Ecclesial Satirical scribbling from the Church Cartoon meister.
Actual post here
Recently in Church Category
The teenagers at the church I attend are having quite an impact at the moment. They arrived back from 'Soul Survivor' so committed to their faith, their church and their community; the outworking of which has been fabulous. Among the mad-brilliant blessing they are being is in the way they are relating to the WHOLE church. They decided that they ought to try and ensure that at least some of them were at every service ..... which they have duly achieved. So you'll find teens at the 08:00 (I repeat, 8am for youth workers who are struggling to compute this), the 09:15, the all age service, the 6pm (Choral 1662 evensong) and the informal 6:30 pm in the hall. Cool huh!
This having quite a huge impact not just in the fact they are doing it (respect) but in hearing them talking about how much they are getting out of the various services.
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!
It's the season for Annual church meetings in my denominational sector at the moment. Dave walker had me cracked up with his live reporting from theirs via Twitter and Facebook. Like all flavours of church, committees are both the red blood cells and potentially the cholestral in the living organism of mission we are.
Oh, give me a pity, I'm on a committee
Which means that from morning to night
We attend and amend and contend and defend
Without a conclusion in sight.
We confer and concur, we defer and demur
And re-iterate all of our thoughts
We revise the agenda with frequent addenda
And consider a load of reports.
We compose and propose, we suppose and oppose
And the points of procedure are fun!
But though various notions are brought up as motions
There's terribly little gets done.
We resolve and absolve, but never dissolve
Since it's out of the question for us.
What a shattering pity to end our committee
Where else could we make such a fuss?
Copyright (c) Phong Ngo
(I have been trying to track down the author to get permission to use this but can't find a site to point to. This piece seems to be readily available in lots of places but none are the original. I'm very happy to attribute or remove.)
I am really bad at flagging up/reviewing books that I've read on the blog, it's something I mean to do BUT I read a book, then time passes and the writing never quite happens. Really Really wanted to flag up "Journeying in Faith" (subtitle, "in and beyond the tough places") by Alan Jamieson.
It's a book that I related-to, found-useful and thought-important in equal measures. The text is a follow up to "A Churchless faith" and reflects on (and with) those who find themselves no longer at home in 'institutional churchianity' but nevertheless find themselves on a journey toward "unknown horizons of Christian Faith".
Anyone who finds themselves in a post-christendom, post-modern and/or post-evangelical paradigm will find something of themselves in this book. Importantly too, there is much wisdom in here for ministers in general, both in helping those who are on the edge, and reflecting on what this conversation might mean for our ecclesiology.
(It's also interesting from a youth ministry perspective as it begs the question of what sort of faith are we helping young people to be equipped with).
I particularly appreciated Jamiesons reflection on faith development stages, not just of the individual but of churches.
WELL worth a read!
ht to Pip
A spiritual age? ........
Continue reading A spiritual age?.
Jumped straight to the job pages when the JULY edition of Youthwork magazine arrived on Monday BUT sadly they weren't the rich vein of humour they have been for the last couple of months. The only exception being the Church that are advertising for a Psalmist? Which made me laugh! Can you still get Psalmists? Would a Church REALLY put up with a new Psalm 119? I also got to thinking that they could have done better with an eye catching tag line for the Advert ....
WANTED: COMPULSIVE LYRE
As a staff team today we had a really good look at reducing our enviromental impact in all areas of our work ..... transport, energy usage, resources. As a Diocese we are looking at introducing a meaningful target to work towards. I'm really pleased that we are beginning these discussion and look forward to the resulting action that we will be taking, even though it will make life more complicated.
I firmly believe that "Climate Change" is a major issue THAT we have to take seriously. I also believe that if we fail to do so we will have failed to be the stewards that Biblically we should be. I also think that the next generation who will be majorly affected by climatic issues will judge us/the Faith on where we aligned ourselves, as leaders in this issue or Ostriches.
Here endeth a rather preachy post.
PS Just to prove that alternative transport needn't be uncomfortable .....
I'm just reading the summary of the "Faithful Cities" report by the Comission on Urban Life and Faith. The report builds on the dynamic effect that "Faith in the City" had in the 80's and looks into the changed world of British Cities. There's some really good stuff in the report (subtitled 'A call for celebration, vision and Justice') and it's well worth a read.
Recomendation 7. is of particular interest for the purpose of this blog. It states that
'Government and Faith Communities must give new consideration to the informal education of young people'
and suggests these implications:
1. The statutory nature of the Youth Service must be reinstated and properly funded by local authority
2. Key worker status must be given to youth work practicioners so they are recruited and retained in urban areas
3. The spiritual well-being of young people must be an essential part of Youth Matters strategy and implication
4. Young people's councils of Faith should be developed and resourced to build respect and encourage participation in civic society.
The Times artidcle on the report is here.
