FunKey Newsflash

The FunKey Service at St Mary's Richmond has three bits of exciting news! After less than six months they will soon have their first baptisms AND on September 21st the Archbishop of York will be visiting them to join in with a service AND they have just launched a splendid new blog with absolutely up to the minute info and great pics! Well worth a visit.

http://funkeychurchatstmarysrichmond.wordpress.com/

God bless Roger the Rabbit from the FunKey website

Fun-Key Goings-on at Richmond

Gillian Lund writes about an exciting new deanery venture based in Richmond. The very first event has led to the setting up of a new, monthly service for children, young people, families and friends at St Mary's called the FUN KEY service (yes, I like it!)

The first FUN KEY Service will be on Sunday 29th April

4pm St Mary's Richmond 

God Cares for Ewe

Open to all 

'On Sunday 25th March, St Mary's Church Richmond hosted a Deanery Exploring Easter Children's Event.  Graham Richards the Children and Young People's Development Worker for the Richmond Archdeaconry had held a meeting at The Station in Richmond regarding children's work and provision, and from that came a desire for churches in the Deanery to hold a larger event to encourage future children's work.  After an initial meeting, four weeks before the event at our Rectory, we set to work planning our craft, art, baking and musical activities. 

To cut a long story very short, we were blessed with some very enthusiastic volunteers from the church and area, including some from Richmond Methodist Church.

Prior to the event, Graham emailed clergy throughout the Deanery and between word of mouth, blatant advertising at meetings and local groups, school assemblies and even a global text message being sent out by our local Richmond C of E Primary inviting children to attend.  Although we did not have many guests from across the Deanery we were thrilled to welcome 41 children aged 5 to 11 years old and approximatly 35 adults (parents, grandparents etc) from around Richmond.

The church was a hive of Easter activity, and we used all the space available - we had Chocolate Easter Nest making, Resurrection Bun baking in the MU area (Graham led this event and the church smelled beautiful!), collage and card making up the centre aisle, music making in the Green Howards Chapel with Rev'd John, story telling with plastic eggs to open (and when the children were treated to beautiful buns and juice provided by kind members of the congregation) at font area, jam jar easter decorations in the altar area, pom pom chick making in the middle of the choir area, Nic Shepperd and his Prayer Pool at the High Altar (the sun was shining and it provided a very atmospherid space for everyone) and banner making in the side aisle! 

The children were free to move round the activities at their own pace which worked very well, and towards the end of the event we all went outside to hunt for laminated eggs with our names on them and returned back in to church to claim our chocolate egg prizes. 

The afternoon culminated in a short service with a story and song to pull it all together, led by Graham.

We were very fortunate that a photographer from the Northern Echo visited part way through the afternoon and took some beautiful photographs that were published in both the Northern Echo and D&S Times.

The event has acted as a launch pad for future children's activities.  Rev'd John has always been most enthusiastic to nurture school and church links, and increase the provision of childrens' events and activities in our church.  This Expolring Easter Event provided something fun, interesting and meaningful for children representing all the primary schools in Richmond, and all denominations which has been fantastically encouraging for us as a church.

We have now decided that we would like to hold a children and young person's service on the last Sunday of every month, and our next newly-named FUN-KEY Service for friends and family of all ages is on Sunday 29th April between 4 and 5pm at St Mary's Richmond.  We have already decided on our theme for the service - God Loves and Cares for Ewe!  as the readings for the day are Psalm 23 and John 10 The Good Shepherd!  Our volunteers are already beavering away with the preparations - a large banner with a sheep made out of many different sheep, sheep bisuit/cake making and decorating, cardboard sheep making and culminating again in a time of worship to be led by John with some music making and time to reflect on all we have done together. 

This is then to be followed in June by our now Annual Pet Service when we welcome children and adults to bring their pets to church to give thanks for the love and happiness they give us.

So, it's all go at St Mary's at the moment!'

Life Sciences Teach Us About Growth

Some more good news! The Life Sciences industry (mainly focused on the creation and refinement of therpeutic drugs) is one area where Britain still makes a really major contribution to the world scene. We have four of the world's top 10 universities and there are welcome signs that the number of students studying physical chemistry is increasing. Indeed, it has been the International Year of Chemistry in 2011 and (unlike the Decade of Evangelism when church attendance actually fell!) there has been an increase in the number of students reading chemistry at university and there are plans to open two new chemistry departments at Lancaster and Kings, London. Since 2005, there has been a 25% increase in the number of students taking A level chemistry.

The science community must be pleased with the government's anouncement that there will be an extra £180m to fund processes which support getting the drugs from early stage development to clinical use (an area known by those in the profession, somewhat unfortunately, as the 'Valley of Death' because promising projects disappear into clincal trials never to see the light of day.) This is tied up with slightly more controversial plans to allow registered health care companies to access NHS patient records to support their research.  The 4,000 UK life science companies who could benefit will be able to enhance their contribution both to new treatments for a number of diseases and to overall economic growth, so this seems like a win win package. 

My husband's company releases employees to spend days teaching science in local schools and these days are always greeted with much enthusiasm by pupils and staff alike. They are also hugely enjoyed, it goes with out saying, by those released from workaday drudgery to be real 'mad scientists' under the attentive gaze of a class for the day! We need young people to study pure science subjects in order (among other things) to create the next generation of applied scientists.

It struck me that theologians ought to think along similar lines. Religious studies and
theology are valuable in so many ways apart from simply being of interest to those with a faith or the few intending to become ministers and priests. The study of theology opens a student up to history, philosophy, ethics, linguistics, sociology, psychology, art, music and textual criticism. One of my university colleagues once remarked that he was amazed that theologians seemed to have the capacity to be in dialogue with (and often teaching courses in partnership with) almost any other discipline in the university. The skills learned through studying for a theology degree can be used in so many ways.

Taking a leaf out of the scientists' approach to generating fresh interest in their subjects, we ought to be releasing our best theologians (and in this, I would include some clergy and readers) for days to help with the teaching of religious studies and other subjects in schools. In my last parish I used to help teach the A level philosophy modules in a local comprehensive; there were always a dozen or so students and I met some inspirational young people and learned a huge amount myself. Most importantly, I struck up some relationships that have lasted beyond the classroom as I've followed the students' progress into theology and philosophy courses and all sorts of related areas of study.  

The Faith of Girls

A friend recently drew my attention to this rather unique and recently published study of adolescent girls' spirituality and attitudes to faith. The Faith of Girls; Children's Spirituality and Transition to Adulthood looks at the experience of girls as they move from childhood to adulthood and is a must for anyone involved in youth work. Anne Phillips, the author, draws on psychology, sociology, gender studies and textual criticism of the many biblical stories of girls' lives, as well as on her own research into girls' experiences of God, church and growing up in contemporary society. It is a book about girls in transition, their developing identity and sense of self in relation to God. It will appeal to academics and practitioners, to those primarily interested in helping young people and to those primarily interested in theological or gender studies. It has been hailed as breaking new ground by critics.

An Oxford graduate in theology, Anne Phillips has been a secondary school teacher and, for 20 years, a Baptist minister. She is currently Co-Principal of the Northern Baptist College in Manchester.

The book is published by Ashgate Publishing, Abingdon. Sample sections of the book can be viewed at

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409421986

Children Are Welcome

Our children's Officer has been busy! Not only have Diocesan youth and children's team created a new pack of information, Children Are Welcome, which has been sent to every parish, with some really good resources, but Graham Richards, our Officer, has organised four evenings in September (before the clocks go back) to help churches think about how to use the resources. The evening will provide inspiration and information about how to get going with making children a welcome part of church life in your own localities or, indeed, how to refresh and improve what you are already doing. There is one evening in each deanery but you can go to any of them by booking a place on

Wensely Deanery, Redmire, 29th September http://www.wensleychildrenarewelcome.eventbrite.com/
Ripon Deanery, Ripon, 6th October
http://www.riponchildrenarewelcome.eventbrite.com/
Richmond Deanery, Richmond, 12th October 
http://www.richmondchildrenarewelcome.eventbrite.com/
Harrogate Deanery, Bilton, 13th October
http://www.harrogatechildrenarewelcome.eventbrite.com/

A Thousand turn out at Light Water Valley

Despite threatened rain and high winds, over 1,000 young people attended the Big Night Out at Lightwater Valley on Saturday. The event was organised by Urban Saints.

Read about it at
http://www.riponleeds.anglican.org/news-363.html

The Dales; A Place to Find Joy?

Programmes like ITV's The Dales are helping to keep a high profile for Yorkshire in the media at the moment. I watched tonight's episode with my nieces who had just enjoyed a day out around Brimham Rocks, Fountains and Brymoors, three of the many places they love to visit whenever they come to Yorkshire. When they arrive, they are so excited, they can hardly contain themselves until they have visited the places they remember and loved from the last visit! So a relaxing program about the Dales was a god-send after a hectic day of exploration. The Revd Ann Chapman's approach to church at Hadraw and Askrigg they found impressive - food, chatter, and interaction definitely captures their attention and interest in a way that conventional sitting in rows and listening does not!

The great thing about Adrian Edmonson's journalism is that he lets people speak and their enthusiasm shows through - shepherding, band practice and church look fun! This can only be good for tourism in Yorkshire, for the profile of the area and for churches!  I suppose Ann's approach to vicaring is a little similar; she lets people speak for themselves and picks up on the fun in life. I am not suggesting that her approach is only about fun, but, as my young nieces clearly feel, it is a whole lot easier to get enthusiastic about a church experience that shows people talking to each other, looking interested, laughing, interacting and remembering to talk to and about God than a church service which is entirely solemn, uses words about God that are incomprehensible and addresses questions nobody is asking (or asks questions nobody can answer.) I believe there are children everywhere, in almost every parish and community, who would like to come to church and who would like to worship God if we could find ways to take on board what our young people are saying to us about where they find God and how they discover life-giving joy and sadness and celebration.     

I recently blogged about the Regeneration Summit at which a couple of hundred young people met our bishops and archbishops. The messages there were that authentic  relationship (listening and talking) and interactive communication (a chance to react, to 'answer back' and to challenge) are as vital as the message itself. Children can listen to God, pray, be reverent, have spiritual insight, have opinions about God and learn through experience and mistakes; they can challenge adults to rethink ideas that have become over-settled and over-comfortable; and above all they know how to be joyous. Was it Teilhard de Chardin who said that 'joy is an infallible sign of the presence of God'? We don't need to be scared of letting go and letting children be themselves in church. We shouldn't insist that they necessarily adopt adult practices and we should be prepared to change the ways we worship to include them if our churches have got to the point where all our worship alientates young people.

We go to Gozo for many of our holidays. Gozo is the north island of Malta, a deeply Roman Catholic country. The small communities there are entirely rural. All the churches  hold vibrant patronal festivals - it seems there is a healthy competitive spirit to see which parish can have more fireworks, better street parties, more impressive processions, more fantasic displays of produce. I went once for Holy Week. The churches were packed out with young people and whole families. I realise there are complex reasons for this, but, certainly, it was all so much fun, you could see why people of all ages just couldn't stay away.

This may seem a strange message for a Holy Week post. Later, I shall be posting some of the talks I'm giving this week at Sharow which are certainly of a much more solemn nature. Even amongst the solemnity, political unrest and fear of that final week in Jerusalem there was space for love and joy, meals, anointings and conversation. It is only as our children are helped to experience these things as part of the normal life of the church family that they will grow into people who have courage and strength and faith to face the suffering and struggles that life also throws up. 

Clervaux Trust at Croft on Tees

I first met Bill Chaytor about thee and a half years ago when he invited me to visit him at Clow Beck, Croft on Tees. He talked about his plans for the site and I was struck by his vision for the spiritual connection between the land and education. He has long been passionate about holistic approaches to working the land, producing food and learning life enhancing crafts.  Last week, our Diocesan Surveyor, the Chair of the Diocesan Estates Committee and I returned to visit Clow Beck. On a gorgeous spring morning, we arrived to be greeted by Bill and Janine Christley of the Ruskin  Mill Educational Trust, now working in  partnership with the Cleraux Trust. The Clow Beck site is home to a 110 acre, fast expanding and thriving eco farm while there is an Artisan Bakery and cafe in Darlington and residential houses for the workers, closeby.

The Trust provides education and training through a therapeutic, practical life skills curriculum. It provides 24 hour care for young and more mature adults with learning difficulties, mental health problems, autistic spectrum disorders and complex social needs. Working out of the inspiration of the radical educationalist, Rudolf Steiner, the Trust believes in the power of a holistic approach to life and work. Teaching people skills and crafts that improve the land, produce food and allow them to have a pride in what they have created gives self confidence and value. A thriving, healthy social environment helps people to develop meaningful relationships and to begin to make positive life style choices. Celebration is an important part of the community's life. One of the community's strap lines is 'A sustainable life, an engaged life, a community life and a shared life.'

We met some wonderful young people; one was making sausages while another showed us how to plane wood for a chair he was making. Many of the buildings themselves have been contstructed by those who come to live and work with the Trust - and in them we saw some of the results of weaving, textiles, blacksmithing and animal husbandry. There are also workshops and courses in food production, green woodwork, biodynamic agriculture, animal management, mechanics, catering, and computer skills. The bakery in Darlington allows people to learn to bake bread (a group of young people had got up at 4am, for the first time, that day, to bake the bread we ate, which was delicious!), but more than that, it is an outlet for the organic produce from the farm and a social enterprise in which people can gain the skills and confidence they need to work in a small business setting. 

Re-connecting people with the land is a major aim of the Trust. In today's society there is often a major dislocation between people and the natural cylces and proceses of production. The project aims to help people reconnect with the skills and knowledge that allow us to sustain life through its natural rhythms and it does it in a visionary and exciting way.

There is an open day when anyone can visit and I would say that it is well worth a visit - there may well be activities and events which you, your family or your church would be interested in getting involved with! There are also opportunities to become a volunteer. 

The open day is 21st May 2011 10am - 4pm 

For more information visit http://www.clervaux.org.uk/

And a very big thank you Bill, Janine and all the people we met for an inspiring day out which I shall remember for a long time!    

The Steels and The Big Night Out

There was a great concert by the Steels (high energy Christian Rock at its best) at Summerbridge Methodist Church last Saturday

http://www.the-steels.com/

Hmm, you say. Really helpful to be told about it after it happened. Yea, sorry, folks! I was told about it before it happened and just never got round to blogging. Now I feel really terrible because no less than three people have told me how good it was, not to mention the worskshop in the afternoon. Rock has been one thing that floats my boat from the days when Led Zep used to give concerts at the King's Hall in Aberystwyth. Robert Plant had a cottage in the hills behind the town and us kids just couldn't believe our luck that this world class, cutting edge rock band could take time out to perform at the local flea pit. We lapped it up.

Anyhow, the Steels are definitely worth investigation.

So that I don't comit the same sin of ommission again, can I flag up a forth-coming event at Lightwater Valley  (nr. Ripon) in May? Organized by the dioceses in the region, it's for people aged 11+ and anyone upwards of totally young who comes with a young person. Saturday May 21st, gates open 5.45pm

For info and bookings www.urbansaints.org/northeast

See you there?

Regeneration Summit

Did you know that the average age of Church of England members is 61?  Fifty per cent of our membership is over 65. One in three hundred 18 - 24 years olds have never been to church at all, ever, apart from school visits.

Last Thursday over a hundred and fifty young people from the four corners of Britain met in Sheffield. Many of them got up at 4am to be there to meet 33 bishops and 2 archbishops.  I was asked to go to represent  Bishop John (Ripon and Leeds) and it was an inspiring event. The day was organized by the Church Army to highlight the appalling statistics which show that less then 7% of the Church of England is now aged 18 - 35. The event was undoubtedly evangelical in inspiration but there were young people from all sorts of Christian backgrounds and none. There were three young people representing our diocese from St Aidan's School in Harrogate and Graham Richards, our archdeaconry Adviser in Children's  and Young People's work, was there. We met at the Philadelphia Campus of St Thomas Crooke's Church.

It is unusual for 33 bishops all to give up a day to listen to one group of people. They had all been asked to adopt an attentive attitude and they really entered into the spirit of it! I have never seen such quiet bishops! (Someone did tweet that the bishop in his group had fallen asleep at one point, but all the bishops I saw were listening hard!)

As we talked in groups, I was very struck by the fact that there were not huge gaps between the generations on theological points or spiritual fervour, although there was a great range of theological perspective represented. In our group, we really got going when one of the bishops said that lives changed in some way by Christ was what sharing our faith was all about. However, there were stark differences, too.  Young people do not communicate in the same ways as older people and they value sincerity of relationship, lack of stuffiness and freedom to interact personally, verbally, electronically and structurally very highly indeed. There was also a sense that approaches to worship and relationship that are not overly intellectual are valued. Young peope said that they often lack resources in the church - they are not trusted in positions that influence church life, they are not trusted to handle budgets and there is a lack of committed, sustained adult leadership. I was very struck by the fact that, in this age group as it was represneted on the day there was a much better balance of male and female than is usual in church life.

I have not had time to digest all that I heard, but I think we were all impressed by the enthusiasm the young people had for their faith, the love and, indeed, respect they had for the church (while also criticizing it) and the pressure they are under as young Christians and leaders. It is very much harder to live as a Christian disciple today than it was when I was young.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York arrived hotfoot from a mission in Manchester. Rowan's message was that we should 'look for the church behind the church' (I think he meant historically!) and that church 'is not a lot of people with religious ideas but a lot of people who've had their lives turned upside down by Jesus Christ and are trying to make sense of it and don't necessarily find it easy to get along with one another.'  Sentmou's message was that you can be a disciple of Christ as any age - 8 or 88 - and that we should expect God to speak through young people. He gave some lovely examples of God working through young people and the community trusting them - Samuel and Timothy from  scripture - and then examples from his own life. 'Living church keeps you growing all your life and takes you out of your comfort zone!'

The most thought provoking idea I came away with was this - the Church of South India has decided that 35% of people on all boards and committees must be 35 or under and 35% of the budget must be spent on activities that support people 35 or under.  Unless we support young people and listen to them and their knowledge of contemporary culture and how to speak of faith within it, we will increasdingly lose touch. On the other hand, there was strong affirmation from the young people for the wisdom of older Christians. But, over all, it seems that under 25's and over 55's are not talking to each other and there is a sense that older people in groups may appear not to be interested in speaking to young people and learning from their perspective. In the parish where I served as priest, we tried very hard to value all ages and had a good number of older folk with activities they enjoyed. But the leadership team realised that young people need special encouragement in the church and we pledged ourselves actively to favour ways of worshipping, working, communicating and socialising that would appeal to young families. It worked - the church grew and younger people joined.  It isn't rocket science, but it takes courage!

The archbishops and all of us present signed a pledge during the closing act of worship to listen more to young people and to support them in their desire to live lives for Christ.

Take a global gap year with the Church Army (see below)

In view of all this, it was very encouraging to find myself leading worship at St. Paul's, Brompton on Swale this Sunday morning where we admitted 6 thoughtful, communicative and enthusiastic young people to Communion and baptized one. And also to feel that the entire congregation was delighted to support them in making this commitment. 

Can we work on a similar diocesan event to Regeneration to help us listen to our young people and to encourage them in their Christian witness and leadership among their peers?  

For information about gap years with the Church Army (must be 18-25) phone 03001232113 or e mail xplore@churcharmy.org.uk

Please listen to and talk to the young people who come into your church!

   

Young People Are the Church

Hi! There's a new website

http://www.regenerationsummit.org/

that promises to get bishops and young members of the church talking. It's hosted by a group of young people for young people to get discussing and thinking

ignite change!

It's gonna be an event as well...sometime...somewhere in a city called Sheffield. Go to the site and see. Our own archbishop Sentamu says 'young people are leaders of the church'. Is he right?!

Faith in the World

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a competition for an essay about  Faith in our World. It's for people aged 13-15, 16-17 and 18-21 and essay titles can be downloaded from the archbishop's website www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/3110

The judges include Baroness Warsi, Benedict Brogan, Dr. Jane Williams and Canon Lucy Winkett. 

 They will be looking for a good grasp of the subject and engagement with the issues involved, creativity and communication skills and, especially in the older categories, signs of some orignal thinking. Wouldn't it be great if someone from North Yorkshire could take on this challenge and win? Or what about readers from abroad? A good way to launch a career in writing, journalism or theology, to improve your confidence with words and to make your mark!

I would also like to offer anyone between 16 and 18 who would like the opportunity to write a post for this blog as a guest writer to do so.....why not have a go! If you enjoy writing it's a great way to get your writing read! For older writers we can help you think about your own blog!

No one under 40?

The Band With No Name is greeted with enthusiasm during Gracefest 2010 at Ripon

One of the myths that is around about rural life is that there 'aren't many young people'. (I hear that said by churches approximately once a day.) Actually one source of research suggests that under 16's account for only 0.9% less of the population in rural areas than in urban ones. It is true that the 16-24 year old age range migrate to the towns and cities in large numbers, but 43.4% of all migrants to the counrtyside are aged between 25 and 44.  There's young and there's young, I suppose. But all this suggests that, even though we do have an aging population in the region, there ought to be quite a few under 40's around. And I think the evidence of my eyes tells me this is so! So I was interested when our Children and Young People's Officer told me about a conversation he had had with NYCC's Children's Strategy and Commissioning Officer who alerted him to the fact that there are young families who are isolated and perhaps needing help across the area, especially in the Ripon, Wensleydale and Richmond areas. On Sunday, at Sharow, the congregation was collecting toys for churches to distribute over Christmas and this got me to thinking about what we can do to support and encourage older young people and particularly young parents. Some of our churches have after school activities (not necessarily - indeed, often not - in church) and many of these result in parents coming to pick children up and stopping to chat, join in with activites and share refreshments. Several of these 'clubs' are bigger and more regularly attended than Sunday services. It's very good when the lines between Sunday worship and community celebration get blurred like this and great fun when the church goes to where people are.