Friday 29 January 2010

Rock the Cathedral Again 2010




Many of you joined us for Rock the Cathedral in 2008 and know what a fantastic event that was. For those of you who didn’t join us then you chance is coming again this year on Saturday 25th September. This year the bands will include [dweeb] and 'Till We have Faces (formerly known as The Relentless Craving). There will also be circus skills, a chance to reflect in our chill zone or catch your breath at the cafe space. This year also sees a new and improved Adult Creche! This year we’re offering youth groups and youth bands from across the diocese the chance to feature in the on stage entertainment by producing a film of no more than 5 minutes. We’ll show the best films on the night and there might even be a prize for the top film of the night!

Growing Leaders – Youth Edition Training the trainers event

CPAS are running their introduction to the Growing Leaders - Youth Edition on 10th February at CPAS in Warwick from 7pm till 9pm. The event provides you with an opportunity to:
Explore why the teenage years are the key time to develop leadership.
Explore where leadership development fits into a youth ministry strategy.
Introduce Growing Leaders – Youth Edition and how it works.
Answer together some of the questions about developing leaders who are young.
The cost of the evening, which includes a training day pack and refreshments, is £10 per person. Click here to book or call 01926 458425.

Lent and Easter Resources

If you’re looking for some resources for Lent and Easter why not try 21M from CMS which presents the five marks of mission through the examples of people who are living them out. Or how about The Agent or The Follower from the Saltmine theatre company? I’ve just invested in a copy of each of these for the WARes library. Why not register with the LCET and download their free poster series called Easter Journey which consists of posters on various Easter themes designed by young people:

Book review Michael E. Hughes, Young Hearts be Free (CYMA 2004)

This slim volume is an incredibly dense book bursting full of insight in almost all of its 102 pages. If you want a book to make you look at youth ministry and the relationship between the church and young people in a whole new way, then this would be an excellent choice.

Hughes has structured the book in three basic sections; the state of youth ministry, Liberation theology in the context of youth ministry and finally a case study. He begins with a very brief, yet thorough, review of youth ministry at the turn of the twenty first century, drawing on a wide range of international youth theologians and thinkers. The book then analyzes how the current system of the church is oppressive of young people, justifying his following section. The second section has a very brief explanation of Liberation Theology and its origins (the author rightly recommends that the reader should turn to the authorities such as Gustavo Gutierrez for the full picture) and proceeds to reinterpret Liberation Theology in the context not of the poverty, race or gender but of young people. He does this by applying what he terms the five common liberation principles; committed involvement, we’re all biased, we all relate differently, ending up in a different place and the cycle of recommitment. In the final section, Hughes contextualizes his theory in a specific youth ministry context in New Zealand.

I must say I found the book eye-opening, rightly disturbing and at the same time somewhat intense theological, philosophical and sociological tome. The concepts which Hughes is exploring are very deep and also so radical as to render the reader into a form of mental and emotional stun. It is not a book to be rushed through but read and reflected upon. Young Hearts Be Free drags the reader to see youth work in a new context and to realise just how oppressive our church system is of people on the basis of their youth. It demonstrates that young people in the church are marginalised by institutional structures which Hughes terms “structural ageism” and that they become passive receivers or consumers of ministry imposed on them by adults. Even young leader initiatives are imposed from the adult church and youth leaders appointed by adults.

Yet the book is not merely an analysis of the state of the world of youth ministry but also a call to action and a source for ideas as to what action might be needed. I particularly valued Hughes’ use of the model of exploring “how good could things be”. He dreams big dreams as to just how excellent the youth work could be as well as analysing the actual situation. This is real Kingdom thinking:

“Wherever young people gathered, shared in the struggle against their oppression, and reflected on that struggle in light of Christian faith, there church would be.” (p.55)


Hughes applies his theory to the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, examining their history of improving youth participation in church hierarchical structures, and changes in staffing and training of those involved in youth ministry. He describes how much of the discussion of youth ministry in the area has involved large numbers of young people and from those gatherings of people involved in youth ministry, “there has been a continuing call for young people’s liberation and full flourishing as equal members of the church” (p.78). The result was new representation of young people at synods and “a liberation cycle developing in this youth ministry context” (p.88). Of course the use of the case study, although useful in that it properly contextualises the theory, is also so very specific as to make it feel somewhat difficult to re-imagine in other contexts. Indeed I do find the practicality of applying Hughes theory a challenge.

The thing I find challenging about Hughes’ analysis is the practicality of adults working towards youth liberation. In the true spirit of Liberation Theology, those who are oppressed must be the key movers in changing that oppression, as Hughes admits:
“Commitment to this process and these principles would of course need to come from youth themselves. It could not be imposed by adult church structures and would need to be owned by those committed to youth liberation”(p.64).

If young people were not those urging for change must it not surely be an adult imposed liberation? If one generation of young people become liberated, how is that to be perpetuated to the next without the liberators turning oppressors? Hughes does endeavour to answer many of my questions with his analysis of the five common liberation principles. Yet, fired up as I was on reading the theory I still find the practicality of this revolution implausible in the context of the large historical denominations. For example Hughes urges that,
“Any legislated age restrictions would have to be repealed” (p.56)
and instead candidates would be chosen on merit, whatever their age by right of baptism into the faith. I can see legal barriers to some of these changes not just in the church but in terms of national law and the charities commission. Perhaps my reservations reflect my own institutionalisation and I should face the challenge Hughes puts to the reader in his final paragraph:

“The challenge is made. May those responsible rise to it, and may youth become full and free members of the church that God intended them to be.” (p.96)

Sharing our WARes


Emma Pettifer and I will be touring around the 13 deaneries with our WARes roadshow of resources this term and next. If you would like to host one of these events to guarantee your chance to see all the amazing things you can borrow from the diocese then please get in touch. Don’t worry if can’t get to one of these events as we are always happy to welcome you to view the resources at the Old Palace. You can just pop in but it would be helpful if you can let us know that you’re coming so we can be sure someone is available to show you anything you might be interested in.

Minted!

In November young people from across the diocese gathered to receive their grants from the Youth Evangelism Fund. The Minted event was a chance for young people to present their plans for the money and hear all the exciting things which other groups were going to get up to. In total the groups won nearly £16,000 towards sharing their faith with young people in innovative ways. See overleaf for further details of the fantastic projects which are going on.

The evening opened with music from Vision 33 the band of young people from Kempsey who received £1000 to fund their work visiting other groups of young people to share their music and their faith with them. One such group they have been visiting is the Ronkswood group called Dunno who also put in a successful bid for £500 to fund some Tshirts for them to wear when they are doing work in their community so that people will know who they are and why they’re doing the work they’re doing. We were presented with some great videos and photo presentations of the work of various other groups such as the young people from The Venue in Malvern Wells who also won £1500 for their young people to explore their faith further as many of them come from non-churched backgrounds. The Bridge Project in Headless Cross in Redditch also won £500 funding each for two projects; their expressive arts group and their evening worship for young people by young people. Christchurch in Lye won nearly £500 to refurbish their fantastic youth cafe the Vine and Branches. St Mary's, Longdon also won funding to take their non-churched members away together with their Christian young people to help those young Christians share their faith with their friends. The small group of young people from YPC at the Church of the Ascension in Malvern who got £1000 to set up their youth space at church and one of them shares some of what’s been happening:

"At YPC we have been wanting to form a youth group for a while. Now because we are getting more people and have recently won a £1000 Youth Evangelism Fund grant we can now make what we hope to be a very successful youth group. We have got the Chill Zone tent to welcome people with. We have just bought a shuffleboard game which is great fun. We are also hoping to buy with the grant money a good sound system that will blast out cool music. We have also found in the boiler room two pool tables that haven’t been used for a long time. Apparently we have a table tennis table somewhere that we are hoping to use for the youth group as well. The main reason that we are hoping to do a youth group is to invite people into the church and show them that it is a good place to be. "TC

It wasn’t just individual churches who won some of the funding. Upton deanery won £1000 towards an event with Saltmine drama group and the Worcester Diocesan Youth Council got grants for Rock the Cathedral and for faith sharing materials for various events with young people across the diocese. Worcester University Chaplaincy received £1000 to help set up the base of their brand new post of full time chaplain and help with evangelism with students from all over the world through Bibles in different languages. Bids variedgreatly in amounts from the smallest— St Mary the Virgin Hanbury also got funding for their Open the Book project in their local school, being granted all of their very modest bid for £129.87 towards book resources– to the greatest which went to the band Formal Affair which will be working with the Youth Council to work in schools and youth groups. They won £3000 towards amplification equipment and a video camera to make evangelistic videos for podcasts pen drives of videos, music and bible studies to share faith with young people through innovative multimedia.

Monday 25 January 2010

Lent resources

As usual a lot of organisations have some resources for Lent. If you not tried them before why not check out Christian Aid for their `Count your Blessings’ calendar. USPG is focussing on Ghana. There is also a a thprough and useful review of all kinds of books for Lent at the Church Times site.

Quest


The fantastic pre-alpha course which has been used in some churches and schools across the diocese is now available as a free download here. It is quite a lot to download but you can preview the videos there or on youtube.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Funding opportunity

The Garfield Weston Foundation Grant Programme

Description

The Garfield Weston Foundation Grant Programme aims to assist registered charitable organisations based in the UK in actively promoting activities in the fields of religion, education, environment, the arts, health (including research) and in all other areas which will result in significant gain for local communities nationwide.


Key Criteria

Applications are invited from UK registered charities or organisations with exempt status, such as Churches, educational establishments, hospitals and housing corporations.

To be eligible for funding, groups must:

  • Demonstrate the financial viability of their organisation.
  • Indicate the level of need for the project requiring funding.
  • Show how the aims of the project meet the aims of the Trustees providing grants.
  • Provide evidence, where possible, of the organisation's ability to reach set targets and goals.

Eligible Expenditure

Eligible costs associated with the project.


Restrictions

The Foundation will not support the following:

  • Groups and organisations that are not UK registered charities.
  • Organisations based outside of the UK.
  • Applications from individuals and for individual research.
  • Animal welfare charities.

Charities are asked not to re-apply for funding within a 12 month period of an application to the Foundation, whether they received a grant or not.


Payment Procedure

Grants are usually made in a single payment.


Application Procedure

There are no deadlines for submissions. An application form must be completed and submitted, including the following information:

  • Charity registration number.
  • A copy of the most recent report and audited accounts.
  • A description outlining the charity's activities.
  • Details of the project requiring funding.
  • Details of who will benefit as result of the project.
  • A financial plan.
  • Evidence of current sources of funding and further proposed additional sources of funding.

Further details may be required after initial screening by the Foundation, in addition to a visit from a Foundation representative in certain cases.

Applications are usually reviewed within three months and applicants, successful or otherwise, are notified in writing.

Contact the Garfield Weston Foundation for further information.


Addresses and contacts

For further information on how to obtain this funding opportunity locally, please contact the following:

Contact details:
The Administrator Garfield Weston Foundation
Weston Centre
10 Grosvenor Street
London
W1K 4QY
Telephone:
020 7399 6565
Application form is here

Friday 8 January 2010

Funding opportunity

Speaking Out Briefing No. 18: Small Grants Programme

The Speaking Out Small Grants Programme (SGP) was launched in February 2008 to enable voluntary and community organisations working with children and young people aged 0 to 25 in England to apply for small grants of up to £1000 to deliver one-off projects or activities in their local communities. The grants were set up to fund the development and implementation of new activities or extensions of existing projects that would raise the voice of the children and young people’s voluntary and community sector, focusing on hree key themes: knife, gun and gang crime; substance misuse; and access to activities in rural and urban areas. The grants, worth £16,500, were distributed to 17 projects, and activities were delivered by the end of October 2008. This briefing paper evaluates the first round of the grants programme, highlighting the significant amount of work that can be done for children and young people with very limited resources.

To download the full briefing: Speaking Out Briefing No. 18: Small Grants Programme (PDF)
Published February 2009

To request free hard copies of this or any other Speaking Out briefing paper, please contact us on 020 7278 1041 or email speakingout@ncvys.org.uk

Case Studies - Small Grants Recipients 2008

ALOVE: Ilford Youth Participation Residential

Barnardo’s North East: Young people speaking out about knife, gun and gang crime

British Youth Council: Speaking Out on gun, knife and gang crime

Full Circle Education: Value Your Life Not a Knife

London Gypsy and Traveller Unit: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month Event


Funding opportunity

The next round of Rant About the Grant is open for applications from Monday 18th January 2010. This small grants scheme from Dudley Children’s Trust aims to support voluntary organisations, faith groups and community groups working with children or young people in Dudley. The grant will fund both capital and revenue. The maximum grant to be awarded will be £1,000 per round. Organisations and groups who have applied previously are eligible to apply. Those funded in previous rounds include community associations, faith groups, sports clubs, pre school groups, youth clubs, uniform groups and drama groups.

The closing date for applications is Monday 24th May 2010.

The guidance and application form have been amended, you will not be able to use the application form from previous rounds. The updated guidance and application form are available on the Dudley CVS website:

Officers from Dudley CVS can provide support in the application process.
A copy of the guidance and application form is also available by contacting:
Sue Aldridge-PA to Chief Officer
Tel. 01384 267430 E-mail. pa@dudleycvs.org.uk
If you do contact Sue please state whether you require a paper or electronic version of the application form.