On Wednesday I led a session for a group of ministers from the United Reformed Church in Scotland.  We were exploring what the church could learn from younger people and from youth work methods.

Young people fail.  A lot.  It’s part of learning.

They try something, get it wrong, then learn from that and try again.

Can you imagine a toddler giving up on walking because it fell over a couple of times?  No, of course not.  Failing isn’t always a bad thing.  And failure is almost always relative.

Failure is a judgement made according to the parameters that have been set.  But how realistic are those parameters?

No-one gets up and walks first time.  Well except that guy that came through the roof, but you know what I mean.  It takes practice.  Not doing it perfectly first time wouldn’t be failure.  Repetition is important in learning.

If I had a pound for every time I’d heard a young person say that…

‘I’m bored’ doesn’t really mean that.  I think it means that ‘I’ve finished what I was doing and now I can’t think what to do next.  Can you help me to decide please?’

Part of the ‘boredom’ comes from a limited range of options.

Most of us don’t have any experience of a range of churches.  Most people have been in their church for a long time.  Their experience of variety is when a new minister comes, or someone publishes a new hymnbook.

Our ‘box’ or ‘jar’ is just as real as the fleas’.  It’s hard to think outside that box when you have only ever been in it.

One of the great things about our work with children is that it encourages creativity and imagination and exploration.  Loads of churches do holiday clubs where for a whole week kids come for a morning or afternoon and explore a topic through games, songs, art, crafts, drama and story.

Can you imagine doing that with the grown ups?

If you can’t, why not?  Don’t adults like those things?

When we are babies we need a lot of looking after.  The whole household is focused on the needs of one little person.  As we grow we become more independent, more self sufficient.  And that is as it should be.

But we all have needs.  And our needs are not all the same.

Youth work is, at it’s best, needs led.  It considers the social, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of each young person and tries to address those needs through activities and opportunities which will enable that young person to develop to their full potential.

We do that by offering choice.  There are many ways to explore a topic.  Just think about that holiday club… all those ways to learn about one topic.

When was the last time you were offered a choice in worship on a Sunday morning?

I believe that churches have become self-selecting communities and that self-selection has nothing to do with faith.  It has everything to do with style.

Style is about how something appears.  It’s about content and format and who is involved and who is not and how it smells and feels and tastes and sounds and looks like.

It is also about seeing yourself in that place.  Someone mentioned that a new minister had come to a church they were working with.  The minister is a mother with two small children.  All of a sudden there are 20 young families coming to church who didn’t come before.  Why?  Because they can see themselves in that church.

We can’t all go and hire a minister like that but how we portray ourselves is important.  It’s a huge part of how young people (and adults) identify with each other.  Clothes and music define us much more than we might imagine.  Many of us cling to the music that we liked when we were teenagers.  Don’t believe me?  Check your itunes…

If I like electronica or metal or house or classical music would I see myself in your church?  If I’m a skater or a goth or a 40 year old geek or a mum or a student would I see myself in your church?

I do.  I really do.  We have watched our children drift away from church and we have done nothing but wring our hands.  And I’m talking about myself too.

I don’t think we need to change Sunday morning worship.  It works for that self-selecting group that come.  Why should we take that away from them?

What we do need to do is to give people permission to get on with doing other things at other times.  Our job as ministers is not to provide everything.  Youth work is all about enabling.  Sometimes the best way to do that is the easiest.  Just say ‘yes’.

Variety is good.  It’s healthy.  At home our extended family rarely all sit in one room.  When we do it usually ends in disaster.  Why?  Because we all have different needs, likes and tolerances.

What are the values of your church community?

Youth work in Scotland has a statement of values.  They are:

It’s a broad value base.  But is there any reason it shouldn’t be your church communities value base too?

Shouldn’t we respect each other?  Value equality?  Engage in learning through our whole lives?  Respect others who are different from us?  Isn’t that what loving your neighbour is?  And why do we feel the need to tell people what they should think or what the answer is?  Don’t we trust God to work in some one’s life?

Shouldn’t we be working together to build the kingdom of God?  Doesn’t that mean that everyone should have a say?  That everyone should play a part?

I like this phrase.

I’m going to use it often.

I think this is what the church, particularly the United Reformed Church, needs to be.

We don’t need (or want) to be mega-churches.  We don’t need (or want) to be parish churches.

We do need (and want) to be small, passionate communities.

Young people form small passionate communities all the time.  They often form around issues and then disappear with the problem.  They are often about getting something done, solving a problem, making a point or raising an issue.

These small passionate communities aren’t static.  They change and grow.  They involve different groups, make partnerships and co-operatives.  They are active not passive.

Remember that small passionate communities change the world.

We have a story.  That story is one of small passionate communities and their journey with God.

Children love stories.  Young people love stories, even if they pretend they have grown out of all that.  Adults love stories.

How will we tell our story?  And can we please stop explaining what it means to people?  Do you explain a bedtime story to your kids?  Of course not.  But they will want to hear that same story over and over and over again.

Why?

So they can see themselves in it.  So they can imagine what it feels like and smells like and tastes like and sounds like and looks like.

If we don’t tell our story how can people imagine themselves into it?

So, what am I trying to say?

Good question.  And one that I’m not going to answer.  Because you can work it out for yourself.  You can imagine yourself in this story or take it and imagine it in your place.

If you do, please share your story.  Tell it often.  You can start in the comments section if you want, but tell it somewhere…

This weekend was the United Reformed Church’s Synod of Scotland meeting.  For the last few of years Youth Forum for 12-16 year-olds has met alongside Synod.  This year, following FURY Assembly’s plea to highlight the plight of the Invisible Children of Uganda, Youth Forum spent the weekend considering how we could tell the story of children who are abducted and forced to fight.

Every night hundreds of children gather in towns because staying at home in the countryside at night is too dangerous.  The Lord’s Resistance Army abduct children, kill their families and force them to become child soldiers.

The issue, highlighted by Invisible Children, is one which shocked and moved us.  We were delighted that following the young people’s presentation Synod discussed and debated how they could help.

The Synod of Scotland resolves to encourage churches to investigate the issue of child soldiers, to raise awareness of their plight, campaign for an end to this inhuman practice and to pray regularly for these children, their families and their communities…. to make these invisible children visible.

We also heard a report that the project we highlighted last year, a leprosy colony in Malawi, has been successful in achieving some of it’s ambitions, a process kick-started by the Youth Forum highlighting the needs of the project to Synod.

It’s easy to think that the problems of the world are too big, too far away, and that we are too small to affect change.

This weekend has been a reminder that we can make change.  It reminded us that we can shine light into dark places.

Who the Heck Are We? Exploring the Identity of the URC

The United Reformed Church are hosting their 1st Webinars – “Who the Heck Are We? Exploring the Identity of the URC” on:

Wednesday 24th March 2010, 12:30pm – 1:30pm:
This is an invitation to all our ecumenical and external partners who work with the United Reformed Church.

Saturday 27th March 2010:
This is an invitation to EVERY member or visitor of the United Reformed Church.
There are 4 time slots available between 9am – 2.30pm. More details can be found if you click on “Q&A re: The Webinar” below.

What is a Webinar?

A Webinar is a convenient way of hosting a meeting online for up to 1000 people to attend. All you need is connection to the internet to join in and a computer or laptop. For maximum participation, use your computer’s built-in audio (i.e. speakers and microphone or use a headset) to contribute. You can also participate in the meeting by “calling into the webinar” using an ordinary landline at a cost of a local telephone call. You can attend the meeting via your mobile, if your mobile supports internet connection.

But how does it work?

You will be sent an invitation by email and asked to register your details (i.e. your name, address and some questions e.g. which Synod or organisation you belong to etc). Once completed, a confirmation email will be sent to you confirming your place. The email will feature your direct link to the webinar. This link is UNIQUE TO YOU and enables you to securely gain access to the meeting. At the time that you have decided to attend the webinar, you must click on your direct link.

If you don’t have my email address already, how will I be invited?

To attend your exciting online event, please contact Denese Chikwendu, Campaign Co-ordinator at: denese [dot] chikwendu [at] urc [dot] org [dot] uk or call her on 020 7916 2020 or Lawrence Moore at: lawrence [dot] moore [at] urc [dot] org [dot] uk . Please be ready to give us your full name and correct email address. Denese Chikwendu can also send you hard copies of “Save the Date” cards for you to hand out to members, visitors and friends. (They are the size of business cards for convenience).

Help! I’m not convinced – I haven’t done a webinar before…

Don’t worry, we will be hosting test runs so that everyone can try out the application and feel more comfortable with it. We plan to host test runs from w/c 22nd February 2010 to w/c 15th March 2010; so that’s 4 weeks of practice! Each session will last approximately 30 – 45 minutes. There will be:

• 2 sessions per week for all URC members to join an informal webinar where we can discuss church related issues or general current affairs/ news etc. EACH TUESDAY AND THURSDAY between 2pm – 3pm.
• 1 session per week for all of our URC external partners to join an informal webinar. EACH WEDNESDAY between 2pm – 3pm.

More details will shortly be available on the topics below:

1. A full set of Q&A re: The Webinar, including time slots for 27th March 2010
2. Email template/ Invitation – for URC members and friends – invite more people!
3. Email template/Invitation – for URC ecumenical and external partners – invite more people!
4. Save the Date card – A4 notice for your church/ church notice board/ share at the next Church meeting
5. Save the Date card – A4 notice for external partners and colleagues
6. View Webinar Demo – https://www2.gotowebinar.com/en_US/webinar/pre/G2W_Demo.tmpl or https://www2.gotomeeting.com/en_US/pre/quickTour.tmpl

Image on the front page and above is ‘Mouse’ by pure9 , Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

I was leading worship at Hamilton URC this morning.  Nothing unusual in that except that I was early.  I usually follow the ‘the closer it is the later I’ll be’ rule but today I was early.  Good job because it turned out it was communion today… and I didn’t know!  At least I had time to nip home and collect a communion liturgy.

I was early because my friend Thomas was coming over to Hamilton to join us for our worship.  Because of my missing communion liturgy he was left to fend for himself which probably gave him a more realistic insight into the congregation.

It’s funny how the unexpected or unprepared things often have more significance.  I grabbed the only communion liturgy I could find this morning.  But if was ideal.  It fitted with the sermon.  It fitted with the feel of the service.

The best bit was sharing the peace, greeting each other and wishing God’s blessing of each other.  The congregation don’t normally do it.  But today they did… with relish.  People wandered around the church hugging and shaking hands for quite some time.  It was brilliant.  People were warm and genuine in their sharing.  A real community.

And I liked being a part of that.

Today I’m learning about VOLE.  Apparently that’s something to do with Virtual and Online Learning Environments…

I’ll let you know what that means as the day progresses.

This morning we have been looking at MOODLE.  We’re playing with forums, profiles, feedback, messages and stuff.  Good fun.

The afternoon was spent doing more of the same.  We each have our own little Moodle sandpit to build stuff.  It looks like an interesting tool but I’m yet to be convinced that it would be worth investing in the hosting costs for us yet.

Lunchtime was an unexpected surprise.  We went to the church next door to the London office.  Lumen URC has been completely renovated and is now a stunning space.

It has meeting rooms, a multi faith prayer space, a sanctuary, a cloistered courtyard and a soon to be open vegetarian cafe.  It is quite simply stunning.  If you are passing Tavistock Place in London then go and have a look at what a falling down 50s building can be transformed into.

Perhaps that was a bit of a metaphor for the the day?  Is VLE something that can transform learning in the church?  Will it help to engage people?  Will it bring new life to an old idea?

Have you given up on evening services but still long for that special evening thing? – but not necessarily on a Sunday?

Want to reach out to people for whom traditional morning services don’t seem to appeal?

Like to tackle spirituality in different ways?

At ‘Night Has Fallen’ Stewart Cutler and Jack Dyce will help you explore some fresh ways of doing evening worship.

Tuesday 3 November – unpacking some ideas

Tuesday 17 November – planning an Advent night service

Tuesday 1 December – the Advent service!

7.30 to 9.30pm

Giffnock United Reformed Church

Trains stop at Giffnock station nearby & 38 buses outside the door and ample parking at the church

Let us know you’re coming – phone Christine on 0141 332 7667 or email Scottishcollege [at] urcscotland [dot] org [dot] uk