Connect - June 2010
The youth work mailing for the Diocese of Blackburn
"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" Ephesians 4:11-12
We are always telling our young people that the church is primarily about the people and the community of faith rather than the building—so much so that it is all too easy to forget what that actually means and it is good from time to time to be reminded of this truth. I was reminded of it recently when I went on holiday with my family for what I thought was a week. Unfortunately, due to the ash cloud from Iceland, we were stranded for an extra week. Disastrously, this happened to coincide with the ‘Y Church’ Confirmation weekend at Whitehough. Having invested some time with the team organising this event, the real prospect of not being able to get back to the UK for it was really disappointing. However, the rest of the team did an amazing job in running the whole weekend and the sixty young people who attended had a fantastic weekend of activities including canoeing, a ropes course and mountain biking; teaching on the theme of ‘Church’ and worship lead by young people and a Eucharist lead by Bishop Geoff. I was reminded through this experience that, firstly, none of us are indispensable and secondly, and probably most importantly, as Christians we are members of the body of Christ and can rely on our brothers and sisters in Christ to help, assist, pray for and support us. I am not for a minute suggesting that we should all abdicate responsibility for everything and let other people do everything (like I had to!) but reminding us that we are all members of the body of Christ and God has gifted each one of us differently and we use those gifts in His service so that the body of Christ may be built up and the church strengthened. In this mailing you will see that we are running a second Whitehough weekend because the April one was over subscribed. The maximum number of young people we can take on this weekend (1-3 Oct) is 40 and we will offer places to those who missed out on the April weekend first. If you want your young people to come along, book early! We are also gearing up for the annual Diocesan Youth Conference at Myerscough College in September. We would love to see young people from your parish involved and there are further details attached with this mailing or you can contact me or Jill at Church House. Craig
You can download a copy of June Connect here