FRUITFULNESS ON THE FRONTLINE
(YOUTH WORK RESOURCE) : LICC and Urban Saints (3 stars)
This resource is an eight-session course to explore fruitfulness on the frontline. It is best suited to younger youth groups where members would call themselves Christians. The idea is that fruitfulness is not just about evangelism and bringing friends to the youth group (good though this may be), but rather that we are called to bear fruit in every area of our lives.
The front line is defined as a ‘place or time where we meet fairly regularly with people who don’t know Jesus’. This will be vastly different for different people, but in our youth groups there will be a lot of common ground. Our front lines may be at school, college, the Saturday job and in our families.
You can use the resource as it stands, but it works better with the accompanying book as there are constant references to it, and without the deeper explanations some of the ideas don’t make much sense. The resource explores the 6 ‘Ms’ we are called to carry out while on our front lines: model godly character, make good work, minister grace and love, mould culture, be a mouthpiece for truth and justice, and be a messenger of the gospel. These, combined with an opening and closing session, make up the eight weeks of the course.
Each session comprises four sections: an introductory game, getting started, digging in and response. Each section has a choice of activity that points towards the overall session aims. Each section has plenty of choice, but a leader would have to carefully choose which activities and discussions would work best for the group as some of the activities would definitely suit younger groups. The ‘human blob’ found in the first session, for example, would work well with junior school ages, and not much older.
If I were to give a rating for the intention of the resource, it would certainly get a full five stars. We desperately need more resources that help us to grow godly character and behaviour in our groups, but the execution lets it down. The plans feel a little dated at times (one of the options each week is a memory verse), and I’m not sure how well it would work with the reality of the mixed and small groups that are often the front line of church-based youth work in the UK at the moment.
I have a mixed group of 14–18s that meets in my house. Some have faith, and some don’t. Could I imagine using this resource? Possibly, but we’d have to put a lot of work into adapting it. If you have a large group of committed Christians aged under 14 and a large hall, it’s well worth a look.
David Welch is the Guildford diocesan youth adviser and volunteer youth worker in Surrey.
POCKETFUL OF FAITH
The fifth album from worship leader Tim Hughes tells a story of a man embarking on a new path while putting all the risk in God’s hands, reflecting Tim’s recent departure from Holy Trinity Brompton to develop a new church in Birmingham.
Pocketful of faith recounts the swinging emotions and experiences of change set within lyrical prayers and cries for God’s strength and sovereignty. This emotion is well depicted in the mix of overtones and undertones throughout the album. The calls to God are combined with faith-filled statements affirming that trust in God is a secure but not necessarily a safe decision. The message that God is with those he calls out of their comfort zones is a powerful one.
The album starts at a significant beginning with ‘Here with me’: the investigation of life’s ups and downs in the light of hope in God’s presence. Later, the path weaves to ‘Plans’, which is based on Jeremiah 29:11. Towards the end of the album, prayers such as ‘Hope and Glory’ and ‘Hallelujah’ are reminders that with God we can see healing in our communities and lives.
It is fair to say that the album doesn’t cross musical boundaries, but that’s not its purpose. The novelty is the theology. Hughes takes worshippers to a depth he has not addressed to such an extent in previous albums, exploring faith in uncertainty and the carrying of crosses.
In a time when younger generations are growing up more aware of uncertainty, more so than when their millennial peers were teenagers, Pocketful of faith creates the opportunity to disciple young worshippers; particularly active worshippers for when life doesn’t always make sense, feel good or meet expectations. Posing a challenge to consumer faith, it could be a vehicle for resilient worshippers, despite their circumstances.
Lizzie Telfer is editor and trustee of Sophia Network and consultant at Creatively Empowering.
TAKE YOUR PLACE
Take Your Place has the tagline, ‘You see a lost cause. I see a turnaround’, so even though you’re not supposed to judge a book by the cover I somewhat did. I assumed it would be great read with heartbreaking stories of young people’s lives being transformed by the gospel, which it is; but not in the way I was expecting.
Take Your Place blends Pure Creative Arts’ story with the author and founder’s own struggles and journey through faith and life. It is written with real honesty and vulnerability, which makes it a very moving read and one that I think would resonate well with young people; particularly teenage girls, who would be able to identify with a lot of the issues author Tamsin Evans has faced. As I read the first section of the book, I could see myself handing it out to teenagers and encouraging them to read it, or using it as the basis for a reading or discussion group. The book neatly flows from Tamsin’s own life experience to Bible verses that help illustrate her point. In that way it seemed at first like a collection of talks you might hear in a really good church, with a personal story and then a great message.
Sections two and three are more focused on how the vision behind Pure developed, which were really inspiring to read in the same way Diary of a Dangerous Vision (Andy Hawthorne) or Red Moon Rising (Pete Greig and Dave Roberts) are. And within that there is more honesty, with Tamsin sharing her hopes and fears for the vision as well as what was going on for her personally at the time, which makes it easier for the reader to connect with the story. I found myself reading chapter after chapter, willing the initiatives to work!
Section four takes a slightly different twist, aimed more at youth workers and church leaders, warning them of burnout and taking on too much, dealing with disappointment and making sure our focus is right. On reflection, it would be really good for older young people starting gap years, university or living away from home for the first time. Again, all this is rooted in Tamsin’s own experience and she draws strongly on biblical leaders to highlight her points.
Take Your Place comes very close to repeating what a lot of other books about vision and leadership say, but because of Tamsin’s vulnerability in sharing her own journey I found myself believing it a lot more. Overall, the book was inspiring, encouraging and a little challenging. I think it would be great for most youth workers’ bookshelves and I’d probably even leave a copy on a coffee table for my young people to pick up and take away, especially if they’ve just started a new chapter of their own.
Mike Kelly is youth officer for the diocese of Leicester.
MISSION MATTERS: LOVE SAYS GO
Just as Matt Redman took us back to the ‘heart of worship’, Tim Chester takes his readers back to the ‘heart of mission’. In his book Mission matters: Love says go. Chester encourages us to continue God’s mission on earth, which God ‘graciously involves us’ in.
Within the first few pages, Chester empowers and enthuses his readers, describing our mission as an: ‘Extension of the mission of the Trinity. And the mission of the Trinity is to share their joy and love.’ He continues that: ‘All we do is sit under the cascading fountain of the Father’s unfailing love… we sit there getting drenched in love, until love flows out from us to a needy world.’
I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone thinking about going on mission now or in the future, or for those supporting others. It is easy to read, well supported by biblical examples, has a concluding paragraph that will fire up the most hesitant missionaries among us and makes me want to grab my backpack and go!
Jo Adshead-Grant works for YMCA Chelmsford as an alcohol outreach worker and is also a freelance writer.
