Connected

The Youth Mailing for Blackburn Diocese

     "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

You have probably heard it said so many times that the church is about the people and not the building—so much so that it’s 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 spent ages with the team organising this event, the thought of not being able to get back to the UK for it was gutting.  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.  It was good to be reminded through this that, firstly, none of us are indispensable and secondly, and probably most importantly, as Christians we are ALL 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 part of the body of Christ and God has gifted each one of us differently, regardless of our age,  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.  We are also gearing up for the Youth Conference at Myerscough College in September.  We would love to see you there.
Craig
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