musings on ministry
So… here are my first keynotes from URC Youth Assembly 2014. As always, your thoughts, comments and observations are welcome… Here are the pdfs URCYA14 Keynote 1 “When the world was dark…” Spill the Beans “Exile is…” comes from Rob Bell’s book Jesus Wants to Save Christians. URCYA14 Keynote 2 “Open Arms” by Elbow “And they asked Read More …
Here are 5 ways you can improve your work with young people. 1. Consult Ask your young people what they like, what they don’t like and what they want to learn/do/try. Sounds simple doesn’t it, but very few youth leaders actually do this well. Lots of us have an agenda, or we think we do. Read More …
Chaos Theory This week I’ve been learning about Appreciative Inquiry (excuse the American spelling). It’s a way of helping organisations discover what they value and how they can build on that. It appeals because it doesn’t talk about what went wrong or who is to blame, just that things have changed. Part of the course Read More …
Substance In his comment on part 1 of this little series of posts John grasps on of the key criticisms of both Emerging Church and of Youth Work… lack of substance. I often hear that both are prone to style over content. Both suffer from a tendancy towards the flash and attractive. I’ve seen it Read More …
In part 1 I suggested that the church is full of ‘bored adults’, a product of the phenomena of having once been ‘teenagers’. Principles and Values Youth Work is based on some principles. Different places have different core principles or core values. In Scotland the core values outlined by Community Education Validation and Endorsement (CeVe) Read More …
This morning the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland heard the report of the Church and Society Committee. First up was the ‘Growing Up in Scotland‘ report. I was on the group which wrote the report so I was glad to see some good deliverences (motions) coming from the report. I’ll pick out the Read More …
Do you ever get those days where you just don’t know where to begin? I’m having one of those days. I’m sitting with a blank piece of paper and a pen. Well a number of pens actually. Coloured sharpies. But that’s not important. What is important is the topic I’m trying to think of some Read More …