NCVYS has just brought out a policy brief on the new childrens paper download it here
Reply
Category Archives: Zzzz … Old Stuff
Targeted Christmas Marketing Encounters (of the mission kind)
First Richard’s news if you missed it. Now…
A bunch of us were Christmas shopping last night after which bro-in-law told me that he had had his presents wrapped for free by people outside a church in the high street. I said I couldn’t bring myself to do that as it was cheating – I was a Christian already!
OK, I’m making a few assumptions which are really about myself and not about the people doing the wrapping:
- I’m assuming that they are trying to reach out to people who don’t know about God’s love by wrapping the presents and
- I’m assuming that they aren’t particularly intending to wrap everyone from their own church’s presents.
- So therefore I’m thinking that they don’t want to wrap other church people’s presents.
The questions that now go through my head are:
- Should mission activity be a simple extension of what we do for ourselves (the group), just extended out to others? (because otherwise we are saying we aren’t willing to do things for our closest friends what we are willing to do for others) or
- Can mission be doing something that when ‘they’ become ‘us’ we won’t do for those people anymore?
I don’t know – I think that there is more to this than meets my eye.
Anyway, I’m going to give bro-in-law the benefit of the doubt: He is single and perhaps he was trying to meet some generous Christian females from our nearest big town!
Help I’m melting.
Yesterday I woke up no sense of taste (some would say I never had any anyway) then today started dribbling, and cant close one eye, I am slightly paralyzed on one side of my face, been to the docs and it is Bells Palsy although I like the name Idiopathic peripheral facial palsy (its the idiopathic bit I like – it kind of sums up how I feel when I am drinking anything), so am on a range of tablets and eye drops to treat the symptoms. (cost a fortune in scripts) . Josiah and Bethany helpfully commented that I was melting down one side! The docs know the cause in neurological but no cure however most (70%) recover in about 5 weeks.
free CRB ?
Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, has reaffirmed the Government’s commitment Great Expectations psp that volunteers will not have to pay for Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks that are required for volunteers working with children and in other sensitive roles.Battlestar Galactica: Razor movies
Homework
If my son wants help with his homework because he is cutting corners is it okay to give him the wrong answers to teach him a lesson?The Brothers Bloom movie download Star Trek: First Contact movies
Youth sport, leisure and anti-social behaviour
The Audit Commission has begun a piece of research here
into the use of local positive activities to discourage young people from getting involved in anti-social behaviour. Through fieldwork the study will assess the ways in which local authorities and their partners co-ordinate, deliver and commission positive activities to reduce anti-social behaviour, and will also talk to the young people involved in those activities about their experiences.
asbo's take on current youth work culture
Ethicallytainted
This morning I had some time off so we went to Axminster just up the road and called on the River Cottage shop there. It was very nice, stuff in boxes, little plastic around, lots of local river cottage produce, and some local veg. However the longer I was there the more uneasy I became, the place was clearly branded, and seemed to be building on the river cottage brand using this to hike prices on other products. Most of their veg was supplied a well known food box scheme but the prices seemed over the top compared to the door to door supply. I wonder if they pass these prices onto the farmers. Then there was the more subtle things like all the apples were labelled grown in Somerset, reinforcing the brand ethos which is great, but bananas were simply labelled organic. Which is okay and a step in the right direction BUT why not say where these are from? Does acknowledging that they travelled lessen or negatively impact the brand power of river cottage, were they trying to protect the brand identity. The whole enterprise had subtlety moved away from the original self sufficient ethic of the original River Cottage experiment that I watched so enthusiastically. Okay Hugh Fernly -whitingstall needs to make some money but wasn’t he trying to get away form the big business approaches, isn’t this current river cottage enterprise a mask for a consumer identity and development mentality that seems to lurking beneath this supposedly local/ethical brand . I openly acknowledge I use a mix of local shops and supermarkets and I always feel uneasy coming out with a trolley load of stuff, but on leaving the River Cottage shop today I felt far more tainted.
Factor in faith
NCVYS became the first voluntary organisation to pledge adherence to five key principles that will result in a breakdown of barriers for young people who traditionally do not participate in services for reasons associated with their faith. The principles are part of Factor in faith, a practical guide for voluntary youth organisations to make their services more accessible to young people from all communities regardless of their faith, race or culture launched by NCVYS at its annual conference on 7 November. For more info go here
bling
Dave loved bling; in fact he wore it from head to toe. A diamond ear stud, a chunky silver neck chain, an identity bracelet. He even had a custom made pair of cufflinks engraved with his initials. He had bling for all occasions and to co-ordinate with all outfits.
One day Dave was on his way to the local record store when he saw something glittering out the corner of his eye. There in the shop window glinted the biggest, glitziest piece of bling Dave had ever seen. It was a large sovereign ring with the most enormous diamond. It was fantastic, as was the price tag! It was way too expensive for Dave to buy on his meagre wages. He looked with longing at the ring but it was no good; he just couldn’t afford it.
Later that night Dave sat in his room. He had been thinking about that ring all day. Every conversation he had he ended up talking about it, he day dreamed about it. He even drove passed the shop on his way home from work even though it was dark and the security shutters were down.
He looked at the boxes of bling neatly lined up on the table in front of him. He opened them one by one, picking up and looking at each prized piece of jewellery, an idea slowly forming in his mind.
The next day Dave took his boxes of bling and went to the jewellers where he had seen the ring. He asked if he could try it on, it looked amazing, it sparkled and glinted and he knew everyone would be right jealous if he had that ring on his finger. Carefully Dave placed his boxes of bling on the counter, opening each one to show the jeweller his collection. The jeweller agreed that Dave could swap the ring for all his treasured bling and having shaken hands to seal the deal, Dave left the shop a very happy man.
When the mayor gave out the ASBO’s the young people thought he had great bling, which reminded me of the story.