All Issues articles – Page 62
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Issues
Editorial
I tried some ‘prophetic art’ with my children’s group recently (stay with me on this one). I know that’s an ambitious way of describing it, but in reality it’s just giving the children some space to be alone with God and asking them to draw a picture of what they were thinking about.
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IssuesEditorial
The sharp-eyed among you will notice that we have a cover image that seems to contradict an article from our last edition. In our last magazine, Carl Beech wrote his take on why boys might not engage with Church as we wish they would. This time Margaret Pritchard Houston, in her feature on gender, takes a different view on some of the same issues. It’s not a response or an attempt to disprove Carl, but two different approaches to the same theme. We’re very happy with this: we’re a magazine not a text book, and we want to make space for people to have different views, and for you to read and think about the articles, reaching your own conclusions.
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Issues
Editorial
As a 20-something Christian who studied youth ministry, approximately 80 per cent of my waking hours are spent on stag dos, travelling to weddings, getting ready for weddings or attending weddings. The three main highlights of this year’s wedding season were: my little brother rapping during our best man speech at our other brother’s wedding, Guvna B dancing to his own song at his own wedding, and doing a wedding talk based almost exclusively on the board game Mouse Trap
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Issues
Editorial
I am the proud owner of a fancy iPod speaker, not dissimilar in looks to a black Lego brick, with a sleek and streamlined exterior and four round buttons on top. It’s lovely. And it works pretty well, except that when it’s plugged in it emits the kind of high-pitched noise that is surely only designed for dogs to hear. Unfortunately for me, my ears are still so youthful that they pick up this particular frequency. Excellent.
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IssuesEditorial
I have had some exceptional pets in my time. First there was Jasmini the hamster. The name Jasmin (inspired by Aladdin, of course) wasn’t quite enough – an extra ‘i’ added a certain je ne sais quoi, or so my nine year-old-self thought. Then there was Bobo. A rather large and enthusiastic hamster, Bobo made a break for it and ran away from home, never to be found again. Finally there was Pepsi, a beautiful sleek black and white little mouse, who met an unfortunate end involving some maggots (don’t ask).
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Issues
Editorial
Have you ever read the book of Numbers? As far as Bible books go, it’s a little odd. Unsurprisingly, it contains lots of numbers. I have to admit that I’ve skimmed through it many times - glancing over the genealogies and skipping through to the far more interesting passages - but have found myself drawn to it in recent months (I know… I was surprised too).
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IssuesEditorial
There are a few hidden gems that lurk within the regular columns of Childrenswork magazine. The resource columns speak for themselves, and I hope you are able to use them to fill a gap in a program or spice-up some lacklustre Sunday group curriculum. But I’d like to turn your attention to our regular Theology Toolkit column, in this issue written by Nick Shepherd. In it, he asks some important questions about how we are engaging children with the stories of the Old Testament.
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Issues
Editorial
Sat in a sweltering upper room in Manchester last month, there was a sense in the air that we were hearing something very important. As Kenda Creasy Dean unpacked her research findings and explored the key principles of lasting faith formation – some of it documented in her book Almost Christian, some of it so fresh that it hadn’t been published – we, the attendees of Youth Work Summit Intensive, hung on her every word.
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Issues
Editorial
There is a lot of talk about family ministry and faith at home in the world of children’s work at the moment. We have a seen a shift in emphasis away from church and towards home as a primary driver of the discipleship of children. This seems obvious, but it is proving remarkably difficult to think about how to support faith at home when the culture of family life is changing so fast and is so unrecognisable from a generation ago.
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Issues
Editorial
I remember the first time I was asked by my youth leader to speak at youth group. This was a big moment. I worked all week on a talk that was going to bring the group to its collective knees and spark revival in Worcester. It had everything: anecdotes, truth, a surprising twist and a finish straight into worship that Hillsong would be proud of.
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Issues
Editorial
I’m pretty terrible at caring about stuff. Well, that’s not strictly true. I’m brilliant at getting agitated and annoyed about things going on in the world. I’m pretty terrible at doing anything about it. At my worst, I’m that 21st century caricature of a keyboard warrior who spouts angry nonsense on Twitter, without being willing to do anything about. I am the slacktivist the media warned you about.
