Recently we had a couple of children (9 & 11) who expressed a desire to be baptised, both having come to faith a short while ago. We were thrilled, but aware that we’ve not baptised children before and that our usual ‘prep’ wouldn’t be appropriate. Ahead of the Baptism service at Easter, I produced a two-sided worksheet; the first side…
Following a sudden death in a family in our church I’ve produced a set of cards to help the family communicate as they grieve. The idea is for a child/young person (or parent) to complete the card highlighting a particular feeling/frustration then hand it to a family member/friend to inform them how they’re feeling and allow them to respond appropriately.…
A few years ago I led an Easter Sunrise service for our Church, then a couple of years later used the same service for a city-wide service. You can download the notes & song-sheet below. Feel free to use without need to credit me. Service Notes [PDF 168k] Song Sheet [PDF 189k] [Get in touch if you’d like a version…
Last Saturday the second Youthwork Summit took place in Manchester. I attended along with about about 750 other youth workers/ministers, paid & volunteer, full & part time, along with 20+ speakers, the Rend Collective Experiment, Mark Yaconelli, and the amazing team who put the event together and served us on the day. It will take a while to properly reflect…
There’s a small but steady ‘movement’ on Twitter to use Mondays as a specific opportunity to encourage others. It’s called #loveMonday and it works like this: You send an encouraging message (public or private) to three other Twitter users, and invite them to encourage three of their friends/contacts/followers. Don’t forget to include #loveMonday in the message. Simple. Of course, it doesn’t have to just be via Twitter. Feel free to do the same but on Facebook, via email, or even offline (send a postcard, leave a message scrawled on a post-it note, etc.).
On Palm Sunday, at the start of the Easter(LIVE) project, I shared my critical thoughts and fears about approach the 2011 approach was taking, and suggested an alternative project to support. There were some great comments on the post and via Twitter: many in support of my critique, and some from people who wanted to reserve judgement (participants & skeptics…
I’m a big fan of Easter. No really, I am. But this year I’m feeling a bit grumpy about it. It all started about two weeks ago, and has been building since then. Let me try to explain why:I’m also a big fan of Twitter. I find it an incredibly useful tool for connecting with people who have shared interests…
On 21st March we held an event, in partnership with the Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust [MKBT], which aimed to ‘bless, refresh, resource & encourage’ Christians in Education across Milton Keynes.We were joined by 18 attendees, representing 9 Churches & 11 schools/institutions/organisations. Delegates included teachers (current, supply & retired), teaching assistants, deputy headteachers, assistant principals, administrative officers, KS3 coordinators, a reading…
I’m not a Children’s worker: it’s not my particular gifting. But I’m being increasingly challenged about the importance of work (particularly evangelism) with children. More on that later…but for now my mantra will be: Aim LowerThink SmallerGive UpGo and have a cup of coffee * And here’s why: * to be fair, this has always been part of my personal…
Recently I attended a seminar entitled ‘Big Society, Big Mission’, organised by the Central Baptist Association and presented by Geoff Colmer & Helen Wordsworth. On reflection, it was very light on Big Society info (as is the government!) and so focussed on Big Mission. Nothing ground breaking, but a useful challenge and some Holy prompts along the way for me…
