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Welcome to the January 2008 Children's Workers' newsletter. |
It's the start of a new year and it's the 30th edition of the e-news we have sent out since the start of MethodistChildren and our web based resources. The year ahead will see many changes for the Team here at Methodist Church House and by September this year there will be a new Under 19's team in place to continue to support children's and youth work in the Methodist Church and beyond. We will bring you news as it develops over the next few months.
One new resource we have just published in the Peacebuilders Worship book which follows on from the first pack we sent out. We will be sending these out to churches in the Connexion in the next week or two but you can also get them free of charge from MPH( www.mph.org.uk) Lets' make 2008 a year of Peace!
Last chance for some Methodist Godly Play!
You can also download the Souvenir Brochure that was produced by going to our Godly Play pages http://www.methodistchildren.org.uk/adults/godlyplay.htm Our Methodist Godly Play Network Day at Methodist Church House is on Saturday 19th January 2008 and 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. The day will start at 1030 and will end at 1530 and a beautiful lunch will be served. We have space for some more people on this and would love to welcome you along! Godly Play UK In April 2008, there will be opportunity for a small number of Godly Play practitioners to qualify as Godly Play Trainers. This will create a College of Trainers for the UK to work alongside Rebecca Nye and Peter Privett to: |
December saw the the first annual Children's Spirituality lecture as part of a Godly Play Service in Westminster Abbey. You can read the text of the lecture, the introduction to Godly Play that was given on the website
Our friends at Scripture Union sent is the following information and we thought you would love to read it! - "We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. Psalm 78:4Scripture Union's vision is for every Christian to be engaging enthusiastically with the Bible and growing in their faith. To this end, and with the next generation very much in mind, we will be launching a major new ministry resource on New Year's Day: WordLive - a website offering access to a wide range of creative approaches to God's Word. This is such a significant development that I am keen to give you, as one of our volunteers, advance notice of the launch and to bring it to your personal attention. It's free of charge, intuitive and simple to use - and it works like this . . . Every time users log on to WordLive, they'll be prompted to pray and explore the Bible in a variety of ways. They can:
Users can sign up to receive a daily WordLive email, or access WordLive through a mobile phone. WordLive is updated every day with new notes, images, videos and audio, and it also boasts an extensive searchable archive of material. However you choose to use it, WordLive will bring God's Word to you, whatever your need, whenever you want, wherever you go. We want to offer WordLive to as many people as possible, so it will be available free, although we're inviting donations towards its upkeep and continual development. We believe WordLive is an innovative ministry, a creative way to get all God's people into his Word, and a fresh opportunity for mission. It engages with today's mobile generations, who live a lot of their lives online. It's ideal for regular personal use and can also be used for groups. We are very excited about this development and I hope you will feel the same way. This link wordlive.scriptureunion.org.uk/wordlive leads you to a short presentation about WordLive, which will give you a brief introduction to the resource. Better still please do try WordLive for yourself from 1st January www.wordlive.org. Then please do whatever you feel is appropriate to use your influence to make this new resource as widely known as possible." Do take a look! |
Just announced - The Training event of 2008!
There will be workshops on transitions, special needs, global issues, as well as time spent looking at young leaders, spirituality and where the governments in the nations are heading with children's issues. This is an event not to be missed! You can book in now for the Conference by downloading the booking form from here - http://www.methodistchildren.org.uk/adults/More Core booking form.pdf The cost is £150 per person - talk to your Church Council or Circuit about supporting you to get there! Contact secretary@cgmcontheweb.com for more information. |
It's hard to know how those wonderful people at CGMC keep doing it - but they have just announced that they are running a training event in September 2008. After the CORE Skills conference of 2006 there were many people who wanted to book up straight away for the ecumenical training offering of 2007, but CGMC took a year off to recharge their batteries and are now back and ready to invite you to the superbly named MORE Core Skills for Training at the University of Nottingham from Friday 5th September to Sunday 7th September 2008. Lent We know that Christmas is just over but with Ash Wednesday on February 6th you don't have that long to plan for any Lent activities! Here are some that tickled us! Buy Less:Live More BUY LESS: LIVE MORE will be supported by pages on the Methodist Website, a Facebook group and will link with the Climate Change project and MRDF's Lent project. We hope to offer a daily suggestion during Lent of what people might do that day (or not do!) to mark the season - people will be able to subscribe to a daily email. Also we will produce an alternative 'credit card' that people can carry in their wallets as a reminder to think before shopping. How can you help? Lent begins on 6th February, which is surprisingly soon! If you have a mailing going out during January in which we could include the credit cards, please get in touch. Also if you are putting out any newsletters to your particular networks (electronically or otherwise) would you be willing to include a paragraph drawing people's attention to the campaign and inviting them to send for the credit cards?  This Man Called Jesus - from BRF An easy-to-run Easter play complete with music and cross-curricular project work by Eleanor Jeans This Easter play is a lot of fun to practice, perform and participate in! Children aged 7-11 can be a part of the celebration of Easter through this original musical play. As well as providing a focus for Holy Week, the material could also be used throughout Lent to explore the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. RE Today reviewed This Man Called Jesus and said, '... the book is packed full of ideas and practical information, rooted in the biblical references for each part of the Passion narrative.' £9.99 http://www.brf.org.uk/product/1841014346.htm What does the Bible say about climate change? from MRDF
Companions in Christ from MethodistChildren |
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Make a big statement! The Children are Unbeatable! alliance have sent is information about the beginning of the campaign towards a legislative bid for equal protection for children in this parliament. Download the information here (pdf) http://www.methodistchildren.org.uk/adults/bigstatement.pdf |
Methodist Youth and Children's Workers' Conference
The Conference is an excellent opportunity to network and share ideas. Download the booking form here Participation Works 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:
Find out more about training opportunities on www.participationworks.org.uk |
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.Swop-Shop Dresden ‘Gehet hin in all the World’ Methodist children’s workers from all over Europe will be gathering at a floating conference centre on the river Elbe in the middle of the historic city of Dresden, Germany, for four days of inspiration and idea-sharing. There is a children’s programme and the ship is wheelchair accessible. Download the booking form here (pdf) or contact children@methodistchurch.org.uk for more details. |
Special Discount on SU Holiday Club Material for Methodist Churches Receive £5 off when you spend over £29 plus free postage This offer is only obtainable through Scripture Union Direct The components of Waste Watchers are The offer is not accessible through our website and will expire on the 30th April 2008 Don’ forget to encourage your children and young people to enter our competition to design the logo and artwork for use in our Climate Change Project. Your group could win £100 for resources The closing date is 25th of January see December's e-news for details. |
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you require any further information please contact us on children@methodistchurch.org.uk MethodistChildren is part of the Connexional Team of the |
