Mad March

Yes King you are quite correct my initial burst of enthusiasm for all that was possible blogwise quickly faded with one of the madest months in my LCET history (and there have been quite a few to choose from).

But it's also been one of the best and a complete buzz as I look back on it, from here in dayoffinlieuland.

The picture above is our Easter Journey project, a kind of stations of the cross idea taking 8 themes from the passion story and letting young people reflect on how those themes impact their lives. We had an art workshop to produce the stuff which was brilliant and the posters have been up in 7 of Luton's high schools.

It's hard to know what, if any, impact they've had. As I was putting the first one up in South Luton High School two members of staff said "they won't last more than five minutes" but going to collect them on Friday saw a minor miracle with the whole set still in tact! I did 3 lessons with year 8's at Ashcroft based on the 8 themes and allowing them to do their own reflection on choices, they had real trouble engaging with it despite the sheer number of decisions they have to make on a daily basis. It just reminds me how little connection young people seem to feel to their own lives/experiences and sadly how much that means they miss out on.See them all on flickr.com, here's the link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7453502@N02/sets/72157600017838359/

We also took a group of 12 kids away on Odyssey, a residential to explore faith and we had a brilliant time. We used a load of material from Jenny Baker's "Tune In, Chill Out" which I'd recommend for anyone involved with young people. It was a great time of exploration, healing and community...valued by all of us there.

Then Friday saw our annual Commitment Service where those young people we've been working with get the opportunity to commit/recommit to God or to going on a journey towards him. This year it was extra special as our new basement chapel was opened for the event and although it's not quite finished it worked really well and will be an awesome space to have. We are just so blessed in the work and it's such an honour to be along for the ride.

The next few months are set to get even crazier as we move to launch both a national self harm charity and schoolswork.co.uk - a network for all Christian Youthworkers who go into schools. Thank goodness we're not trying to do any of this in our own strength!!