empowering

How many times do we look at our young people, and we automaticlally think that we hae to do something ourselves. The one thing that I have noticed in various youth works, is that the young people don't actually do a geeat, deal, nor do they asked what they would like a great deal either. Sometimes I suggest we have to put our own agendas aside, our own ideas, and see where the young people are at,see what questions, what thoughts, what issues they have and work around them. Let's always remember that we do this job around the young people, not around us.

Living on the edge

Came across this phrase on anohter site if you aren't living on the edge you are taking up too much room. this I took to mean that we need to live our lives on the edge, constantly looking and creating new things, rather than staying in the norm, the mundain, the usual. So are you living on the edge or are you taking up a lot of room.

Conversionalists

When most people think of conversion, or converting, we use it in the way that we expect people to convert from one thing to anohter, maybe from one way of life to the christian way of life, but is there more to conversionalism than just onverting people. I would ggest that as Christians we have the obligation to convert our society, to change things iwthin or culture to make it more like the world that God would want for us. If God has breathed into us life, and he has created us, as suggested in Genesis, then we have that creative ability, and that also means creativity in our own culture. So let's look at our world, the communities or societies that we exisst in, and let's convert this world, let's trun it into the world that God would want us to live in, so let us be the conversioalists of the 21st century and convert this world.

Affect of pastoring

the Effect of pastoring young people can be emense. I heard a story recenlty where some youth workers were concerned about a young lad in their group. It came to light that he was being abused at home. anyway to cut a long story extremely short, by showing gods love in that family, by being with the parent and working thorugh issues, and not judging and supporting them all the way through the issues, the lad still goes to church and he mum does now as well. This would have been, and maybe should have evenbeen an issue for the authorities, but eh reality was that the Church was there and the Church help deal witht he issues, so not only was the issue sorted, but both lad and mum came to Church. This makes me think and thinkbaout the impact that we as youthworkers have not just on the young people we meet but also their family, friends, and other people in their lives. What a prielege.

Create new realities

I had heard this before, ut it rang again for me last week. As leaders, and especially as youth leaders, things cannot be allowed to stay the same. If you look at the culture that young people exist in today, nothing stays the same for very long, that is why they are excited, they try new things and want to get involved. It is our responsibility as youth leaders to keep that same enthusiasm going about our fiath, and their relationship with god. Youth work in Church is natorious for staying the same, predicatable, even, but we should be keeping things fresh, new ideas, not just hte same old, same old, same old, people get board of same old. So here's our challenge, create those new realities for our young people to ensure that new things happen in their lives, and new experiences and relaitonships with God are taking place.

Godly principle n our own work

Something I came across over the last week. If we study the story of Adam and Eve being thrown out of the Gaden of Edan, we automatically think that god has thrown them out for eating from the tree tha he told them not too. But how about thinking about it differently, how about thinking about it in the way that God got them out of there before they ate from the other tree that they weren't meant too. So rather than punishing them, God was actually saving them form anything else in the future. So how do we react to our young people do we punish them, or do we do the hard thing to try and stop them from doing things that they shouldn't be doing. Even when it seems hard, tough, unnecessary, if God can love and care about Adam andEve, then we should also care about our young people,

Awareness of God

How can we encourage people to have an awareness of God? Do we just tell them to sit and pray, to talk out loud? Bu then people ask how does God speak to people? Below are couple of suggestions where we could encourage people to be aware of God thorugh thing in their every day lives and know that God is with them. 1: Listen to a piece of music, any music, listen to the lyrics, listen to the atmosphere ofthe music, what does it feel lie, what things come to mind, what thoughts and feelings do you have. 2: Watch a film, look at th issues in the film, how people react to to each other, can God say anything about the film we are watching. 3: Just hold something, anything at all, think about it, diffrent aspects of it, and see if anything comes to mind. Just idfferent ways of engaging people with God and enabling them to relate to him ina way that is real for them.

Believing in god?

Recently I have started a Masters degree and it has brought up some interesting issues already. Some of which I shall post up here and see what comments we get back from them. Firstly, is it right that we expect people to believe in God? If people believe in something, then they generally believe in an idea, or a concept, rather than an actuality. Wouldn't it be better if we actually got people to be aware of God, to build that relationship with God rather than telling them then they need to blieve in god? Isn't that personal relationship, tht perosnal realisation of the awareness fo God far better than any concept of idea that we may have about who God is or could be?

Approaching families

Just a quick thought, having watched a lot of Hollyoaks recently, how would we as outh workers help that family out with Hannah's eating disorder? How ould we approach the family and what help could, or would we actually give them? How could you demontrate love in that situation, when the family are likely to push you away, and the duaghter just doesn't want to see anyone? touh, questions, but yet real ones.

How provocative are we meant to be?

I have been asked to speak at a conference day later this month. The last time I was there and asked to speak I caused a bit of contraversy on one of my approaches. The question is how provocative as Youth Leaders are we meant to be. I always think that young people gt a rough deal from adults, and that is largely due to the fact that adults make their decisions and make them farily quickly about teens. So do we need to be a bit more provocative to actually get people to think properly? Was Jesus ever deliberately provocative just to get people to think differently, maybe, bt does this also give us liscence to do the same.

How young people affect us?

I have just read another blog that I am linked too, and the person who hosts it has put a post up there from his daughter. You need to go and read it, it says everything everything that we as adults try and complicate, and mess up. But yet out of her words, her writing, comes truth, affection and love. Straight from god. visit www.youthblog.org and look at the posting on the 3rd of September