A great summer start!

 Well Steve and myself have had a holiday in Cornwall and very much enjoyed it! Funny how you don't realise you need a break until you get the chance. However, not nearly as funny as the picture in the image gallery on the right...Jon arriving at New Wine. Just thought you'd all like to see it.

This blog is for the sole purpose of that picture!

Enjoy your summer!

July Project 2010

As the dust settles (quite literally!) on another annual week of community action, I am again thrilled at the privilege of doing this sort of stuff in Jesus' name.

Exciting news! New-look Youth Dept from Sept!

I'm delighted to announce some exciting news that from Sept, the Youth Dept at St Paul's will become the Youth and Community Department, developing our brief to develop both the church's youth work and community action programme. 

What a weekend that was!

We had a terrific Impact Weekend Away last weekend which saw us take 28 11-14 year olds to the superb setting of Branksome Park, Poole.

Encounter Evening 20th June

Hi I'm James and I'm currently on work experience at St. Paul's. This morning I've been clearing out the youth cupboard and this is the first real break I've had!

This Sunday

Join us this Sunday as Impact gets all interactive with a Testimony Workshop and gets ready for their Weekend Away next weekend!  Meanwhile Encounter will be exploring "new community" as Josh gets your brains working in a post-exam sort of way!

Then Saturday evening brings not one but FOUR special guests to Encounter as Lianna, Steve and Jensen join us briefly, before Tracey Bateson - one of only two female chaplains in the British Army - tells us something of how God called her into her role.  Should be a dynamic evening!

Notes from Phil Vischer's Discipled by Culture

It was so good to see so many people from both St Paul's and other churches on Wednesday night as we considered what it is to be "Discipled by Culture", ably assisted by Phil Vischer - the creator of Veggie Tales - on DVD.

As promised, here's a summary of what the groups concluded under his reference to "fun" and its position in our work with children and young people:

Back for the summer term!

Yep we're back after a quieter half term!  Great memories of the Encounter Pilgrimage remain with us, however!  And some great pictures too!  We'll display a few on Sunday night!

It's good to talk!

It's been so good to have some real deep and meaningful conversations with young people over the last week. It started well in Impact when small groups saw real honesty about where members were at with God, and continued as Encounter shared their issues to do with all things sexual in the evening.

That was fun - and there's more to come!

Wow! We've had some amazing responses to last Sunday night's Encounter service - I was genuinely surprised by how many people have stopped me this week to tell me about the impact it had on them! I guess that's the mystery of some of this God stuff - you never quite know what He's up to, and how He might take what we create and use it to His glory.  Exciting stuff and I will tell you more on Sunday night!

Meanwhile, check out this little video, which I've enjoyed this week - good material maybe for our next service?