May 2009 Archives

Boris Johnson was once asked if Power corrupts to which he replied that actually, power reveals!

I also enjoyed a recent cartoon in the paper which showed a sign outside a shop, it read "Only 2 MP's allowed in at any one time"

The world gets madder but sometimes in tandem with this it gets funnier. Loving this story of the image enshrined in an iconic yeast spread. I guess it's a 'love it or hate it story'. You'll find the full spread here.

Only just found the info for the annual pilgrimage but wanted to flag it up. 21st june, 12 or 5 mile walk to Dorchester Abbey for a service and eats. The walk incorporates this year a Youth Challenge initiative too. StBPilg poster-web.pdf

Our Diocesan commitment to environmental responsibility means that journies outside of the Diocese have to be taken by Public transport. The conference in Wakefield last week was the first major trip beyond the bounds since the transport policy was aligned with other environmental responses.

So how did this initial experiment go I hear you ask?

Not great! The journey there would have taken three and a half hours by car (granted there could have been traffic jams but I generally avoid them with a mixture of RDS radio reports and driving at a time which minimises the posibility). The way there wasn't too bad with the trains on time, and the seat reservations in place giving a door-to-door travelling time of just under five hours.

The way back however was more taxing. The train I was booked on was cancelled (due to vandalism so admittedly beyond the Train companies control) so a wait at the station until an overloaded and old 125 pulled in. I was fortunate enough to get a seat and thus the train bounced and rocked towards London. Arriving in London I discovered that the Victoria Line was shut due to strike action and a train had broken down on the Circle line. The underground platform was overflowing back to the escalators and I sat on my rucksack for a good while in the corridor. Once the Circle line started working again I managed to cram into a very packed carriage and toottle round to Paddington. Now at this point the train company do deserve credit as they allowed me onto a train that my ticket wasn't valid for (given that my train South had been cancelled causing the missed connection). Finally got back to Macdonald Towers six and a quarter hours after leaving the hotel.

As well as the environmental benefits it's aslo considered that we get some valuable work time on the train. This wasn't my experience however as on the way there the first train was too packed, the second had no curtain and the sun was too bright to see the Laptop screen. On the way back the train was swaying, bouncing and rocking too much to achieve much meaningful endevour.

So I find myself in a quandry, fundamentally agreeing with the environmental rationale BUT hating the practice.

We have to invest in Public transport in this country but with all the money gone to propping up the banks (and paying MPs expenses), I'm unsure how this will happen!

Base 33 is a superb youth project in Witney (Oxfordshire) , they are currently looking for a new Director. Details: Base 33 ADVERT.pdf

FYT have sent me advanced notice of a network conference for those Christian based youth workers working with young people on the edge, outside the church, in hard to reach settings etc. September 2-3. Birmingham. A partnership event with FYT, Worth Unlimited, East to West, Living Well Trust, Church Urban Fund, 24/7 Prayer network. More details (including the title !!) to follow just as soon as they are available. E-mail Nigel Pimlott to register an interest.

On September 26th the Growing Leaders (Youth Edition) training day will be coming to Oxfordshire. I'm still sorting out the details with CPAS but let me know if you would like more information.

Tony Campolo is in town on the 10th June. Go and hear him if you can! Details

Foundations 21, the online Discipleship course from BRF is now being made available free. Details here if you are interested

A couple of holiday opportunities:

Cathedral Camps are working holidays for 12-25's
Cathedral camps.pdf
Smallwood is a houseparty for 10-13's run by Urban Saints
Smallwood Flyer.pdf

Hey, I'm back at the desk attacking the e-mail horde and the plentudinous paperwork, bring it on!

The Youth Adviser is available, how can I help?

(Note tidy uncluttered desk!! ............... am happy to take bets on how long it will stay this way)

Youth ministry uber blogger YS Marko is calling it a day and withdrawing from Twitter, FB and blogging!

Marko and I met at Soul Survivor back in 2005 (or it might have been 2004?) and discussed our respective fledgling blogs. I've been a regular reader of Marko's blog since ... especially as he is among a very small number of Youth Ministry bloggers who post very regularly AND use the blog for reflection and discussion. I've linked to his blog over forty times in the last five years! Marko is bowing out of the blogosphere as part of re-prioritising his life and time, fair play!

It'll be weird not tuning in each day Marko! Every blessing for the future.
(It looks like I didn't finish my review of YM 3.0 in time eh!)

Idly fettling in the shed and casting an ocassional eye at the incoming e-mails I happened to notice a bit of SPAM that made it past the Diocesan Spam Bouncer. The unsolicited advert in question was offering me a Christian car! (I guess it depends on how you punctuate the e-mail title, but I like my reading of it). This set me off on a muse regarding automobile names and especially those that might hint at a redeemed status. (Forgiven from their 'Manifold' sins*)

Messing about with the names 'a bit' I got

• The Rolls Royce Holy Ghost
• The Nissan (narrow) Pathfinder
• The BMW (John) 316

I've got to get back to fence building and the like, so over to you!

*this gag only works if you are familiar with the technical term for where the exhaust system and engine join!

I'm off work for a couple of days and won't be, either driving the desk or travelling the Diocese until Thursday. However I figure this week will either be REALLY busy for youth workers or you'll be taking a break too, thus I won't be too anxious if the blogging is more 'Special K' than the 'Full English'

Shalom

I had a fantastic morning in Bradford yesterday, meeting the crew of E:Merge, a Christian youth work project in the heart of a deprived area of the city. They talked us through the work that they do which involved detached, school based, centre based (their own in a disused church), sports and specific summer projects.

E:merge has been running for over 12 years and it was obvious that the workers loved both the area and the young people they serve there. They face enormous hurdles with funding, challenging behaviour and how much they deliver tagetted work with targetted groups (which attract funding) or continue to engage on the basis of the voluntary participation of the young people. None of which detracted from the commitment to inspring young people and helping them to encouter opportunity.

We then went on to Bradford Academy where E:merge are very much involved. The headmaster spoke passionately about the work of the academy and particularly recognised the work E:merge do paying tribute to the fact they were local, had been around long enough to be trusted, worked with the young people in the community, on the streets and in the school and that there work was based around when young people needed them, the Head' noting that Young People tend not to have crisis in office hours. The academy too was a real encouragment, the values and practices seem to be really well aligned. I loved the importance too of affirmation ... and their policy of NEVER excluding a pupil.

It was an fantastic morning and so good to see such a great piece of gritty, gutsy Christian youth and community work. Work that recognised that the work had to be long term, needs based, incarnational and flexibly delivered.

Last year Jude Simpson wrote a book about the project called "Just Walk with Me" which I am now reading and finding heartbreakingly inspiring.

The Diocesan Youth Advisers conference was fantastic and I'm currently making my way South despite the complications of a cancelled train and the resultant uncertainty about whether I'll make my next connection. I intend to write up some of the conference over the next few days but with on-off internet hook-up from the train here, I'll just post a particular souvenir picture.

The hotel that hosted the conference was quite classy (great food!) and it was therefore with great amusement that we admired the two pieces of impressionist art on the wall of our meeting room. The amusement being derived from one piece being mounted on the wall for those who wished to stand and view the picture, the right hand one for those who prefer to do a handstand in order to appreciate the artistry.

"Do you know any young people who are passionate about taking action on climate change? If they are aged 14-17 and based in the UK, this could be their opportunity to get involved and speak out on the issue in front of a global audience.

This December, UNICEF and the city of Copenhagen will host a Children's Climate Forum. The forum will bring together young people from all over the world who will share their views on how we should face up to the threat of climate change.

And world leaders will listen. Following the children's forum, there will be a high-level meeting of decision makers representing every country in the world, which could potentially lead to an historic agreement on how to tackle climate change.

Four young people from the UK will travel to Copenhagen for the forum. To secure a place on the team, entrants must submit a short video or written piece via our YouTube channel. The piece should answer these three questions:

• Why is climate change an important issue to you?


• What can young people do about climate change - and how would you encourage them to take action if you were to go to Copenhagen?


• What do you think the world leaders should decide at their meeting in Copenhagen?

I was at a youth group the other night and came across an improvised 'Heath Robinson' Go-Pak Table Tennis table! How cool is this ...... and it also allows for some very weird trick shots:

I'd be up for photos of any other improvised games equipment you've encountered or developed!

I've not mentioned Sheds for a while, well at least not on the blog :-) but I couldn't let the Shed of \the Year awards go by without a mention ........... so, have a look and have a vote BUT importantly be inspired about your own shed or the possibility thereof.

I'm still gathering materials for my uber shed project (one shed to rule them all) but that's a way off yet and my next project is some major decking work. I had done loads of digging into the hillside to extend the patio but discovered that the water table is a major problem. I got a landscaper in to quote but he was clear that what I need was not going to be solved by landscaping, it was in fact a a civil-engineering problem. Hence I'm going to deck it, thus bypassing the need for retaining walls, drainage, pinning and the like. So, I shall be being 'Tool Time Tim' again tackling 3 x 6m of decking.

Apparantly 10 schools a week are making a change to their uniform, specifically moving from conventional ties to clip-on ones. According to the BBC this is happening partly from a safety point of view and partly to create a more, well ..... uniform uniform. I guess this will gradually mark the end of the two tribes (and variations between), the FAT knots and the skinny ties.

the end of an era perhaps, but teenagers being as creative as they are I'm sure new ways of subverting the uniform will emerge :-)

I was in the congregation yesterday for a service that was a complex fusion of elements leading to what I considered the most challenging environment for the 'all-age' talk EVER.

It was a CIVIC service for the new Mayor that was merged with the informal family congregation that normally worship at that time. Not only was there a fantastical range of robes, uniforms, ages, expectations and traditions .... the service also had a multifaith attendence and dimension.

So, a Christian inter-faith all-age talk for a combined CIVIC formal service and family informal gathering. (BTW The minister taking the service handled it brilliantly)

Anyone had a tougher call?

(I was talking about this with someome yesterday and they pointed out the technically it was Rogationtide so it could have been a civic, informal, formal, all-age, interfaith, christian Rogationtide talk :-)

Space in our communal office here at Church House is a little bit short and we were on our regular hunt for things that weren't bolted down or breathing, that could thus be jetisoned. My secretary spotted my collection of Youthwork magazine and suggested that this could free up some useful room! She was unarguably right but I am struggling with pangs of nostalgia and loss as seventeen years of Youth work magazine head towards pulping and recycling!

Sadly although the mag' is made from sustainable sources it doesn't use recycled pulp so I can't entertain the idea of say my lovely Oct/Nov 1992 copy being reincarnated as, say the October 2009 edition. Hey Ho

In case you wondered, back in the day it was a black and white publication, but the mag' gained a colour cover in 1995, benefitted from some colour content in 1999 and finally went full colour in 2002! Originally too there were only 6 copies a year!! (And you tell youth workers that today *adopts Yorkshire accent* ...... and they don't believe you!)

But here is the 'then and now' official commemorative photo for posterity:

Last night I watched a BBC drama entitled "Einstein and Eddington" I don't know enough scientific history to know how accurate the story was but it was utterly engaging ... and a fascinating portrayal of engaging with a paradigm shift (that has some interesting and useful parallels).

Eddington is a brilliant young mathematician who is asked to look at the work of a certain Albert Einstein. Sir Oliver Lodge who comissions this report is a thorough believer in Newtonian physics and sees the future of science, in the area of gravity, merely as a measuring excercise but wants to know why Germany is so interested in him.

Eddington initially reports that Einstein offers no experimental proof for his thesis about the speed of light not being a constant, and as such there is no validity in his challenge to the Newtonian construct of the universe. Eddington however glimpses that although Einsteins work is only theoretical (and from a Newtonian point of view, absurd), there is something in it. Thus begins a correspondence between Eddington and Einstein in which Eddington is able to find a way of testing Einstein's theory and thus finding the theoretical framework valid.

Eddington then designs an experiment in which he will photograph a cluster of stars during an eclipse. Eddingtons experiment will then overlay these new photo's with the existing pictures of the cluster. If the stars correspond exactly then Newton is correct, but if there is a shift, then it is a pointer to the fact that light can be bent and Einstein is indeed right.

The actual overlaying of the photographic plates happens at the Royal Society and proves that Einstein's theory of relativity is correct. Sir Oliver Lodge cannot and will not accept that Netwonian certainty no longer exists and walks out of the room.

The rest of the gathered scientist are left to ponder what this new world looks like now that their whole construct for the way the universe works is no longer valid.

I was left feeling like this was a huge parable for us as the church (Discuss)

When the rain stopped last night I went out for a 'play' on my bike, just messing around for the fun of it and finding quirky places on our estate and in the woods to ride. Great fun!

A few years ago I worked with a group of teenagers who were all into Freeriding and I loved the way they could loft the bikes over stuff as well as balance the bike on either wheel before springing onto the next obstacle. Sadly I never got the hang of this, but having seen this video on Chris's site last night I was reminded how far above and beyond play cycling this is. Very very cool!

Put yourself in the way of some learning:

11th June: Blah day "Mission in a consumer culture" CMS Oxford (I'll be there)

28th August: Greenbelt festival. Great line up including Rob Bell. (I'm going, see you there)

Please let me know other stuff, especially conferences relevent to Youth Ministers

Apologies for the lack of blogging. In the absence of a Director in our department at the moment, the two deputies (of which I am one) are being kept additionally occupied. It's not without it's positives though and this morning was a case in point. At 07:45 this morning I was scurrying accross Tom Quad for a meeting with Bishops and Heads of departments in one of the rather lovely dwellings at Christchurch. My seat was below a giant portrait of Bishop Crammer and looking out at the pond in the quad. It felt rather like I'd found myself in a Dan Brown novel ...... apart from the fact there was no major conspiracy afoot.

It was a great privilige as well to be in the Cathedral during the morning, in prayer with the Bishops.

I love my job :-)

Frontier Youth Trust (FYT) is holding a training event called FYT Live! in Birmingham on July 4th 2009 at Christ Church, Selly Park, B29. The cost will be £10. Attendees will be introduced to the current work of FYT and undertake two workshops of their choice. Workshops include:

• Responding to Challenging Behaviour


• Church on the Edge


• Participation


• Spirituality and Young People


• Youth Work After Christendom


• Working with Those Outside the Church

Yesterday morning I took part in a charity bike ride, I did the shorter route (34 miles) so I wasn't away from the family for too much of Sunday ... and hence was back in Newbury by the late morning. I took a quick shower (Ok, that detail was a little bit akin to the dullest blog in the world) and went down to church to meet my family and a good friend) for our Sunday ritual of moving on from Church to the Temple of the Sacred Coffee Bean.

Thus at midday when the service normally ends I was sitting on the wall outside Church in the sunshine. As it happended though, in a move that breaks all the tennets of Anglicanism, the service didn't finish at the end of the requisite hour (as St Paul himself surely commanded) and went on in a Guiness Book of Records attemp stylee.

But the wall outside our Church is along an arterial path into town and I found myself in a series of wonderful conversations with people heading into Town (or some escaping the prolonged (un-Pauline) service.

Highlights included:

An old couple who were strolling out together and stopped for a natter with me about Spring, life and the cost of coffee.

Bumping into the Mum of a guy who used to be in my youth group who I was able to address as Granny Staunton as her son and daughter in law had just had their first child two days before (she was amazed I already knew, good old Face Book).

Talking with one of the teenagers who arrived at Church directly from a 20k D-of-E expedition walk.

A chat with a wonderful German lady from our church (and in fact married to one of the readers of this blog) who was telling me about her young son's delight with the building site in their road and his love of the big yellow digger. What made this laugh-out-loud (and I did) though was that because she always talks to him in German it's not 'Digger' that is his favourite (and oft said) word, it's the German equivalent ..... "bagger" which in German sounds more like it rhymes with Rugger :-)
I thought this anecdote into the potential embarrassing dangers of bi-lingualism was wonderful.

So, all in all a good morning AND did eventually make it to Cafe Nero.

If you are hacked off with your internet service provider can I recommend PLUSNET for two reasons:

1. They are great (I use them at home and they are our office provider too)
2. I get a discount on my bill if you sign up :-)

They won the 'Best Connection' title at the uSwitch awards, and last year won the 'Best Overall Customer Satisfaction', 'Best Technical Support' and 'Best Value for Money' categories.

Anyway, have a look and if you do sign up please send me an e-mail first so you can get my username for the referral

Here endeth the advert :-)

Blog stuff: I've added some 'stuff' into the side bar. There's a developing list of other places where you'll find me and also a list of what I'm reading at the moment (this list will hopefully make it more likely that I'll finish the books, as you'll now be able to see if I got bored on the front page and never EVER finish it).

I've recently been alerted to the fact that when I write in yellow it's illegible for those using a 'Reader!' I'd be grateful if you could let me know if there are other issues for those whose blog cosumption is via vampirical text sucking through the RSS feed. (I'd also be interested to know if there's a way of being yellow on the blog but plain in the reader?)

Another question: Twittering? Would tweeting (as well as wittering) have any usefully useable useful use?

Having listened to the news yesterday there's an aspect of 'Identity Cards' that I just don't get! They are trialling them in Manchester and you'll be able to get one by visiting one of the providers and not only handing over £30 but by producing your passport to prove who you are!!

Now if we need Identity cards because Passports are not good enough as I.D, how come you can produce your passport to prove who you are in order to get one. And if Passports are good enough to prove who you are (the logical outworking of producing one to get an I.D card), why do we need I.D cards?

Confused of Oxford

A while back I put a series of pics' on the blog exploring the offices of youth workers. I'd like to claim this was some meaningful analysis of working environments and how they affected practice, but actually it was just kind of fun! (Youth worker Office one, two, three, four, five and six are all clickably available via this sentence)

Yesterday I was in Amersham enjoying a coffee with their youth worker Colin Blandford and took the chance to snap a few pics of his office. It's not unusual for the youth work office to be a place where stuff is stored but Colin's office scored mega points on the diversity of stuff therein, electric saw, fridge, firewood and this whole UBER storage rack, nice! (Loved the coffee maker, primed and ready to go).

The funniest thing was the sword that was gaffa taped to the ceiling in a 'of Damocles' sort of a way. I needn't of worried though, it wasn't placed there by the PCC as a kind of ever-present warning, the young people had put it there for a laugh!

The legendary Andy (sunglasses Andy as he tags himself in comments here) has been musing about Mentors for Youth worker/Ministers .... especially those who are new into role. I have in the past postulated that it would be great to be able to offer a 'Curacy' for youth worker/ministers BUT I recognize that Mentoring is the most realistic support and development possibility.
Andy has been chatting with Oasis, "We love our Youthworker" bods and CYM, as well as some of the Diocesan Youth Advisors and he is the main driver on this so I'd encourage you to be in e-mail contact with him!

But it strikes me that the blog would be as good a place as ever to explore the subject a little, questions like:

1. Do you have a mentor? (How did you end up with a mentor?)
2. Do you mentor a Youth Worker (how did this begin?)
3. Would there need to be a minimum experience/qualification et al set for Mentors?
4. Would mentoring best be served by the current 'system' of "If you want one, go find one" or are there practical network/organisational things that could be put in place?
5. If you are-being/have-been mentored, what has been the most significant benefit?

Stuff for the diary:

Next network meeting is on 23rd June at Church House. Employed Youth Worker/Ministers in the Diocese of Oxford welcome for eating, chatting, praying, laughing, talking AND some top-notch professional development from THE Child Protection Guru!

I'm planning the Autumn Network meeting to be an Outward Ed' leadership development thing that will involve a river, a partical accelerator and a Giraffe*

DEPTH 3 'The Retreat' @ Douai Abbey Feb 2nd & 3rd 2010 with optional EXTRA night.

*It's true! (apart from the bit about the Partical accelerator ......... and the Giraffe)

I frequently get asked if I have a 'home' church in the Diocese ... and I do, it's St Nix in Newbury (strictly speaking 'St Nicolas'* as i get told off for calling it Nix) and it looks like this, as indeed it has done since 1532.

This is the Church where I was the Youth worker from 1998 to 2003 where I was priviliged to help develop the only youth centre I know of with a 'Grade 2 Star' (and hence, protected) staircase!

When I started work for the Diocese in 2003 we, as a family, really wanted to remain part of the congregation, especially given that it was a place where my oldest boy was known and accepted. With a new Youth worker coming in though I could see this would be potentially difficult for them. After much thought though we did remain there, but I kept a million miles away from the youth work, the youth building and any conversations about the youth work. It was however great to see the work developing (albeit at a distance) and the new directions the youth work took under the leadership of Simon Corner.

Five years later, Simon has moved on and we have a new Youth Worker in the shape of Paul Reisbach who is now the curator of the 'Grade 2 Star listed' staircase and worker unto and with the young people of Newbury. I'm also back in the building with Paul involving me in various projects which I'm really enjoying.

One of the things I love about St Nix is the way in which young people are made at home there, here are a couple of recent examples:

1. The way that some of the young people hang around the sound desk and the laptop for the Powerpoint stuff, and are happily drawn in and involved.
2. A couple of children yesterday making posters for 'Christian Aid' week then taking them to the Church warden who unlocked the outside notice board and put a poster up in there along side the community and church 'grown-up' notices and flyers.

I also get asked about whether I miss being the youth worker. I don't think so, although I do obviously miss the amount of time I got to spend with young people. (And come to think of it, it was VERY cool having a key to the tower!!). It's great to still be part of the church and community where I was the youth worker!

*It's pronounced Nicholas, we lost the 'h' somewhere along the way!

Apologies that the blog has been a bit of a diet version recently, I'm very aware that posts have been more akin to tweets than essays. I am however determined to crank the blog back up to a full-fat, caffienated, calorie-rich ..... with added cream serving of youth ministry and youth work engagment.

The stuff I wish I'd known post has provided some fuel (but please keep adding). I have just received my copy of Youth Ministry 3.0 in the post (difficult to get this side of the pond) and although there have been a lot of reveiws already, I'm keen to wrestle with Marko's thinking and look at the UK context and implications. Social Media continues to fascinate and engage me and having spent a day with Tim Davies recently, I have much to say!
I'm also wanting to explore the number of churches that are losing contact with mid to late Adolescents and my theory that this is being somewhat masked by larger churches having super-groups that draw from a wide geographical area.

I've also got various books on the 'go' at the moment on Leadership, Celtic-spirituality, Monastic-wisdom and Youth work (and joy of joys I dioscovered a PG Woodhouse "Jeeves and Wooster" that I hadn't read ........ but have now).

I have no plans at all to limit the gratuitous humour and unneccessary silliness though

I kid you not, it is Compost Awareness week! I thought I'd flag it up as I know you wouldn't want to miss the opportunity!

In the spirit of this, I might see if some old entries on the blog have rotted down sufficiently to provide the nutrients for some new ideas