7th January: Just a ‘child’? Equipping Event, East Sussex

I hope you all had a great, restful Christmas and New Year – I certainly did! It was great to spend time with both our families and relax, as well as playing with the children and eating far too much!

Having been ill just before Christmas (kindly passed on by my lovely little niblings!) and so being off work the last 2 days of 2011, I came back to a mountain of emails and a Christmassy desk! It’s straight back into lots of busyness. 2012 sees 10 Just A ‘Child’? Events, the first of which is this Saturday at Welcome Baptist in Heathfield, so we are getting ready for that. January itself is quite a busy month:

• 7th Just a ‘child’? Event in Heathfield
• 10th Baptist Assembly Planning Meeting
• 11th SOLID Remix Management Meeting
• 12th Viz-A-Viz Ministries UK Team Strategy Meeting
• 15th Ed and I are taking both morning services at Elim Braintree
• 18th Children’s and Family Ministries Conference Planning Meeting
• 21st Worship Rally at Trinity Baptist Church
• 22nd Taking both morning services at Trinity Baptist Church
• 28th Training day at Newbury Baptist Church
• 30th Junior SOLID Management Team Meeting

Well now it’s December I can fully immerse myself into the Christmas Spirit and stop shouting at Andy while he is subconsciously whistling Christmas songs ‘STOP IT, IT’S STILL NOVEMBER!’. I have told anyone that will listen about my outrage that on November 26th in Basildon’s Shopping Centre, the queue for Santa’s Grotto was ridiculous. I don’t want to get in the mood too early or I will end up utterly fed up by the time we get there!

So I turned over my calendar on my desk to find a picture of Woody from Toy Story with a little bit of holly and a nice American caption ‘Happy Holidays’.* My advent calendar (I’m very grateful to Andy for saving me from grumpyness and nipping to Sainsbury’s yesterday to get me one) is ‘Merry Christmas! From Peppa and George (Pig)’ – coincidentally the same advent calendar as my 4 and 3 year old nieces. I’m (we’re) surrounded by all this snow and sparkle covered festivity, with very little reference to the true meaning of Christmas. My housemate Karen’s parents bought us a little advent calendar card which we opened the first door of yesterday and there was a picture of a lady dressed in blue…with ‘Mary’ written next to it. It’s a sad time where on the picture of the nativity you have to write the names of the characters in case people don’t know.

More and more Jesus is squeezed out of Christmas – so what are we doing about it this year? How are we making sure we are focusing on the right things this Christmas? How are we not getting so sucked in to the glitz and extras that we forget to communicate the real meaning of Christmas with those around us?

We’ve managed to get tickets to be in the audience of Michael McIntyre’s Christmas Comedy Roadshow, filmed on 13th December, on air on Christmas Day. (I’m VERY excited!) So you may possibly see me on TV on Christmas Day. That got me thinking, if I could wear a T-Shirt with anything written on it that potentially millions of people could see on Christmas Day, what would I want it to say? What one thing would I want to say about what I believe Christmas is really about?

I don’t have answers yet, but take a second to think about it! Viz-A-Viz Ministries have produced the More To Christmas DVD in a card – a great conversation starter to send to friends/families/neighbours – featuring real stories of real people and how God has changed their lives. For more information visit www.vizaviz.org

 
*I was pleased the other day whilst listening the Vernon Kay on BBC Radio 1 that as he read out a text containing the word ‘Xmas’ he said ‘No, not Xmas, Christmas, please keep the Christ in Christmas.

I’d love to hear your comments of how you are ‘keeping the Christ in Christmas’ this year.

This weekend saw the first inter-generational evangelism conference run by Viz-A-Viz Ministries. It was held at the Bridge Methodist Church in Radcliffe, Manchester – a church we have very good links with through Liv’It Camp. The conference consisted of a Friday night session and then on Saturday streams looking at evangelism amongst Children, Youth and Adults.

Ed and I led the Reaching Children stream – adapting material from the first Just a ‘child’? equipping day.
Joy and Andy led the Reaching Young People stream.
Special guest Rich Powney (now officially an associate speaker for Viz-A-Viz) led one of the Reaching Adults stream – unpacking the Engaging Through Story resource.
Jon Stannard led the second Reaching Adults stream – creative ideas for street evangelism, including practical!

The whole weekend went really well, with around 50 people attending and some great feedback. One lady who attended commented in an email afterwards:

‘I got so much from it, it really got my fire burning so much brighter again!’

There were some great stories from those involved in street evangelism – most notably the fact that it was easier than they thought it would be, and people were more receptive to talking than they thought they would be! I think for many people it was an opportunity to be inspired and reminded of the call to share their faith with those around them.

The Bridge Church were fantastic hosts – the food was great! Ed, Jon and I travelled back to Essex on the Saturday night while Taste, Andy Keel and Rich stayed for services on the Sunday and then Liv’It Reunion in the evening. I was disappointed not to have been able to stay but the van coming home was full!

On a personal note it was great to stay with the lovely Mike and Judith Hainsworth (who have such a gorgeous house!) – friends from Liv’It Camp. Their hospitality for my flying visit was much appreciated! It was also a chance to catch up with the wonderful Paul and Hannah Schofield (Metro Christian Centre) – always fun and good to chat.

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After a couple of days off I’ve been back in the office this week working on all sorts of things! The Just a ‘child’? event that should have been taking place in Sussex tomorrow has been postponed due to viability and will now be on the 7th January at Welcome Baptist Church, Heathfields. Taste have taken Andy with them to Germany for a few days so I’m heading to Braintree for the weekend on babysitting duty for my littlest niblings!

Well I had a great few days away last week with Andy and my sister and her family…camping in October! We went down to the New Forest in their ‘new’ G reg Hymer Camper Van and spent three nights at the Red Shoots Camping site. It was surprisingly warm, even at night and we had a long sunny walk one morning which was great in the beautiful scenery! We spent the day with my brother and his family on Saturday which was lots of fun! Nice to have some time out and spend some quality time with family.

On Monday Ed and I were involved in Kingswood Baptist Church’s ‘Bright and Light’ Party for children aged 5-11. The children made pizzas and cakes which they ate later, made candles and 2 massive stained glass windows, played games, sang songs and Ed and I did a light releated quiz and challenges, whilst thinking about Jesus – the Light of the world. It was a great night with about 70 kids attending, many of whom had been to the holiday club in the summer.

This week saw the launch of the brand new shiny resource from Arise Ministries: The Great Hot Cross Bun Hunt. Yes, perhaps we’re a little premature in thinking about Easter but there’s nothing like being extra organised! ’The Great Hot Cross Bun Hunt’ communicates the Easter story in an engaging and exciting way to children aged 7-11. Using fun, craft, games and challenges it raises questions about the relevance of the Christian Easter story to their lives today. It can be used as a one off 2 hour event or split into 4 sessions. Watch this video to find out more:

If video doesn’t play click here: The Great Hot Cross Bun Hunt

Now busy preparing for our ‘Unlock the Power of the Church’ Conference in Radcliffe, Manchester this weekend. It’s the first evangelism conference of its type that Viz-A-Viz Ministries has put on so we would appreciate your prayers! Find out next week how it goes.