1. Community/Example – We looked at the fact that for young people being part of a community of Faith can be key to developing their own faith as they follow the examples of people who are genuinely trying to live for God.
2. Bible/ Theology -  One of the things that came through clearly was that without developing some kind of biblical/theological thinking young peoples faith is unlikely to survive the Youth group.  And really Young people must understand at least some kind of basic theology if they are going to make a decision for Christ.
3. Engagement – Young people often learn best by doing.  A big theme of the day as a whole was engaging young people in doing things in church and evangelism.

I might try to unpack these a bit more over the next few days/weeks.  But one thing that struck me is that none of these elements can exist independently – for example Engagement should involve all three – example of leaders you are working with, teaching on what you are doing and of course the engagement itself.

I would also like to add a fourth category – The Holy Spirit.  No matter how good our theology, example and engagement it is only when the Holy Spirit convicts a young person that their heart can change.  It is the Holy Spirit who guides and envisions Christians.  So whilst I advocate good practice in our youth work we must remember it is ultimately Gods work and not ours.

Many people lose faith who come through Churches that have ‘ticked all the boxes’ and many who have come from churches that seem to have everything wrong have developed a lasting faith.  It is Gods work not ours!

Here is the link David Series.

I think this single by LZ7 and Matt Redman is a great opportunity to raise awareness of a massive issue and it is great that christians are taking some initiative in raising this issue – something where we can make an impact.  

The point of the single is that we can raise awareness of this issue and help those trapped in modern day slavery!

I thought the least I could do was share this.

you can buy it here: iTunes

Check back later this week for session 1 ‘The Chosen King’.

I think he is a really gifted communicator although these videos would need some unpacking particularly with uchurched kids.

Every blessing

John, Andy and Rach

The idea is that you add your comments and start a discussion on how the beatitudes should affect us and how they might put us in conflict with some modern cultural values.