Seeing the world through new eyes

As some of you may know I have recently become part of a 'connecting classrooms' project linking schools in Britain with schools in Ethiopia and Botswana. On Monday 4 teachers arrived from Botswana and 4 teachers from Ethiopia, it has been an amazing week but a very busy one aswell!!

The thing that has struck me most is how much I take everything for granted, they had never seen the sea before (not that Blackpool has the nicest sea to look at!!) or seen motorway service stations and lots of other things. They loved Blackpool tower and are obsessed about taking photos of everything.

Has been great to see the response of the children, they are like celebrities at school and have been so interested in seeing everything we do and getting really hands on with the children. Had a fantastic meeting with the school council and the teachers and the children gained so much from the experience and the chance to talk with them and ask all of their questions.

Off to the lake district tomorrow and then ready for more exciting adventures next week!!
will post some photos as soon as I work out how to do it properly!

Fear of the unknown

Today I did my first assembly at Stanley! Despite having taught there for two years and having been a youthworker in a previous life who did several assemblies a term this was a new and nerve wracking experience!!
Perhaps it was because the head was watching (it was meant to be his assembly but somehow I ended up doing it!!) perhaps it was because the other staff were there, or the two hundred children making me nervous, or that since leaving Lancaster Baptist I haven't done anything 'upfront' in front of lots of people. I don't know. I do know I was doing that pacing up and down thing I do when nervous. But I'm pleased to report it went well, the head said it was very good and he will use my assembly when he presents the Africa project to the junior children on Thursday! So thats a relief. Wonder when the next one will be?!

Equip and Refresh

A few weeks ago I was very surprised to be asked to be a small group leader at the up coming Alpha course at All Saints. Having done most Church related jobs/groups in the past few years you may be surprised to know I've only ever attended Alpha once a very long time ago and have managed to avoid any other involvement until now!!

Anyway my church along with some others organised this course in Preston on Saturday for people involved in Alpha and away I went to find oput what lies ahead of me!
Two things most struck me from the day:

1. It was really good to meet in a Catholic Church with Christians from all denominations and beliefs and be united in one goal of seeking how best to tell other people about Jesus and give them an opportunity to explore our faith. Perhaps this is where Church is at its best in these events, where we're united not divided.

2. Having been pondering 'times of ministry' following Mike's blog see here, was greatly impressed with the time of ministry led by Bishop Geoff of Lancaster which was quiet, reflective, sensitive and thoughtful. Was priviliged to be able to pray for people (was roped in at the last minute) but also encouraged that a Bishop was encouraging people to be actively filled with and seeking the Holy Spirit for help and strength.

Also enjoyed the day as it gave me chance to get to know some new people and learn about the logistics of Alpha, now I'm feeling a bit better prepared for my first training session tomorrow night.

The water that divides

Have just finished reading this quite old but very good book on baptism and the complicated issues. Being someone who grew up in a Baptist Church was dedicated as a baby, then baptised later, worked for an Anglican Church and society for two years and now finding myself attending an Anglican Church I have been puzzling over the issues of when and how to baptise people for a while and so my vicar lent me this book to read!

The book really made me think and challenged my views and opinions (a good thing) but I am still convinced that I am not in favour of baptising children when the family does not belong to the church. In cases where the family do belong to Jesus and therefore the Church it's a little different, but I have a real issue with getting people to say things like 'I turn to Christ' and 'I repent of my sins' when quite clearly they are doing neither. And I am not convinced by this whole use it as an evangelism tool either, I personally think it must upset God to hear people saying things like that when they don't mean it. And I haven't seen many examples of families coming to Church after they have had their children baptised (although I imagine ther must be some)

However as I am now committed to a Church which does baptise children who are not members of the Church, I will have to keep praying and working my way through this issue because it's not going to go away anytime soon.