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June 30, 2008
Growing?
As part of the seminar for CYM I attempted to visualize some sort of representation of what growth might look like for us as Christian Youth Workers. With blog comment help, this is what it turned out like!
They are of course all interconnected and it has no strategic value, but I wanted something that could help frame, being intentional about Growing. The idea being that if we are moving forward as disciples it's going to need deepening in faith and spirituality, looking back and reflecting, upward learning in leadership and inward growing in self-awareness.
I guess it comes down to: Knowing more of God, gaining a fuller understanding of yourself and others. Not rocket science in anyway.
This post filed under, thinking outloud
Posted by ian at 9:24 AM | Comments (5)
Travels this summer
I shall be at Soul Survivor week C for a day on the 19th August if anyone fancies a meet up and coffee .... let me know. I will be at Greenbelt for the whole time, same offer applies!
Posted by ian at 9:21 AM | Comments (1)
Creosote Substitute
Someone asked me last week about wood treatments and specifically Creosote, Yay! This is the first time I have been consulted (without out it being a wind up) on wood treatments.
I now feel I can justify my role as a leader in the emerging shed movement .... and my all important 13th place on Google if you are wanting to know about Creosote Substitute!
(Sadly the Creosote Council ceased to be in 2003 and I shall never be able to join).
I had a fab day off on Saturday and used it to move the only shed that came with the house. It has been rotting at the base as the previous owners built in the Swamp sector of the garden. I had to disassemble it completely to replace the rotten sections and so couldn't resist building it just a little bit bigger. Goodbye 35 sg ft, hello 49 sq feet.
Creosote time me thinks :-)
This entry is filed under 'nothing to do with youth ministry'
Posted by ian at 8:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2008
Is it a tent, is it a caravan
Regular reader(s) will know that I flirted briefly with the idea of buying a caravan that was for sale for the princely sum of £75 (including awning). There were a number of issues though, primarily that Melanie thought that taking a £75 caravan on the road was reckless, while G of Quarry Bank despised the whole idea of us owning a "Grockle Box"
Thankfully the whole thing fell through (the deal that is, not the subframe) and Melanie and G are still talking to me.
The principle of holidaying in the increased comfort my 41 year old body now needs though still existed as an aspiration, especially having something more than 4mm of mat between me and the earth.
So *tada* .......... I've invested £50 in a trailer tent! It's fab, a kind of Swiss army mobile marquee. One moment it's a rather ordinary trailer and the next it's a Bedouin Palace.
Admitedly for £50 there are one or two minor (ish) repairs I need to make but hey, you've got to be impressed, right? (and it isn't a Caravan!)
Posted by ian at 10:07 AM | Comments (8)
R.I.P
I'm pretty sure that Matrix (the conference) is dead and we'll not see it's like again for the forseeable future.
In memorandum: You will be missed. You were a place where laughter and deep theological discussion were ever present, the place where a diverse range of fellow practitioners became friends and a place where I was challenged, stretched and taught.
Posted by ian at 9:54 AM | Comments (1)
June 26, 2008
Graduation to first post
I ran a session for year 3 CYM Youth work students today entitled "Advice, challenge and encouragement" looking at things it would be helpful to know/reflect -on when beginning a role as Church Youth worker.
(Hi if you are logging on from the seminar to get the Powerpoint)
I wrote a scenario which was a snapshot of one year on for the first youth worker at the fictional, "St Egberts and Most Angels!" One year on.doc The Powerpoint of the presentation as a pdf is here: advice to y3 cym ver2.pdf and the tool for evaluating and weighing all the things that are keeping you busy is there: Jigsaw priorities.pdf
Thank to all the Youthblog commenters who helped frame the issues and ideas, much appreciated! (If you have a look at the Power point you'll see your influence)
Posted by ian at 3:32 PM | Comments (1)
June 25, 2008
The Outdoor type
Keeping me toe-tappingly amused and sing-along-ily happy on the way to work this morning were the Lemonheads singing, The Outdoor Type! It's genius, the tune and lyrics are so elegantly simple but have a wonderful pathos and humour, genius! Definitely, track of the day!
"Too scared to let you know you knew what you were looking for
I lied until I fit the bill god bless the great indoors
I lied about being the outdoor type
I've never owned a sleeping bag let alone a mountain bike
i can't go away with you on a rock climbing weekend
what if somethings on tv and its never shown again"
Posted by ian at 9:45 AM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2008
Oxford Area
CMS (Oxford) have a christian group of breakdancers over from Tajikstan in the summer (they were at Greenbelt last year AND were awesome). They are available on the weekend of 16/17th Aug and evenings of 18th/19th if your church/youth group would be interested in having them over as part of an outreach opportunity.
Posted by ian at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
Grace and good Communication
I'm leading a seminar for a CYM pre-graduation residential on Thursday. The title I have been given is "Advice, Challenge and Encouragement" and is designed to be a practical session on the move from student to employed youth worker (especially in a Church context). I am suffering from having just too many ideas and areas to look at, I need to focus in on the really relevant. I'm drawing on some of the thinking that you shared with me a month or so ago, but any further musings would be useful:
Working framework so far: I'm going to major on two key attributes that Church based youth ministers (imho) need, Grace and Good communication. I'm also going to look at growing as a Youth Minister under the themes of Onward (discipleship) Downward (faith and spiritual rooting) and Upward (leadership).
Would value critique, suggestions and in fact any relevant chunks of your considerable wisdom!
Posted by ian at 8:36 AM | Comments (8)
Mixed metaphor of the day
Great meeting yesterday and I rather enjoyed my colleague David, "Surfing the roller coaster of change!"
My favourite still remains from a meeting back in the day (When Crusaders were still Crusaders) and the admonishment, "the trouble with sticking your neck out is that you get your fingers burnt!"
Posted by ian at 7:27 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2008
Jumping in the house of God?
I'm not sure that Jonny baker will make this a worship trick but I had to flag it up. As with many creative ways of exploring new forms of worship this has been created by fusing together two different elements. What is slightly bizarre here (and you will have to do a double take) is that this is a fusion of Parkour and Organ Music!!!!!!
Posted by ian at 11:20 AM | Comments (3)
June 20, 2008
I hope you didn't give the customer 86g
On a recent visit to my local Vue cinema, in a fit of decadence, I decided to buy some ice cream. Those who have similarly invested in ice cream at the cinema will probably have noted as I did that it is one of the few commodities that makes petrol look cheap. Two scoops is in the financial league not only of How Much? but high pitched capital letters type 'HOW MUCH?!'
Now Ben and Jerry's Ice cream is very good, in fact very very good but I did bristle a little when I spotted this note taped to the desk as an aide-memoir for the ice cream server. The note essentially was a reminder that customers should be getting 85g per scoop! Not only that but that the employees were expected to practice, with scales, to ensure that flagrant additional grams were not being bestowed on the customers.
I politely asked the assistant if he would like to weigh the tub before I started to eat but he (and he was at least embarassed by company policy) declined.
If you are preaching this Sunday and you are attempting to cover the subject of 'grace,' I would suggest this as an illustrative example of the antithesis.
Rant over :-)
Posted by ian at 6:11 PM | Comments (6)
Core 2 hits the shelves
Core mag' has published it's 2nd edition, details here!
Posted by ian at 8:03 AM | Comments (0)
V Inspired
The V Inspired project is about helping young people aged 16-25 to use their skills and make a difference in their communities. The V (by way of explanation) being the "first letter of volunteering" and becomes a prefix for everything, all V good Stuff and worth checking out. One particularly opportunity that they are promoting at the moment is VCashpoint which allows young people (aged 16-25) to apply for up to £2500 for NEW projects that impact their community:
Posted by ian at 7:46 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2008
Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmat
The Blah day at CMS yesterday was a great occasion. Great environment, good food, interesting company and some awesome input from Sylvia Keesmat and Brian Walsh as they re-examined Colossians, both in it's orginal context to it's hearers and therefore what contextually it has to say to us!
Amusingly it was a bit of a I spy Bloggers occasion and Matt Rees, Richard Passmore, Mark Berry, Ian Adams and Jonny Baker were among the gathered throng who I recognised.
I really recommend the book that the day was based on, Colossians re-mixed: Subverting the Empire! Although I described it as a radical commentary, Walsh describes it as an anti commentary.
We spent the day re-visiting the OT narrative and the context of the all pervading Roman Empire, exploring the OT layers (with emphasis on the restoration of all of creation) and understanding Paul's pointer to sovereignty to a Kingdom (Empire) beyond the one that was seen and experienced Everywhere. Walsh and Keesmat then examined the Empire in which we find ourselves, The Globalised brand-led economic system (and resultant slavery) that is the Empire we find ourselves in .............. and therefore what is the message of Colossians for us?
It was fun to listen to Pete Ward and Brian discussing orientations in terms of being either missiologically immersed in culture or having a separatist view that saw the reality of an Empire that holds us captive. What emerged from that discussion for me was that we need to be able to think and exist in both of these orientations. To understand the danger of the pervading Empire and be able to be a subversive Christ centered influence but also to be able to live within the culture and have the relationality of the gospel as central to who we are. (This was a really helpful discussion as one of the critiques of Walsh and Keesmat is that it might lead to a kind of seperatism (to be fair though the book is not saying or advocating this in any way).
Great day though, I'm not sure my ramblings will make much sense, so read the book. And for Youth Ministers there is a really useful idea to puruse in the form of Jewish Targums .............. a translation of scripture into the language and CONTEXT of the hearers.
Other bloggers who have written about the day:
James Henley
My sales skills are slipping though as I pushed the day BIG TIME to all 42 employed youth workers in the Diocese and only 1 was there, All credit to Pat for representing the Network :-)
Posted by ian at 8:43 AM | Comments (6)
June 18, 2008
Contemplative
"We cannot hope to touch the hearts of young people if we have lost our own spiritual rooting!" Mark Yaconelli
Posted by ian at 9:11 AM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2008
Know your limits
I was up in London at Lunchtime today chatting with representatives from the 'Home Office,' some fellow bloggers and an advertsing agency! It gets even more bizarre as we were gathered outside a shop front which had been turned into a series of montages with mannequins posing in all manner of post night-out scenarios.
Today was the launch of a £4 million campaign aimed at 18-24 year olds which is trying to challenge attitudes to drinking by juxtaposing what people might end up doing after an alcohol fuelled night out ..... and asking whether they would do these things at the start of their evening?
The "Know your limits" ads will be hitting radio, TV and the internet about now. They were very keen to involve bloggers as a viral ad' will form part of the campaign. Tim Davies said something nice about me to someone and I was invited.
Sadly the whole thing is much more aimed at 18-24 year olds (I didn't realise that before going) and there was not as much useful stuff for my arena as I'd hoped. The radio ad's may be useful discussion starters though and I can send you a copy if you would like.
(on the plus side though I met some great people and also learned that people who work for the home office can look like CIA agents! ...... unless they were actually CIA agents?)
Posted by ian at 3:40 PM | Comments (2)
June 16, 2008
Yellow Braces
The Yellow Braces camp is fast approaching and I'm looking forward to a great weekend with loads of young people over the weekend of July 4th-6th. It's coming together and I'm just working with some of the teensy weensy challenges that are emerging *Laughing*
One such grey hair inducing element is despite re-counting the male leaders several times, I am still one short!
Is it you? Erm, send an e-mail to desperatelyseekingamaleleader@yellowbracespanic.co.uk
Benefits include:
Lots of fun
All the flapjack you can eat
A massive sense of well being
On the job training
Joining one of the fabbest teams this end of the Western spiral
Posted by ian at 2:47 PM | Comments (3)
M.A progress 2
Posted by ian at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
Media Training
If you have (or in fact are) a young person who is interested in doing something media based in their gap year (and lives in Buck, Berks or Oxon) then you may want to check this out. This 12 week course is subsidised heavily and could be a fantastic opportunity. More details here.
Posted by ian at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2008
Progress with the M.A?
Posted by ian at 9:55 PM | Comments (2)
Being grilled
I had great fun last week at a youth group where I was on a panel for a grilling about what it meant to be a christian.
One of the questions I was asked was if I liked going to Church.
The answer that emerged (I tend to speak as I think) was, "I love going to Church and being at Church ... but I'm not sure I really like the actual service."
Posted by ian at 9:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2008
There's no time like the pleasant
I'm on a a TOIL day today (time off in lieu) or as i prefer to think of it, TOIS (Time off in Shed). At the weekend I finished the new base for the sheds, there is NO level bit of ground in my garden so a base to level things up is a necessity. I've now put together the rescued shed and replaced the rotten bits of shiplap, yay! So no Youth Ministry blogging today as I'm going to be investing some time in some outdoorsy pottering. The plan is to re-felt the roof, splash some Cresosote Substitute around and generally trick out the new shed. Nice!
Shalom :-)
CAPTAIN'S LOG SUPPLEMENTAL: Mission accomplished and with the added bonus that with the additional storage space now utilized, the Workshop is once more a haven of mellowness. The workshop is still evolving and I'm pleased to announce it now has an amplifier for the MP3, a built in hoover that I rescued and repaired and a comfy chair. If anyone has read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" you'll recognise that it has become the 'cave!'
Posted by ian at 8:46 AM | Comments (1)
June 11, 2008
Matrix conference
I have been meaning to write a bit of a Matrix update for a few days but never seem to get a round to it, probably because what there is to report is not entirely concrete.
Although there is still support for MATRIX as a concept, with decreasing resources across agencies, putting together a conference looks tricky. As far as I can tell Matrix is exploring working with Youthwork the conference and continuing to be a brand around professional formation and development. Matrix may also explore opportunities to deliver training and learning in other formats/places.
I am saddened that MATRIX is currently not going to be a conference as such. One of the barriers I believe though is how much we as youth workers approach things as consumers. We too easily end up with, I want the conference to be my ....... brand of theology/worship tradition/practice approach.
We need a conference that reflects the values that we espouse, learning from difference, encountering other and willingness to re-evaluate what we thought. I believe that we need something like Matrix if as Christian Youth workers we are to grow, learn and impact the world we serve.
If Matrix doesn't exist where no we go to learn, grow, worship and find the stuff that inspires and annoys, affirms and challenges, builds up and breaks down?
Posted by ian at 12:22 PM | Comments (5)
Define the goal
The goal of what you are trying to achieve isn't obvious to everyone:
Posted by ian at 9:25 AM | Comments (5)
M level musing
Have been at Holy Hogwarts for a couple of days on an M.A study retreat, trying to make the move from being an M.A student to being someone who has actually handed in some M level work. My studies exist as a kind of Karmic poetic justice for the hard time I give my CYM students about deadlines!
"I love deadlines! .... I like the wooshing sound they make as they go by" Douglas Adams
Currently working on a 3000 worder entitled, "What can theological reflection and reflective practice learn from one another?" I'm arguing that they are in many ways synonymous in practice, although theological reflection has a distinct body of experience, tradition and knowledge that it works from. I also see that Theological reflection draws heavily from Relective Practice (anyone studied Theological reflection without Kolb cropping up somewhere?) but I can't see where Reflective practice draws from theological reflection and would welcome any suggestions if indeed examples exist?
I knew I'd overdone it last night when I started writing things like "Reflective Practice allows learning to evolve out of the primordial marshes of didactic knowledge" *laughing* "prententious? ........ Moi?"
Posted by ian at 9:01 AM | Comments (11)
June 10, 2008
Where the range X to Y = X
Recently I've observed a couple of churches who have advertised for youth workers have indicated that the salary will be between a minimum, X and a maximum, Y, rather than stating a definite amount.
Sadly there does not seem to have been a great deal of thought as to what the factors are that would indicate where on the scale a worker would find themselves. In both of the cases I have observed the worker has been 'graded' at the X end of the scale (and not being offered subsequent incremental increases to an appropriate grade).
One youth work appointment I observed recently appointed on the minimum X end of the scale despite them being JNC qualified and bringing substantial post qualification experience. Which really begs the question, what would you have need to have had to qualify for Y?
A lot of these roles in Churches are only possible because of enormous sacrificial giving by the congregation and I fully recognise that. (and that Youth workers who are fortunate enough to have accomodation thrown in may be earning more than they realise). I do however think that it is a (albeit maybe unintentionally) dishonest strategy that advertises a pay range if the reality is that it is not the intention to pay more than the minimum figure.
Please only advertise what you can afford or are prepared to pay OR
be clear on what would be required to hit different increments on your scale (and make that transparent).
Posted by ian at 10:05 AM | Comments (8)
June 9, 2008
Nursery World?
I don't know if any of you get "Children and Young People Now" from Haymarket Publishing. If you do you'll also note that a copy of "Youthwork Now" shows up once a month. All well and good but Haymarket constantly seem to be introducing new magazines and assuming I'm interested in ALL of them, even trickier as they keep seeming to further niche their publications. I'm half expecting an advert for "Working with young people aged 9 + 2 months!" I have been trying for a year to unsubscribe to their weekly PR news e-mailing without success. This morning I have a personalised invitation to subscribe to "Nursery World!"
I just wanted to say, aaaaarrghghghghghghghghghgh
and "NO"
Posted by ian at 10:57 AM | Comments (1)
June 8, 2008
Out of the mouths of babes
My youngest son (8) was describing TOP GEAR to his Godfather. "It is," he said, " a programme about Jeremy Clarkson and it has cars in!"
Can't argue with that
Posted by ian at 6:25 PM | Comments (1)
June 6, 2008
Burn Out survey
The IASYM mooted the idea of a look at Burn out in Youth Workers. There is a COMPLETELY anonymous survey here and it would be great if you'd take a few minutes to fill it in. Thanks :-)
Posted by ian at 9:57 AM | Comments (0)
Disability Inclusion 6: Some additional thoughts
There needs to be a shift in mindset. Groups shouldn't take people with disabilities because they feel they have to or they see them as a 'project' to help the rest of the youth group learn something. Rather they should be seen as young people like anyone else who has the potential to contribute, learn and grow.
It will sometimes be challenging as it is with all young people, and some of the challenges will be different. But it is manageable. It will take more planning and preparation (and even some additional training or learning) but it's worth it.
Leaders will sometimes get it wrong - but most parents are quite forgiving!
It needs a shift in the way you run the sessions. It isn't just a case of saying 'this is how we do it, like it or leave' there will be adjustment needed.
There will be highs and lows like all youth work, and like all youth work the highs far outweigh the lows.
Remember: they are young people who will like music, football, art, winding up leaders. They just need some extra help sometimes.
You will probably have to work harder at communication.
Posted by ian at 9:49 AM | Comments (0)
June 5, 2008
Genius!
Posted by ian at 5:16 PM | Comments (0)
I'm looking for women again
My last ad' was highly succesful, so on the basis of that if it ain't broke don't fix it:
Slightly scatty but enthusiastic youthworker (41) with GSOH seeks female youthworker for a Kerraaazzzy day out in Leicester. No lasting commitment required. Must have CRB and be able to bring own Jaffa cakes.
The Lambeth Talk event which looks really cool will see a party leaving Oxford at some unearthly hour and heading up to Leicester for a day with young people from every continent*. Young people, Bishops and youth workers will be in conversation about Life, faith and Power with a view to taking some priorities from a young people's perspective into the Lambeth conference. So if you are up for being the female youth worker for the Oxford party, let me know.
* "Every continent" was their line but when I pushed them on this it was conceded that it was actually only every continent where people actually lived
Posted by ian at 9:28 AM | Comments (3)
June 4, 2008
Ideas for Camp
Rethinking Youth Ministry are running a bit of a competition over on their portion of the internet, the idea being to contribute ideas for summer camp. So, head on over there and contribute and glean in equal measures.
Posted by ian at 8:30 AM | Comments (0)
me sing? er no
I was trying to explain last night that me joining in the singing was a bad idea. As they didn't believe me (and my wife wasn't there to add, as she usually does, "no, he really shouldn't sing") I had to tell them my favourite Ian-really-can't-sing story:
Coming out of Church one morning a lady said to me, "Do you know Ian I admire you ..... during that last hymn you picked a note and you stuck to it"
Posted by ian at 8:17 AM | Comments (2)
June 3, 2008
The Craaaaazzzyyy life of the DYO
According to my diary I am tonight addressing the Mothers Union in Slough on the subject of teenagers!
Posted by ian at 8:49 AM | Comments (0)
Youthblog and the Butane Machine
The LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) experiment is working well and despite some teasing about my car running on camping gas I'm very pleased with my Butane machine. A number of people have asked about the economy so I'm about to scribble some technical gumpf (If this doesn't light your fire then you can bail out now).
The car has a petrol tank and an LPG tank. It will happily run on either but needs petrol to start with, after a few seconds it switches to LPG. (If you run out of LPG it just switches to petrol and flashes a light to let you know you are wasting money).
The LPG is around 15% less efficient than petrol meaning that I do (with careful driving) 31.5 miles per gallon. Last nights fill up with LPG cost 57p per litre (£2.59 per gallon). The price of diesel was 225% more expensive, so price wise my estate car would be the same fuel-costing as a diesel engine which could deliver 70mpg.
Posted by ian at 8:25 AM | Comments (2)
June 2, 2008
Making me smile
Posted by ian at 8:55 AM | Comments (3)
Re:Act 08
advert from Urban Saints, reads:
Most of you will have heard of Hope 08 and will know that as part of it Urban Saints are going to be running a series of Re:Act tours this at the end of July.
Re:Act has been running for years. A team of young people come together for 4 days of training, before going out together with bands, evangelists and a lorry load of equipment to 6 towns in 6 days. Each day in one of the towns the team set up and run a free family fun day with inflatables, a BBQ, face painting, a roadshow and much more.
At the end of the afternoon the activities draw to a close and the team run church outdoors, with worship, dance, testimonies and short gospel message.
Re:Act is a life changing experience for the young people that make up the teams and for many of the local people where the tour visits.
This year we have arranged seven tours, visiting over 40 towns. We have been praying over the last few months for God to help find lorries, for councils to agree to the day being run, for local teams to make all the arrangements. God has answered our prayers in so many surprising ways.
What we need now are young people to make up the teams. We are looking for 150 young people to sign up for Re:Act in the next few weeks.
Who do you know who might be able to be a part of this life changing experience?
Please don't assume someone else will pass this information on. We need you to tell young people (14+) about Re:Act. Ask them to look at the website, or ring and talk to someone about Re:Act and find out how they can be involved.
Posted by ian at 8:48 AM | Comments (0)