youthworkblog.co.uk

ASBO Jesus

Nigel — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:40:00 +0000

Here are a couple of pictures that might come in handy for a talk....from ASBO Jesus...

Finding Nemo - film clip idea for 'stories'

Nigel — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:27:00 +0000

Last night we did the Rock Solid session Whats the story? This session is teamed on stories. In addition to the material we used a slip from Finding Nemo. The clip starts at DVD chapter 16 and ends in chapter 17 just after the film cuts to birds going 'Mine Mine Mine'. In these scene, Marlin (Nemo's father) tells his story to find his son, Nemo.

Marriage statistics

Nigel — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:16:00 +0000

Check out the resource section on the Bristol Community Family Trust (BCFT) website. There are several power points etc. that include statistics on marriage and how it relates to children. For example, check out this one

Save this T-Shirt

Nigel — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:57:00 +0000

Here is another idea I saw in the Baltic at Gateshead...Save this T-shirt. This is a book that comes complete with a T-shirt and book of design options. The idea is that the book outlines a number of different ways to cut up the T-shirt to produce a different design. I'm guessing that you need only buy one copy of the book and then source some cheep T-shirts at Tesco's or similar. The book cost £10.95 and is by Hannah Rogge.

I guess you could do this in conjunction with Tie die....

Dear God

Nigel — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Check out the www.dear-god.net prayer site - it's quite insightful. Thanks to Youth Ministry Blog for pointing this one out!

Pause - a reflection?

Nigel — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:57:00 +0000

I saw this on the greenbelt forum...it could be useful for something...

Pause

For 10 seconds to take a deep breath
For 1 minute to take in the view
For a couple of minutes to brew a cuppa
For 10 minutes to clear your head
For 20 minutes to call your mum
For half an hour to exercise your body
For a couple of hours to read a good book
For a day to find some fun
For a weekend under the stars
For a fortnight to recharge your batteries
For a month to learn something new
For a summer to be a kid again
For a year to see the world
For a lifetime to work out what it all means
Or for just 5 minutes to do absolutely nothing.

From Howies

Tract idea

Nigel — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:53:00 +0000

Hiede's friend gave us some sample tracts they had made up. You can find some PDF's on the download page at www.exist.org.uk

I like the one "if God exists". It's basically a square piece of paper with about 7cm x 7cm folded 3 times with "if God exists; what then?" on different pages.

There are also some ideas for small cards here.

Under-age drinking

Nigel — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:54:00 +0000

See this article on the BBC news website.

"Police confiscated 44,000 pints of alcoholic drinks during a crackdown on under-age drinking in February"
"Seventy per cent of the drink seized was beer, 15% cider, 5% alcopops, 5% wine and 5% spirits. "

Body Image

Nigel — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:04:00 +0000

Checkout this post on how photo's are tweaked to make women look more attractive....this would make a good discussion starter on body image etc. Check out the online retoucher here.

Newspaper prayer idea

Nigel — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:19:00 +0000

Another idea from the Baltic at Gateshead....one of the exhibits was by an artist called Barthelemy Toguo. As part of this, he had covered all of the walls in the rooms with complete sheets from news papers (of the "broadsheet variety). These were not clippings, simply the pages of the news paper stuck on the wall. In addition to this he had marked out all of the text with a black marker pen, which gave the effect to the paper being censored. This meant that only the pictures remained. From my point of view, thing highlighted the pictures in a way that you would not normally notice and it caused you think about the subject matter behind the photo....I suspect this could be used as a way to stimulate prayer in a way that creating a collage of pictures does not. According to the blurb (if I remember this correctly), the artist was trying make the point that sometimes too many words get in the way....check out this page on his website.

Marine hurls himself onto Taliban grenade

Nigel — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:44:00 +0000

This was a headline from The Times on the 30th March page 5. "A royal marine in southern Afghanistan threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save the lives of him patrol. Miraculously, Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, a marine reservist from Birmingham, survived the blast with little injury when his rutsack and body armour tool the force of the blast. He is expected to receive one of the highest awards for gallantry.". The article later says "You would expect nine out of 10 people to die in that situation". It seems to me that this would be a good discussion starter....life / death / sacrifice etc.

"Pray it" with peelable photo stickers

Nigel — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:00:00 +0000

During a recent trip to the Baltic at Gateshead I came across these "peelable photo stickers". It looks like this would make a great idea for prayer....get a load of photo's or newspapers, write our your prayer on the label and stick away!

Teenagers are drinking an average of 44 bottles of wine a year

Nigel — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:59:00 +0000

From this article on the bbc website: "Teenagers are drinking an average of 44 bottles of wine or 177 pints of beer a year each, a study suggests."

Bereavement

Nigel — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:28:00 +0000

Check out this post about the BBC's go4it episode about bereavement. You can download the show here.

Freedom fighter graffiti writer

Nigel — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Checkout this post on moblog. Just incase anybody is interested, I also have a moblog here.

Community and Youth Work in Context

Nigel — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:25:00 +0000

I've been away from home for about 10 days - hence the lack of posts. I've uploaded another of Hiede's essays that she has written for her Diploma in Community & Youth Work course. This one is entitled, Community and Youth Work in Context.

X-Men 2 - Video clip for easter

Nigel — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:13:00 +0000

I'm just been looking for a video clip to use for an Easter talk. I've decided to use a clip from X-Men 2 when Jean saves the day by giving up her own life to save the rest of the mutants from being overwhelmed by a dam that has collapsed.

The clip is at DVD Chapter 36 and starts at 1 hour 47 minutes and finishes at 1 hour 53 minutes. You could use this clip with my Armegeddon talk or my About a boy talk.

Mr Men quiz

Nigel — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:42:00 +0000

I put together a random Mr Men quiz here. I hope you find it useful....

Teenage conceptions

Nigel — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:39:00 +0000

From today's Times newspaper:

"In 2006 the conception rate among 15 to 17 year-olds fell from 41.4 to 40.7 conceptions per 1000 girls. But the percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion rose by 4.9 per cent for the under 16s and by 4.5 per cent for all girls under 18"

71% of pupils admit being a bully

Nigel — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:01:00 +0000

See this article on the BBC

Every Child Matters and Youth Matters

Nigel — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:41:00 +0000

Over the next few weeks I'm going to upload some of Hiede's essays that she has writen for her Diploma in Community & Youth Work course. You can find the first one, Compare and contrast the two green papers 'Every Child Matters' and 'Youth Matters', here.

The Simpsons Movie - does God speak to us?

Nigel — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:32:00 +0000

I just watched The Simpson's Movie last night. In DVD chapter 3, Rev'd Lovejoy invites people to speak up if they have a "word". Shortly after this Grandpa has a revelation. This scene is about 2 minutes long. This could make a good discussion starter about How God speaks to us...does God speak to us?

Suicide rate drops in young men

Nigel — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:23:00 +0000

Check out this article

Boys, God and the Church

Nigel — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:29:00 +0000

I've just read this booklet which outlines some of the basic issues that churches need to grapple with if they want to engage with boys. The main points I picked up were:

boys are more likely to enjoy factual / evidence based ideas / teaching
because of the way that boys brains are wired up, they are less likely to enjoy / relate to stories, fiction and poetry. They are also less likely to pick up subtle visual queues or "disapproving looks" from leaders
boys are less likely to enjoy reading than girls.
at certain ages, boys can physically struggle to hear what you are saying
we need to include lots of activities and games - make things more hands on / practical
avoid long periods of time on any one activity
during times of teaching, try to show the 'tough' side of Jesus
boys, perhaps more that girls, need clear boundaries

www.ecocongregation.org

Nigel — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 09:42:00 +0000

Check out ecocongregation - there are some free resources to help get your church thinking about going green