News Update

Well it's been a busy few weeks. Work goes on and gets busier and is really encouraging.
But I've been a bit preoccupied with the enquiry and assessment process for Ministry of the Church of Scotland. This past weekend I have been away to Tulliallan the police training college for Scotland for a weekend conference. Not to be a police officer, no the Church hire the college for the conference.


Had a great couple of days. Meeting over 50 people all wanting to be involved in  ministry, so what was the outcome for me? Well I am through to the next stage, I need to be assessed at local level and be in placement for 8hrs a week. Then attend another selection school to see if I will be but forward for training for the Ministry of Word and sacrament. So the start of a long process. 


The Church of Scotland have recently approved Local Ordained Ministers. I am considering training for this, as it would allow me to add sacraments on to what I do now. I don't feel God calling me into purely Parish ministry . I still love youth work and community involvement. So I still have much to think about but lots of time to do it. 


I have been reminded this weekend again of familiarity. That I must use sanctified common sense to discern the call. So again I turned back to Scripture that is old and familiar that speaks to me at times of change.
Jeremiah 6
Thus says the LORD: 
“Stand by the roads, and look, 
   and ask for ^(AH)the ancient paths, 
where the good way is; and walk in it, 
   ^(AI)and find rest for your souls. 


So I stand at another crossroads and wait and see where the path goes. 


I also heard a new hymn well to me and I love it. So here it is. 



Lord, You have come to the seashore
Neither searching for the rich nor the wise.
Desiring only that I should follow.

O Lord, with Your eyes set upon me
Gently smiling, You have spoken my name.
All I longed for, I have found by the water.
At Your side, I will seek other shores.
Lord, see my goods, my possessions.
In my boat You find no power, no wealth.
Will You accept then my nets and labor?

Lord take my hands and direct them.
Help me spend myself in seeking the lost.
Returning love for the love You gave me.

Lord, as I drift on the waters 
Be the resting place of my restless heart.
My life’s companion, my friend and refuge.


Til Next time

First week back

Well It's been an eventful first week back into this new year. We have a New Minister. How exciting is this. We have been a vacant charge for over two years and I have never had a minister as my boss. So as we get ready to have a full time Minister again we can hardly believe that we have a minister.

As long as I have been in my job here i have had a line manager but never a Minister as my line manager. I have had one in the past and my experience of this was not so good. Sometimes youth workers and ministers see things very differently. My idea of Church from some people's idea is very different and yet even I am coming round to some proclaiming the Gospel and that relational youth work needs to be more than it is. I'll explain.

Don't get me wrong, I still think there is a need in this day and age to build up trust and relationship and the right to speak to a young person. I don't think now that many people will even entertain going to Church unless they have a connection or a relationship with someone from that Church. I am realizing though there still has to be a preach the Gospel element. For me that is taking the Gospel and using the culture that is around me in this Parish. Relationship alone can't work. It's a good theory. Someone sees what you are and the more they get to know you, they start asking questions and the chat can go to Christianity. In some cases this works but not in as many as youth work books would like us to believe. I think they leave out the next step and that is what is wrong with youth work in Churches today. We don't go that extra step, the discipleship, mentoring step.

I still don't think that traditional ways of measuring young people and Church work. It still really annoys me when people count my job success by the number of young people who attend Sunday service. If that is all my job is then I don't want to be that kind of youth worker. I see Church youth work as a job for all week. To be involved in school, community and Church groups.

I know that I have has a free reign here in my job so far. It will be challenging to work with someone else but I look forward to that challenge. With a team there is so much we can do and achieve for God. So it is with anticipation and expectation that I wait for my new boss.

I will also get a chance to explore my call to Ministry of word and sacrament further at the beginning of next month. I go to the enquirers conference. So another step on the way and who know maybe I'll become one of those Minister types after all. Who would have thought it but for now I'll have to wait and see and trust God.

Til Next Time

Kindle

I don't think I mentioned I got a Kindle for Christmas. Mum had said that there were to be no more books in the house. The book shelf's were full in the office, six crates were littered in various cupboards and generally just everywhere. So many in fact the house would have burned for days if there had been a fire.  So I got a kindle.

I didn't really want one if truth be told in the beginning. I love books, I love reading and as much as I love techy gadgets well I wasn't going to give up on books that easily. Well I thought that. So since owning a Kindle, I have read 6 books and had flu for a week, so it's save to say I love my Kindle. I can read and store as many books as I like and don't need room in the house.

So what have I been reading. Well there is a bit of a theme emerging. I started reading books by Richard Wurmbrand, who had been in prison in Romania for being a Christian during the communist era. I read three of his book and his perseverance for his faith was amazing. I also got round to reading Robert Murray M'cheyne autobiography. Well that was well worth the read but a wee bit off theme. The next book I read and the one I am going to blog more about is Duncan Bannatyne's autobiography. I read it a while ago but thought I would re read it on my Kindle. He too has been to Romania many times, in situations that are desperate. So it was one night like most people who go there he was touched so much by a situation that he just had to go and find that place where you can be by yourself and just cry.
Bannatyne says " I had no tears left to flow,and they just kept pouring out of me and wouldn't stop. After many minutes I began to get the feeling I wasn't alone. I felt that i had been consumed by this presence, that something had completely shrouded and taken hold of me. It was unmistakable: I knew who had come and I also knew why............." God says Bannatyne came that night but he knew that we would have to give up on the bad stuff in his life and the searching after wealth. He didn't want to do that and told God "No, I'm not ready". God said "OK". This reminds me of the passage in Matthew 19  about the rich young man. He too had the chance to give up all he had and follow God but choose not to. God comes to everyone and they get a choice. For some the trappings of this world are to much for them to see the bigger picture. A life everlasting, with the creator of all things. They have too much to give up or so they think.

So two contrasting stories from Romanian experiences. One risked life and family for the faith in God whom he knew was worth risking everything for. One whom this world and it's temporary riches meant so much that he couldn't get the life that God had planned for him.

So as i continue to read my Kindle and look for other books to download, I know that my reading will slow down, what with work and life and all that. It's good to know that no matter how many books I'll read they won't take up any more space and that will please mum.

New year new possibilities

Well it's not been the best start to 2012, what with one thing and the other and of course i've had the customary  Christmas holiday bug. Been in bed for three days and only yesterday did i venture out into the big bad world. I still don't feel 100 percent.

So today could be a big day. We have had no minister in my Parish for over two  and half years. Today we have someone preach as sole nominee, so depending on the congregation, I may have a new boss by dinner time. So we leave it with God and wait and see what his plans are for our Parish.

The best is yet to come is a phrase many people have been using this New Year. So I pray that indeed the best is yet to come.

Til Next time

Resolutions

Well we've had Hogmanay. For non Scottish readers, Hogmanay is New Years eve. In Scotland well in the olden days not so much now. People cook and clean all day and then friends and family and neighbours come into an open house, anyone is welcome to party. At midnight a tall dark man comes to the door and is the fist foot. The first person to cross the threshold of the house. He brings gifts of coal,shortbread and cake and of course Whisky. There is then a party well into the night.  This doesn't happen much now. Young people go to clubs and pubs for new year parties.

So what did I do. Well my family stay on Hogmanay. So we play games and xbox just dance and have something to eat. This year though I never even stayed up for the bells, I had early Church to lead in the morning.

So what are my resolutions. Well I don't make any. But I would like to read the Bible in a year as I have done for the past number of years. With my new Kindle I got for Christmas I have already read three books, so i suppose I would like to continue reading at this pace, although work will get in the way of that. So I think I will aim for 4 books a month. My biggest challenge this year and I suppose every year is to rest. To take time and just be with God and not be working. We'll see how this goes.

So anyway. Off to read and enjoy the rest of my holiday. Have another whole 10 days left!!

Til Next time.

2011 blog review

I love this post in the blog, having been taught to be a reflective practitioner, it's good to look back at the year and see what has happened. This blog for me reminds me of what has been going on this year, and when I look back I am amazed at the things I have forgotten.

January saw me looking forward to the year, to where God would lead me. It was a time of uncertainty at The Ark as our team leader would soon move on. It was also a time of firsts as I spoke at the Church guild for the first time. They must have enjoyed it or can't get another speaker because they have asked me back!

February saw the team leader of the Ark move on to parish ministry and I started schools work in earnest at the three primary schools. I also decided to go back to Romania.

March saw some Divine appointments just when we needed them at The Ark.

April  and May saw some big events at The Ark,weddings,  holidays and me reflecting on rest again!!

June and there was the annual catch up at the Parish workers conference at Stirling this year. Nia took us down memory lane and back to the start of Smiles. Lots of schools work and services and the end of term.

July saw the Ark open for a summer programme a great success and we had some great God talks and movement of God.

August saw me have three weeks holidays and the family headed south to Dorset. We tested our Sat nav and I reflected on following God as he navigates my life for me. England had riots and young people again were front page for all the wrong reasons.

September say me finally following the call and applying for Ministry and Sacrament in the Church of Scotland. I talked to young people about rumours and began preparing for my trip to Romania.

October has to be the highlight of the year again where i visited Romania and saw a continuation of all the work of The Smiles Foundation. It was just amazing to sit in Church and worship, to see people moved from the streets to container homes and old people moved to the nursing home. TO lay paths and knock down walls. It is a privilege to share in God's work for a week with people who serve God out there all year. I never come back home without being taught something by them and God.

November saw me looking at Isaiah 40 and using it when my friends mum has an accident in Romania. I also was asked to open prayer rooms in the schools. The boys played five a side against other churches and won.

December saw a mad month of services, concerts and schools work. A visit with school to the Imax and Chocolate nativity.

So all in a busy year. I look forward to 2012, to see where God will lead me. Will I be going back to University and studying for Word and Sacrament.  Will I return to Romania. These things will be reviewed next year.

So as we start the year with 365 366 blank pages, I hope that each day we use for God's glory and for his plans. That we write great things on them next year. I pray 2012 be a blessed year for all.

Til 2012

I never want to see any more Chocolate!!

Well Merry Christmas to all who read my ramblings and incoherent thoughts all year. I pray you had a great day and celebrated the light coming into the world our Saviour Christ the Lord.

I was let loose on the family service and I thought I would just go for it. Go for a different take on the nativity story and readings. Well it went down a storm. I did a chocolate nativity with 63 bars of chocolate. It was fun, the adults joined in and at times it got a bit competitive to see who had won the Chocolate. Best of all though people listened to an old familiar story in a modern form. Family Christmas eve service is a great opportunity to reach those in our community and their families who visit. It's our chance to say hey were here all year and you can be as welcome as you are tonight.

Also at the family service a bumped into an old friend who was visiting the village. Lots of my friends no longer stay in the village. If people go to university they don't usually come back to stay. There are no jobs. So at Christmas it's just great to catch up when they come home. That's what they all say this is home. No matter where they stay now, what family they have. This wee rural village is home. So anyway as we talked and caught up my friend and I discuss Church. She says she was nightmares about it closing and turned into a theme park. Maybe she has been to my services!! But seriously it is a concern to her and she lives in London. Like many of my friends they go to Church only when back home. They want the Church to be there when they come back.

So this coming year as I work with young people and hopefully get a new boss. Watch this space. We strive to do more than keep a Church building open. We strive to add to God's kingdom.

Til next time.