Rock the Priory

For more information about the bands who will be playing at Rock the Priory this year, check out their websites

Sounds of Salvation
The Damage
Jacob Lloyd

More news later this year about the great pre-booking deals we have for groups coming from our churches! It'll be £5 on the door but we can offer you much better deals for groups booking ahead.

Salt 'n' Light

Just finished making this video (somewhat belatedly due to vet visit with out older dog - we're getting results back from biopsies next week) for the youth event tomorrow.

Youth and age

I was looking for a video of the Philosopher's Song on the Monty Python feed on youtube yesterday (like you do) and couldn't find it but did see this fantastic piece from John Cleese about youth. I think it also says a bit about age too.

Something for the weekend

Has your youth group done every outdoor activity there is? Stuck for some new ideas? I picked up information about a fabulous organisation called Treasure Trails. Not only does the pack offer you a walking guide to help you get them out in the open air but it also gives you a puzzle to solve - either a treasure hunt, murder mysery or James Bond style spy trail. There are trails in Worcestershire and Herefordshire (particularly handy of you're staying at Woolhope Cockshoot - there's one in Ledbury!) There are also trails for Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Enjoy!

Rock of all ages

We had an AWESOME night on Saturday at Worcester called ROCK THE CATHEDRAL.

After months of planning and hours of setting up we had a crowd of nearly 300 rocking to the tunes of Finchley, Relentless Craving, Formal Affair (pictured), Dan Haynes and Fans of Faye as well as hearing some wisdom from Bishop John and the vice chair of our Youth Council Jon Pedley. Matchborough youth group presented a challenging drama about Jesus as the "rubbish collector" and Peter Cooper and Co from Barrel of Fun provided some fabulous entertainment in the Juggle Zone.

It wasn't all hyperactive though. There was some chillout space for the adults in the adult creche (putting green and newspapers included!) and BREATHE in the chapter house as well as some fabulous sharing of silence, prayer, bread and wine in the crypt.

Thanks to all my WONDERFUL youth council and the AMAZING team of adult stewards. We really couldn't have done it without you!

Emotion and the church

We had a really good service of prayer for Christian Unity this evening. The Methodist minister shared some thoughtful reflections on what it means to "Rejoice always", "Give thanks always" and "Pray without ceasing". She began her sermon by asking us "How are you feeling?" She suggested that in any large gathering there would be all sorts of different emotional states in evidence. For me it was a very poignant question as I was a little emotional. I've been having an "interesting time" lately which I won't bore you with but today I had been speaking with someone who's mother recently died and so I had thought a bit about my mum (who died nearly six years ago) and then we sang one of the hymns we had at mum's funeral so I found myself in tears at church.

I remember the time this first happened when mum was going through her illness and I, like other people I know, felt that it was rather embarrassing. This evening, however, I pondered on how I felt differntly; encouraged by the ministers words (and mellowed through the years!) I didn't mind so much. There's something about the honesty of crying when you're upset in church that seems right. The dealing with other people's reactions to it is probably the greatest difficulty. There are people around who would know one reason why I might be teary at the moment but others might well be very shocked/worried/concerned/distressed. I wouldn't want other people to be upset. However, if church is family, it should be ok.

Interestingly, I found it easier to deal with difficult emotions in front of a group of teenagers than others. I think perhaps because I know them and they know me better. It happened that I was on our church youth holiday a few years ago when I received the news that Brother Roger had been murdered during a service at Taize. I called the young people together and told them that I might be a bit below par as this was a community special to me and I was very aware of all they would be going through. The young people were great. It even led into a discussion about death and grief and all that with some of them.

What is the difference between the communities? Is it merely a size issue or is there something about a level of relationship? How do we get that kind of community built in the wider church? I think there is something to be said for the fact that the young people meet together much more in social ways and spend time away together on residentials as well as being together in worship and Bible study. Could it be as simple as that? I don't know. As a youth worker I'm conscious that I minister to a relatively small "church within a church". True we have our fringe members, our new members and visitors but in other ways our community is smaller and the core certainly more stable. I have opted to spend quality time with fewer youn people rather than aiming for having as many young people as possible pass through our doors. If the adult members of the church had as much personal contact with a minister as the young people do perhaps things would be different. I'm not sure the Church of England could resource that though. Yet I think many of the fresh expressions out there are doing just that. Maybe they are youth groups for adults.

Movies that moved you

At the Youthwork Conference at the weekend, Fuzz Kitto used a clip from Dead Poet's Society and I was reminded just how profound watching that film was as a teenager.

I can also remember a visiting ordinand who took u away for a weekend to study the book of Revelation. Unfortunately I remember very little about the teaching of Revelation but I do remember he showed us Cry Freedom! This Spring I showed my older group V for Vendetta and hope that maybe it had a similar impact. I remember discussing with my young people the fact that they had noticed that parts of that film make me cry.

Considering that I'm still reeling from when some of my young people considered Mrs Doubtfire to be a CLASSIC FILM, (good but classic???) what makes a classic?

What films were those GREAT films that really moved you when you were young? Have you shared them with your teenagers?

In the eye of the beholder

Great new cartoon today from the consistently good ASBO Jesus about young people. I wonder just how many times this will appear in youthwork literature!!

Marriage and the Ministry

Pop over to FeminYM to check out Amanda's new contribution to our Women in Youth Ministry site. She's reflected on the relationship between her marriage to a fellow youth worker and both their shared ministry and her own personal ministry. The second part of her thoughts will appear shortly and, thanks to some connections made at the Youthwork conference, we should have a piece on being young and single and in youth ministry coming soon.

The Youthwork Conference

As always with conferences, when we got together over some fantastic fish and chips at Harry Ramsden's (away from an extremely windy seafront!), we talked over what had been the "best bits" of the Youthwork conference for us. For me as for many of us it was the chance to get together and network with other youth workers, swapping stories, being silly together (MUCH over-excitement on our team during the television theme tune round at the quiz - 19/20 woohoo!), exploring the town and pier together, eating together and worshipping together.

Of course there was good stuff at the conference too. You can download individuals mp3s here for £4.50. Or the whole lot here for £75.

It was great to see a reasonable crowd at the Sophia Network launch including Amanda who is writing something for our Women in Youth Ministry site. Jenny Baker introduced everyone to the reasoning behind the network as improving not only the place of women in youth ministry but of making youth ministry (as part of God's creation) a balance of male and female. It's not just about women being women but enabling men and women to work well together.

Fuzz Kitto led the Early day and used the model of a meal (appetiser, starter, main course and dessert) as the structure for his four talks. I have to admit I took a while getting in to what he was doing but his take on things was pretty refreshing as he got us to taste various things (including chocolate!) as we reflected and he urged us to think about the "flavour" of our ministry and the flavour of God. He also sent us out to stand by the sea and reflect then went on, in the main course, to identify some of the key ingredients of good youth ministry and I hope to get those from him at some point as there were LOTS of sub points but they were summarised as:

1. Being available
2. Showing Interest
3. Building Relationships
4. Communicating
5. leading
6. Teaching
7. Creating Community
8. Encouraging Involvement

He also quoted a few great lines (from Alan Roxburgh, I think):

"Truth is relational"

and another;

"We don't work for the church. We work for God WITH the church."

and finally from the great Dead Poet's Society (which I must watch again as it was SUCH an influence when I was a teenager!)

"No matter what anyone tells you words and ideas can change the world"

Another bit that I took away was about the need for creativity in people-centred work. We never finish with people so it is important to have something which we can finish. I sat there partly desperate to get home to the HUGE pair of canvasses Michael had bought me for my birthday and get painting something that was screaming to get on the canvas!
and then Fuzz said:

"It is only in creative activity that we externalise our nature as in the image of God"

Wow! REALLY need to paint this now!

Jeff Lucas was very entertaining in the first main talk but also had some words of wisdom. Callin on us all to avoid burnout and cynicism:

"Dream your dreams through me again and let me see the wide screen picture and let me do the small things well"

I must admit I skived his last session only to discover it was a viewing of Babette's Feast so I didn't feel so guilty as I'd already seen it as part of one of the weekends away with the (SA)OMC course!

For me, Juliet Kilpin (from Urban Expression) was probably the highlight of the main talks as she challenged us to be more daring in our servanthood. She also used one of Dave Walker's cartoons (the facebook one!) so I was almost certainly going to like what she said!

She also co-led a session with Jonny Baker on Fresh Expressions and the Emerging church (using one of Dave Walker's cartoons again[this time the where the church scratches one] and the marvellous but sometimes painfully accurate ASBO Jesus). There were also references to Mark Berry and Richard Passmore so I felt rather at home! My friend and I both went to this and, although we both said it included much we had heard before, we still found it really good. For me, it was a great reminder of how to look at CHURCH and I'm sure I'm going to use some of the theory when I'm working with St Anne's and St Peter's in helping them look at their future plans for youth ministry in their community.

The worship at Early day was led by a guy called Darren Baird from Knock in Belfast who was AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC. He picked the perfect song each time and was really prayerful in leading us without dominating. The main worship sessions for me were not so good in comparison but they were in the theatre which was rather cramped so that may have had an impact. That said, the poems (someone PLEASE tell me they know where I can find them!) and some amazing cello playing really made an impact.

Yet in all this the time I felt closest to God all weekend was on the beach when I should have been in a seminar on personal spirituaity - yes I liked the irony too! It was really windy and it reminded me of a great time in Taizé during the storm this summer.


Back home now and started working on the painting that was screaming to be let out. It's based on the idea of that still centre within each of us and reminding me of that St Augustine line which someone (might have been Jeff Lucas!) used this weekend:

"Human beings are not bodies with souls but souls with bodies"

All Saints' Youth Holiday 2007

Fantabulous time away with the young people at Quinta Hall up in Shropshire. We went to Holy Communion at the cathedral at Chester on Sunday and went to the beach at Prestatyn on Monday (with mini golf, sandcastle competition and fish & chip supper!). On Tuesday we send the young people on a treasure hunt round Oswestry then got them cooking for masterchef. Wednesday saw us enjoying a swim at Wrexham in the morning (including funky slide, jacuzzi and one of those weird tidal pool thingies) and then tree-climbing and doing archery with Aiden and Luke from the fantastic Adventure Plus all rounded off with a stoningly tasty roast chicken dinner. On Thursday we continued with Fencing and a low ropes course (including a game of Wah on the low ropes - yes I think we were mad!). Friday was a marvellously chilled out day on a canal boat going of the Pontcysyllte viaduct which is pretty amazing.

Alongside all this we looked at the book of Genesis, touching on issues of sin, meeting with God, families and using our gifts. There was also plenty of time for some great games of Kubb, Wah, the foot Game, Tom's game, shops, Mafia, 1-2-3, Monkey, boppit, Chinese cricket and the occasional few hours of sleep!

We had some great food and I did promise to put up two recipes - both chocolate coincidentally!

So recipes for tiffin & Chocolate puddle pudding following...

Fresh Cafe 07

Fabulous couple of nights at Fresh Café with young people chilling (rather too literally in some of the downpours!) hanging out at the café, strutting on the dance mats, zooming on the snowboard, getting down on the singstar, getting moving on the volleyball and five-a-side football, getting artistic for our big art installation, reflecting in the labyrinth, rocking to the bands (Behaviour were just STONKING!) and generally exploring what MAKES LIFE MAKE SENSE to them.

There was time also for some deep conversations and some important conversations too.

This may not sound amazing but at the beginning of the second evening we had about 25% of the main tent that was useable and not literally underwater, the labyrinth tent had blown apart earlier in the day and most of the site was decidedly squelchy and clouds like these were looming around us!

Clouds over Fresh Cafe 3
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Yellow Braces 07

Fabulous weekened at Hill End though I am still tired!

We had some really great talks from Simo, an unforgettable flip-flop-flip-flop stomp from Ian, fabulous worship from the Taste band, awesome lifeguarding and techie stuff from KT, amazing nosh from the unflappable catering team, some great energy and enthusiasm from all the leadership team and some really good chat both fun and serious with the young people.

The late night worship was based on Jesus' two great commandments of Love God and Love your neighbour. There was the usual set up panic - this time resulting from a corrupted CD which meant I used different music to what I had planned BUT it worked SO WELL so maybe God had other plans all along!

I'd done a powerpoint show of images of people serving or seeking/needing help (which I'll try and put up somewhere for people) and invited the young people to pray for situations needing love via the hearts in the cetnre of the room and to offer their own service through adding their "hands" to the dead looking branch to bring our faith to life. I'm hoping someone else got some pics of what it all looked like in the end!

Armour Believer

I can't believe I haven't put up the notes from my talk to Cross-Section on Sunday! Well I suppose I can as I have been kinda busy since then BUT I do usually manage it. In fact it was one of those talks which I can't quite remember. A friend kindly said "those ar the best kind" and another also confirmed I said something that hit home so...

We often think of faith as a journey. At the moment if we were going ona journey we might take a rain coat and heavy boots (there were props - can you guess what!) but of course I'm not talking about that kind of a journey. The faith journey isn't like that but we still need to be equipped.

How about these (ok without the visual bit here this may have slightly less impact)

a sign to point the way (a cross)
a map of where we're going (a Bible)
something to light the way (a candle - Christians use those a lot)
a guide book to explain everything (a bible commentary)

Well let's have a look at what Jesus' model was:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.'

Luke 10:1-11

So Jesus didn't tell the disciples to go out with Scriptures and commentaries and of course he wouldn't have sent them with a cross. No the equipping we need for our journeys of faith is very different. Paul considers faith not so much a journey as a battle:

"Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

Ephesians 6.11-18

So in Paul's image of the battle of faith, our armour is not something you can pick up and hold it's not something you put on - it's something inside; it's the way you behave and how you feel. So what is this armour?

At the centre is the belt of truth - the thing which holds everything in right in the middle is TRUTH. The truth of the Gospel of Christ. The knowledge that this Good news is TRUE and is TRUTH is central to our defence and our faith.

What is it that protects us against temptation? against sin? Righteousness is what protects us. You can wear a silver ring as a symbol of that if you like but it is your own inner sense of Christian morality, your own righteousness which will protect you against sin.

Our feet a protected too. Whether we are called on to stand firm against oppression by others because of our faith or if we must follow Christ and MOVE. It is the READINESS of the Gospel of peace. What does that mean? It is that inner peace, that calm still centre which is the knowledge of the peace which God gives that makes us able to stand firm or to follow where Christ leads. (My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you etc.)

What about all those peopel who attack our faith; people at school who take the mick out of you for being a Christian or just for believing SOMETHING rather than being cynical "like everyoe else". I often think this is harder for young people than for adults. Most adults will be polite and not criticise someone for their faith even if they do disagree but young people will voice their opinion and the defence against that is your own faith in God.

For all those times when someone does try to RATIONALISE you out of your faith there is this helmet of salvation. People may try to make arguments that they call logical against your belief in God but the knowledge of the salvation that God offers all through the death and resurrection of his son; that totally irrational illogical love of God for his creation and his children.

Now the last in the list. The ONLY weapon please note. The Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. When people DO attack your faith, God offers all this armour to defend you and he gives us just one weapon; the word of God which is revealed in scripture and the words given to you by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Those are the only things you can use to fight back.

That doesn't make it easy. It is a struggle to keep the faith in an increasingly secular world and that's why we at Cross-Section what to give you some tools for that journey. One of them is the Examen, an ancient form of prayer used by Ignatius Loyola and many Christians since. You can do this each night when before you go to sleep - something we all do pretty much everyday, no matter how late! We'll do it now and you can try it on your own again tongiht or tomorrow night as one of your tools for the journey.

Racing through a journey of faith

I picked up from Tim Abbot that Jonathan Edwards, once hailed as such a great ambassador of the Church in the media and the public eye has now had a crisis of faith.

Apparently it was in making a documentary about St Paul that Jonathan first heard the suggestion that the conversion of St Paul was in fact an epileptic episode. Edwards' response:

"It made me realise that I had taken things for granted that were taught to me as a child without subjecting them to any kind of analysis."

I think this response says to me that we need to learn a lesson from this in our ministry to young people. Of course we shouldn't be telling them that all the events in the Bible can be explained away by science BUT we should tell them that people will suggest it. We should encourage them to THINK about the Bible not merely to READ it but to read it WISELY and REFLECTIVELY.

What is it about one tiny comment like this that can unpin a whole life of faith. I remember someone else (much younger than Edwards) who decided the whole Bible must be"made-up" because the angel in the book of Isaiah needed to use TONGS to pick up the coal which he touched to Isaiah's lips in the vision. Surely an angel wouldn't need tongs - was his assertion.


Fowler's model (though in my mind not perfect) talks about the different stages of faith development and I think it's the transition between each of these stages which can be the most difficult. I'd say Jonathan Edwards may have been stuck in one of these stages and fallen between the gap. Of course i don't know him so I wouldn't want to judge but his description of the St Paul incident and his reaction to it suggests his faith was more at the
Stage 4 - "Synthetic-Conventional"and hadn't worked through the stage 5 - Individuatice-Reflective stage. Some might even argue he IS in stage 5 and in taking charge of his own beliefs has rejected those of his upbringing.

Jonathan Edwards does not seem to be missing his faith but rather rejoicing with the zeal of the convert. He puts it this way:

"But I feel internally happier than at any time of my life, more content within my own skin. Maybe it is because I am not viewing the world through a specific set of spectacles"

I'd argue that he IS viewing the world through a specific set of spectacles. It's just his prescription has changed. He's not viewing the world through Christ's eyes anymore but through those of the secular humanist.

So there are three challenges to us as youth ministry practictioners:

How do we disciple our young people to THINK about their faith not just learn it?
How do we help young people move from one stage of faith to another?
How do we Christians deal with the secular humanist spectale wearers who consider themselves "neutral"?

Examen-ation time?

We used a form of the examen at Cross-Section on Sunday...

Do I hear "what's the examen?" or "what's Cross-Section?"

Head on over to the WYDE blog to find out!

Revision exam survival...

It's that time of year again that young people begin to stress about revision and exams whether it's SATs as this week or GCSEs or end of year exams and of course the ever presnet modules for AS and A2s!

So I put together some revision survival kits for our house group. It's not difficult to put together but with a little thought you can make it a little deeper too. I made some of the contents significant of something and others help the young people structure their revision. Any former students of mine won't be surprised that I also combiend it with advice to SLEEP, EAT WELL (including fish and plenty of fruit and vegetables) and have some TIME OUT sometimes.

So here's what our packs contained:
A pen - pretty much a must
two pencils - the pencil is mightier than the pen!
a jewel shaped pencil sharpener - to remind them that they are a precious treasure to us and God
pot of playdoh - a stress reliever
small card with a Bible passage - reminding them of the need for faith (we got ours from the fabulous St Andrew's bookshop but of course you could make your own if you want to save cash)
a flier for a youth event at the end of June - reminding them of the hope of the future
a heart - reminding them that they are loved
an eraser - we all make mistakes
a highlighter - because meeting with them is one of the highlights of my week (awww!)
some index cards, post-its and page tags - as markers to show the way
a holographic spinner - as a treat for when they've revised one card
a bouncey ball - as a treat for when they've revised a whole topic
a set of jumping frogs - as a treat for when they've finished a day of revision

I accompanied this with a look at Ecclesiastes (partly because that's the book we'd been planning to look at anyway!) which worked reasonably well as it is written as the words of THE TEACHER and has a few passages about study and knowledge. The message of the book to me is also about doing the best that you can with your life but with the awareness that you won't be able to understand the vastness of God and God's creation.

Dying to know...

We've had two very sad events recently in High Wycombe, the death of a teenager from Meningitis from one school and the death of a boy from a heart condition at another school.

I've already covered the topic informally both with our Sunday morning group and teen house group and with individuals but we're planning to look at it as a whole group at Pulse (our years 6-9 group) on Saturday.

We're not dealing only with those directly affected but also with those that are feeling rather odd because they just don't feel too upset but they've been unnerved by the proximity of someone "like them" dying.

One of my leaders is looking out some stuff from the school she works at and I've got some books but I was wondering if anyone has got any great resources that they've used effectively with bereaved teens?

UPDATE: As Ian has pointed out there is the wonderful resource of the Child Bereavement Trust but I could still do with some reflections on stuff people have used successfully

Looking at the proverbial!

Our youth house group Proverbs me last night to look at another book of the Bible and this time we'd chosen Proverbs. As this book is so full of imagery, after a brief introduction, we used various multi-sensory stations to explore different passages. Take a look:

Each person should take their Bible with them and read each of the passages given as well as reflect on the items at the station. At the end we chose to reflect together on our experience and share passages that particularly meant something to us.

1) Proverbs 3.18-22 (big box of beads and wire and string)
Think of all the things you know you should do but don’t want to. For each of them or to represent them string some of the beads on the wire or on the string.

2) Proverbs 6.6-9 (picture of or an actual ant farm)
Look at the picture of the ant farm. When do you sit when you should be active?

3) Proverbs 6.16-19 (mirror and pile of plasticine or play-doh)
Look in the mirror and at yourself as you reflect on these passages. Form a heart out of the clay and as you work the clay ask God to take all evil plots from your heart.

4) Proverbs 7. 16-17 (some jars of cinmmon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg or other sweet and strong spices lying on a collection of different luxrious cloths like silk, "fur" and linens draped)
Smell the spices and feel the materials as you read the passage. What is there in your life that makes life more special?

5) Proverbs 8.8-11 (jewellery box full of glittering beads - this can be placed with number 1)
Look at the chest of “riches” what do you prize above God?

6) Proverbs 8.22-31 (This can either be placed near a window with a view or you could gather a load of images of creation)
Picture all these types of creation that Go d gives us and give thanks for them

7) Proverbs 11.30 (a plant next to a pile of seeds)
Look at the seeds and the plant. Read the passge. What do you want God to grow in you?

8) Proverbs 15.17 (a bowl full of vegetables)
Look at the bowl full of what is good for you but not necessarily appealing. Treasure those who are closest to you and pray for them.

9) Proverbs 16.24 & 24.13-14 (a jar of honey and some spoons)
Taste the honey as you read these words and commit to using more kind words. Read Proverbs 25.16 before you move on!

10) Proverbs 17.1 (a crust of bread on a plate)
Taste a piece of the bread and think of places of conflict in the world.

11) Proverbs 23.19 (a glass of wine - for us it was not for drinking but of course - you decide!)
Look at the wine and smell it. Think of the effects of wine? Wine in moderation is fine but over-indulging can cause problems. What effects does drinking and bad company bring?

12) Proverbs 25.11 (a silver bowl of apples)
Taste the apples and think of the advice you could give someone or some advice which you need for yourself.

13) Proverbs 25.20 (a bottle of vinegar, some poured into a small bowl)
Taste a little bit of the vinegar (or salt depending on your Bible translation) and reflect on the wounds in people you have made worse.

14) Proverbs 27.19 (a bowl of water or a mirror - as long as the can see their reflection)
Look in the bowl of water (mirror) and see your reflection. How is your heart reflected in your actions?

15) Proverbs 30.33 (a jar of cream or creamy milk. Make sure it is thoroughly sealed. This really does work!)
Shake the jar and see whether you can turn the milk to butter. Burn up your anger in shaking the jar rather than having a go at people!

16) Proverbs 3.1-4 (a pile of heart-shaped post-it notes)
From all the stations, or from somewhere else in the book, write a verse from proverbs on one of the heart shaped post-its

Cool as a Chellington

So I've had some sleep now which is rather good it has to be said! So I can tell you a bit about that wonderful place we stayed nd the great time we had.

The Chellington centre is an extremely well-equipped, well-organised centre, the co-ordination of the site is friendly and really open to youth groups. In terms of equipment the kitchen had SO much and the cleaning materials were impresesive too. It runs on the "leave it ready for the next group" principle which is somehting I thoroughly commend.

The centre is located in an incredibly gorgeous converted 12th century church, the fold-down beds are surprisingly comfortable, if a little odd but hearing that they're used by firemen made me think they probably would be ok! The views are stunning and the availability of your own enclosed churchyard with fire-pit and barbecue is amazing and the addition of the use of a maHUSSive field was fabulous. There was much Kubb y-played!

I couldn't recommend it more strongly.

The weekend away was totally awesome. We played Cranium on Friday night which is a game I really love and is pretty good for a mixed group because it's not all drawing or all questions and you can win by being willing to be silly and do impressions of chickens, Cilla Black, Mr Bean, Eddie Izzard et al or you can be an uber-brain and spell Rhododendron or Catastrophe (backwards)!

On Saturday morning we began doing the papier mache and while the young people sensilbly modelled with balloons for the base of their models, my wo co-leaders explored their inner child with the large bag of balloons!

Then we had great fun with the next team challenge which involved eggs hidden around the centre which contined both a puzzle (a wordsearch, su-doku, code to crack etc. which gave you a clue to the next location) and a chinese character. Once they had collected all the chinese characters they had to find out what thye all meant be finding various translated characters around the building and then using the first letter of each of their words, they had the key-word. It wasn't quite the Da Vinci code but it was pretty tough apparently!

Unfortunately we totally underestimated how LONG it takes for papier mache to dry so the weekend ended with the models still with only their undercoat so we had blue pigs a blue penguin, blue bear, blue fat man etc!

In the afternoon there was some munching of the tiffin made the night before, some chillin and then their all-time favourite - Ready Steady Cook! This year I made a bit of a twist though. In addition to creating a meal out of the ingredients, they also had to create a vegetable animal sculpture. Results on the Flickr group set.

In the evening we focussed our worship on the cross using a great bit of craft making crosses out of nails - a little tricky but worth it.

Then it was time for a campfire and the film chosen by the winners of Ready Steady Cook! We watched V for Vendetta which did prompt a lot of thought.

Sunday morning we got the young people in pairs to take one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus and prepare a worship station for everyone. It was SO COOL. There was a lovely station on Mary meeting Jesus (underwater scultping, floating flowers and writing a reflection - in the churchyard) then we had some reflective questions on Jesus telling Peter, "Feed my sheep" and what that means in our own Christian journeys and an invitation to enjoy the beautiful scenery as we reflected on the Great Commission. Last and by no means least was the Ascension which featured all the cuddly toys gathered around one of the bears who was attached to a string. It was kooky and cool and amazingly it was REALLY deep at the same time. The station invited people to offer something they wanted to be "taken up to heaven". At the end we all gathered aroudn the fire pit outside and burnt them and then shared the peace.

That wasn't all though. The young people then mucked in brilliantly to help get the place cleaned up. We did so well that the centre coordinator told me "you can DEFINITELY come back! It looks great."