Communicate! April-May 2008

In youth work circles we often talk about a phenomenon called the missing generation, put in less jargon this is the lack of people aged between 18 and 30 in our churches. Well it seems on Sunday evening a few of the young people, Tim and myself found the missing generation. Stop press! I hear you say, but it’s not as clear as it sounds. We went to a church held in one of the West End theatres each Sunday. The music was, in my opinion, great, I find it easier to ‘loose’ myself and find God with a more charismatic style of music.
However when I looked around me I discovered something else, the so called missing generation were very much present (2000 in all), but all the other generations, the very young, the older people, families, were in the minority to say the least. It got me thinking, has each church got to make a choice about which generation it wants to target, or are we called to be the church in each generation, make allowances for each other, learn from each other and be accepting no matter what? I think the latter and I know which kind of church I’d rather be a member of. However it’s definitely given me food for thought about how to reach and keep this generation in our own church family.

God bless

Lizzie

WHEN WYRED WENT TO
IRELAND…!

We left early on 5th April to fly from Luton to Ireland West Airport which is about an hour away from our ultimate destination, the city of Sligo. We didn’t know what to expect, Tim and I been before a number of times, but we’ve never taken young people to work with the churches over there.

I’d like to say now, how proud Tim and I are of the young people who came with us, we asked them to do some pretty daunting stuff and they just got on with it. They all told a bit about their life story and times with God, they did drama to music – which they perfected in one afternoon so that we could teach people with something other than words, Sophie led worship a couple of times and even played songs she’d written herself and Nick led the Irish youth group night. We even climbed a mountain (ok – large hill) and prayed over the city.

Some of the best bits for the young people who went include meeting the Irish people who are so determined to keep their little church going, they thought it was fantastic that we’d gone over to encourage and support them for a few days, but we hope that feeling of not being alone will last much longer than that. We really felt that even the little bit we did had made a difference to them. Wyred also felt that it was great to see God working everywhere and even through them each in a unique way.

The great thing about the 5 days we were there was that we had plenty of time to spend with God as well as get to know the lovely people in the Irish churches. We’re keeping in contact and hope to meet up again with the Irish equivalent of Wyred at Soul Survivor in the summer. I’ve attached a couple of photos, but really they don’t do the trip justice!

Tim, Lizzie, Jess, Nick, Amelia, Sophie, Ollie and Richard.

Communicate! February 2008

I went to the most amazing funeral yesterday, I know that to some of you that might sound like a very odd thing to say. The chap who had died I had known for over 20 years, he was a ‘pillar’ in the church I grew up in (spiritually and in years!). What struck me was the joyfulness that everyone was celebrating his life, but the most inspiring thing about Ron was that the power of prayer was at the very centre of who he was. I have to say it left me feeling a little ashamed about the sporadic ‘quality’ of my own prayer life, something which I have resolved to better in ’08 – you can hold me to that!

The whole experience left me thinking (and praying!) about ways we can support each other in prayer more effectively. So I’m setting up Prayer Adoption, I’d really like to pair up some of the congregation with the children & young people of the church, the idea being that each ‘older’ person has one ‘younger’ person to pray for on a regular basis. If this is something you’d like to do, please do speak to me or give me a ring, 867647 or perhaps email me at missendenlife@hotmail.com.

God bless, Lizzie x x

Communicate!
Memo to St. Peter & St. Paul...
November 2007

We’re on the eve of half term, which, if you are a teacher, or married to one…!) is traditionally a time to take a deep breath before heading towards Christmas, which if my calculations are correct is less than 60 days away! I love Christmas and soon I’ll be beginning to plan the crib service which remains a real high point in my year. Before I get carried away with all things Christmas far too early we have the church bonfire night on the 4th November to look forward to, weather permitting we should have a brilliant evening, a big thank you to the Davies family for hosting this year.
Wyred are off on their travels again, this time on a ‘mini’ mission to the Irish town of Sligo, you’ll be hearing a lot more about this latest adventure but briefly we’ll be working with the church there, promoting and building a Christian run skate park/cafe and running a kids club for the children of asylum seekers.

The Zone continues to go well, we have about 30 young people on average each week, half of whom are ‘new’ to church which is great.
Please pray for the young people of Wyred as they adjust to changes in the structure of their group and for protection as they go about being a Christian in school.

God bless, Lizzie x x

Communicate! October 2007

Memo to St. Peter & St. Paul...
October 2007

It seems impossible that it’s October already! The start of the new academic year has gone smoothly if a little hectic at times. The young people’s groups have gathered again after the long summer break, 21 Cent are looking at some of the ‘Christian basics’. Wyred have already led an ‘Imagine’ youth service and are now about to embark on a series on spiritual growth...

The new youth club ‘The Zone’ started well last week; we had 29 young people between 11 and 15 in the hall enjoying table football, hockey, pool and games. We hope to build on this great start and provide a more consistent outreach to the young people of the area.

Coming up we have a fireworks evening on 4th November, everyone’s invited, tickets will be available shortly and all proceeds will go to the church youth work.
It’s all ‘go’ in the youth office!

Please pray for a continued good start for ‘The Zone’, and for all the Junior Church, 21 Cent, The Zone and Wyred volunteers.

God bless, Lizzie x x

Communicate!
Memo to St. Peter & St. Paul...
...September 2007
Tim and I slept for 12 hours last night, we weren’t, (as your first impressions may be telling you) being incredibly lazy, but recovering from the Soul Survivor youth conference! Together with 12 members of Wyred we spent 5 days braving the weather under canvas in Somerset getting about 4 hours sleep each night, we had an amazing time! Worshipping God with 10,000 young people is a heart-warming emotional experience. We all experienced God in a new way, some for the first time, and we’ve all come back with renewed vigour for our relationship with the Lord. The challenge for me now is to help the young people maintain their enthusiasm through the year, which they also do well, encouraging each other through the tough times.

September sees the new term in all the groups and also the start of The Zone, the new Friday evening club for 11-15’s. It’s an exciting development but it’s always a bit scary starting something new, so I’d appreciate your prayers. Also if you fancy helping out every now and then, let me know!

Please also pray for the young people, that they would keep growing in their faith, for Livvi on her gap year in Australia and Jess as she prepares for University in Lancaster.
God bless, Lizzie x x

Memo to St. Peter & St. Paul, July 2007

I’ve just got back from the Parish weekend away with just enough time to re-pack and be off on the school trip to France early tomorrow morning, I can say with all certainty that although our cats are not happy with us going away again, life is not dull! The weekend had been great, the food was good, we all slept well, and had good fun together. Tim and I ran a program for the older kids on Philippians, we looked at how Paul was happy with his lot even though he was in prison and what this could mean for us now.
This next week Tim and are off with the year six children from Great Missenden School for their annual trip to Paris, I’ll lead a group of 9, and provide pastoral care to whoever needs it, it’s good fun and an excellent time to build relationships with the children. Then I’ll be back to help the young people organise the next ‘Imagine’ youth led service, this will be on 1st July at 6.30 in our church – please come, everyone is welcome!
The young people’s exams will be finished by the time you read this, so now it’s a waiting game for the results in August, but at least they can now begin to look forward to the summer!
Please pray for the ‘Imagine’ service, for inspiration in the planning and a good congregation on the night.
God bless, Lizzie

Communicate!
Memo to St. Peter & St. Paul... ...June 2007
Well, I’m not seeing much evidence of the month of June being nearly here but hopefully the weather will pick up! Things in the Youth Office are going well, I thought I’d use this section of the memo to let you know a little more about how I structure my days and get things done. In the youth work world, we tend to work in ‘sessions’, a session can either be a morning, afternoon or an evening, and the guideline for being full time is 10 sessions a week – once you’ve got you’re head around that its plain sailing! Of course when summer or Christmas rolls around everything is thrown a little off course and then it’s just simply work ‘til it’s done!
A couple of weeks ago, Wyred went to an event called, appropriately, the Ultimate Event at Alton Towers, we had an amazing time, on all the rides in the day and to a Christian concert in the evening, well worth the 17 hour round trip! 21Cent will stay a little closer to home on their tenpin bowling challenge later in this month. June sees 21Cent in 1 Timothy and Wyred looking at media issues...

Please pray as GCSE’s and A levels continue and also that the weekend away would be great!

God bless, Lizzie