Ready to go?

Apologies that this blog has slumbered for so long. I can only plead a long list of more or less believable excuses:

• Insanity
• An office move to our wonderful new headquarters in Epsom
• A focus on getting the excellent Good Book Blog up and running

But this blog is not alone - my other blog on home group leadership has also languished for a while, hopefully no more.

I'm re-starting this one because we are in the process of filling the trailer for this year's Bible-Centred Youthwork Conference at High Leigh in Hoddesden. It's going to be a fantastic time, and I'm hoping to live blog the conference here daily. Sign up, join in and contribute to the discussion as we go.

Tim

A great resource to share

Brilliant testimonies - check 'em out!

Hi everyone

We (that is, The Good Book Company that I work for) have just launched a new website designed to help people with questions about faith have them answered in a straightforward and simple way. I'm sure that you will find it an excellent place to point the teenagers in your group and others you are connected with. Some really excellent testimonies from a whole variety of people that would be helpful to share as well.

www.christianityexplored.org

Would love you to check it out, pass it on, blog it up, tweet it down, facebook it across, and generally big it over. It has been know for some people to actually speak to each other face to face about things as well - weird but true!

Be massively grateful for feedback, as the development of this site will be a long-term project for us, but here are some of the things we've tried to do well that is new or unique:

1. Simple, biblical, modern. Our review of other gospel websites out there that are "non-Christian friendly" basically produced a pretty patchy haul. Some of them do some things extremely well, but few embody a strongly biblical approach, and at the same time are attractive, have decently shot video content. They tend to be text heavy, and hard to navigate. Hoping that we have done some of those things well. The aim was simplicity, clarity, and ease of use, with longer text things being secondary to the video content.
2. International faces and voices. Variety of backgrounds. We've got some big hitters in there, but plenty of "ordinary joes" as well.
3. Ongoing development. We've a plan to continue development over the next 5 years to make sure that it remains up to date, with changing content. 
4. We aim to help local churches do the work of evangelism - rather than do it ourselves. The site is designed to support local churches in their evangelistic efforts, by providing a resource that supports your work, and points people who find the site randomly back to local churches where they can hear the gospel in the context of the gospel community.
5. Designed to work "gently" with CE, but not a platform for its naked promotion. If you don't know it, Christianity Explored is an Alpha-style course that takes people through the Gospel of Mark. It's huge worldwide, but not that well known in the US yet. In other words, there is some CE course content in there, but we hope it is subtle enough that even churches that are not using the programme will find this website a great resource for helping others towards faith.

Enjoy.

The inoffensive gospel

Dorling Kindersley have just released two sticker books - one Old T, one New T. As you would expect with any DK product, they are beautifully produced and illustrated. Any family - or indeed primary school - would be happy to give them house room.

But actually that's the problem. They're beautiful, fun to use - and completely inoffensive. There's no gospel content at all - and Bible characters are given praise that's due to God. So Daniel was "a very smart man who interpreted writings", who had "followers" kneeling before him. Paul, likewise, is praised for having "the gift of healing". But you have to look hard to spot these things (they're by the stickers, not the main text) - and maybe you think I'm nit-picking.

But what really struck me is how easy it is to present a Bible story in a way that seems faithful to Scripture, and yet has no heart to it. The two pages on the crucifixion and resurrection describe some of what happened, but give no mention of why. No wonder it's inoffensive.

But the gospel should be offensive! It tells us we're helpless and hopeless without Christ. It's a challenge to me to be careful when choosing children's books - to check they are faithful not just to the events in a Bible story, but also the purposes of the living God, and how each event fits in His great story of redemption.

Leading questions

Just a note to say that the excellent talks from the 2010 Bible Centred Youthwork conference Wise Up are now online. You can read a list on this website here. I think this conference was outstanding for a number of reasons - not least Steve' s insightful morning talks from Ecclesiastes. But check out the seminar material as well. Some brilliant stuff on special needs, marriage, sexuality, and helping parents of teenagers.

Marketing your ministry

Here's the outline for Rory Bell's excellent seminar from the BCY conference on Marketing your Ministry. The title's a bit misleading in a way, because it's not a seminar about advertising or promoting the various clubs or groups that you run.

It's all about a vital, but often un-recognised leadership skill that anyone involved in Gospel ministry needs to have a handle on. It's about how you encourage, influence and share your vision for ministry with the your co-workers, the children and parents you are involved with, and your minister!

Check out the audio talk here on the Good Book Company website.


Marketing Your Ministry
Leadership requires the ability to sell a vision. Sometimes people are less eager to buy into what you are trying to achieve than you'd like them to be. Sometimes these “reluctant customers” may be your church leadership! Learn how to sell your vision for Biblecentred children's and youth ministry in a God-honouring and winsome way.


Management vs Leadership

• Leading Down 
• Leading Across
• Leading Up

Identify Whom You Need to Influence (sell your vision to)
Pray - about:

• Your goals – why is this change necessary?
• Your motives – why do I want this change to happen?
• Who the best person will be to help you.
• Opportunities to share your vision.

Establish your own credibility

• Good work ethic.
• Build trust – openness, transparency.
• Never undermine the leadership’s decisions.

Align Your Ministry with the Church
Identify Life Change in Kids 
Show the Impact on Your Volunteers
Five Ways to Influence Those Above You

1. Be relational
2. Be visionary
3. Be clear, concise, and consistent
4. Be an example
5. Be patient!

Out of the mouth of babes

We've been doing the Exodus with our 3-7 year olds at Emmanuel Church since the beginning of the year, using the excellent Click material.

Little Hugh (aged 4) had just returned from a brief holiday in Egypt with his parents. After the story he looks at me all serious, and says:

"I've just been to Sharm el Sheikh, and I didn't see any slaves there..."

Priceless! But another reminder for those out there who work teaching children that smaller ones need very concrete ideas, and really don't get things like history...

Guidelines for children's spots

If your church does "kids' spots" during a morning meeting, here are some guidelines that have been produced by Andy Byfield at my church (Emmanuel Wimbledon) that may keep them on the right track.How to do a Children’s Spot at the 11am Service

The spots at the 11am are a key way to teach gospel truths simply and clearly to both children and adults. They also serve to make the service more appealing to families and to show that we take the children in our church family seriously.

1. BE SHORT: You have just 3 minutes, so there is only time for one point with one illustration and a one sentence prayer. It is very easy to overrun. Our usual format is to show us the Bible verse, then tell us your one point in a sentence then move on to the illustration. Finish by re-reading the Bible verse then close with a prayer.
2. BE BIBLICAL: In the attempt to simplify, watch out that you don't become misleading or inaccurate. Please teach the verse, not your own ideas.
3. BE SIMPLE: Young children only understand very basic vocabulary and short sentences. Concrete illustrations are better than abstract ones.
4. BE DOCTRINAL: We want to teach the children truth rather than just our illustrations. Please also try to illustrate positively if the verse is positive. For instance ‘Blessed are those who mourn’ – don’t tell us about wrong things to cry about (negative illustration) but what kind of tears are "good tears" (positive illustration).
5. BE SAFE:  Only give out simple chocolates with no nuts. Wrapped ones are cleaner and give parents of children with allergies time to intervene. 
6. BE VISUAL: Toddlers may not even notice you are speaking to them unless you are doing something or holding up an object or a picture (A3 please or bigger). Do use PowerPoint if you like but point to it for the kids.
7. BE IN CONTROL: Only a very unambiguous and easy question will get the answer you are expecting. You may get answers to rhetorical questions too!
8. BE HEARD: Go very slowly and as loud as you can to be heard over the racket children make, especially as you begin. You'll need to rehearse it. Perhaps ask a friend to listen to it and comment.
9. BE SEEN: Please stand on the platform at all times and not on the floor. Speak to the children rather than the adults or they will switch off. The adults will listen anyway...
10. BE KIND: Please smile a lot. Ask any volunteers their name and thank them. Help them up and down steps. It is easy to make toddlers cry so please avoid sudden movements. Loud noises are also scary and if you act mean or cross they can't tell you are pretending. Remember their parents are watching and may not be Christians - we want them to be assured that we love the children and don’t simply see them as teaching aids for our spots!

To this we might also add - be prayerful that God's Spirit would take your clear points to the hearts of both adults and children.

Thanks Andy