11 Million Day

A great time was had by all on Takeover Day! Staff at Methodist Church House learned a great deal about benefiting from the contributions of children and we have high hopes of involving children more in our new ways of working. There was some great engagement with areas of our work:

• some worked on improving our working spaces after our current re-organisation
• some chose and worked on our next public issues campaign, which they felt should be on gun and knife crime
• some interviewed and photographed
• some gave us ideas for the next magazine
• some worked on our climate change project...
• some worked on safeguarding
• some looked at our relationships with other parts of the world and other faith communities

Here's the link to the webpage where the photos are    www.methodist.org.uk/takeover
Here's the podcast the children did    
http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.webradio

You can read in January’s FUN how children at Nantwich Methodist Church took over the Sunday morning service. David Maidment, Sunday Club Leader, told us, ‘The congregation gave very positive feedback about both content and presentation….  I'm now under pressure to help them take the service two or three times a year and more often take an active part in the first quarter hour of the service before the children go to their own 'club'. 
The children described the experience like this:

• Topy (13) announced hymns, gave explanations, received collection and took part in the sketch and readings, "I enjoyed it, I wasn't nervous, it was a good experience."
• Toby (9) operated the powerpoint projector for the whole service, "I enjoyed doing the projector and would like to do it again."
• Samantha (10) led the prayers and took part in the sketch and readings, "I was scared, excited, happy and tired at the end because I wore new shoes and they were killing me!"
• Christine (7) took part in the sketch and read Psalm 46 beautifully, "I was nervous, had stage fright, was happy and excited altogether and I learned a lot."
• Stephanie (12) read the Beatitudes and took part in the sketch, "I was a bit scared but it was good and I felt peaceful and I learned more."

The Golden Compass

This is a really good film, especially if you enjoy great storytelling that’s grounded in the real issues of human existence.
We won’t give the plot away but we have to tell you that the animals are portrayed excellently, the bears are exciting (if a little scary), the scenery is very atmospheric and the whole thing does justice to the breadth of Philip Pullman’s original book.
We loved the sophisticated effects, the music and the acting of both adults and children.
The MethodistChildren team went to see it together and afterwards there was animated conversation about our favourite bits of the film and also about truth, justice, how children can give a lead, what saints are, good and evil, how you see what is right, what growing up is all about and much more.
It would be brilliant film to go and see with your friends (of whatever age) and then take time to talk about it over a cup of hot chocolate. We’ve put together some discussion starters here www.methodistchildren.org.uk/adults/golden_compass.htm
More about the film here http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/

Bits and pieces

Into the Bible information

Scripture Union have produced one of their most useful resources yet! Into the Bible which is designed primarily for use in school and helps those with little Bible background to learn more and be enabled to work through the Bible with children. It contains 101 Bible extracts with a glossary, information, and illustrations and comes with a CD Rom with 24 lesson outlines on it. There is real scope for using this in churches and even at home.

Read the Into the Bible flier from SU, download it here (pdf)

Visit the new look SU website for some great Christmas offers on resources and books! www.scriptureunion.org.uk

Boys, God and the Church

This booklet is subtitled, ‘How churches can help boys grow in faith and why they do not!’ It tackles an issue which many churches and many children’s workers are uncomfortable with, why are there so few boys (and men) in our congregations?
Nick Harding has written this helpful contribution to the debate, published in the Grove Booklet series. If you are prepared to do some hard thinking about this and risk being challenged to make some changes, then further details can be found here:
http://www.grovebooks.co.uk/cart.php?target=product&product_id=17215&ca

The Pentecost Festival

The Festival happens in various parts of London over the weekend of 9-11 May. It will be fresh, new and creative, a time for celebration, mission and challenge. There will be great music, political conversation, drama, sport, children’s and youth activities and a main stage in Trafalgar Square. Sunday will see special services all over London and a final event in Millwall stadium.
Most of it is free and there is b&b on church hall floors from £10.
www.pentecostfestival.co.uk

On-line giving for JMA

Great News! Donations to JMA can now be made online. Just log onto www.justgiving.com/jma
It will suit people who

•       are doing a sponsored event,
•       want to mark a special occasion with a one-off gift
•       want to make regular donations without cash
•       do absolutely everything online anyway   

The site also allows you to set up your own fundraising page which is brilliant for sponsored events, really easy to do and great fun. It also makes it really simple to gift-aid which adds a worthwhile sum to individual gifts.

Please note that normal ongoing JMA collections should be submitted via your Circuit Treasurer in the normal way. If you do need to send a cheque direct to us here please, please make it payable to MCFWM, if you make it payable to JMA we’ll unfortunately have to send it back to you and ask for a new one.

A  Challenge from Methodist young people - 2008 Year of Action on Climate Change

Young people in the Methodist Church have issued a challenge for the Church  to take the issue of Climate Change seriously. They want every Church and all ages to be active and involved in making a difference during 2008.

In response to this JMA and World Action are taking this challenge forward. We need your input to help shape the 2008 Climate Change Project help us to produce something really effective.

We are excited to launch a competition to design the logo and submit artwork for use in our Climate Change Project.
The title of the project is: Changing Actions - Stem the Tide of Climate Change
The title must be included in the Logo
Get your group to design a logo and artwork for use on all the Climate Change resources and win £100 to spend on resources for your group
Anyone under 19 years old can enter.
One design per individual but no limit on how many you send from your group.
Email, or post entries to: Methodist Church House, Methodist Children, 6th floor, 25 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5JR
Email: children@methodistchurch.org.uk
Closing date is January 14th
We are looking for imaginative and creative designs

Thank you to all those who sent back completed Climate Change questionnaires please cascade to your groups that their views and thoughts are  helping to shape the new resource that will be available early next year. We will continue to share and ask opinions as we develop the resource.

Methodist Youth and Children's Workers' Conference
4th – 6th February 2008 at  Felden Lodge Hemel Hempstead.

The theme of this year's conference is participation. Methodist Conference 2007 approved the development  of a five year pilot programme for a national participation strategy for young people. We will have a range of experts in the field of participation including Lisa White, participation expert from the Children’s Commissioner's office. The conference will look at good practice and will reflect on how we can achieve this in our work with children and young people.

The Conference is an excellent opportunity to network and share ideas.
Please return the attached booking form  by the end of December. The cost is £110 per person. Please approach your circuit or church for help with funding

Download the booking form here

Participation Works

The participation works network for England promotes and shares good practice in children and young people's participation.They have loads of online resources and are offering free training at various venues through out the country until the end of February 2008. Their Ready Steady Change course is a great introduction to why participation is essential for any work with children and young people.

Their website is an online gateway to the world of children and young people's participation. The gateway was launched in October 2005 to improve the way practitioners, organisations, policy maker and young people access and share information about involving children and young people in decision making. At its core is a comprehensive Resource Hub which allows you to find resources on participation. Alongside this are a series of resources which help you to:

• learn about policy and rights
• access training resources for children, young people and adults
• find out about new thinking and ideas
• find out about impacts of participation

Find out more about training opportunities on www.participationworks.org.uk

Godly Play Network

Thank you to all those who contacted us about the Godly Play Network. We have had enough response to move ahead with planning a day here at Methodist Church House to share our experiences and plan how to keep people in touch with each other and with developments and resources.
We are pleased to announce that we will have a Methodist Godly Play Network Day at Methodist Church House on Saturday 19th January 2008 which will be led by Peter Privett, International Regional Director of Godly Play. We will also have representations from the trustees of the new Godly Play UK Charity with us. We are in the process of finalising timings and will produce publicity for this day in the next couple of weeks. Put the date in your diary now though!
If you would like to be part of the day or on the network list then please send us your details at children@methodistchurch.org.uk

A Leaflet explaining all about Godly Play in The Methodist Church and the Network day will soon be available - you can also request copies of this leaflet from children@methodistchurch.org.uk and it will be available to download in the next week.

Keepin' it Real

Keepin' it Real a resource for children and youth leaders aimed to help 9 to 13 year olds explore and focus on the issues of communication, reputation, conflict and negotiation.

Keepin’ It Real is produced by the MethodistChildren and  children’s charity CURBS (Children in URBan Situations)

Keepin’ It Real comes at a time when the Government is asking schools to help teach children good manners and behaviour, and also to help them deal with anxiety, anger and conflicts.

Penny Fuller from MethodistChildren says “There are lots of resources to help young people deal with topics like sexuality and drugs, but not to help with less tangible things like reputation. Yet we frequently hear that some teenagers are carrying weapons either for self-protection or Street Cred, and we see in the news the terrible consequences this can have. Keepin’ It Real aims to help young people deal with these situations in very practical ways.”

CURBS specialises in working with children in urban situations, and its experience enriches the practical wisdom offered by Keepin’ It Real.
Keepin' it Real does not only apply to inner cities. “Children and teenagers everywhere are under tremendous pressure. Keepin’ It Real will help equip them to deal with difficult situations.

Available from www.mph.org.uk price £6.99 and info@curbsproject.org.uk
For loads of resources and ideas visit www.methodistchildren.org.uk 9-13s and www.curbsproject.org.uk

If you require any further information please contact us on children@methodistchurch.org.uk 

If you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter please click here: Unsubscribe me.

MethodistChildren is part of the Connexional Team of the

Penny Fuller, Steve Pearce, Mary Roseweir, Doug Swanney
MethodistChildren