Age and coming to faith
I've just read this:
"85% of all people who will ever come to Christ will do so before they reach their nineteenth birthday" (Tim Hawkins Leaders who will last. p12).

Many of us who are around youth ministry have heard and used sats like that before. I've seen it played out in
many churches when you ask people how old they were when they came to faith.
But what does it mean for churches?

I know it should (and does) inspire us to invest in youth and children's ministry.

But it also raises some other questions for me:
- If these stats are true is there a danger that we're exploiting young people? (See this post)
- Is this because we've invested heavily in youth (either for good motives or fear of the church dying out), but neglected other areas?
- Are we as churches just a bit rubbish at helping adults and older people come to faith?
- Is this a universal cultural phenomenon or just a Western thing?

Or is it just a God given opportunity that we should rejoice in?

Flying Ant pt2
Seems to be "flying ant day" pt 2 today.
But so far the windows are staying open!

Being a Youth Pastor
Check out this video on being a great youth pastor. Timless advice!
(ht to Simon)

Flying Ant '09
Looks like "flying ant day" here today. Even had to shut the window to stop the blighters getting in!
It's about the right time of year, but not as humid as it often is for this landmark summer event!

Bite the Bullet
Getting ready for tomorrow's Bite the Bullet event in Wood Green. Details here.
Day time includes input from Professor John Pitts, a panel discussion, plus seminars and more.
Evening is an urban music concert.
Last year's event was fantastic, and this years looks set to once again help churches and practitioners face some of the difficult questions around youth gangs and violence.

Swine Flu?
Just wondering if anyone had a youth work policy re. swine flu?
I know a couple of youth ministries where they're thinking about/facing this, and be interested to see if anyone had a written policy.
I guess in part depends on advice from local health authorities and the government.

Personally I wonder about the need for a policy - we don't normally have anything for seasonal flu or any other outbreaks that come and go, but I guess the media hype around this perhaps demands a response.

Update
Just discovered this document from the government on flu pandemics and faith communities. Link here