Archive

Plugrug.com

Published
by
Jon
on 15 April 2008
in Technology, Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 2 Comments

Tim Schmoyer over at Life In Student Ministry has developed a new website for promoting, sharing and rating youth ministry related articles called PlugRug.com.

If you’re familiar with Digg.com then you already know the deal. Stories get submitted by the community of members and are then ‘plugged’ or ‘buried’ depending on their popularity.

Once a submission has earned a critical mass of Plugs, it becomes “popular” and jumps to the homepage in its category. If it becomes one of the most popular, it qualifies as a “Top 10.” If a submission doesn’t receive enough Plugs within a certain time period, it eventually falls out of the “Upcoming” section.

Obviously the more people who sign in and rate items, the more that the good content gets filtered and pushed up. The beauty is that it only works when users participate on a large scale.

It’s a great system but I’m yet to be convinced it’s needed for such a ‘niche’ as youth ministry (although try searching for ‘youth ministry’ on Digg and nothing comes up, so maybe I’m wrong). Either way, it’ll only work when people go check it out!

Values Session 10: Share (Part 1)

Published
by
Jon
on 14 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 discover why we must tell others about Jesus

Activity: Divide and Share
Get one standard A4 sheet of card and ask the group to cut it up so that everyone gets exactly the same amount as everyone else. This will be easier with an even number of people, so you could always do a second round where you exclude someone and ask them to work out how to divide the sheet. Explain that just as they shared out the paper, tonight we are talking about sharing our faith.

Read: Matthew 28:19-20

So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptise them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of this age.

Illustration: Postsecret
PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard and a selection are put on the website at www.postsecret.com.
WARNING: the content of the website often contains graphic and adult themes so is not suitable for young people to visit.
Thousands of people send their secrets in and claim they feel better for sharing them with the world. As Christians, we have the best thing to share with the world! The following image is one that was posted onto the site and may cause some discussion:

Discuss:

  • Why do you think Jesus commands us all to go and make followers of all people in the world?
  • Do you ever go and tell people about Jesus? Why or why not?

Pray:

  • Ask God to help you understand the importance of spreading His good news and to give you courage to do it.
  • Pray for any issues affecting the group this week.

Challenge:
This week, write down the name of a friend who is not yet a Christian and ask God to give you an opportunity to talk with them about Jesus.

Further Reading: Acts 26:16-18

Stand up! I have chosen you to be my servant and my witness - you will tell people the things that you have seen and the things that I will show you. This is why I have come to you today. I will keep you safe from your own people and also from those who are not Jewish. I am sending you to them to open their eyes so that they may turn away from darkness to the light, away from the power of Satan and to God. Then their sins can be forgiven, and they can have a place with those people who have been made holy by believing in me.

I want a cab, innit!

Published
by
Jon
on 13 April 2008
in Media and Youth Work
. 1 Comment

I’m loving this story about a London teenager who tried to call directory enquiries to book a cab to Bristol and accidentally ordered some furniture!

She tried to book a taxi but used the cockney rhyming slang “Joe Baxi” to the confused operator who told her they were unable to find anyone by that name.

The short-tempered woman snapped back, saying: “It ain’t a person, it’s a cab, innit!”

The operator responded to the request by locating Displaysense, the nearest supplier of cabinets, and put the woman through to the company.

She then started speaking to an equally confused saleswoman and fumed: “Look love, how hard is it? All I want is your cheapest cab, innit. I need it for 10am. How much is it?”

The saleswoman responded by saying it would cost £180.

The teenager wasn’t put off by the figure and gave her address details before saying: “I wanna pay by card, ’cause I got no cash.”

The company received an enraged phone call the following morning when the woman, who was expecting a taxi, was sent one of their retail/office cabinets instead.

You’d think at some point she’d have figured out she wasn’t speaking to a taxi firm. £180 for a cab to Bristol? Wow! I’d take the train.

Acts Teaching Series

Published
by
Jon
on 11 April 2008
in Youth Ministry and Youth Work
. 0 Comments


This post is a bit of ‘heads up’ as I’m currently writing small group teaching notes on the first twelve chapters of Acts (my favourite book in the Bible). Once finished, I’ll start posting them up here for you to use and adapt as necessary.
The reason for only working on the first twelve chapters is due to our school term being twelve weeks long. As our youth groups meet every week, they’ll be working their way through the book covering one chapter a week until the summer holidays. The plan is to get them reading each chapter in advance, ready to participate in discussion! We’ll see how well it works!

Victim Treats Mugger Right

Published
by
Jon
on 10 April 2008
in Media and Youth Work
. 0 Comments

This is a great story about a social worker who while being mugged by a desperate teenager, offered the guy his coat too!

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

“He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”

Diaz ended up taking the teen for a meal before giving him some cash to help out. Talk about turning the other cheek!

Ht:Chewing Pixels

Values Session 9: Support (Part 2)

Published
by
Jon
on 10 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 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.