Youthwork Conference
A week since trekking down to Eastbourne for Youthwork the Conference, with the Mrs and 2 other youth leaders from my home church. And I think it was better than expected!
My main aim was to catch up with people, which I did, but the sessions I went to were also helpful.
I appreciated the space given to worship, which hopefully was not just because this year's theme was "soul", because I know many go to these things worn out and in need of that space (and my fears that having fallen behind on the latest songs would leave me feeling left out were unfounded).
I appreciated Chris Curtis' take on the oft-preached David and Bathsheba passage and the "dark side". Gerard Kelly also said some thoughtful things in his "soul session", although I confess to skipping out before yet another look at Acts 10 and 17 around engaging culture!
Couple of quotes to ponder:
"The purpose of every culture is to receive the Holy Spirit"
"The story of the Son is the hermeneutic key to every human culture"

Those I spoke to and went with appreciated the conference too, which is good, so it helped volunteers as well as being worthwhile for an old-timer like me.
And to top it all we won the quiz at the cheesy Saturday night disco. Magic.

Woolies
Will probably post some reflections on the youthwork conference and other stuff going on before too long.
But the state of Woolworths is a sad thing.
It was about the only shop of any fun in my home town growing up, and being the kind of nostalgic retro-loving person I am, it's kind of sad to to be hearing about it's demise.
Seems the Prime Minister has waded in to help stores stay open until after Christmas (see here), which makes me determined to go and shop there!
I remember a friend telling me "Woolworths is for losers" when I was a teen, but I have happy memories of cheap albums on tape, toys, and countless "pick n mix" sweet experiences.
Long live Woolies - that's what I say!

(pic from freefoto.com)

Another Conference
Off to Youthwork the Conference in Eastbourne later today.
Should be fun!

Derbyshire (again)
Am back in Derbyshire at the moment for a couple of things.
Currently hauled up at The Hayes in Swanwick for Baptist Union Council. A few Baptist bloggers here but not much comment as yet, probably due the nature of the agenda which varies from session to session. Interesting session on the European Baptist Federation this evening, which covers a huge geographical area. Some inspiring and challenging stories of churches and pastors risking for the gospel.

Tomorrow off to a dissertation day at Cliff College. I've done my 4 modules, so just the dissertation to crack if I want to get my MA! I see I'm missing Andrew Jones by 1 day, as he's a guest lecturer on the emerging church course on Thursday, at the invitation of Ron Willoughby, with whom a previous set of emerging church module students (myself included) shared a few fun conversations in the local watering hole a year or so back.

Christian Youthwork
I'm a bit behind on these things, but I downloaded the report, call to action and resource ideas that came out of last years FYT led "The Future of Christian Youthwork. Definitely worth a look!
The Call to Action suggests :
1) That 2009 be a year when young people are invested in, celebrated and empowered in
churches, Christian organisations and the wider community.
2) That churches and Christian organisations commit to spending at least 25% of their
income on working with young people - especially marginalized young people.
3) That Government commit to long-term funding of Christian faith-based youth work.

Quite a challenge!
Not sure about number 3 - of course I see value in it, but not sure in post-christendom we can really expect the government to fund anything but their own agendas (even though a lot of Christian youth work meets their agendas and criteria).
Points 1 and 2 are things that I will ponder on. Number 1 should go without saying, but I'm not naive enough to believe it either is happening or will happen, so welcome the call for a special effort, especially as 2009 is "Year of the Child".