Monthly Archive for April, 2008

Values Session 9: Support (Part 2)

Published
by
Jon
on 10 April 2008
in Youth Group Resources, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
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This is part of an 11-session series for 11-14 year olds, teaching our mission statement and the importance of its values:

We exist to learn to follow Jesus, to show honour to God, to use our gifts to serve, to support each other, and to share our faith.

Session Aim: To think about ways we can support and encourage each other to follow Jesus

Activity: Positive Paper
Give everyone a piece of paper and stick it to his or her back. Tell the group that they must move around and write an encouraging message on everyone else’s piece of paper. The message must be about either their character or their gifts and abilities (e.g. “You’re great at dancing”). It must not be about appearance or possessions (e.g. “Nice Haircut”). Finish the exercise and allow some time for everyone to read the messages. Encourage them to keep them inside their Bibles.

Read: Hebrews 10:25

Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds. You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing, but you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the day coming.

Illustration: All In This Together
Use the clip from near the end of Disney’s High School Musical where they sing “We’re all in this together”. The group will probably join in singing all the words! When finished, ask them about the lyrics to the song and how it relates to supporting each other.

Discuss:

  • What can you personally do to help encourage a Christian friend?
  • Why do you come to church? What do you do when you are there?
  • What does the writer of Hebrews say about church?

Pray:

  • Ask God to support any Christians that are struggling at the moment. This could include friends and those persecuted in other countries.
  • Pray for any issues affecting the group this week.

Challenge:
When you are next at a Christian meeting (like church or Ignite), find a way to encourage someone else in his or her relationship with God.

Further Reading: Hebrews 12:1-3

We have around us many people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back.
Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne. Think about Jesus’ example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying.

Man uses hedgehog as weapon

Published
by
Jon
on 9 April 2008
in Media and Youth Work
. 0 Comments


I just had to post a link to this fascinating story!

A MAN has been charged with assaulting a teenage boy by throwing a hedgehog at him.

Police said William Singalargh, 27, from Whakatane, in New Zealand’s North Island, allegedly picked up the hedgehog and threw it about 5m at the 15 year old.

“It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks,” Senior Sergeant Bruce Jenkins said.

“The man was arrested shortly afterwards for assault with a weapon, namely the hedgehog.”

It was not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive when thrown on February 19, but it was dead when collected as evidence.

I’m not sure what the teenager had done to deserve the spiky assault, but I bet it’s given him a GREAT story to tell his mates at school! Maybe we could introduce this as a new youth group game?

Coffee

Published
by
Jon
on 9 April 2008
in Personal
. 1 Comment

Cappucino
Those of you who know me, understand that I’m a bit of a coffee addict. I love the smell and taste of fresh ground beans and really enjoy a good cappuccino. Therefore back in January, Kirsty and I agreed to invest in a decent espresso machine (or rather Kirsty agreed to let me indulge myself). After much research, I bought a Gaggia Baby Class D (not to be confused with the Baby Class or the Baby D)!

I also managed to get a pretty good price from an unknown company called Clearance Buys. Kudos has to go to them for not only delivering the item by courier in under 13 hours as standard, but for also replacing it in under 20 hours with no argument when it had an electrical fault! They even called me three times to make sure everything was OK!

So if you’re in the neighbourhood and fancy a coffee, why not come and sample one of my lattes?

Values Session 8: Support (Part 1)

Published
by
Jon
on 7 April 2008
in Youth Group Resources, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

This is part of an 11-session series for 11-14 year olds, teaching our mission statement and the importance of its values:

We exist to learn to follow Jesus, to show honour to God, to use our gifts to serve, to support each other, and to share our faith.

Session Aim: To learn about the importance of being with other Christians

Activity: Balancing Bottoms
Get everyone into a very tight circle where they are all facing to the right. Shuffle them all as closely together as possible and then ask them to sit down onto the lap of the person behind. If everyone times it correctly, the weight will be distributed around the circle and everyone will be supported in mid air by the person behind. This can be very tricky to get right, but a lot of fun. Explain that as Christians, we should all be supporting each other. Church was designed by God for that purpose.

Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-13

A person’s body is only one thing, but it has many parts. Though there are many parts to a body, all those parts make only one body. Christ is like that also. Some of us are Jews, and some are Greeks. Some of us are slaves, and some are free. But we were all baptized into one body through one Spirit. And we were all made to share in the one Spirit.

Illustration: House Of Cards
Try making a house of cards by leaning individual Playing Cards together to form triangles. Show how each card relies on the others to support the overall structure, just as Christians must support each other too.

Discuss:

  • Do you think you are part of something bigger and have a part to play?
  • Do you feel connected to other Christians both locally and globally? Why or why not?
  • Have you ever had someone look out for and encourage you? How did that feel?

Pray:

  • Ask God to help you connect with other Christians who can support you.
  • Pray for any issues affecting the group this week.

Challenge:
Try and meet up with one or two Christian friends and find out how they are getting on this week. Why not offer to pray for them?

Further Reading: Ephesians 2:19-21

Now you who are not Jewish are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family. You are like a building that was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone in that building, and that whole building is joined together in Christ. He makes it grow and become a holy temple in the Lord.

Snow Day

Published
by
Jon
on 6 April 2008
in Personal, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

Holly
I can’t remember the last time I was able to go out and play in the snow! We don’t normally get any down here on the south coast and when we do it doesn’t normally settle. Today while still away with the young people at Lodge Hill, the cold spell brought an amazing blanket of white which covered the south downs. From the vantage point of the house, we had beautiful views across the countryside.

Obviously, when the young people saw the snow it quickly escalated into a crazy snowball fight. When I went outside to get some photos of what was happening, I shouted “Don’t shoot! Man with camera!” Immediately everyone turned around and pummelled me! It was a great way to round off the weekend and helped to make it even more memorable.

Fuel Weekend

Published
by
Jon
on 5 April 2008
in Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

IMG_0717.JPG
Fuel, our youth group for 15-18 year olds is away on a residential at Lodge Hill. We’ve been doing some teaching on the Gospel (more on that topic soon), and the power of the Holy Spirit. God has been with us and we’ve already had a first time commitment to the faith!

This afternoon, we spent some time doing team building and low ropes activities which was great fun (Some more photos are available on Flickr) then tonight some of the team have set up a Labyrinth which I’m getting really excited about!

Maybe I’ll comment more when I’m home and had some sleep! Keep your prayers with us.

Inspirations

Published
by
Jon
on 3 April 2008
in Personal
. 0 Comments

This post is a response to Dave talking people who have had a significant impact on him personally. I originally planned to write this a while back, but never got round to it and Dave’s been nagging in the comments!

So here is a short list of people who have had a huge impact on my life and my walk with God.

  • Ishmael: the famous children’s worker was a part of our church when I was growing up and I learnt a lot from the way he included kids like me in the wider church services. His songs also taught me a lot of scripture that I remember to this day!
  • Jez & Kirsty Wong: Kirsty took over the kids work at church when I was 11 and allowed me to ‘help’ out. She suffered each week at my over-enthusiasm, and both her and Jez became a constant source of encouragement over the years. I now return the favour as youth leader to both their children and I am proud to be able to call them all my friends.
  • Dave Boniface: When I was 17, I went on a short-term mission to South Africa that really opened my eyes to the power and responsibility of the gospel. Dave led the team and showed me a humble and gracious model of leadership that I had not experienced before. We have laughed and cried together ever since!
  • Paul Sanderson: Paul gave me my first real job and spent those first few years encouraging and inspiring me in my youth work. It’s impossible to summarise what I learnt from working alongside such a passionate and visionary man. I now have the pleasure of being Godparent to his fourth child Promise.
  • Kirsty: My beautiful wife has taught me so much about life and friendship. She’s constantly keeping me grounded and realistic when I get carried away or fed up, and she helps me to be a little less selfish every day.

So there you go. There are plenty more people who could fit into this list, but I want to keep it short and focused. Who would you say has inspired you?

April Fool

Published
by
Jon
on 2 April 2008
in Personal, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

Joker
One of the many clubs we run is called Launch Pad, a free breakfast club for primary aged kids on the local estate. Although I manage the workers who run the club, I only normally attend on a Tuesday morning and have breakfast with the kids.

Yesterday was April Fools’ Day, something that I don’t normally think too much about or participate in (because I always forget to do anything)! Having been away for a few days I came back from Egypt to an invitation through my door. It was to “all” the volunteers at the club telling them that this week is a superhero special and that everyone must come dressed in their favourite superhero costume. By going in on Tuesday, essentially this meant that I would be dressing up as a superhero on the 1st April.

The sad thing is that I almost fell for it! It was by sheer coincidence that I looked in my diary to check about a meeting I was having and noticed the date. I then re-read the invitation and started to get a bit suspicious. The team know I love superheroes and why would they be dressing up every day for a week?

Thankfully, I didn’t dress up. But I did get load of people asking me all day if I’d fallen for it. Obviously a lot of people were in on the joke. I’m really pleased though that the team have enough disrespect for me to try and stitch me up. Next year I’ll have to get in there first! ;)