6pm Mass band

When I first started leading the band at the then 6.30pm Mass I didn't realise the impact it would have on the youth ministry as a whole. We play contemporary music at this Mass with a full band including keys, drums, bass occasionally string instruments etc. There are more and more young people getting involved. And my goodness are they talented. Playing at Mass can be really intense because you are under so much pressure to get it right, to come in at the right time, to not be a distraction and to help enhance the communion and worship we are partaking in through the Eucharist. And we don't always get it right...

GYM Journal

At GYM (school years 10-13) we are embarking on a year long journalling exercise. All the young people have been given a scrap book each and the idea is that they decorate the front page to make it their own and then in a week or so they'll bring them back and swap them with a friend who will fill a page of their journal. This continues till their journals are full, which will probably be the end of the school year.

GYMers starting to decorate their scrapbooks

Each week at GYM we will look at a theme that may inspire them with what to fill in the journal for their friend. So, for example, last week we looked at love and this week are looking at healthy/unhealthy relationships. They can fill in the page of their friends scrapbook with something motivational linked to these themes or whatever they like. The idea is at the end each young person will get their scrapbooks back filled with colour, inspiration and expressions of God's action in their lives. For our year 13's who will be moving on to uni, they will make fantastic year books!

Book Review - "Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry"

How do we "unpack" scripture with young people? At jGYM, our younger youth programme, the bible is central to all that we do together. Each week we read a section, discuss it, animate it and pray through it. But I've never really taken a step back to consider why we should unpack scripture with young people. "Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry" by Andrew Root has made me address why and how I should approach scripture in youth ministry.

Here are some key points I took from the third instalment of Andrew's inspiring series:

• The success of a bible study is not what young people know at the end, we don't need to teach them the bible any more because we live in a information filled world. The success is in how they have read it, how they have made meaning in their reading.
• Our goal in youth ministry is to help young people to read the bible in context, understanding the context of the original writers and more importantly the context of the present readers.
• Youth ministry should invite young people to seek for God in their lives, where and how God is moving and help them read and interpret the bible in a way that shows them how God is acting in their lives and so participate in His action and be witnesses to it.

Book Review - "Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry"

"Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry" is the second book in the series by Andrew Root. In this book we continue to follow the theological journey that Nadia is taking in her role as youth minister.

The cross can be a confusing topic for young people and can incredibly challenging to explain it as well because it's more than just about a good man being punished for his friends. God through Jesus takes on death itself, our death and conquers it. There are some excellent resources and demonstrations to aid our conversations with youth regarding the cross such as Youth Alpha session "Why did Jesus Die?". But "Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry" addresses this issue in a radical new way.

Urban Saints - Energize Resource

One of the main things I have to do start planning the sessions. Over the past year or so we have been using "Urban Saints - Energize" online resources for our jGYM sessions. Energize is a fully comprehensive web-based resource that gives you access to huge catalogue of engaging, dynamic, Biblical material for ages 3 - 18. It gives you syllabuses that contain a varied number of themed sessions. Each session give several suggestions for games, discussion questions, bible study and prayer responses. You can pick and choose from these and create PDFs of the session and even share it with your other leaders via email.

I have found it a very useful, dynamic and accessible resource and it's worth the subscription fee.

This term we are doing a 12 week course on Christian Character for 11-14's. The themes for the sessions are based on characteristics of walking with the Spirit that St Paul gave in the letter to the Galatians:

jGYM & GYM is back this Friday...

We are so excited about the start of jGYM and GYM again this Friday. Check out our new posters.

See you on Friday!

DAMASCUS summer camp: Thursday 29th Aug - Sunday 1st Sept 2013

Our yearly summer camp is fast approaching and I wanted to share with you why I think it's worth young people coming along to...

When I joined the DAMASCUS team for the first ever camp back in 2006 I didn't realise just how much those few days would impact on my life. I know it sounds dramatic and a bit cliche but it's true. So what is it about DAMASCUS that makes it so special for me (& I know lots of other ppl)?

First of all Wintershall Estate is beautiful. The views from the campsite are stunning, particularly the sunsets. It's so peaceful and walking round the estate is

Book Review - "Taking Theology to Youth Ministry" by Andrew Root

As part of the GYM Blog we will be putting up youth ministry book reviews. Here is our first one...

"Taking Theology to Youth Ministry" is the first book in a four part series by Andrew Root that takes you on a theological journey through youth ministry. This first book presents the question "what's the point of youth ministry?" It's a question that's I'm sure every youth worker has asked themselves or has been asked of them. This book gives us the answer in a new and inspirational way. Root introduces us to a fictional youth worker called Nadia who has just started a new job. As she starts to get her teeth stuck into the role she begins a theological journey into the purposes of youth ministry and her role.

An inspiring book that has opened my eyes to seeing youth ministry in a new way that has helped me to seek for the action of God in my life and my ministry. I highly recommend it!

jGYM - Can you beat the system?

A few weeks ago we had a fantastic session with our younger Friday night group jGYM (school years 6-9). In preparation for the "Tour de Fred" dinner & quiz the next week which was in aid of Cafod's Hungry for Change campaign we played a game that focused on understanding the global food system and the impact it has on small scale farmers. The game was recommended by Cafod but it can be found on the Oxfam website. It's called "Beat the System" and it was great fun.

We split up our group into teams of 5; 3 where were small scale farmers, 1 were traders and 1 was a company. They were based in a fictitious country called Centralia and throughout the game there were updates from Centralia news. The aim of the game was to grow and harvest corn and coffee cherry's and then sell them and make money. The team with the most money at the end won the game. To make it realistic the company where given the most resources (crops, colouring pencils/pens, scissors and international trading license) and the farmers had minimal resources. There were 4 seasons throughout the game, including a drought and company investment which affected the teams quite drastically depending on their situations. You can find the guide here.

Thanks for coming to the "Le Tour de Fred" dinner & quiz!

A big thank you to all those that came/helped/served at "Tour de Fred dinner & quiz". It was a great evening where we managed to raise over £650 to support small-scale farmers in Rajshahi, Bangladesh!

One of Fred's goals isn't just to raise money though. It's also to raise awareness of Cafod's "Hungry for Change" campaign and he certainly did that on Friday. If you would like to sponsor Fred on his journey then please do here.

Tour de Fred

This June, 68-year-old Fred Uttley is cycling more than 1000 miles around all 22 dioceses of England & Wales raising money to support small-scale farmers in Rajshahi, Bangladesh and raising awareness of CAFOD’s Hungry for Change campaign.
On the 21st of June Fred will be coming to Guildford, the only parish Fred is visiting in our Diocese!

The young people from GYM will be hosting Fred for the evening, providing a meal, a quiz, a raffle and so much more.

Tickets cost £8. You can buy tickets online: www.GuildfordCatholicChurches.co.uk/tourdefred

Welcome to the GYM blog

Why did I set up a blog? Because I wanted to share some of things that are happening, inspiring and challenging in Guildford's Youth Ministry. So here we go...