In the words of The Doors, This is the end...

Greetings one and all!

Well this could well be my last ever blog from Caerleon and it is almost certainly, unless I become a frantic blogger, my last ever blog as an OMS youth worker. 

Ronseal, and also the exhibition

If you've been following my blogs or my journey here you will have worked out that June in not August and therefore I'm falling short of a year long contract. Indeed I am. 

There are several reasons for this and I will outline them further down but I won't go into all the details here. If you want to know more get in touch. I love hearing from people back home or where ever they are. 
Well the basic reason that my contract is ending on the 30th June rather than 31st is a financial one. At the start of the year I was given a figure I had to raise for my support for the year which due to the generosity of supporters we met. In addition several people have also made a contribution to us every month. 
Let me take this opportunity to thank them. Without you we couldn't have done what's been done here in Caerleon. I also want to thank the prayer supporters, whether they're on the mailing list, family, friends, or whoever; thank you. Lizzie and I have been acutely aware of how God has moved and provided for us every step of the way. Finally thanks be to God for His gracious provisions for us over the last year or so.   
Anyway the amount I raised was not enough, despite meeting the threshold. There was a miscalculation along the way. To make matters worse this was only noticed after my 9 month review in May and it took some to-ing and fro-ing to work out the amount needed to complete June. Stephen at OMS HQ has been really helpful during this process and it's only right he gets a mention here too. 
On the 31st of May I arranged for a quick fund raising trip to Glasgow, there was already a deficit in my support account at the end of May. It was vital I left for Glasgow the next day and I was still arranging it at 10:30 on the Friday night. I left on the Saturday and came back on the Thursday. The money needed was raised and I was able to catch up with supporters from our home churches. Before leaving it was agreed with OMS that if I raised enough for June then my OMS role would finish then. That being said I'll still be involved at Lodge Farm during July, whilst the school is still running.
That's the state of play. Money raised to cover a bit of May and June with OMS. I then officially finish on the 30th of June. For the next few weeks I'll be working at Lodge Farm doing Impact, Youth Bible Study and Dynamo.

I mentioned the 9 month review or as it became known the big review. 

That was back on the 10th May. Lodge Farm had offered my an extension until 31st December and I would still be with OMS. Lizzie and I prayed about it and we didn't feel it was the right thing to do. That option was there and they did want us to stay. We would liked to have stayed too as we've made friends there and feel quite at home at Lodge Farm. Anyway I am now looking elsewhere and there are a couple of options which are appealing. Obviously there is Lizzie's work situation to be taken into account too, so we really need prayer for that.
Even in doing Christian work there are problems and these financial issues have apparently derailed the plan to further develop similar roles in the UK, The meeting itself was very positive and there was a hope that this work could be developed but that's looking unlikely now.

In my final week I have an assembly at the comprehensive school and the usual assortment of groups in the church too. 

It's been relatively quiet due to the exams happening, which are starting to wrap up this week. It's important that things are rounded off well as we're dealing with young people and we have a witness to them. I've said before it's more than a job it is a calling, it's not about results or money in/money out - relationships are the currency, and sharing the most amazing news of the Gospel is the product: we share that out of love. Also it is important for whoever takes over that they have something positive to build on. We've been having fellowship and food at the various youth groups. Last week at the Youth Bible Study we had a pizza night, and today we did breakfast with Impact. Rounding off our foody specials we're planning a BBQ on Wednesday for Dynamo. 




Back in May the Life Exhibition was running in Pontypool which I was involved with through Torfaen & District Gospel Partnership, which Lodge Farm is part of (actually they're the district in the title). It's an outreach resource that tours the country and is aimed at junior school aged children. It focuses on Jesus life, teaching, miracles, prophesies of His birth, and His death & resurrection. I was really impressed with how well presented it was, with interactive, multi-media technology. I was presenting the section on miracles. each zone last 10 minutes and there would be 3 groups. I convinced some of the children I was a doctor and a magician before owning up. It was part of my props to help them understand that Jesus wasn't a trickster or fraud. He really was who He said He is. Overall the exhibition really gets people to engage with the Gospel in a new and innovative way. It was also open to the public when the schools weren't using it. The local school in Caerleon were very impressed and wrote us a most gracious thank you letter. 

 

It was also good to see family and friends back in Glasgow.

BBQs bring friends and family together al fresco style

 I got to meet Ellie, my latest niece, for the first time. We didn't think we would see her until July or August but I saw her before she was a week old! Aside from me being in Glasgow, we've had visitors down here too. Lizzie's parents stopped by on their way back from a WEC conference and we had our friend Lynsey visit us too. This week Lizzie's cousin Caitlin is coming down. We're expecting some more guests later in the month and in July too which is always nice. It really does mean a lot to us that people come down and see us.

Me and a previous guest. Sorry about the poor picture quality

Hope to see you soon!

Church of Scotland - The big gay debate

Why is there such interest in the gay debate in the Church of Scotland (as well as the Anglican etc)? Other people's personal lives -especially the sex part. It is delicious gossip especially if there is a whiff of scandal about it or indeed controversy. 'Reality' TV shows like TOWIE and Jersey Shore epitomize this. Sex sells. Gossip magazines exploit this. Interestingly gossip is a sin.
And there is no such thing as a major sin (there are of course worse crimes than other crimes, but that's a different matter) in the Bible. It's all major. Sin is sin. Jesus Christ dying wasn't on a whim but death is the cost of sin. And let me be quite clear - All have sinned (Romans 3:23); except Jesus Christ. I'm no less a sinner than a mass murder or the Pope. Forgiveness for any and all sin is via faith in Christ. The Bible talks about grace being dispensed so that we can have the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23). Anyway that's a wee aside.
Let me offer a reason why I believe that the CoS should think hard about its confusingly, liberal stance today. For those that missed it they didn't say you couldn't appoint a gay minister, you can if you wish. Basically the over all church's stance hasn't changed but if an individual congregation wants to appoint one they can. There's an opt-in/opt-out clause for appointments of openly practising homosexual ministers. At least that's what my semi-legal mind understands it to mean.
In both the OT & NT the prohibition is on homosexual activity not the orientation. In fact the NT is stronger and more graphic than the OT in it's language (Greek) found in the Pauline epistles (letters to the early churches). There are also one or two other passages in other books.
The OT prohibitions in law are found in Leviticus and there are other passages where it's shown to be a sin via example, most obviously Sodom & Gomorrah in Genesis. The OT law is more complicated than a straight forward right or wrong. There is: sin law which remains e.g the 10 commandments etc, and there is the ceremonial and sacrificial law which doesn't apply to Christians thanks to Christ's fulfilment of those aspects of the law through His death and resurrection. Again the prohibition is on acts of homosexuality.
The problem is the moral slide in the CoS is so far down the road that it's hard for them not to justify allowing gay couples to minister. For example there is the teaching on heterosexual relationships which have been 'revised' which is accepted in the CoS as perfectly okay. For example a minister who is in a sexual relationship with someone who is not their spouse. Divorced and remarried preachers is another. However, I should congratulate them on the mature and gracious way they have conducted their debates over the years. It's been Christian debating that's truly exemplary. No name calling or slagging others. The debate was civilized and it should be out in the rest of the world.
The Bible is like an anchor for the church. It seems they have changed bits of it to make it less weighteous, in order not to weight the good ship CoS down too much.
Essentially there was no problem with the old rule of abstaining from sexual activity (whether gay or straight) and many elders and ministers fall into this category. The calling of Christ was to take up your cross not take it easy.

2013

Well the world didn't end in December and we survived Christmas too, so happy new year!

As a bonus treat Lizzie and I went to Glasgow twice and were there over 3 months. Go figure that out*! At the end of November we were up for a wedding where Lizzie was a bridesmaid so were returned in December and Lizzie had short notice annual leave so we were able to pop up for the new year. 

There was lots happening in the gap between our trips to Glasgow with a Church Christmas party, which went really well and plenty of friends and neighbours came along. Another great time was the Sunday before Christmas, which now seems ages ago, when the children and youth in the church put on sketches during the morning service and the toddlers sang some carols. Impact did a sketch covering key events in the Old Testament as seen through the eyes of some angels, up until they were called off to sing to some shepherds in Bethlehem's fields. 

Carys and I wrote the sketch and despite some illness on the day it worked very well. Christmas wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't for the rest of the Bible and that was what we were trying to show in the sketch. A big thank you to all those who took part and we hope our ill performers made a quick recovery.  

We had a very modern Nativity play with Mary being a single parent, our Joseph was also ill. Coincidently the infant school had an ill Mary and they worked round this by dressing Joseph up as Mary. He was very convincing until they took the hood off to reveal an almighty scowl. I'm sure he'll remember his role as Mary for the rest of his life, just as one of the girls in Impact always remembers, rather resentfully, being the donkey at her school when she was 5. To make matters worse I did a de-constructing Christmas quiz with them, think QI  with Christmas questions. We have a great way of dressing up Christmas to be very sanitized, warm and, magical, although for the cynics out there make that commercial. I'm sure it was anything but. The main thing that upset her was learning there was no donkey in the story and she had therefore crawled around on the stage with Mary on her back for no reason. Christmas is gritty and grimy. Think about it - a young girl giving birth in an animal storage area. It's anything but sanitary. However, Christmas is about Jesus coming into the world as one of us. The pagans used to celebrate the passing of the winter solstice round about Christmas. When Christian missionaries came along instead of abolishing the practice the changed it into a Christian festival. No longer was it about the coming of spring with lighter nights, it was now about the coming of the Light of the World, and the new life available in Christ. Besides nobody knows Jesus actual birthday - it could well be the 25th of December.

Up until the 1950s Christmas was not a public holiday in Scotland, something to do with Catholic superstition, so the new year was the big celebration up there. Now they have two big celebrations. It was great surprising family members who didn't know we were up. My brother in law, David, opened the door, jaw dropped then said "What are you doing here?" Charming. It was great being able to see so many family members whilst being up there and do things with them. We went to see the Hobbit with Lizzie's parents and my youngest sister, and we spent Hogmanay with some friends before going to my other sisters. We partook of the traditional viewing of Only an Excuse? a satirical look at the past 12 months in the mad world of Scottish football.
I can only wonder at what's in store for 2013 in my own mad world.
*For those struggling to work this out: Visit 1: November/December
Visit 2: December/January (albeit very briefly)
PS I wrote this ages ago and only discovered I never posted it! Doh!

This is home

Who knew moving house could be so unpredictable? After all houses don't do that much moving. Lizzie and I were due to move into a house in central Caerleon back in January but for one reason or another that fell through at the last minute - we even had packed most of our stuff. Having been with Owen and Ruth a bit longer than planned meant there was a slight problem - they were due to have 2 set of missionaries turning up 4 weeks later. It was hard enough finding a place and now we had to start all over again. We viewed a couple of places including one ridiculous place. It was advertised as part furnished. Quite which part was furnished I'm not too sure. Was it the rug, the ironing board, or the cheap light shade? The kitchen was also conspicuous by it's absence of appliances along with a butchered work top. Needless to say we didn't move there.
We did find a charming semi-detached property on the other side of the village from Owen's place which is where we are staying now. We moved in on the 16th of March, yes that's a while back, as the next lot of OMSers were arriving at Owen's house on the 18th. Now normally that's not a problem. However, we had to be in Fife (~470 miles from Caerleon; ~80 miles from Glasgow) on the 15th of March and we were in Glasgow collecting some of our household items that week. That meant we would be getting back in Glasgow on Friday evening, packing the car and then leaving on the Saturday morning (386 miles to Caerleon). We set out nice and early giving ourselves plenty of time to get to Newport where the estate agents are based for 3pm. We then made a fatal error. We were making such good time we stopped for brunch. That was fine. We refueled ourselves and the car when we hit a traffic jam before we even rejoined the motorway. We still had plenty of time and an hour to spare, what we didn't count on was this being a major traffic jam caused by a serious accident with the air ambulance coming in and out. We called the estate agents and told them about this delay and we were unsure if we would be able to move in that day.
Some anxious prayer and and sweating (it was actually sunny and hot!) followed by more waiting had seen us being an hour ahead to being 30 mins behind schedule with over 100 miles to go. We got to Newport, by which point the weather had gone from baking hot to monsoon-esque rainfall, slowing us further, at 4pm. Thankfully we got the keys and moved in that day and also fitted in a trip to the supermarket after that too!

My laptop which has the picture of our new place has died so here is
a picture of a car which has nothing to do with us or our house
 but I thought I would put it in anyway.

Why am I going over this? Has nothing interesting happened with the youth ministry since I last posted on here? Well of course there has been lots of good things happening with the youth but, this is an encouraging story of the difference prayer makes. Sure we might have made it and got the house if we hadn't prayed in the car. But go further back, back to when the first house fell through. We were both set on that house - it was perfect for us. After that I honestly didn't know what we were going to do. Houses in the right condition, in the right price range don't often come up in Caerleon. Not only that we had less than a month to find a place and move in. I forgot to mention there was some work being done on the house so we couldn't move in for what was 3 weeks which meant we would be left rather cosy with the new arrivals a chez Reynolds. In the end the work was done in 2 1/2 weeks which meant we could go to Glasgow and get our stuff and we would be out of the Ruth & Owen's house a full 40 hours before our OMS colleagues arrived.
Over the last 18 months I've seen God at work with some amazing answers to prayer. I've learned to trust God more - I had no idea where would be staying when the house on Bodington (sp?) Terrace fell through, all I could do was cling to a hope that God had a plan for us. The place we're now in is the same price and it has a better garden and there is more car parking space along with a garage.

The view we are missing from Owen and Ruth's place

Lizzie and I have been incredibly blessed by good support this year both in prayer and financially. We want to thank you for that. I hope we can count on you to continue doing so with us for the next 3 months. We also want to take this opportunity to say that we won't be extending the contract with OMS to continue at Lodge Farm after August. There may be a slight extension into September as that is when the lease is up on the house, but that's not been confirmed. Also I feel it is important to say that I want ensure there is a smooth transition from me to whoever, takes over, if someone takes over at Lodge Farm. I am determined to leave well.
I'll post more in due course. Lizzie and I have enjoyed being at Lodge Farm and are grateful for their support, friendship, fellowship, and the opportunities they have provided us with.

Hello again!

This was meant to be a video blog from last year. I've only just got round to editing it and believe it or not I do actually hate the sound of my own voice especially when videoed. 

I'll up load it to Youtube so you can get a flavour of what our youth club looks like, albeit before the youth arrive. 

I'll do another video blog this week so keep an eye out for that. I should say that we've been really blessed by the prayerful support of everyone. I've mentioned before we had some issues and since rebooting the ministry for the youth there have not been any of concern for us. I also understand that some people are not getting our prayer/news letters. If you're not and you'd like back copies and future copies please e-mail me and I'll sort that out.

News in brief

• The Christian Union in the school is an initiative I'm involved with but it struggles in terms of numbers. Carys and Ellie are 2 pupils who lead it along with Mr Taylor. They've got a great heart and passion to see the pupils reached for God.
• Our Sunday morning Impact group is okay number wise but due to a wide age range it's split in two. Pray that the leaders would be able to find common ground so that it functions a whole. 
• Leading on from that, Colin, is hoping to start an new Youth Christianity Explored group.
• I've already mentioned that the new Wednesday and Friday night groups are going well, please continue to pray for them. We also do a short 5 minute epilogue (well middle-logue) which works well and the young people respond well to. 

I'd like to thank everyone who is involved with the group and gives up their time to serve the young people in the church and community, and everyone who prays for this work.

Thanks

On schedule

I would like to say that September/October have not been the most fun times Lizzie and I have had in Caerleon. Sadly it's not been fun for a variety of reasons. To start off the people we're staying with have been ill and they have passed it on to us. To be fair to Ruth & Owen one of their friends who were staying with us shared it with them. It has been since shared and shared alike, so a few others in the church have been ill too - to the extent the youth club was cancelled due to a lack of leaders.
The youth club has since been 'modified' as part of an updated strategy. Modified is a funny word for cancelled and suspended but it's not all doom and gloom. Yes the Wednesday club is no more but we're starting a new church youth night on a Wednesday and we're refining the Friday night group with an official relaunch in January. This was brought to fruition by a culmination of events since July. There had been issues with a small minority of the kids who had been coming along with the final straw being a few of them running down the road damaging the church's neighbours' gardens and kicking their front doors. I'll fill you in as we move forward towards Christmas and the new year.
Sadly Ruth's (the lady and her husband we're staying with) dad had a heart attack at the start of October. Away from the Lodge Farm and life in Wales there have been 3 deaths in our extended families during 2012.

What does football, poor horror films and 2012 have in common?

Imagine, and I know I'm really throwing this one out there, a game of football, a cup game no less, where there is a team who are near the top of the top division and their opponents are languishing in the bottom division. Now lets imagine the team in the bottom division won that game, say 2-0, you'd be surprised to say the least. Don't worry Motherwell fans I won't mention the Rangers v Motherwell game which by sheer coincidence fits the above criteria.

Purely by coincidence Motherwell fans

A bigger stretch of the imagination would be to think that The House at the End of the Street is a good film, sadly after seeing it in the cinema, no less, it's not. As far as horror films go it's a tad predictable. There are two main reasons this fails as a horror film:
1) There is a lack of horror moments, playing out more like a teen drama in places.
2) The actual horror bits are predictable which means you know what's coming next and the shock factor is therefore missing.

My imagination was in over drive last week as I was asked to do the children's talk at church on Sunday. I went for the classic kid's favourite Bible story of Noah. There were two reasons for this.
1) I'd read an article on how we turn the story of Noah into the story of a floating zoo or something like Evan Almighty. In doing so we miss out all the bits about God being grieved that he made man and that ultimately this was part of His overall redemption plan.
2) I'd heard that the kids like multimedia presentations and I had the best ever idea on how to use this information. So I cropped and chopped 2012 into 6 minutes featuring flooding, animals, arks, and even a character called Noah.



Each of these three observations game me three insights to the Bible.
1) There is something surprising about the Bible even if you're not religious. There is a message of hope for all even the underdog and down trodden. Unless you're supporting a particular team there is something delightful about seeing the underdog win. Perhaps it's because we consider our self to be smaller than the 'man' and it gives us hope of a better future. Like the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar, at his gate. Lazarus (not the back from the dead guy) was the poorest of the poor and the man whose gate he sat at was filthy rich, you could smell the money coming off of him. When  they died the rich man was cast into Hell for his injustice and greedy acts in life. Conversely, Lazarus went to Heaven for his godly life.  The whole story is found in Luke 16, starting at verse 19.

2) As Christians, or those who are familiar with the Bible, has the Bible lost it's shock factor? We know what's coming next, Jesus dies and is resurrected. There is something horrifying about the Passion account, not to mention Noah, the birth of the Hebrew nation, and the way that God, faithful to His word, allowed the nations of Judah and Israel to be over thrown. Yet we think of them in fairly sanitized and normal terms.
He was crucified - This is a savage way to die! And it's not just the pain and brutality of getting nails pummelled into you. There's they beating before hand with shrapnel laced whips and rods. Then there is the hanging around, literally you hang with your weight going through your nail punctured hands/wrists, the downside being you start to asphyxiate so you clench your teeth and through gut wrenching pain push yourself up via your mutilated feet. Your weight is being borne through a small section of your feet which has a giant nail driven through them, holding you to a plank of wood.
God's grace is shocking, extravagant even.
More over there is great drama in the accounts of the Gospels and Acts. There is beautiful poetry in the Psalms and wisdom in Proverbs. Somewhere along the road I feel we are losing this and in doing so we are short changing ourselves. At an Easter service this year, for the first time I can recall in my life, I heard a graphic account of the events that happened on the first Good Friday. Hearing that was not fun or something I rejoiced in out of some perverse masochistic need; instead it tells us how much God loves us.

3) In a world of a new i-pad, i-phone, and Kindle every year and movie reboots of franchises almost as often, it's remarkable that people still remember what the Bible is. Lying next to me is a reboot of the Bible, well the New Testament. It's got the books reordered for an age where many people despite knowing of the Bible, have never read it, fancy graphics that help understand texts more and cartoons to bring an almost multimedia feel to it. Despite all this and the contemporary language; the message is the same. In the same way my Noah retelling was there to communicate the story, which as a kid I loved, to a young generation today. It's a hard story to tell to kids without reducing it to a story of there being a big flood but hey God and Noah saved giraffes. 

I mentioned the film 2012 above and as entertaining as it is there is something curious about it. For those of you who haven't seen it: spoiler alert. The plot is essentially about a group of people trying to survive a series of cataclysmic events that will end the world as we know it. Super volcanoes, massive earthquakes and mega-tsunamis bring around the aforementioned devastation which ends with global flooding. Humanity survives along with animals on board a series of international arks. In addition there's a character called Noah. Had they called it Noah and the ark 2012 it wouldn't have been less subtle. Hollywood seems to have a fascination with certain eternal stories and themes and that's not a bad thing, even if 2012 wasn't as brutal as the Genesis version. For that we may have to wait for Russell Crowe and Co.


 The story may never change but that's not to say we can't use new and effective methods to engage with others. Tapestries were great in medieval times when people couldn't read but they're now relics in museums. I'm a very visual person, I can obviously read but in general I like to see a story unfold in a film rather than a book. We now have multimedia technology that can bring the ancient stories alive to another generation who prefer to see the story unfold and I'm sure in the near future we'll go one step further and be able to have interactive 3-D presentations.

 We don't need to update the Bible, it's fine as it is but take a fresh look at it, whether that's through something like Glo on an i-pad or a good old fashioned leather bound NIV, and we'll be surprised. There's hope, redemption, love, and plenty of action. It's never out of date as it's living and living things don't go out of date. By the time you've finished reading this we're probably onto the next i-pad if the world didn't end in 2012.