either haven't got kids or I seriously want some advice from you). It was a Family Service with a Baptism. As a result the HUGE rear projection screen was on the chancel steps and the service was PowerPoint enhanced.
Posted by ian at 06:33 PM
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Andrew Jones' seminar at Greenbelt on "The Spirituality of blogging" has started quite a discussion on the textistential question of Why blog? Sarah and Phil have written some stuff around this and I've certainly been thinking about this in the last few days! Andrew Jones in the seminar articulated some stuff that I "felt" about blogging but hadn't been able to express, I found it enormously encouraging! Within 24 hours however I'd also heard the question, "Aren't all bloggers essentially arrogant?" and been challenged on my blog becoming/sounding too self promotional. Why blog? I'm still working through these. I had another look at what I'd said I was aiming at: "promote debate about youth ministry, to encourage people involved in volunteer leadership, to meet other practicioners, to be a bridge between youth ministry and emerging Church, and to celebrate the humour of Life, youthwork and faith" I also have been thinking about why I blog, it's a think-athon in progress but I reckon: 1. I need to write or talk in order to work out what I think. The blog serves this well and then opens those thoughts to accountability and discussion. I am truly alarmed that I had either come across as or strayed into self promotion *embarrassed* I have become acutely aware that what is in my head as I write may come across differently to a reader. "Blogging is a spiritual discipline because to blog is to find oneself in a place of: 1. Praise (public acknowledgement) - "publish glad tidings daily"
Posted by ian at 08:39 AM
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Could do with some advice from bloggers more technically adept than I am! If that's you, please read on ...
Posted by ian at 04:23 PM
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Looking through the google searches this morning I noticed that someone had googled “Teenagers smoking in Christian worship” and visited Youthblog! Not sure they’d have found anything helpful but it did lead to some bizarre train of thoughts. Scenario 1: Everyone singing “Lord Light the fire again” and the teenagers starting to smoke was an early indication of answered prayer! Scenario 2: Teenagers smoking cigarettes during worship. Correct Response:
Posted by ian at 09:18 AM
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Just a couple of things that you may (or may not) want to look up!? The JNC from September will expand into a new area to recognise "Advanced Practicioner!" (I'm really encouraged to see a document for schools that contains the line, "Think about our lives as a whole")
Posted by ian at 09:11 AM
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That's a fact
It's a thing ...."
September 25, 2005
California and the Omnipresent Quiche
Lunch was a buffet affair and yes there was Quiche (as per Macdonald's assumptive law of Faith based catering) BUT the funny thing was that reference was made to my blog musings about it's omnipresence at Christian "do's" I guess I need to be careful about what I write! For the record though all credit to the Church for serving up Chocolate Eclairs for afters ... I am now declaring these the official antedote to over-Quiching.September 23, 2005
CYM Small group tutor
I'm a Small Group Tutor for the Oxford Centre for Youth Ministry this year. Yesterday was the get together/training/planning and the like at the start of the new academic year. It's very interesting to see how many people it takes to make the course happen. Over Quiche (Christian event so it's compulsory) and crisps I was chatting to Lecturers, Fieldwork supervisors, Line managers, Students and other Small group tutors. It feels like a real privilege to be involved in the process though and I have returned with an entire libraray of handbooks, outlines and the like to get to grips with before I'm let loose on the students. Modifications to Youthblog
I'm also having problems with people using pictures from the site on their own pages but using my site as the host so it's the bandwidth here that takes the cost. Some of the pictures actually have had several thousand hits even though none of these involved a visit to my site. Grrrrrrrrr! I'm having to trawl through the archives and delete pictures at the moment (apologies if you come across an entry that has a blue square rather than a picture). Rant over!September 22, 2005
The Tower of Bible
September 21, 2005
For those who love free stuff
Why do we do this?
One of the workers was left asking
But the "Why do we do this?" moments as an emotionally exhausted response is common to both statutory and faith based workers when the work is with challenging young people.
Faith that the young person can grow and develop
just difficult behaviour" Pip WilsonSeptember 20, 2005
Full Timers Network
So yesterdays gathering of the serve of youth ministers (I decided "serve" would be a good collective noun but I'm open to better suggestions) saw the agenda thus:
Punting (fun!)
Lunch (seriously good fun)
Prayer (serious-ish)
Simon(n) and Doc Hamilton have written their observations.September 19, 2005
Church of England Faces 24 Days of Christmas Chaos
Still more "No Sex"
Roy has flagged up the chance to comment directly to the BBC which would be well worth doing ..... especially as at the moment there has been more negative than positive feedback, I wonder how much is legitimate criticism and how much is anti-Christian type sentiment? If you felt it was a valuable programme then it would be good to share that with the bods at the BBC. September 16, 2005
What a picture
For details check out the Web page!Provision for Young People
YPN has the stats on spending per head in 2003/4. These are the youth service budgets for that area divided by the number of 13-19 year olds.
Buckinghamshire was £87
West Berkshire was £99 September 15, 2005
A round up of Silliness
My favourite though is from "The Onion" and their satirical piece on "Evangelicals refute gravity" .... very well writen and kind of plausible(ish).
On a different subject(s) Lark News is, as ever, worth a peek, I especially like the results of Fantasy Evangelism League and their piece on "Worshippers for Hire!"
And Finally ..... Steve Tom on the inherent Oxymoronic nature of the Chocolate Rich Tea Biscuit!September 14, 2005
Moments of Youthworkerism
September 13, 2005
Dukes of Hazzard
Before I get accused of merely being unreallistically nostalgiac and hence negative, the teenager who came with me didn't enjoy it either!
Faith does breed charity
It has got me reflecting on how you maintain innovation/risk et al in Church or Youth ministry approaches to mission. What is it that stifles innovative outreach even when that's how something began?September 12, 2005
Fair Trade Cafe
I need to put together a cafe for the Vertigo event on October the 1st and want it to be Fairtrade! Mass drink catering seems to be OK if you want tea and coffee but not cold drinks or hot chocolate! Anyone run anything similar and have experience to share? Did you manage to 'do' all Fairtrade or was it Fairtrade plus Cola etc? Any wisdom gratefully received.
I have got web pages for Divine Chocolate, Traidcraft and Fair Trade Foundation. Are their others I should know about?
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thanks thanks thanks thanks thanksSeptember 11, 2005
Racial Justice Sunday
There was an art exhibition, various organisations and a number of bands/artists and a cafe. In-between each act someone would briefly explain their work or campaign and some of the artists were connected with those, Ben Okafor for example was very much part of the Coalition against Child Soldiers and had experienced being a serving soldier at 14. It was a powerful evening and great fun (good combo I thought)
when the sweetness of God
will sweeten all the sour"
September 10, 2005
Yaconelli is still challenging me
Mike YaconelliSeptember 09, 2005
Writers block today but .....
September 08, 2005
No Sex please ......
I have now watched the first episode and am incredibly impressed, I may use it when I'm training people in small group work. The piece I was asked to write for the Diocesan Newspaper is below (click "continue reading")
What marks this out though is that it is the vision of two Christian Youth workers, Dan Burke and Rachel Gardner whose work this is. They have put together a “Romance Academy” to challenge young people’s attitudes to sex and present an alternative to the world most teenagers grow up in. Dan and Rachel, the programme commentator notes, “have such faith in this project that they have put their jobs on hold and their reputations on the line!”
The twelve young people in the programme, with one exception, have all been sexually active, one since the age of 12. Most of them lost their virginity when drunk and share a feeling that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Sex has continued to be a key feature of their relationships since, “Once you pop it’s difficult to stop,” one of them says and they are sceptical about the benefits of abstaining for five months but do all commit to the project.
At the time of going to press only one episode had been aired and covers the first few weeks of the project. Rachel and Dan talk openly and honestly with the group and the discussion is open, at times funny and also very real. The programme follows the group onto a residential and through the things that go badly and the things that go well ….. It’s quite a journey and the group begin to learn a lot about each other and themselves. Even in this first episode many of the teenagers start to view relationships in a different way and consider themselves to have grown - by way of the challenge as well as what they are learning and experiencing.
The programme then changes location as the group travel to America and visit a Church that heavily promotes the Abstinence message.
The group struggle in their encounter with the Church there. They are, bar one, non-Christians and one of them remarks that the experience was like “Jumping in at the deep end when you don’t know how to swim!” It also seems that the approach of the American church doesn’t employ the same level of dialogue and negotiation as Rachel and Dan do with the group. It certainly fuels conversation amongst the group though!
The first episode ends there with the promise of further challenges to come. …..
I was incredibly impressed with the youth workers involved and the young people for their willingness, honesty and vulnerability. If you are interested in understanding the sexual climate teenagers are growing up in then this is definitely a programme to watch. Even more though, it is a programme to watch if you are interested in helping teenagers to be able to think about how they view themselves and relationships, and if you are interested in challenging the norms of a sex saturated society where our young people are often the casualties.
More information on the project can be found on www.romanceacademy.orgMatrix Conference 2007
Having said that it will most likely be in March 2007 and the venue is probably High Leigh again.
One of the questions that came up was about every other year when Matrix doesn't run .... Where (if anywhere) do youth workers go then. If you are a Matrix goer, what else do you go to in terms of conferences and professional development? Is Matrix failing by only being bi-annual or is this freeing?September 07, 2005
Health and Safety
On the radio was a report about a fire in a theatre which was caused by a member of the cast knocking over a candle. Ordinarily that wouldn't have been a problem BUT the entire set in this experimental production was made of paper bags!
Duct tape + person + wall = bad
Candles + paper bags = very badNo Sex please, episode 1
A colleague has recorded it for me though and I'm looking forward to seeing it. Richard has written a helpful and thought provoking review and I guess there'll be more thoughts posted during the day across youth ministry blogdom ..... I sincerely hope so as I have to write an article on it for the Diocesan Newspaper and need all the help I can get :-)September 06, 2005
Models not critics
September 05, 2005
Way to go Robert
I have been encouraged though by the number of reports around about Churches working creatively and sacrificially to make a difference. "Ministry via Mistakes" is one of my regular reads, Robert blogs from Baton Rouge and together with his Church/Youth Ministry are working with the evacuees from the disaster. Way to go Robert, prayers and thoughts are with you and your church.September 04, 2005
Church. A time of the signs
In the middle of the first hymn some teenagers arrived and sat in the row behind us, after a moment or two they started to sign along to the hymn (very cool).
After the service I mustered my limited sign language and said "Good Morning" and introduced myself. They were visiting from a local residential school for the deaf and were great guys. Fortunately one of them had some limited hearing and good lip reading and was able to do quite a bit of translation. Great chat and much hilarity when I indicated that I didn't understand a sign one of the lads was making ..... not, in fact, a sign at all, he had an itch!
I was SO glad we had the PowerPoint this morning, without that the service would have been totally unaccessible. They'd love to come again but wandered if there was any chance of someone signing from the front .... It would be great if we can deliver on that one!September 02, 2005
Why Blog
I had a real crisis of confidence as I encountered a great picture of what Christian blogging should be BUT at the same time became more aware of the capacity for misunderstandings, ego and setting yourself up (or being seen to) as something more than you are. Ouch!
This has had me really wrestling with:
Why should I dare to blog?
Do I have the ability to communicate in text?
2. It's fun. I enjoy creating something.
3. It throws me into a community of people who care about young people.
4. I like having a place to share things that excite me or make me laugh.
5. It means that I record things I was never bothering to record before. I can now retrieve them when a link, story or contact is useful to someone else.
Anyway, that's where I'm at right now! I am debating taking a month off blogging just to work through this stuff more fully and reflect on Tall Skinny's list of what spiritual blogging should be (below).
I have also thrown away my Youthblog T Shirts and have turned off the comments for this entry as this is not about me needing an ego boost.
2. Accountability. (Eph. 5: 21 "Submit yourselves to one another", quote from Athanasias)
3. Vulnerability (Daniel's window)
4, Given-ness (Freely you have received, gift economy, Prov 11:24)
5. Creative Naming (Adam, Neighbors in Ruth)
6. Repentance (editing/deleting/changing our mind in new media)
7. Fellowship (hypertext linking, Koinonia)
8. Evangelism (storytelling, blogging from our lives)
9. Integrity (writing matches our speaking, design reflects reality)
10. Posterity. (store/guard what has been entrusted, writing history)
11. Watchfulness (watch and pray)"September 01, 2005
Bandwidth theft problems
For me the pictures and the writing are both a key part of the blog and I like to illustrate a thought, play with a theme or put something funny in with the text. However I am having major problems (and I'm at the very edge of my understanding here) because other bloggers use the pictures on their sites in such a way that when they are viewed it draws the data from my blog every time. Result is that in uses lots of our bandwidth to support other peoples sites and we get the bill!
If that makes sense to you and you have any advice then I'd love to hear from you as I really don't want the blog to become text only!Holy Smoke
“Inhaling smoke is VERY bad for you, now please put them out and enjoy the incense and the music”Stuff that you may want to look at
The Scottish Executive have put together a document entitled "Safe and Well" for Scottish schools including a Children's Charter (below). It's a good document and there's some great principles applicable to youth work.
Get to know us
Speak with us
Listen to us
Take us seriously
Involve us
Respect our privacy
Be responsible to us
Think about our lives as a whole
Think carefully about how you use information about us
Put us in touch with the right people
Use your power to help
Make things happen when they should
Help us be safe