Urban youthworker

Baptism

What a great day!! Melvin was the first church young person I ever started working with here at church.co.uk 3.5 years ago and today he got baptised. People ask me is your church growing, and it's easy to answer yes or in no in relation to the size of your church, but today was a measure of our growth as our church hasn't baptised somoene as young as Melvin (Who by the way is 15) for over 2 decades. When asked why he was getting baptised, Melvin simply said "cos I want a new start"... it was short, to the point and most importantly it was true.

I'm not lonely I'm loved by everyone in San Diego

Those of you that are Anchor man geeks will recognise that quote straight away. Ron Bergandie is a classic example of a men whose made it but whose only friend is his dog. I always find it quite sad that we so frequently say that the dog is a man's best friend. What does that say about our relationships? At headspace last week we looked at loneliness in relationship to the humanity of Chriist. In a capital of 7.5 million people loneliness is more common condition than the cold. I read a recent magazine that said 1 in 6 people in the UK don't have a single person they can talk to about personal issues. Having looked at the modern phenomena that is loneliness we went on to look at Christ's expereince of loneliness "Mty God My God why have you forsaken me". Drawing comfort from Christ's cries we moved on to conclude Christ's answer to loneliness was to reach out to others more lonely than ourselves.

My good friend Luke and the Watters made an installation that hung from the ceiling, suspended in space, we wrote our own feelings of loneliness onto it using UV pens and then prayed that we could see these cries of pain in others. As the lights came up at the end of the service the print on the figure could no longer be seen. Deep huh?!!

Kidulthood

Kidulthood is a great film, set in London about kids growing up too quickly. It depicts all too graphically lives bound up in drugs, gangs, sex, and violence. It presents a lonely world in which young people are at the mercy of a culture out of control. I mentor young people at risk of exclusion in a school in South London, when of the topics we look at is violence. It seems that today violence is a necessity not a choice. Try telling a young person that it's stronger to back down than retaliate, it's like your talking a different language. Violenece seems to be the only thing that can enable them to hold their head high and be without fear.

Young people from our youth club interviewed two of the cast from kidulthood at our summer radio station "Southside 101.4fm". I never got a chance to say thanks guys... so if you're not too busy auditioning and you're sad enough to read this blog... thanks.

No peace

Today I spent most of my day with two young people from the local area who refuse to go to college and refuse to go to school. Whilst my in box grows with sermons to write, funding bids to compile, and people to ring the front door doesn't stop ringing... parents wanting to tell me about their kids and asking me why they won't go to school, young people wanting to see me about every issue under the sun.  So what's more important attending to those at the door or seeing that I get my necessary paper work done. I know the answer is that behind every piece of paper is a person but my heart won't let me turn these hopeless people away. Go on condemn me!!