Hello Strangers
Hey guys. It's been a while, sorry! These last couple of weeks have been pretty busy with different odd jobs (trying to get hold of boxes, designing Easter and Holiday Club flyers, trying to find a donkey etc.), plus there's this thing I have that means that the more I think I might have to write, the more I want to leave it another day - so the amount of time I think it'll take just gets bigger and bigger.
So, anyway... what have I been upto? Here goes...
24-7
I led 24-7, our youth home group, this Monday. I only had about 8 hours notice that I'd be leading it, but it didn't take that much preparation so... Anyway, we did some doodles and designed our ideal places of residence to try and get thinking about the world around us and what's up with it, had a little primer discussion, and then watched the Nooma: Trees, and afterwards discussed it some more and tried to unlock what it was saying - basically about looking after the world around us, and also the people in the world around us.
It went really well, and the group in general is just really encouraging with a real mix in terms of Christian experience. We have guys who've been Christians a long time and then a few who have only given their lives to God this term and then some who aren't even at that point yet, but they're all really open to discuss God.
SMASH
At Smash we've been continuing a series called Awesome! looking at the signs in John's gospel that Jesus is the son of God - although we've diverged a little bit in recent weeks so that the series leads up to Easter, padding out time a little bit by looking at Palm Sunday, the Footwashing this week, and next week the Crucifiction before we finally hit the last sign - the Resurrection - on the last one before Easter. Went really well this week and last week, and we're putting quite a lot of emphasis on next week and on the Easter week to try and give some of the children and their parents the opportunity to give their lives to God.
Electric Guitar & Free Food
Last night I went along to the Alpha Supper at St. Paul's (Justin-from-the-Lab's church) for some free food which was fantastic. The week before I also managed to break out my Electric Guitar (it's been a while...) and play for their Alpha Prayer & Praise meeting with worship led by Phil and the other guys from the Lab. Leading me to...
The Lab & The Hub
Over the last couple of weeks at the Lab we've made the jump to meeting at The Pen & Wig, which is a pub in the middle of town, to try and make it more accessible to people coming in. We've been booking this great upper room with a kindof dance floor area, which we've been using for worship, but also a really nice comfy seating area - it's really cheap, and the Landlord is really up for it, even to the point of suggesting that the Lab band could play a gig downstairs in the main bar sometime... He's also Irish, which is kinda cool... Although we still have a long way to go in making the Lab more visible to those outside - the worry is that in moving we'll have just re-located our "holy huddle" to another part of town and not done that much else.
The Hub has been a bit disrupted recently with Alpha stuff at St. Paul's, but hopefully next week we'll be able to get to praying for a couple of hours - it's been really valuable for me to just have a time-out to spend with God, and I know it has been for the other guys too. Also, with David's approval, I've just started to help Justin out a bit with some of the admin that goes with the Lab, and some publicity stuff, because he's just as crazy busy as David has been at St Mary's, looking after St. Paul's on his own. That way I've been filling up a little bit of free time, whilst being able to keep my Sunday evening at the Lab free to worship from the back.
Worship Group
Just plodding along really, in a good way, really looking forward to trying out new things for Good Friday and Easter.
Youth Club
Youth Club has really opened up since our Weekend Trip - I think there's just a lot more trust between the Leaders and the young people. I've been finding that I've been having more and more serious conversations with some of the guys there and really getting to know them, where as before I was spreading my time between football and games, and firefighting any trouble that happened. I think our little bit of Christian input on Saturday night really changed things as well and people are much more open to start talking about God - slowly we're picking up more and more guys from youth club in Time for Praise on a Sunday which is great.
All-in-all things are going well. I'm starting to feel the build-up towards Easter now, especially since the beginning of this week, which is a really good feeling. I'm really looking forward to the Holiday Club we're running during Holy Week and all the Easter services especially the informal Good Friday service, and Time for Praise on Easter Sunday.
God bless,
J.
So, anyway... what have I been upto? Here goes...
24-7
I led 24-7, our youth home group, this Monday. I only had about 8 hours notice that I'd be leading it, but it didn't take that much preparation so... Anyway, we did some doodles and designed our ideal places of residence to try and get thinking about the world around us and what's up with it, had a little primer discussion, and then watched the Nooma: Trees, and afterwards discussed it some more and tried to unlock what it was saying - basically about looking after the world around us, and also the people in the world around us.
It went really well, and the group in general is just really encouraging with a real mix in terms of Christian experience. We have guys who've been Christians a long time and then a few who have only given their lives to God this term and then some who aren't even at that point yet, but they're all really open to discuss God.
SMASH
At Smash we've been continuing a series called Awesome! looking at the signs in John's gospel that Jesus is the son of God - although we've diverged a little bit in recent weeks so that the series leads up to Easter, padding out time a little bit by looking at Palm Sunday, the Footwashing this week, and next week the Crucifiction before we finally hit the last sign - the Resurrection - on the last one before Easter. Went really well this week and last week, and we're putting quite a lot of emphasis on next week and on the Easter week to try and give some of the children and their parents the opportunity to give their lives to God.
Electric Guitar & Free Food
Last night I went along to the Alpha Supper at St. Paul's (Justin-from-the-Lab's church) for some free food which was fantastic. The week before I also managed to break out my Electric Guitar (it's been a while...) and play for their Alpha Prayer & Praise meeting with worship led by Phil and the other guys from the Lab. Leading me to...
The Lab & The Hub
Over the last couple of weeks at the Lab we've made the jump to meeting at The Pen & Wig, which is a pub in the middle of town, to try and make it more accessible to people coming in. We've been booking this great upper room with a kindof dance floor area, which we've been using for worship, but also a really nice comfy seating area - it's really cheap, and the Landlord is really up for it, even to the point of suggesting that the Lab band could play a gig downstairs in the main bar sometime... He's also Irish, which is kinda cool... Although we still have a long way to go in making the Lab more visible to those outside - the worry is that in moving we'll have just re-located our "holy huddle" to another part of town and not done that much else.
The Hub has been a bit disrupted recently with Alpha stuff at St. Paul's, but hopefully next week we'll be able to get to praying for a couple of hours - it's been really valuable for me to just have a time-out to spend with God, and I know it has been for the other guys too. Also, with David's approval, I've just started to help Justin out a bit with some of the admin that goes with the Lab, and some publicity stuff, because he's just as crazy busy as David has been at St Mary's, looking after St. Paul's on his own. That way I've been filling up a little bit of free time, whilst being able to keep my Sunday evening at the Lab free to worship from the back.
Worship Group
Just plodding along really, in a good way, really looking forward to trying out new things for Good Friday and Easter.
Youth Club
Youth Club has really opened up since our Weekend Trip - I think there's just a lot more trust between the Leaders and the young people. I've been finding that I've been having more and more serious conversations with some of the guys there and really getting to know them, where as before I was spreading my time between football and games, and firefighting any trouble that happened. I think our little bit of Christian input on Saturday night really changed things as well and people are much more open to start talking about God - slowly we're picking up more and more guys from youth club in Time for Praise on a Sunday which is great.
All-in-all things are going well. I'm starting to feel the build-up towards Easter now, especially since the beginning of this week, which is a really good feeling. I'm really looking forward to the Holiday Club we're running during Holy Week and all the Easter services especially the informal Good Friday service, and Time for Praise on Easter Sunday.
God bless,
J.
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