All NexGen Pro articles – Page 112
-
IssuesVoluntary Contributions: Equipping and investing in your team
We all know that children’s ministry is kept afloat by diligent, passionate volunteers; so how do we go about getting the best out of them, keeping them envisioned, helping them to enjoy themselves and enhance their skills? Catalyst Training’s Sharon Prior shares some essential tips
-
Issues
Ready-to-use Rhythms: Contentment
We live in a world that teaches a lifestyle of striving. Whether it’s the latest fashion trend, those trainers that were ‘so tempting’ or the newest piece of technology - we want more. However, this is not the way that Jesus tells us to live, and this lifestyle is damaging our environment, and negatively affecting communities living in poverty. Try to build a life of contentment through the following Rhythms.
-
Issues
Ready-to-use Rhythms - Contentment
Contentment can be a difficult concept and pursuit in a world that idolises stuff, and has an insatiable appetite. But being content isn’t to do
with having; it’s about knowing that we’re enough without all the extras, and being satisfied with what we have. It’s about taking control away from the things that make us forget that we are enough as we are; we don’t need to allow our possessions to define us. A rhythm of contentment reminds us that we’re not ruled by what we own, and means we can give our best to God, living simply, following him wholeheartedly without distraction. -
BlogFirst contact
One academic year has gone and another is fast approaching. If you don’t already have contact with your local primary school, then the turn of another year might be a good time to make contact. Schools can be intimidating places, particularly if you yourself weren’t a fan when you were younger; so just how do you go about it? We decided to go right to the top and ask a head teacher the best ways of introducing yourself and offering to help.
-
IssuesThe goal posts are constantly moving
I started in youth ministry about 30 years ago when I was a young person in Australia. Then I went to the monastery and have been in the UK pastorally for the past 20 years. I was sent, by Pope Shenouda III, the late head of the Coptic Church, to look after young people here. The observation he made was quite precise, despite the fact he was an 80-year-old man living in Egypt. He said, ‘The problem in the world is not that people are doing the wrong thing, but that they have lost perspective on what the wrong thing is.’
-
Issues
Ready-to-use Schools work: Confidence
This is an activity designed for Year 8 students (aged 12/13) and older, aiming to explain what real confidence is like and to encourage students
to explore what gives them confidence. It can be used in lessons or in a group working on the subject of self-esteem. -
IssuesHow To Make The Most Of Conferences
Here at Youthwork HQ, we’re seasoned pros at coping with the multitude of conferences and events that we find ourselves attending. So, in the fashion of this page, here are a few tips:
-
Issues
Youthwork the Conference
Over 700 youth workers descended on Eastbourne in November for the annual Youthwork Conference. The three-day event was made up of ‘big room’ sessions and smaller seminars across the Congress Theatre.
-
Issues
Miracles for Sale – responding to concerned young people
On Monday evening, Channel 4 here in the UK broadcast Derren Brown’s ‘documentary’, Miracles for Sale...
-
IssuesIt's Complicated
It’s relationship month, and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. What are the unique challenges and blessings of being married, in a relationship and single in youth ministry? Martin, Jamie and Phoebe get up close and personal, and share the woes and joys of their relationship situations.
-
BlogMABS Youth & Community Project - Exodus
For 800 hundred years, St Andrews Enfield has been an active presence in the community in the heart of Enfield. This has taken a new expression over the last few months in the form of MABS, a new youth and community project. Find out more about MABS and why it was started here.
-
Issues
An encouraging community
Last night was our church’s annual ‘all kids’ team meeting, and I left feeling so…. conflicted. My favourite part of any meeting is when we tell stories. Stories transform a room. We all lit up with laughter and wonder as we shared stories of children meeting with God, children leading and serving, and children responding to the gospel in powerful ways. We pondered the quiet triumphs of pastoral care, our hysterical epic failures (many of which were mine) and what we have been seeing God do in the past year. It was sheer joy.
-
Issues
The Lab: Missional communities
Increasingly there are young people being called by God to join missional and monastic communities. They are not just committing themselves to a project like a gap year, but intentionally engaging with a way of life centred around prayer and service. The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has commissioned 45 young Christians into the Community St Anselm, and other missional communities are seeing young people respond to God’s call.
-
-
IssuesCrafts: Holy Communion
For anyone who wants to explore the elements and story of Holy Communion through open-ended crafts, here are some ideas. These crafts probably work best after telling and discussing the story of the Last Supper and exploring the items used in Communion such as the cup, the bread and the wine.
-
IssuesThe future of joint negotiating committee (JNC) youth work
It has been publicly announced that the Employers’ Side of the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) propose to merge with national pay body for local authorities.
