I’m about to head off to Carberry Tower near Edinburgh for 24 hours to our Synod Programme Committees.
On the agenda for me are Children and Communion and Safeguarding as well as working with the Children and Youth Ministry Committee on our future plans for the Synod Youth Forum and some other stuff in the pipeline that I’ll tell you more about later!
iChurch is, in my humble opinion, the best idea I’ve seen in ages.
If you are a URC congregation who either wants a website but think it is too hard to set up and run
or
are paying for web hosting, trying to design and update your site and all that
then ichurch is the answer! For a one off fee of £100 you get your own website with a yourchurch.urc.org.uk address, a site that is already set up and really simple for anyone to update. It runs from the URC server so no web hosting costs or any of that website hassle.
It’s a brilliant idea and one I think every congregation should take up.
Ramble Alert! OK. I’m not sure where this post is going but stick with me and hopefully it will get somewhere…
I’m working on some aims and objectives for my job. I tell everyone I train to do it so it’s practice what you preach time.
The thing is… I can write down the stuff I do/will do/can do standing on my head OR I can do all that and try to do something that will make a difference. We have been talking a lot in our little Synod Team about ‘Culture Carrying’. That discussion has grown from a feeling that we have to do better than maintaining the church. To do that we need to embody something else. We need to be culture carriers.
So my quandary is twofold:
Does any of the stuff I do make a difference? And if it does, who or what does it make a difference to? And are those the right people?
What culture should I be carrying? I start where I always do. Asking for thoughts and ideas.
Headphonaught suggests I keep being me. I’m not sure I can be anything else, or that I can write that down on my forward plan!
1. Be me.
2. see 1
I think he’s right though. I need to be authentic. And so does the church. If it’s not about life and living it then what’s the point?
Avril asked me what difference the church can make to the lives of people in and out of it? I don’t really know the answer to that question. I’m sure it makes a bigger difference than we might at first think because the ‘organisation’ isn’t the be all and end all of being church thank God. The people live and move in the world, loving, caring, helping and supporting as they go. But then so do lots of others who have no involvement in church.
My thing is children and young people and the adults that work with them. At least that’s what my job is. My problem is that sometimes I have no idea what to do with that. (is that something I should be admitting?) I sometimes wonder if the church as it exists is anyplace for our children and young people? In some cases yes and in some no.
What I have noticed is that the churches that are willing to invest some time, money and most of all themselves are the ones that do well with children and young people. And yet few of our churches are growing significantly. That isn’t because they are not good places full of good people. I would recommend a number of them to anyone.
I wonder if it is because we don’t advertise our existence? Is that a confidence thing? Are we silent because we don’t know who we are or what we are for?
I wrote a chapter in a book called Inside Verdict which I began with the words “This isn’t working anymore.” Well, is it any better now? Of course some of it is. The Together@MCT project I’ve been working with people on perhaps sheds some light. Engaging worship. Discussion with no pressure. Hopefully some community building. But I’m not sure we have gotten our heads around who it is for and how we should move forward yet. We need to keep the bigger picture before us. That will come though.
The pervasive themes of personalisation and participation return to my thinking again and again. The world, my world, seems to value both of these. How does that fit with community? It seems to in the world of facebook and bebo. I can be me. I can have my personal page but I belong to the community and can participate and add and contribute. How does/could/should that work in church?
Media that targets you but doesn’t include you may not be worth sitting still for.
Here’s a plea for all those people who are dots on the clustr map around the world.
We’re working on a project for Pentecost to collect lots of languages reading Acts 2:1-6. So, if you speak anything other than English and could record yourself reading this short passage and email it to me as an MP3 please let me know using the box below and I’ll get back to you with an email address to send it to. The link takes you to Bible Gateway where you can find the passage in loads of languages. Thanks!
Tonight I’ve been invited to be on the panel for an open community discussion at Shawlands URC in Glasgow (map).
The topic is ‘What role can the Church play in the community?’ and I’ve been asked to speak about the church and young people. There are another two speakers and the local MP was to have been on the panel but has been called away.
The event starts at 7.00pm and you would be most welcome to join us.
The National Gathering is on 3-4 May 2008 at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston near Edinburgh is in less than 3 weeks from now!
The National Gathering will be one of the most encouraging, stimulating and memorable events for the whole church in Scotland in a generation or more. There will be huge celebrations of worship, keynote preachers, kids & youth programmes (check out the BEBO Page, an area for reflective prayer, art exhibitions and outdoor theatre. Speakers include Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, Michele Guinness, Alister McGrath, Andrea Wigglesworth and John Bell. Modern singer/songwriter, Stuart Townend, is coming too.
Although Church without Walls is a movement within the Church of Scotland, all Christian denominations in Scotland are invited to participate in the National Gathering.
Have you booked your tickets yet?
We hope lots of people from your church will come along to this exciting event. Click on this link to visit the National Gathering website. There you’ll find detailed information about the Saturday and Sunday programmes and you can book your tickets online. The excellent value for money prices start at £10 - or less with group discounts. There are even more generous discounts for youth groups. Perhaps your church would like to buy a story-telling tent! There’s still time. See the website for details.
Last night we were at my aunt and uncle’s Ruby (40) Wedding Anniversary. It was great to see the family. We really don’t get together often enough!
I spent this morning with the lovely people of Righead URC in east Kilbride leading worship and talking about the Child Friendly Church Award that the URC operate. It helps churches to think about how they include children and young people in all aspects to the life of the church.
At the moment I’m watching Chelsea V Middlesburgh while trying hard not to fall asleep. What is daylight saving all about? I want my hour in bed back!
Later we’re heading off to Edinburgh for Together @ MCT. More on that later!
Dr Tanya Byron has published her report into safer internet use and gaming. You can read the report HERE. This is the executive summary bullets:
The internet and video games are very popular with children and young people and offer a range of opportunities for fun, learning and development.
But there are concerns over potentially inappropriate material, which range from content (e.g. violence) through to contact and conduct of children in the digital world.
Debates and research in this area can be highly polarised and charged with emotion.
Having considered the evidence I believe we need to move from a discussion about the media ‘causing’ harm to one which focuses on children and young people, what they bring to technology and how we can use our understanding of how they develop to empower them to manage risks and make the digital world safer.
There is a generational digital divide which means that parents do not necessarily feel equipped to help their children in this space – which can lead to fear and a sense of helplessness. This can be compounded by a risk-averse culture where we are inclined to keep our children ‘indoors’ despite their developmental needs to socialise and take risks.
While children are confident with the technology, they are still developing critical evaluation skills and need our help to make wise decisions.
In relation to the internet we need a shared culture of responsibility with families, industry, government and others in the public and third sectors all playing their part to reduce the availability of potentially harmful material, restrict access to it by children and to increase children’s resilience.
I propose that we seek to achieve gains in these three areas by having a national strategy for child internet safety which involves better self-regulation and better provision of information and education for children and families.
In relation to video games, we need to improve on the systems already in place to help parents restrict children’s access to games which are not suitable for their age.
I propose that we seek to do that by reforming the classification system and pooling the efforts of the games industry, retailers, advertisers, console manufacturers and online gaming providers to raise awareness of what is in games and enable better enforcement.
Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe – this isn’t just about a top-down approach. Children will be children – pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim.
She was interviewed on the BBC news this morning. You can watch it here:
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