Met with Phil today in the noodle bar in Gillingham, probably still one of my favourite places to meet in Medway for lunch, probably only bettered by New East India Tandoori – but it’s always hard to work in the afternoon after one of Ray’s Jal Frezzis!

It was good to catch up and hear and think about stuff going in the Rochester diocese. It’s been a dream of mine for a while to see more YFC centres at key places as I particularly think the YFC model is great for a deanery model of youth outreach – in any diocese not just the Rochester one.

I think the model is a good one as we as YFC give support through a franchise type covenantal model while local people drive the project and have full responsibility and to do things their own way. It’s because of this that no two YFC local ministries are the same. Running this way, rather than insisting on particular models, means that we can see YFC ministries around the country that accurately and relevantly reflect the local community.

This means that in some areas YFC work in prisons, in others in nightclubs, others run early morning breakfast clubs, others late night clubber drop ins, others work with young parents, while others work within sports and creative arts, some run buses in rural areas, others cafes in urban centres, some are school chaplains, others football club chaplains … the list goes on and on.

This has turned into a plug … so is anyone doing this kind of stuff in your area?
If the answer is yes, and in many it is, excellent – can you do anything to help them?
If that answer is no … why not get in touch and see what we can do together.
You can find more info on what it all means to start a YFC local ministry by clicking here.

Tonight from 8pm-9pm, Channel 4 will be broadcasting a major new documentary about Burma. The programme, Dispatches – Burma’s Secret War, was filmed inside Burma by an undercover journalist, and exposes the regime’s mass ethnic cleansing and forced labour, and the role of the UK in funding the regime.

In Burma’s Secret War, Dispatches exposes the new surge in violence inflicted on the Burmese people by their own regime. Enslaved by a brutal military dictatorship which wields absolute power, Burma is a secretive state where suppression reigns and dissent is not tolerated. Journalist Evan Williams, who is banned from entering the country after reporting on Burma for more than 10 years, goes undercover to investigate the mass ethnic cleansing, forced labour and vicious clamping down of political opposition which characterise the dictatorship.

This is happening today and every day and does not reach the news, I believe, because th country has nothing to offer us as far as successive governments have decided.

Please watch the program and, if moved, write to your MP and the PM and Foreign Sectretary afterwards. Things can be changed, but only if the international community speaks out.

Silence condones the action.

The weekend always goes well when Gillingham win the match! This started the weekend off to a good start!

Saturday saw th chairs shipped out of church and a barn dance held inside. Barn Dances are not really my cup of tea but it was good to catch up with people after the summer and have a laugh – although I must say that last year when we did the event with the Funky monkeys in church was much better! Also – I need to ask, why did we put all the chairs back as it would be a far more versatile worship space of we didn’t. Why do we have to sit in rows and all face the front?

On Sunday morning it was exciting and challenging to hear back from the two teams we sent to Uganda – far too much and too many stories to write about here. It’s cool to see all the people returned with a much wider vision of what God can and does do – that in itself is exciting as well as all they achieved in serving the Ugandans while they were there. The service ended with a Ugandan style auction.

Apparently in Uganda after the service it is common for items placed in the collection plate to be auctioned to provide extra income for the church and vicar. There were things like pineapples, nuts, apples, sweetcorn and onions. We ended up with … yep you guessed it; the onions – due to the £5 bib placed my Tom! Cheers mate!

The weekend ended well by having good friends Jim and Mags here with us for lunch. A weekend which ends with good food, good wine and laughter can’t be bad!

Now … anyone for onion soup?

The past two weeks while I have been thinking on the Kenya opportunity has been stressful and unsettling. I have agonised over stuff and listened to peoples thoughts and ideas.

On the face of it this looks like a great opportunity which should be grasped with both hands and run with. The fact that I could not get enthusiastic or passionate in any way about the grasping of this opportunity has concerned and worried me.

Yesterday, after lots of conversations and prayer I felt it right to say no to this opportunity. That may not make sense to some, but since making that decision and speaking with SOMA I have felt very ‘at peace’ in a way that I did before this opportunity appeared. Today I have been able to get on with stuff I know God has called me to without agonising over things.

In hindsight my initial reaction of excitement over being asked was quite quickly washed away in concern. I should have gone with that early gut reaction that this was not to be.

The lack of enthusiasm for it, the lack of desire to go, was, for a little while, outweighed by an overbearance of a feeling that there was a need here and that there was a need that I could fill. I had started to think that my feelings should be secondary and that this need had to be met. It then felt the correct thing to do despite all my emotions and thoughts telling me otherwise.

I share this for personal reflection and my own personal learning; I find it quite amazing to see how powerful a guilt feeling or a feeling of wanting to help can go against and be stronger than reason or other emotions that I would normally listen to.

I think it teaches me that I am still susceptible to this desire of wanting to help others and seeing gaps and wanting to be able to fill them if I can. It also teaches me that quite often my initial gut reaction tends to be a correct one. On other occasions when I have tried to go against that gut reaction things have not gone well. Sometimes maybe it is right to trust our personal God given instincts as it is through these that God often communicates with us on a personal level.

So … passing on a free trip to Kenya … that’s life!

I had a weird but enlightening (forgive the pun!) experience this morning.
It was one of early starts – up at 5am and out of the door by 5.20 so that I could get to YFC head office at Halesowen, beat the traffic and have breakfast before we start the meeting.

We were meeting to look at our integrate mission strategy and so my mind was on mission and what that is all about as I was driving.

At 5.30 in the morning it is dark! This morning it was dark and wet and so driving was pretty hard work until …. it became light when the difference was unbelievable!

I think this was the first time I have truly understood the biblical saying of moving from darkness to light. This morning I experienced it. For me it was coming out of stressful situation where I was having to look carefully for clues to see what way to go, and then suddenly not only could I see where to go, but I could see where I was going in relation to others and the terrain around me.

In the darkness I could see the car in front and could just see the road in my headlights. That was it! I could not see anything else because my whole focus, my undivided attention needed to be on where I was going. My direction, my journey was all consuming.

Bring in the light, and yes I still need to look where I am going, but it was no longer an all consuming process. I could look around and notice, and enjoy, and be attentive to other things.

Moving from darkness to light is an experience that allows you to enjoy the journey and everything around you. It allows you to take your focus off of where you are going, so that you can enjoy where you are going as well. It allows you to relax and think more about why you are going, rather than being stuck on the where you are going.

Mission must help those in restraining darkness move into and experience the liberating light!