|
________________________ HOME I MISSION_STATEMENT I DISTRICT_LEADERSHIP_TEAM I CIRCUITS I SYNOD REPORTS I DISTRICT_DIARY I EVENTS THIS MONTH I YOUTH & CHILDREN I EVANGELISM I MISSION I NETWORK I TESTIMONY I EMPLOYMENT I TRAINING I WORSHIP RESOURCES I LINKS I FAIRTRADE I FRESH EXPRESSIONS I CONFERENCE I PRESIDENTIAL VISIT I METHODIST NEWS I METHODIST CHURCH STATEMENTS I MRDF I ECUMENICAL NEWS & EVENTS I ANGLICAN-METHODIST_COVENANT I INTERFAITH I |
|
Youth and Children A page for children, young people, and those who work with them
(For further details click here) _________________________ GENEROUS http://methodist.generous.org.uk/.
Generous
is a safe, online space designed to enable young people to discuss and act upon
decisions made at Youth Assembly – an interactive body designed to maximise
the impact of young people’s influence on the Methodist Church in Britain.
Young people can sign up to the site and pledge their commitment to different
goals, such as confronting racist behaviour or challenging Churches on the
opportunities available to them. The
website offers young people the opportunity to work together on maximising the
impact they can have on the wider Church. Every young person who signs up and
joins the debate becomes an activist and voice for social change. Pete
Brady, Methodist Youth President, said: “Generous is a great way
for young people to keep in touch with others they met at Youth Assembly. It
offers the chance for young people to share things that affect them on a daily
basis in their lives and churches. This is an opportunity for young people to be
part of the decision-making process emerging from the Youth Assembly that will
then play its part in re-shaping the Methodist Church. I am very excited about
how this will increase youth participation across the Districts. Generous
is easy and free to join. The more young people leaving comments, signing up to
actions, meeting in the chat rooms; the more dynamic the forum will be.” Pete
Brady has piloted the website with a group of ‘Generous DJs’ – young
people from Youth Assembly who have tested the site’s usability. The DJs will
also serve as promoters for Generous – getting their peers
enthused about the site and working on developing its content, direction and
moderation. Check out Generous at http://methodist.generous.org.uk/. The site will form a key component of the new Children & Youth website set for launch this summer. ________________________ Local
teenager
organises ‘THE CHURCH`S Queen’s
Hall Methodist Mission, She said
‘Can we have an event? ‘Sure,
what have you in mind? ‘The Church`s got Talent’. The church
committee that organises social events thought it was a splendid idea,
especially when the teenager went through the detail of her plans. The free
event was held on Friday 13th November and it was fantastic.The
teenager organised the whole event, the church simply supported her in prayer,
publicity and catering. This is how it panned out. There were 8 acts, 5 of them
made up of teenagers! These acts were assessed by Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and
Amanda Holden (or three people who had a passing resemblance to these
celebrities!). The teenager held it all together as compere and interviewer. The judges
reduced the acts from 8 to 5 for voting purposes and then there was a secret
ballot (you had to vote before you could eat). After a sumptuous supper the
results were revealed in reverse order – slowly in the best television manner.
The winners – a wonderful girl dance group called ‘The Stunners’ – were
presented with a plaque amidst huge applause and emotion. Our
minister, Stephen Dunn, was then able to deliver a short talk on how God loves
us all and has given every one of us talents. This was delivered to about 100
people; children, teenagers and adults, Christians and those not-yet-Christians.
Stephen then invited back ‘The Stunners’ and the evening concluded with some
modern worship songs from the teenage band ‘Access’. This was a
hugely enjoyable evening accessible to people from 8 to 80. One mother said
‘It was wonderful, I cried with laughter to such an extent by face was black
when I got home due to my mascara running!’ If you
want to be inspired by the Alive and Kicking
Methodist Youth Assembly
Methodist Youth Assembly On Friday 13th November we went
to the Methodist Youth Assembly at On Saturday, we rose early to a lovely
breakfast and headed straight for our first session: Youth Violence. The ideas
that came out of this discussion were that there are not enough clubs to
encourage youth off the streets and out of violence. We discussed the influences
of the media and how it has changed over the last few years. Youth are now
exposed to the media more than ever before and media has changed with more
violence in games and in films. The press is always portraying a negative image
of youth. We heard facts about crime and that only six percent of ‘knife’
crime was committed by youths. This begs the question: why are we always getting
the ‘blame’? We need to pray for the youth more and: for the victims of
‘knife’ crime; for media to cover more positive stories about youth; and to
create a smaller void between us and other people. After lunch of soup and sandwiches we went
to an Equality and Diversity session, this was an interesting talk, we made a
diversity collage with words and pictures of ourselves and it was stuck up on a
wall. We suggested that we should do more to understand what it is that makes us
‘us’. We came up with an idea to make a day where we share our stories, food
and traditions with others from around the globe. This would be a special day in
the Methodist calendar. But then, when it came down to it, we found that that it
would be nearly impossible to organise so we suggested it should be done by
individual churches. We think that we have a good understanding of diversity in In the late afternoon, we went to a You and
Your Rights session. This was all about what we should stand up for in order to
change the world and the Methodist church. One huge issue that came out was
women and the church, and that even though we can say we are not discriminating
against women, we need to embrace others who do not practice this in order to
help them change their ways, especially in other Christian denominations. On Sunday we rose early again and went to
vote on key issues that we wanted to take forward to the Methodist Conference
through the elected Youth Coordinator. Joseph Parkin & Bethany Mason
Find out more To watch a video about the Youth Assembly click here
Youth
Assembly appoints new full time Youth President
The Methodist Youth Assembly appointed Pete Brady from Bradford, aged
23, as its President. Pete will be
the Methodist Youth President, working full-time for one year to serve the young
people of the Methodist Church in Britain, making their voices heard and helping
them to get more involved in every aspect of Church life. The Youth President is
a paid post as part of the Children and Youth Team of the Methodist Church in
Britain “It’s
a real honour being appointed to this role” said Pete “Ensuring the voices
of young people are heard within our church is something that I have felt
passionately about for a long time and it’s amazing to be given the
opportunity to be that voice for young people across the country. My aim for the
year is to be easily accessible to young people across the Connexion, to voice
their opinions and represent them to the very best of my ability in everything I
do.” Attendance
at the Youth Assembly increased by 75% from last year. Over 200 11 – 23
year-olds gathered at the Ushaw Conference Centre in Durham to take part in a
programme designed by young people for young people. They came from as far
afield as the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales, from
churches in the inner cities to rural chapels in the Cotswolds. The issues they
explored ranged from youth violence to equality and diversity, human sexuality
and self-esteem. “Maybe
it’s the economic times we’re living in,” said Jude Levermore, Youth
Participation Development Officer for the Methodist Church. “Or maybe it’s
the attention given to global climate change, or Afghanistan. But the age of
apathy seems to be over. Young people want to see the world in which they live
transformed. And they seem to see the church as being a place where that change
can start.” The
decisions taken and commitments made by the Youth Assembly will influence
policy-making at the annual Methodist Conference next year and will be input
into the work of the Connexional Team, as well as impacting immediately on the
work of the Children and Youth Team. “These are
exciting times for the Methodist Church and for young people,” said Jude.
“Anyone who was at Youth Assembly cannot fail to have been impressed by the
level of engagement and passion and desire on the part of young people there to
get involved and to be the change they want to see - in the world and in their
church.” _________________
Aged 5 - 13? Why not visit the methodistchildren website for lots of exciting things to see and do methodist.org.uk/static/children/children/home.htm ___________________
Headsup 4 a gr8 nu free txt service
From 4 October 2006, children who subscribe to the service will receive texts under 8 different topics: Links, UrWorld, Challenge, World, Action, Prayer, DaBuzz and Headsup. To sign up, they can simply text JOIN to 07786205203 and it’s absolutely free. Penny Fuller, MethodistChildren 9-13 Project Worker, said that; “With over 90% of 12 year-olds now owning a mobile phone, this is a great way to reach young people. Church can sometimes seem boring or irrelevant to young people and we want to show them that there are loads of exciting ways to get involved. We hope that by covering a variety of issues and even by setting the odd challenge, we can help them engage with a whole host of topics and think about what being Christian means for them”. Users of the service can respond to any of the texts they receive from mctxt4u by having their say on DaBlab - the bulletin board in the brand new 9-13s section of the MethodistChildren website (www.methodistchildren.org.uk). The new look website has much more to offer, including the latest film and music reviews, puzzles, BrainEacs activities (puzzles and games), a prayer page and much more. There will also be a chance for children to find out what’s going on around to world and to share their own stories. Penny said, “There’ll be loads more to see and do on the site. As it continues to develop and grow, we’re looking for groups and individuals to get involved, let us know what they’d like to see and even to contribute their own material. It’s their website, so it should be done their way”. The website also has an area for children under 12, with lots to do, including fun and games, a storybook and even a gallery for children to submit their own pictures. But it’s not all for the children; children’s workers have their own section of the site, with an activity page for leaders, resources, training information and a bulletin board. ________________________ Methodist Youth Activities Methodist Youth Activities [MYA] is a small independent grant-making trust that makes grants to individual young people and to youth projects that encourage and develop their physical, mental and spiritual capacities and to awaken or strengthen in them their desire for a full and active Christian life. If you are aged 11 - 25 and you, or the group to which you belong, are involved in a project, need help with funds, visit the website, www.myaltd.org.uk to find out more
|
