Christmas giving

Anyone of secondary school age is invited to join in with our Christmas giving project. You can join in as an individual, with your church group or even with your family.
The idea is to buy some fun-size sweets or other little gifts, wrap them up and attach our special labels that explain why we are doing this. We'll then meet on Saturday 14th December at St Mary's and give them away to people in town...just to give the people of Weymouth a little hint of God's love and generosity.

Download a form here for the full details.

We're using the 'Christmas starts with Christ' logo which is a national campaign that people might see popping up on bus stops, noticeboards, Facebook etc.

The Big Picture

 

Who came first? Noah or Moses? David or Daniel? Does it matter? Well...yes! At the youth homegroups this term we are trying to get an overview of the whole story of the bible, not because we want to show how clever we are but because we want to understand God’s big plan for the world and how we fit into it. So far our discoveries include: How Adam and Eve show us what it means to be human and why we need God’s help,  how God’s promise to Abraham over 4000 years ago was also a promise for us and that the Old Testament prophets can help us understand what Jesus has done for us. 

In the pictures above and below you can see some of the 'art' we have created week by week to illustrate the themes of a) God's loving rule over his creation, b) God's promises to Abraham of people, place and blessing and c) King David modelling (get it?) God's perfect Kingdom

Both age groups have a regular core of about five members at the moment so there is plenty of room for any others who might like to join us.

Tuesday Homegroup is for 11-14s (School years 7-9) and meets at 7pm

Thursday Homegroup is for 14s – 18s (School years 10-13) and meets at 7.30pm

Both meet at 45 Avenue Road
See the 'What's on' tab for our latest programme

The Facebook Interview

At October’s inc. service we interviewed three people about their experiences of Christian youth ministry. Here Catharine Currell re-lives part of those interviews with Rachel Boyd (student at Hardyes) and Daniel Newman (Curate at St John’s) via Facebook. 

First, it's Rachel's turn...

:Catharine: Hi Rachel, tell us what sorts of youth ministry you are involved in.

Rachel: Every Thursday I go to a homegroup with other people aged 14 to 18. We do a bible study, eat popcorn and have fun! I also sometimes go to Christian union at school too... and Serenity.

Catharine: Apart from official ‘youth leaders’ which people have had the most Christian influence on your life?

Rachel: My parents played a big part by raising me in a Christian family and encouraging me to come to church. Also a few years ago I attended a Christians in Sport camp, and a lot of the people there helped me to confirm my faith.

Catharine: What is it like being a Christian at school?

Rachel: In my experience my peers have been really accepting of my religion, and I haven't had any trouble at all! I believe that being a Christian has helped me a lot in school, especially through stressful situations!

Catharine: In what ways have you been involved in passing on the gospel to the next generation?

Rachel: I help out with the Trailblazers/Allstars group at church (I don't know which it is!). Also I've led groups at children's holiday clubs which has been hard work but great fun!

Catharine: That's brilliant! Thank you

Rachel: No problem!

And now Daniel...

Catharine: Hello Daniel. What sort of Christian youth work were you involved in as a teenager?

Daniel: I attended a Youth Alpha course which grew into a young people's home group. This was quite simple - Bible study and prayer over tea and biscuits - but it was really important in helping me to think through what it meant to live as a Christian.

Catharine: Were there any other people who had a significant Christian influence on you?

Daniel: I didn't grow up in a Christian family, but my best friend at school was a Christian. It was through him that I started going to church. His dad ran the home group for young people. I'm really grateful for the way they welcomed me into their home and that I could experience Christian family through them.

Catharine: What was it like for you being a Christian at school?

Daniel: We had a Christian Union at school, which met for Bible study, prayer and fellowship, so it was good to know that there were other Christians around. No one really gave me any trouble for being a Christian, and the teachers were quite supportive.

Catharine: In what ways have you been involved in passing on the gospel to the next generation?

Daniel:  At university, I helped to lead my college Christian Union and a student Bible study group at church, so I was involved in sharing the good news of Christ with groups of students when they came to university. I've also helped out on holiday clubs. As a father, I'm looking forward to the joys and challenges of bringing up my two sons (with a third on the way) in the faith. Since being ordained in the summer, I now have the privilege of passing on the gospel to the next generation full-time!

God Squad

We are having an interesting term at Emmanuel’s God Squad with quite a few young people attached but as they don’t all come on the same week, it sometimes feels like a new group every Sunday morning!  We are losing our meeting room for a month now (while there is building work at the Day Centre) so we’d appreciate your prayers during that time that it wouldn’t be too disruptive.  Ian, Ali, and Denise are now sharing the God Squad leadership and enjoying working together.

 We have been looking at the bible book of James in God Squad, our own take of course.  For example where James asks us to be patient for Jesus to return we wondered what time God's watch actually said (See James 5).  While He waits for us we thought about how we should try to make the best of what we have been given, for as long or short a time as we have and how we might affect others who meet us along the way (See James 4).  We made timelines with newspaper and sellotape and it was creative and messy and fun. (See the pictures to the left) For Advent God Squad is going fishing for the Real Christmas, with no doubt a few red herrings along the way.

Pathmakers

Hi from St Aldhelm’s Pathmakers. Catharine asked for a picture of us which unfortunately we don't have, but be assured we are a very handsome bunch! 

There are usually about 8 of us on a Sunday morning though we are 14 all together. We still have the same old 5 leaders though we are trying out a new one on Sunday 24th. Hopefully we won't scare her off! We did a meal for the church family 2 weeks ago to raise money for Tom's trip to Tibet in July. We managed not to poison anyone and raised over £300! We're off to splashdown together in a couple of weeks. Not sure if we'll get any of the leaders down the slides (Jackie is famous for having climbed back out of one once she saw the drop!)

We do sometimes study the bible too! We've been going through Matthew taking a look at the parables and now we're looking at justice and freedom using the examples in Exodus to inspire us. If you know anyone of secondary school age, do invite them to join us. We're friendly as well as handsome!

The Next Generation

At October’s inc. service we focused on God’s call in Psalm 78 to ‘tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord’. We thought back to when we were teenagers (longer ago for some than others) and the people who had passed the good news of Jesus on to us. A few of us learned the trick of cutting a hole in a piece of A4 paper big enough to step through. Once the secret was learned, we passed it on until everybody knew the trick (and the floor was littered with failed attempts and chopped up bits of paper!) we saw that whether we are fourteen or forty we have a responsibility to pass on what we know of Jesus. Various young people had prepared songs, a PowerPoint presentation and a bible reading to help us focus on what God was saying to us. They also served coffee and cake.

You can view the Psalm 78 PowerPoint presentation here.

GSUS Live!

      

The GSUS live exhibition is coming to Weymouth and Portland secondary schools in the Spring term 2014. This exciting exhibition (pronounced ‘Jesus’) is provided by Counties but will be run by volunteers from the local church. Classes will come and visit and learn more about Jesus in an interactive and fun way. Some may remember it from a previous visit a few years ago. Have a look at their website to get an idea of what the young people will experience. If you would like to be involved in presenting, technical or prayer support please do get in touch with Catharine. Please pray for those planning and making preparations.

The dates for the different schools are:

24th-28th February at Budmouth

3rd-7th March at All Saints

10th-14th March at IPACA

24th-28th March at Wey Valley

Bin Men

 

This year has been rubbish! Well...rubbish themed anyway! We used the ‘Scrap Happy’ material as the basis for holiday clubs and days at Emmanuel, St Aldhelm’s and St John’s and to run along side that some of the young people took part in filming a miniseries called ‘Bin Men’. This is a series of five episodes which follow the story of a group of waste disposal operatives and their struggles with an unreasonable boss, unfair saboteurs and bags and bags of rubbish! Beneath the surface is a hidden story about redemption and rescue. It was filmed over three sessions on location around Weymouth and involved young people from several of our churches. You can watch Bin Men now on YouTube using the links below. If you enjoy watching, give us a ‘like’ or a comment and pass it on to your friends.

Bin Men Episode 1 - 'On the Scrapheap'

Bin Men Episode 2 - 'Treated like Dirt'

Bin Men Episode 3 - 'Recycled'

Bin Men Episode 4 - 'A Load of Rubbish'

Bin Men Episode 5 - 'Scrap Happy!'

Amazing Grace

Serenity, the 14+ group at St John’s has expanded this term as some of the younger members have come up to join us leaving Oasis a considerably younger (under 11), all boy group for the moment. Members of Serenity have been studying the same bible passages  from Galatians that the adults are looking at this term. The big theme in Galatians is God’s grace and so we’re all trying to work through what it means to have complete  freedom to live out our lives as God’s people. We know being a Christian isn’t about just following a series of rules so why do we so often give the impression that it is?

Youth Ministry News is now a blog!

Congratulations on finding your way to the new online blog for the youth ministry related to the parish of Radipole & Melcombe Regis in Weymouth, Dorset, UK. Not an easy title to fit into a web address! You'll find here updates on some of the things that the young people of the parish have been up to and also programmes and plans of things to come. Look around, have a read and let me know what you think.

If you have stumbled upon this blog from elsewhere in internet land then you should probably have a look at our  parish website