But for now, I’ve been packing my life into boxes for the past couple of weeks, and I’ve been reflecting as I’ve gone along because I’m cool like that. Firstly a reflection, and then a couple of creative ideas for you to get your teeth into.

Some Suzy thoughts…

I recently asked my lecturers from my course why they thought most students were affected in such a big way by doing the degree. One of them answered that it was all to do with boxes. As course leaders they acknowledge what box people seem to be in when they arrive, and they treat them as if they were not in that place. They encourage people to step out from their box and try a different one, or if they choose to stay put, at least explore why they are there and why they do not want to move.

I don’t really have a step by step break down of how they do this in reality – but as an ex-student I can tell you that it is so liberating! Whilst I’ve been surrounded by endless boxes recently as I get ready to move, I’ve been thinking about the boxes I put people in (conservative/liberal/naive/safe/cool/posh/won’t ever be a Christian/the type of person who will think I’m odd but not in a good way etc.). Moreover if they are in a box of their own or someone else’s accord, I’m not sure I’m always the first person to encourage them to get out and have a lil stroll. The more I think about it, the more I realise in all this talk about boxes, that it’s not really about the box at all, but the individuals or communities inside them. The more focussed I am on the person or people and their God given potential, the less the boxes matter. It then becomes less shocking if someone tries out a different box for size, before returning to their original or moving on again. Perhaps I’m waffling, I’m overly tired – it’s been a long day and I’m not sure I’m all that good at expressing the more reflective stuff in written words – I miss being able to gesticulate. Anyway, I’ll conclude. As I move on to a new job, in a new area, and meet new people I hope that I can view others not just by the box they are currently residing in, but instead see them in a more transient light. I would love to develop the art of facilitating box hopping!

I think I was being a bit overly ambitions, perhaps the creative ideas/resources bit will have to wait for another time. Hopefully some time soon!

* see Suzy’s amazing dissertation!

When talking of ‘skills’ (in the nepolian dynamite sense), I would pride myself on having good skills in the following areas: hospitality, cooking and baking. I must say that before the young people arrived I started getting nervous and felt a bit guilty that I was only going to feed them rice and water! Anyway, the young people responded really well, most of them found it amusing and they all ate a good plate or two full of rice. Here is the plan I settled on in the end (mostly taken from this rethinking youth ministry resource).

One of the main things that stuck with me after the experience was the fact that fairly soon after eating a big plate full of rice I was soon hungry again. All of the young people, except one, had something else to eat once they arrived back home. How fortunate we are to be able to fill up on other things from our kitchen cupboards, when many around the world would not have this option.

Anyway, let me know how you get on if you give this one a go. Especially if you take it down a different route to the one I went down, I’d love to hear what you and your young people make of it.

[See also the follow up post to this one here]

Last year one of my friends decided that for the 40 days of lent he was only going to eat rice and daal, as this is the staple diet for many people around the world. However, after a few meals of daal he was ill and decided that he didn’t really like it. So he ended up just eating rice for 2 meals a day. I take my hat off to him that he managed to do it! He is giving it another go this year and has managed to persuade his wife to join him.

Although I would not ever recommend the rice diet to any of my young people, I wondered if there was some way I could use this idea in a youth group setting. My plan is to invite the youth group over for Sunday lunch, and then only serve them rice and water. During the meal there are a number of different possible directions I could head in (I suggest using only one!):

- Explore themes of lent through informal input and discussion. e.g. using the story of Jesus in the wilderness to spark discussion. Rethinking Youth Ministry Blog has a great e-book full of lent ideas, including a Bible study that could easily be adapted to use during the meal.

- Exploring the poverty and justice route. How fortunate we are to not expect rice and water for every meal. This lent time, be extra thankful about what God has given us. Perhaps commit to supporting a particular cause with time/money/fundraising etc.

- Simply have a few questions and a bit of input in mind, but then let the young people reflect on the meal themselves and come up with their own thoughts.

Enjoy!

Buy a blank jigsaw, or make your own from a thick piece of card using a jigsaw template. If using the blank one you could ask people to write or draw prayers on a piece, and then pray for others requests as the jigsaw is constructed by the group.

Or alternatively you could print a picture of Jesus or the cross on the jigsaw, people could draw or write confessions on the back of a piece, and add it the jigsaw.

One of the pitfalls of alternative worship is it often more individually focussed. Putting the jigsaw together as a group brings in a lovely communal aspect to the activity. When God made the world he remarked at the end of most days that ‘it was good’. However, after the whole of creation was finished, it was only in this completeness that God thought it was ‘very good’. As human beings made in the image of a trinitarian God it is good for us to worship in community with others (Smail 2005). When we are all together, playing our part in the jigsaw that is church – I feel sure that God would see it as ‘very good’.

Context: can be used in lots of different contexts.

This very simple idea uses the beautifully adaptable medium of post-it notes to facilitate prayer. If you have 3 different colours or shaped post-its then write the word ‘thanks’, ‘sorry’, or ‘please’ on each and stick them on some paper/the wall. It would be worth saying to people here that they do not need to write down their sorry prayers. They can just leave it blank, or draw a symbol or write a code word.

The group then spends some time writing or drawing prayers on the post-its and sticking them up with the rest (they follow the colours of the original ones, for example by writing their thanks prayers on pink, sorry prayers on yellow etc.).

This activity works well within a variety of contexts, but particularly with small groups. And it’s great for people who aren’t used to praying out loud. I have often used it when people have only just become Christians as a way of facilitating them to pray.

As ever, feel free to use this idea, adapt and change it – and let me know how it goes!

It’s that time of year again…

Time to dig out last year’s fairy lights (what they take away in authenticity, they more than make up for in aesthetics),

Dress up in excessive layers of clothing,

And last but not least heat up the hot spiced apple, and mince pies,

then trek over to a nearby farm for an advent service in a stable.

The service plan was pretty similar to last years but with more carols (and more people!) added this time. Check it out here.

Many thanks go the horses who made the whole thing possible by being willing to sacrifice their stable for the evening. We couldn’t have done it without you.

This post is different from all the others, but I felt like I wanted to share it even though it’s not a resource or creative idea.

A lady from my home group gave me a call the other day to let me know she had been praying for me. How lovely. Continuing on, she explained how I had been on her heart, and how when she spent time praying over me she felt like God wanted to say something to me. She said a few things, including:

‘Trust me and I will lead you gently.

Your creativity is part of you, it can never be lost, it will remain as a stream throughout your life, it may change, grow subside and slow, but it will always be there for you to worship access and celebrate me.’

In the past people have said things to me they feel God wants me to hear, but they have never been as detailed and specific as this. I must confess I was a little skeptical at first, but overall I found this so encouraging. I sometimes feel like I need to use my creativity otherwise it may disappear. I often feel guilty that I don’t paint more or use the artistic skills that God has given me – mainly because I don’t think I’m good enough and it will never be perfect (oh the joy of being a perfectionist).

But this has encouraged me to challenge that way of thinking. It’s ok to be relaxed about the whole thing. I’ve got a lifetime to enjoy the gifts that God has blessed me with, and they should be just that – a blessing, rather than something which provokes fear and guilt.

Over the summer someone commissioned me to do a series of paintings. I’m still looking for inspiration for them – but I feel more at peace about it, and feel that God will either ‘lead me gently’ with it, or it’s not something I need to do at the moment.

So there you go – my first blog thats a bit more bloggy than the usual ones.

This idea popped into my head the other day whilst I was trying to focus on doing my expenses. The illustration or creative worship session is themed around the idea of baggage and burdens (but I haven’t actually used the idea yet, so the plan is fairly loose).

As people arrive there are loads of different bags in the centre of the room which people sit round (suitcase, tesco bag, backpack etc.). At some point people have to choose a bag to represent the burdens they are carrying. They could perhaps walk around with it for some of the session/service. Then at some point they place their baggage down at the foot of the cross and leave it there:

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7 (and Psalm 55:22)

I spoke to someone else about this the other day, and they said it could be quite powerful if some people’s bags were too heavy to carry and others had to share the load. This could add more of a corporate element to the time. But I guess that if you’re loading the bags up with bricks or something, you may just have to make a short health and safety announcement – you don’t want people putting their backs out!

Let me know if you have any further thoughts or reflections on this idea as I would like to put it into practice sometime.

You’re welcome to use this image if you would like. The text is taken from a mixture of the message paraphrase, new king james, and NIV.

People can look at the picture and find a blob which represents their answers to questions such as ‘how do you feel today?’. For example someone may answer that they feel great, on top of the world and are therefore the blob at the top. This kind of thing is great for the beginning of a weekend away. Pip has produced a number of different books with different pictures in (I think they are quite expensive to buy though – you could always have a go at drawing your own!).

I recently took part in a youth festival called SOLID, where I spent time at the prayer tent. I took with me a giant version of the blob tree:

I had some really great conversations based on the blob scenes. I explained the tree to them, and generally asked people three questions:

- How are you feeling today?

- How are you feeling in relation to God?

- Where would you like to be with God?

Then if people wanted to they could write on a piece of paper shaped like a speech bubble their answer to the last 2 questions, and stick this on the scene. If they were still keen they could draw their own blob and add it to the ‘Blob SOLID’ scene.

It seemed to go down really well. Apart from the fact that I sat outside in the sun all day on the hottest day of the year which resulted in me getting heat stroke! It was all worth it though.

Heart, Soul, Mind, Strength: 50 Creative Worship Ideas for Youth Groups – by Jenny Baker.

This book is full of loads of excellent ready to use ideas for creative worship. Available from the book section of Proost.

Be. Live. Pray. – by Becca Dean.

This book is aimed at 14-18 year olds as a resource to inspire them to pray. There are activities within the book which could easily be used within a youth group setting. It’s available from Amazon.

Osmosis – by Suzi Stock.

I had never attempted leading my young people in christian meditation before I came across this book. I must say, I was fairly dubious about if young people could be quite for that long. But Suzi convinced me to give it a go, and the young people actually loved it! This book has about 5 different sessions in it where the group are led through a meditation, listen to songs, and fill out worksheets. The song suggestions are a bit outdated now, but it is easy to replace them with more modern equivalents. Apart from that there is fairly little prep needed for the sessions. The book is available from Kevin Mayhew.

A little while ago there was a piece of artwork in the entrance hall of the Tate Modern called ‘Shibboleth’. In essence it was a giant crack in the floor stretching the entire length of the space. It was pretty impressive! I was inspired by the meaning behind this piece and based one of my Sunday morning youth group sessions on it. I think it was particularly suited to young people aged 14+, but some of the younger ones did engage with it. I also think it would be suitable for an adult audience. Have a little look for yourself what the art is all about (check this out), and then feel free to use the study I created for it:

Information sheet – Work through the blue boxes first, followed by the pink then the purple.

Blank sheets for people to fill in

The Tate Modern often have really impressive pieces of art in the Turbine Hall, so if you’re interested then keep checking up on what they have there. I plan to take my YP’s sometime if they want to go.

This is a corporate worship idea which involves everyone doing a little bit of painting. Everyone gets a little slip of paper which looks something like this, and has a code on the back (e.g. A1):

They paint what they see onto a piece of A4 card. The code on the back is then used to put the finished paintings in order, onto a grid on the floor. As people add their pictures, it slowly becomes clear that what they have painted is a small section of a picture of Jesus. When everyone has added their painting there will be a giant montage of Jesus.

Here are some possible themes and reflections you could draw from this experience:

- Body of Christ: That individually we make up different parts of the same body (1 Cor 12).

- Creation: At the end of most days in the creation story God said ‘it was good’. But when creation was finished with everything together God said that ‘it was very good’. We were also created in the image of a trinitarian God, and we are therefore intrinsically relational. We were made not just to bring glory to God on our own, but instead called to worship God together. The combined effect of the finished mural was far greater than the individual parts.

- Sometimes we can’t see the point of what God is doing at the time, but looking back it becomes clear He knows where He’s going with it all. He’s got the big picture in his mind.

So here’s the detail of how to get it all ready…

- Find a detailed picture of Jesus. Either a close up of his face (like the one used for the Passion publicity), or one of him on the cross would work well.

- Make the picture greyscale, and perhaps increase the contrast so that it is easier to distinguish the grey areas.

- Split the picture up into a grid and blow it up.

- Print it out, cut it up, and write the code on the back:

Thanks go to Kat Orr who used this idea at Leading Edge a few years ago.

I’ve just come across a really great blog full of creative resources for youth ministry. Check it out here:

I look forward to checking out the websites he has suggested.

x

So this got my brain ticking over about light, and I decided to make a light box type thing as part of communion:

I used hot cross buns for the communion bread (mainly because I had loads left over!), and shone a lamp from underneath the bread (The bread was placed on a cooling rack, but you could use a piece of glass or transparent plastic if it was on a larger scale). As people took the bread, the light shone through more strongly. I then spoke about God’s kingdom breaking through here on Earth.

For more creative ways to do communion, check out this amazing resource: ‘Tabled’

In case you’re interested in how the whole communion service fitted together, here was the plan (let me know if you want a copy of the service plan with all the verses, and also the little service booklets I made).

Service plan

SETTING AND INTRODUCTION: As people arrived I stood outside to welcomed them and give them a service booklet. I asked them to remain silent as they went in, and to reflect on the verses about light that were pinned up around the room, or just sit and be. The chairs were positioned around the outside with the light box thing in the middle. There was some plinky plonky music playing as background (Arvo Part, Spiegel im Spiegel).

- The room was in darkness as people arrived, apart from the light coming off a video clips of various sunrises.

- As the service progressed I lit more candles around the room so it physically got lighter, until the last song which we went outside for and watched the sunset whilst we were singing.

BEGINNING BIT: I lit the candle in the middle of the room (representing Jesus) and read out various verses about light.

FOCUSSING ON: I spoke briefly about the light imagery surrounding the resurrection (Matt 28:3, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:4) and explained the link we were making between light, communion and the resurrection.

SUNG WORSHIP: All Hail the Lamb, Our God is an awesome God interspersed with Our God reigns, Jesus is Lord.

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS: ‘Forbid it Lord that I might boast’, ‘All the vain things that charm me most’. Words from the next song. Reflect on these things that charm us, and that we are boastful of (give a few mins for confession in silence).

- ‘I sacrifice them to you all’. Spend a few momnets seeking forgiveness for those things.

- Ephesians 5:8 – once in darkness, now live as children of light.

SUNG WORSHIP: When I survey

TALK: About hope/light/resurrection/God’s kingdom breaking through here on Earth made possible through the cross.

COMMUNION: As described above.

- Jesus is the light of the world, and now we are also the light of the world (Matt 5:14)

PRAYERS: for those in need of God’s light.

SUNG WORSHIP: Light of the world. Everyone was given a tealight, and during this song one person lit their candle from the middle flame (which had been lit from the beginning, representing Jesus), then passed this on to others – representing that we need to take God’s light into dark situations.

- Thine be the glory: by this point the room was light with all the candles I had been lighting throughout, but we went outside for the final song and watched the sunset – it was truly glorious! When I’m leading a service, I usually find it difficult to focus on God rather than on the next item on the programme – but this moment was just amazing and I will remember it for quite a while I think. We then hung around after the service to polish off the hot cross buns. Perfect end to Easter day!

Let me know if you want a copy of the service plan with all the verses, and also the little service booklets I made.

Things needed:

- Verses about light printed out to be stuck around the room.

- Sunrise videos: youtube, search for sunrise time lapse.

- Plinky plonky music (e.g. Arvo Part, Spiegel im Spiegel)

- Light box thing with commuion on.

- A lot of candles – check with health and safety person first!

- Service sheets.

(Thanks go to Ben Bell who sparked off the idea of doing a service that gradually gets lighter – he does this for advent services, what a fab idea!)