On Thursday I spent the day at the Association of Black Methodist Youth conference.
The day began with 2 different, but equally brilliant speakers. Both of who spoke beautifully and relevantly to the group of young people who where there.
After lunch the young people chose an activity to do, from raft building to rounders and other activities. I had the opportunity to find out a bit more from the ABMY exec and other young people who were still around about what the ABMY does and what they want to see in the future. During the conversation the young people came out with some amazing points and ideas that I can now use to influence the direction of the work of things like Youth Assembly, Breakout and the general work of the Children and Youth team of the Methodist Church.
I had a lovely day, with some amazing young people and even got a free t-shirt!
If you want to know more about what they do, or get involved, here is their website - http://www.abmyc.org.uk/
Council of European Churches
I have had the pleasure of spending the last week in sunny Lyon, central france in order to attend the Council of European Churches!
I had not heard of it before I attended, but have been subsequently impressed by all the work they do! The main work of the conference is to influence the work of working groups and staff teams set up and funded by all the different churches that make up the council. The working groups and staff teams focus on issues like;
Current Issues
Bioethics
Charta Oecumenica
Climate Change
Education
Economic and Social Issues
Environment
European Integration
Globalisation
Intercultural Dialogue
Inter-religious Dialogue
Migrants
Minority/Majority Churches
Prayer, Worship and Spirituality
Religion in the Public Sphere
Socially Responsible Investment
Theological Education
Values, Religion, Identity
Women
During the conference itself we spent lots of time learning from each other and listening to invited speakers from all over the world. There were many hearings and workshops which enabled us to spend time as the body of Christ listening and learning from each other.
My role there was to represent the young people of the Methodist Church, and when I was talking to people about the work that I have been doing and about the Youth Participation Strategy, many people were excited about the work and latched onto our vision for a better future!
I had not heard of it before I attended, but have been subsequently impressed by all the work they do! The main work of the conference is to influence the work of working groups and staff teams set up and funded by all the different churches that make up the council. The working groups and staff teams focus on issues like;
Current Issues
Bioethics
Charta Oecumenica
Climate Change
Education
Economic and Social Issues
Environment
European Integration
Globalisation
Intercultural Dialogue
Inter-religious Dialogue
Migrants
Minority/Majority Churches
Prayer, Worship and Spirituality
Religion in the Public Sphere
Socially Responsible Investment
Theological Education
Values, Religion, Identity
Women
During the conference itself we spent lots of time learning from each other and listening to invited speakers from all over the world. There were many hearings and workshops which enabled us to spend time as the body of Christ listening and learning from each other.
My role there was to represent the young people of the Methodist Church, and when I was talking to people about the work that I have been doing and about the Youth Participation Strategy, many people were excited about the work and latched onto our vision for a better future!
Methodist Conference
Methodist Conference this year was really interesting, here are just a few of the topics that we debated;
"Safeguarding and safer recruitment"
"Singing the faith – the Music Resources Group Report"
"Hope in God’s Future – Christian Discipleship in the context of Climate Change"
"responding to the Anglican/Methodist Covenant"
We agreed to;
Establish a working party to develop a theological statement on the nature of pastoral care in the Methodist Church
Establish a working group with the Church of England called ‘The Joint Anglican-Methodist Working party on the Ecclesiology of Emerging Expressions of Church’ (affectionately known as JAMWPEEC – basically looking at the nature of the church in relation to Fresh Expressions
Support a ‘Year of the Bible’ given that 2011 is the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible
That membership of BNP was incompatible with being a member of the Methodist Church.
I will blog more about what proposals the Youth Conference brought to Conference later on in the week as I am currently at the Conference of European Churches in Lyon with our new President!
Find out more about what happened at Conference by visiting http://methodistconference.org.uk/ and following the links
"Safeguarding and safer recruitment"
"Singing the faith – the Music Resources Group Report"
"Hope in God’s Future – Christian Discipleship in the context of Climate Change"
"responding to the Anglican/Methodist Covenant"
We agreed to;
Establish a working party to develop a theological statement on the nature of pastoral care in the Methodist Church
Establish a working group with the Church of England called ‘The Joint Anglican-Methodist Working party on the Ecclesiology of Emerging Expressions of Church’ (affectionately known as JAMWPEEC – basically looking at the nature of the church in relation to Fresh Expressions
Support a ‘Year of the Bible’ given that 2011 is the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible
That membership of BNP was incompatible with being a member of the Methodist Church.
I will blog more about what proposals the Youth Conference brought to Conference later on in the week as I am currently at the Conference of European Churches in Lyon with our new President!
Find out more about what happened at Conference by visiting http://methodistconference.org.uk/ and following the links
London 10K run
Do you want to join in the 10K London run on 12th July? MRDF have a few places left for anyone that wants to do it!
For more information, see http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk/
If you want to join in, contact me!
For more information, see http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk/
If you want to join in, contact me!
MYA #2
Youth Assembly is an exciting new event for 11 -23 year olds. A chance to shout about real issues that are bothering you. With a diversity of workshops and issues, there’s something for everyone to get involved with. We’ll be exploring issues through arts, drama, sports, multimedia, speakers and conversations. It’s a chance to meet new and exciting young people, a chance to worship in a modern and relevant way and learn about important things in a fun and participatory approach.
We want to;
Offer you training and support
Encourage you to participate
Challenge you to explore and express the Christian faith
Enable you to make choices and influence your world
Help you share experiences and bring you together
The point of Youth Assembly is to help you have your voice heard in the Methodist church. We are going to do this by helping you write ‘resolutions’ (A posh paragraph which tells the church want you want them to do)
We’re going to do this at Youth Assembly in loads of different ways;
1) By asking you what you want to talk about before you come
2) Through participation games on the Friday night
3) Through ‘themed rooms’ where you can explore an issue that you want to explore
4) Through workshops
5) By having lots of informed interesting people around that you can talk to
6) Through ‘participation sports’
Some ideas of what you might want to talk about;
Your vocation
Self confidence
Gun and Knife crime
Social action
Your faith
Your rights
Equality and diversity
The Methodist church’s Youth Participation Strategy
For more information and updates, join the facebook group (Search Youth Assembly) or email us at youthassembly@methodistchurch.org.uk
We want to;
Offer you training and support
Encourage you to participate
Challenge you to explore and express the Christian faith
Enable you to make choices and influence your world
Help you share experiences and bring you together
The point of Youth Assembly is to help you have your voice heard in the Methodist church. We are going to do this by helping you write ‘resolutions’ (A posh paragraph which tells the church want you want them to do)
We’re going to do this at Youth Assembly in loads of different ways;
1) By asking you what you want to talk about before you come
2) Through participation games on the Friday night
3) Through ‘themed rooms’ where you can explore an issue that you want to explore
4) Through workshops
5) By having lots of informed interesting people around that you can talk to
6) Through ‘participation sports’
Some ideas of what you might want to talk about;
Your vocation
Self confidence
Gun and Knife crime
Social action
Your faith
Your rights
Equality and diversity
The Methodist church’s Youth Participation Strategy
For more information and updates, join the facebook group (Search Youth Assembly) or email us at youthassembly@methodistchurch.org.uk
Concert at St Pauls
Tomorrow im off to Aberystwyth for a concert!
'The British Methodist Youth Choir will be performing at St Paul Methodist centre in Aberystwith on the 28th March at 7:30 pm'
Im looking forward to it . . . see you there!
'The British Methodist Youth Choir will be performing at St Paul Methodist centre in Aberystwith on the 28th March at 7:30 pm'
Im looking forward to it . . . see you there!
Psalm Drummers
At the Methodist's Lay Workers conference we were treated to an evening with the Psalm Drummers
Big booming drums, Cow bells, Tamborims, agogo bells and more were awaiting us laid out on the floor . . .
The smiles and joy of all involved was a beautiful sight to see, combined with the power of 100 drums; It was incredibly powerful.
If you get a chance to have a go, do it!
Big booming drums, Cow bells, Tamborims, agogo bells and more were awaiting us laid out on the floor . . .
For two hours, we learnt the rhythms of samba and played away.
The smiles and joy of all involved was a beautiful sight to see, combined with the power of 100 drums; It was incredibly powerful.
If you get a chance to have a go, do it!
(A picture of me with David the Vice President of the Methodist Conference on the left, and Stephen the President of the Methodist Conference on the right)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
