February 2012 Archives

The Booking form and publicity is now available (see below)

The Yellow Braces weekend, running at Hill; End on July 6th-8th, will be the usual mix of experiencing Christian community, great activities, good food and exploring faith. There is also a young leader training programme for teens 17-19 and a chance for your Youth Leaders to join the team in order to contribute and to develop their skills.

This year is the 40 year special and we'll also be launching the Youth and Child Friendly awards from the event, helping young people to have a voice into how they see and experience Church.

This has been an awesome event for many many (many) years.
I'm REALLY looking forward to it.

Yellow Braces main flyer 2012.pdf

Microsoft Word - BookingForm Yellow Braces 12.pdf

Chesham are looking to make a new appointment: Chesham Youthworker advert.pdf

Steve Tilley has got me into the habit of spotting the verbiage that often exists on the side of vans over-egging what the company does. Spotted a corker this morning (sadly too long to remember) but it got me musing on some livery in a similar stylee for the side of my Youth Work Wheels:

Engendering holistic development opportunities and two way societal engagment to the pre-Adult sector

It turned into a bit of an Outdoor Education weekend as I also accepted an invitation from PGL to head over to their newest centre, Liddington, to see what they had to offer.

The first surprise was how close it is to me/the Diocese. This centre is near(ish) Swindon, about 5 minutes from junction 15 of the M4 and in some stunning scenery. The second surprise was just how upmarket the venue was! PGL bought what was a failed luxury hotel* in 158 acres of grounds and turned it and the grounds into accommodation for up to 600 young people and a vast array of activities.

So, a weekend of exploring what PGL could offer which was great fun. I took two of my children and we enjoyed the tree top trail, the Zip wire, climbing and Archery (a small fraction of what is on offer).

It is a very impressive operation indeed. The Instructors were excellent, the food fab, the infrastructure great, and the grounds/activities first class. For a place to take a group to (however small or large) where everything is laid on for you it is brilliant .... and the product is nigh on perfect for schools. As a place to take a youth group to I think it is a really good addition to the choices available and has the considerable advantage of you knowing in advance what the costs will be.

I also know that off season it is possible to book the whole place for a weekend and that Gold Hill Baptist Church ran a church weekend for 450 or so people. May also be interesting?

Enormous thanks to PGL for their generous hospitality.
If you'd like to know more about taking a group there then please be in touch.

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* The hotel infrastructure is superb but the design was fundamentally flawed in that the bedrooms were just really too small for what you'd expect from a luxury hotel. They actually feel small even for an outdoor ed' centre but work well enough with 2 bunk beds in each ...... and being a former hotel, all have en suite.

Friday saw me at the annual gathering of Friends, Supporters and Customers of Adventure Plus ..... a great Outdoor Education provider based in Witney, but working all over Oxfordshire and beyond. Aplus are very much a Christian organisation and that ethos runs through all they do, "Life to the Max" being their logo and mantra. It was an extra special gathering being a 21st birthday celebration to boot.

I've worked quite a bit with Aplus over the years; speaking for them, using them for activities, and being trained by them.

It was good to hear about their Total Adventure Camps, the Schools Work, Mobile Activity provision, the Gap year DistL programme .... and especially "Adventure Impact" that gives great opportunity and experience to young people for whom mainstream education is not working well. Across all the projects they are currently working with four to five thousand young people a year ... but still growing.

They also have a mad plan to develop their own centre somewhere in Oxfordshire which will be amazing if it happens. Knowing Jon Cox (the director) and his blend of faith, energy, vision .... and persuasion, it probably will.

Yesterday I said I was spending the weekend with PGL!

I just wanted to clarify that I am talking about the Outdoor Ed Company for Young People, I have not bizarrely and inexplicably taken up Golf!

Message ends

Root, Nash and Ward: Practical Theology and Youth Ministry. 13th March, London
I am so going to this! See you there?

kings day Practical theology.pdf

Loving this, but can't find the source to credit?

I'm normally pretty good with blending together the elements that make up my life but this week has got a little crazy.

The Epic battle I am currently in with some laminate flooring (it hates me) that refuses to lay down properly and look wonderful is a big component in the crazy week, HAVE TO MAKE IT WORK and FINISH!!! aaarghgh. I spoke at a Synod last night over in Buckinghamshire (proved to be both fun and stimulating) so I wasn't home until late, whilst this morning saw me on the road at the crack of dawn to get to St Johns College in Nottigham. (Currently breaking the journey at Watford Gap services and benefiting from their wi-fi). Not moaning though, love what I'm doing (APART FROM THE LAMINATE FLOORING!)

I'm speaking at quite a bit of stuff in March which I agreed to ages ago BUT now have to knuckle down and prepare, not my strong suit by ANY means. This weekend though sees me at a PGL centre ...... should be fun :-)

Anyway the M1 beckons
Every blessing for an extraordinary Wednesday

Hilarious game of Guggenheim (under-pressure category game) last night with some riotously funny debate over whether words were allowed or not. The young people were awesome and I got well and truly beaten. One lad had a truly impressive knowledge of obscure Old Testament names and played, amongst other things, "Uz" and "Buz" which I really liked.

Loving this Consumer Detox course for groups to participate in over Lent, I commend the idea to you .... and to myself. Find the info here

"Live Differently Dream Differently" Tearfund

I'm speaking at a couple of conferences in the next few weeks, both times on the theme of discipleship.

For so many years it seems to me (in general) a lot of the energy and narrative has been about 'becoming a christian' and considerably less about being the christian you've become. Ok maybe that's a bit unfair BUT much discipleship discourse has been informational, not one that embraces the doing, questioning/doubting, discipline, honesty and theological reflection that several hundred years of spiritual wisdom, writings and grappling have to offer.

This is not meant as a judgment, this is reflecting on my own experience as well as that which I see around me.

For years as the youth adviser I've been asked about the 'problem with young people' as an assumed reason that the church is struggling to engage with teens. I've consistently argued that there is not a problem with young people .... it's an issue of adult discipleship. It was really interesting when Mark Yaconelli's book "Contemplative Youth MInistry" came out and he recorded that young people were only growing spiritually where the adult leaders were still growing and journeying themselves.

Something is happening though it seems. 'Discipleship' is really on the agenda as a serious grappling with what it means as collectively we adjust to the Post Christendom landscape ... and what it might mean. "to sing the lords song in a strange land. The new monasticism that mines the wisdom of Benedict, Francis, the Desert mothers and fathers et al is an exciting re-discovery of what being christian might be and the considerable challenges that the journey of growth presents, a real Pilgrims Progress.

In the Diocese we are running a series of days in the next few weeks entitled "Confidence in Discipleship" which nearly 1500 people have signed up to!

One of those posts where I'm just musing out loud.

Officially in my mid 40's now. I rejected my mathematical friends offer to round my age up to the nearest 10, choosing instead to be, and owning, the 45 that I am.

It's been quite a journey from 1967 to here and has involved a lot of learning, some big fashion mistakes, a whole bunch of wonderful friendships, as well as adventures in travel, loss, love and faith.

A big thank you to my companions on the journey ...... especially the young people I get to work with who think that 1967 is so far back in the midst of time to be some sort of primordial swamp.

PS making me laugh today is this Joke which only works if you are familiar with 80's soft rock lyrics:

The youth work companion to the priestly version doing the rounds at the moment.
Loving it!

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Thanks to Mark Oestricher and to George Baum who is the author

Some excellent guides for working with young people, participation and evaluation that involves them! ht to Ali

I occasionally nip down to the local hostelry for a bowl of soup!

Being a gastropub type of chain (and being in Oxford) it does have certain pretensions. The plus side of which is that it is generally really good soup ... the downside is the nouvelle-cuisine miniminalistic approach to the supply of croutonage. First visit of the year illicited only five, the second visit (and I got considerable sympathy on Facebook for this) was a paltry four croutons! You may wonder why this is an issue but you need to understand NO BREAD comes with the soup, the croutons being the totality of accompaniment.

However on hearing this sad state of affairs, the lovely Barbara from reception made me a tub of emergency croutons. The idea being that were I to be heading out for soup I could smuggle these contraband cubes in with me to bolster that which is supplied.

Today I did just that and even though the accompanying supplied croutons had reached the heady heights of seven (albeit quite small), I was able to apply supplemnetal croutonage to the proffered pottage. Happy days :-)

Youth Workers: Journeying with young people since 1844

Can I recommend a company that maybe useful. IJT direct sell technology really cheaply, offer really good value consumables and have a nifty line in refurbished but guaranteed Lap-Tops (decent Dell with 2gb memory and 30gb HD for £136 for example). They also offer free printers when you buy a certain amount of cartridges.

If you do see anything of interest please please e-mail me so I can refer you which maybe to both our advantage. Thanks :-)

PS Yes, I have used them!

Greetings fellow Youth Ministerial types and associated faith practitioners (and in the stylee of Radio shout-outs from quiz contestants, "Anyone else who knows me!")

In an attempt to be useful I thought I'd put together a list of 'professional development' opportunities that are useful blips on the Youthblog radar monitor.

Young People, Nurture and the Church: A day of input, reflection, challenge and resources about confirmation, discipleship and nurture with young people in the Anglican Church. Saturday 25th February 2012, 10am until 4pm, Church of the Good Shepherd, Crookhorn Lane, Waterlooville , PO7 5QB. details

Chaplaincy in Contemporary Context: CYM Oxford 6th - 8th March 2012. Details: CPD - Chaplaincy booking form 2012.doc

Practical, Theology of Youth Ministry: Exploring the theological understanding of youth ministry with speakers, Nash, Root and Ward. London, 13th March. Details

As You Go: "A Conference for all those seeking to disciple children and young people" 20th - 21st March 2012 CMS House, Oxford. As you Go brochure.pdf

Youthwork Summit: 19th May London. details

Please ping anything else across and I'll add it to the list, thank you :-)
(Stuff in/from the North especially welcomed)

This is a transcript of questions ... and answers from the Bishop of Oxford regarding the restructuring proposals. Thanks to Ali

I love it when we do a 'question box' session on a youth residential. The way I play it is to not open the box until the session itself as it breeds much greater authenticity, trust and discussion. I also love the fact that the questions are a mix of quirky, serious, odd, amazing and sometimes hilarious.

Musing about the blog and whether it still justifies its' space on the internet as useful for youth work/ministry I thought I'd love to experiment with the merit of responding to some 'Dear Youthblog' type questions. Not because I'm setting myself up as some sort of Guru, but because I think it could be a creatively and useful way to know what I might explore or play with.

The full spectrum from absurd to profound is acceptable and although it may crash and burn, I thought it fun to try! And unlike the first edition of magazines that mysteriously have questions already submitted ..... I will not fabricate them!

So e-mail, comment, tweet (@youthblogoxford) or leave notes under the windscreen wipers of my car! Over to you ....

Chatting with one of my chalet comrades and discussing our churches I thought I'd misheard when the information arriving at my brain sounded exactly like 'Bunny Church!'

Turns out that I hadn't misheard and this was in fact the reality.

Admittedly though my initial search did produce some confusion ... given that even a broad church like the Anglican communion would struggle to absorb this Church that google offered me in response to bunny + church.

I was amused to read that Heathrow Airport had cut flights in order to avoid delays! Resonated in my mind with other strategic thinking I had encountered ~ somewhere.

It's a good few years since I was last at Soulnet and it was good to be back. The last time I was supposed to attend the snow rendered getting there impossible. This time the snow held off until we were there and was rather wonderful ... a Narniaesque setting for the retreat, adding to the feeling of being away from 'normal' life.

A Major theme of this year was the idea of 'family' as a way of thinking about relationship, community and belonging .... both for ourselves, but more importantly for what it is that we offer to young people. This theme was explored by Rich Atkinson as he reflected on the work that his team were doing in Sheffield, but also by Mike as he explored the 'values' that are core to Soul Survivor (and indeed will provide the matrix for the input and discussion this summer at the festivals).

"You can't belong to a service but you can belong to a family"
Rich Atkinson

The idea of relationship and of community is lived out well at Soulnet, in the welcome and in the fact that you are billeted in a Chalet where there is a good chance that you don't know your fellow villa dwellers. I was doubly blessed by being absorbed into the Guildford posse and also welcomed by the Nottinghamshire party who were in part sharing with me and the remainder occupying the villa next door. Enormous thanks to all for the welcome, food, conversation and conviviality.

"Anointing rests on Obediance"
Mike Pilivachi

I've enjoyed so many great conversations as well as loving the humour and silliness. Being part of tangle of human beings being plunged together down the rapids... is still making me smile now.
I'm definitely thinking about #soulnet13 being carved into the diary (this hashtag is already active in the twitterverse)

So back to normality: refreshed, encouraged and reminded. To God be the Glory

This blog has a long tradition of finding nerdy humour in the venerable Venn diagram. Had to take my hat off to this particular offering:

Ali has written a great piece on the context for Church and it's engagement with young people, and the reason why the cutting of youth and children's adviser posts nationally is so flawed. Important read

It's the last day of the petition against ending the National Youth Adviser and National Children's Adviser roles. Please consider reading and if you agree, signing.

I am looking forward to Soulnet muchly, (especially as last time I was due to go the snow rendered it impossible and I never got there). Oh and very cooly also, a co-dweller of the Chalet I am billeted in got in touch via FB to say Hi!

I just have to retrieve the cycle trailer from Shed 2, prep it and put the linkage on one of the old bikes. The reason for this is I am not a big fan of queuing. The funereal procession of cars around the one way system of Centre Parcs to drop your stuff off is, in my mind, a duff start to the stay. So I just abandon the car at the first available Car Park space, attach the trailer to the bike, throw everything onboard and cycle to 'key collection' and onto the chalet. (Maybe I'll make a Youthblog flag for the trailer today)

See you there :-)

* I have a a new trailer now with a waterproof cover so an upgrade from the Plywood deck above