Just an advance warning that Pete Rollins is coming to speak at Bristol CYM on March 15th 2007. Jonny wrote recently on Ikon’s service at Greenbelt. The session in Bristol will be at the Baptist College, and is open to all. There will be a small charge for the day. If you have not heard Pete speak, this is a day not to miss.
Just back from doing some detached youth work and curriculum training for Medway local authority. Great bunch of workers and a good mix of council workers and people from the voluntary sector. One of things we explored was the balance of needs led work and values led practice. I was asked to focus on strategy and this was what led me to unpack values, as if we don’t know where we are coming from and heading we can’t have a strategy. I also explained the CPR curriculum approach and the resources including some of the newer recording sheets and evaluation (email me for info) which went down well. The final session was putting CPR into the Meet them where they’re at detached strategy, and looking at contact, progress and risk activities within each of the 9 strategy stages. This worked really well as there were several experienced workers in the group so could well be a good basis for a follow up roadshow for those who have already attended some training but want some more input and training.
The planning for the next Occasion is well underway. It is shaping up to be a truly excellent event again. If you are involved in youthwork anywhere from Gloucestershire down to Cornwall, or Dorest etc this is the event for you. The feedback last year was outstanding and this year with opportunities for young leaders, extra time volunteers, and full timers it has to be the place to be. The event truly does create a sense of Occasion last year the training was great and the lunch was memorable (taking everyone out to lunch for a great all you can eat Chinese). Follow the link to book a place BUT HURRY!
Good to be with you yesterday and I hope you found the training sessions helpful. If you are looking for some of the links, you will find most of the links to the FaSt game and detached notes down the right hand side. There are other links to youth work stuff as well. I haven’t uploaded the emerging church stuff yet but will do so in the next few weeks. However there is already an article on Tacking you may find helpful. If you want more definition or background around the redefinition of what is church there is a series of posts starting here Do feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions or get in touch via email.
Welcome to anyone who has found their way here. The links I mentioned last night are on the right hand side of the page under the emerging church category. You may also like to read the link to sunday papers which explains more about the metaphor we discussed.
If you have any questions or feedback you can type them as a comment below.
I have used this track several times around smallness, it fits both youth work and church training stuff I often do. It comes from a track by Belljar on the Secret Volcanoes album.
Small is beautiful,
I’ve heard it said,
When things get too big,
You can’t keep them in your head.You can take your big ideas,
And your big hat and your big shoes too,
Coz’ small is beautiful and I don’t need you,
Spoiling the view,I’d rather know two or three,
Than a thousand smiling nameless faces,
So won’t you let me be,
Coz I won’t be thinking of changing places.Small is beautiful,
Keep it that way,
You let it get too big you can’t give it away,
You can take your techniques and your ten top tips for success,
Coz small is beautiful and I’m convinced more is less.I’d rather know two or three
Than a thousand smiling namesless faces,
So won’t you let me be,
Coz I won’t be thinking of changing places,Small is beautiful,
Small is beautiful,
Small is beautiful,
Small is beautiful.
If you visiting Sunday papers from the Dorchester session today, Welcome. You will find the discussion on belief here on the 11th March (click here) and the notes on the left hand side under Talks as soon as I can upload them. On Youthblog there is good discussion on random thoughts. I think randomness is very helpful and my random thoughts often turn into some of my best ideas for youth work activities. Once was I wondering if Bananas are really as slippery as on cartoons. We then did a youth night covering the wooden floor of the hall with Bananas to see how far we could slide SO if anyone has any random thoughts they would like to share you never know what ideas it may spark off, so feel free to add any of yours.
Richard
Off%20the%20Beaten%20Track%202.ppt To Live and Die in L.A. ipod
I had a great time in Denmark, the cultural differences were a challenge and I enjoyed the dialogue. It was strange to be speaking in a context where I knew little about the culture but am always on about the need to contexualise the message and methods. If you were at the SALT session and are after resources, most of the stuff is on the right and if you hover the mouse over a dialogue will expalin what is what. If you want to continue the conversation about new forms of church, or have any other issues you want to raise, feel free to post a question in the comments space below.
I thought it was time for a story. So I have nicked an extract from a friend’s recent preach, it is great and for all you Donovan fans out there (Vincent not Jason) this one’s for you. a 19-year-old American called Bruce Olsen who went to live among the Motilone Indians in Colombia, South America in order to tell them about Jesus. It took him four years before he was accepted into the tribe and learned their language and all the time he wanted to try and explain what he knew about God. His initial attempts were met with indifference – the Motilone Indians listened politely but they saw God as an idea that Bruce had brought with him from America – part of Bruce’s culture. Their attitude was – that’s fine if it works for you but what’s it got to do with us. They couldn’t see how God was relevant to them. So Bruce began to look for ways to explain what he believed about God that would connect with their culture. He discovered that there was a Motilone legend about a man who had become an ant. This man had been sitting on a trail after a hunt and noticed some ants trying to build a home. He wanted to help them to build a good home so he started digging in the dirt. But because he was so big and so unknown the ants had been afraid and had run away. Then quite miraculously he had become an ant. He thought like an ant, looked like an ant and spoke the language of an ant. He lived with the ants and they came to trust him. He told them one day that he was not really an ant but a Motilone and he had once tried to help them improve their home but he had scared them. The ants said their equivalent of ‘no kidding? that was you?’ And they laughed at him because he didn’t look like the huge and fearful thing that had moved the dirt before. But at that moment he was turned back into a Motilone and began to move the dirt into the shape of a Motilone home. This time the ants recognised him and let him do his work because they knew he wouldn’t harm them.
I have tried to upload the Meet them where’re at powerpoint that I use for detached work training. If anyone has problems then let me know, as this is the first one I have done.
Meet them where theyre at.ppt
Did a detached work training session Nigel yesterday in Richmond. Good bunch of people. Nigel (find his stuff on www.sdpfyt.org.uk )used Stutzmans demographic model that identifies a marginalized minority, a comfortable majority and a rich minority. (based on people in the west) We used the curve to ask the question “where would Jesus be?� The thought struck me I like WWJB much more than WWJD.