North Camp 2018 - Day One

North Camp 2018 has begun and the weather at Camp Curumbene is magnificent.

Pizza is always a good way to begin, and this was our first meal at lunch today.

Activities followed and it is good to be outdoors for this. We began with a game of "Would you rather" where people divided themselves into groups based on what they would prefer. A good way to get to know new people. Then we divided into our activity groups and were challenged to protect the egg. One group, Andy's Toys, wrapped the egg in bubble wrap with a lot of tape, wrapped this in newspaper and put it in a plastic container, then more tape. This survived the drop and the throw. Even when someone else threw it.

Then the egg was unwrapped and thrown around to see whose would last the longest. Sadly, Andy's Toys didn't win that event.

Andrew Vines is the speaker for this camp and is speaking from Proverbs. In the first session he was able to remind the campers, particularly the young man telling me what happened, that there are some things we should fear, and some things we should not fear. We should fear God, for this is the beginning of wisdom.

Breaking into our study groups gave the campers the opportunity to consider what advice they would give a younger sibling.

Dinner was amazing with a plate full of chicken and vegies, followed by ice cream. Who wouldn't love that! I shouldn't forget to mention the garlic bread either.

Evening activities were outside again (the weather really is that good). The game was a mix of
"What's the time, Mr Wolf" and "Capture the Flag". You could sneak up in the dark, but if you were seen with the torch and named, you needed to go back and start again. Everyone was a winner in this game.

The campfire was lit, the moose song was sung, marshmallows were cooked, and supper was eaten.

It's been a great day at North Camp 2018. We look forward to tomorrow.

(Thanks Jonah for the photos.)

PYV Camps this weekend - Sept 22-24 2018

This weekend will be a busy and exciting one for PYV with two camps and a training intensive weekend. 

East Camp will be happening at Camp Rumbug (Foster) with Rev Nick Arundell speaking. Daniel and his leadership team have been working together to ensure the camp is a great one and that campers have the opportunities to get to know each other well.

 

North Camp will be happening at Camp Curumbene (Corop) with Rev Andrew Vines speaking. Shady and his leadership team have also been busy preparing for this camp, also working to ensure the campers will have opportunities to get to know each other. 

Both camps have “Proverbs” as the chosen Biblical passage to focus on, and as I have attended the training days for both camps, I have been encouraged to hear the way that both Nick and Andrew present the gospel from these wonderful chapters. 

While we hope that the campers will get to know each other well, (and the leaders too) our great desire is that Jesus will be seen and understood as Saviour and Lord. Would you please pray for this over the weekend? Please add this to your prayers at church on Sunday, and so allow others to join in that prayer. 

 

I also mentioned a training intensive. PYV is launching a new training initiative and the pilot program happens at North Camp this weekend. Ten people from five regional churches will join us at camp and spend three days with the Youth Ministries Director (that’s me) learning more of what it means to have an effective local church youth ministry. I would ask you to be praying for this

initiative too.

Thank you friends for your ongoing support and interest in the work of PYV. We believe that God is continuing to call people to him, and to then equip them for some form of ministry in life. We believe that God is using PYV to do this. All glory to God.

A book you should read - but probably won't.

Some books are helpful and pleasant to read. Some books are unhelpful yet enjoyable. And some books are helpful yet are also incredibly unpleasant. This book fits the final category. But still, I urge you to read this, or at least a few chapters from it.

Anna Salter writes with objectivity. She is well aware of the actions of predators etc as she has been working with victims of sexual abuse as well as working with offenders. Through the book we get glimpses of the kind of research being done in this field, and sadly we also get a glimpse of the extent of damage done by these offenders.

Protecting our children.

In Australia, events over the last decade have shown how badly we have done in protecting children. Whether it's a Stolen Generation, abuse in institutions, or the terrible abuse of children in some churches, we can't help but see that too many people were damaged as children. We who have a position in those institutions should want to protect children.

But how do we do that when the practices of the past have been manipulated by offenders? We learn. We accept that what we know isn't enough, and we look into dark places to see how we can protect children from that darkness. Salter helps us to do this.


My role in the Presbyterian Church with Presbyterian Youth Victoria and with the Safe Church Committee means I don't have the luxury of not thinking about this issue. If anything bad happens, I wear some responsibility (well, I feel like I do anyway). If something does happen, our reputation will be damaged - and rightly so. But far worse than this, someone will be damaged, and I'm not prepared to sit idly by and wait for that to happen if I can do something to stop it.

But there are some chapters you MUST READ!

I mentioned earlier that not all chapters need to be read. Salter even begins one chapter saying "you

can skip this chapter and the rest of the book will still make sense. To be honest, you'll like the world more if you don't read it." (She was right!)

You must read these four chapters though.

 

Chapter 1 - The Problem

The problem is much bigger than you imagine. What stood out for me here is learning that abusers are much more active than I knew. To explain that better, here is a quote: 

In all the interviews I have done, I cannot remember one offender who did not admit privately to more victims than for those whom he had been caught. (p13)

Chapter 2 - Deception
Chapter 3 - Techniques of Deception

These two chapters are vital reading. We are easily deceived. No doubt, some people are more able to pick up the deceit than others are, but as one molester, himself a minister, said:

I considered church people easy to fool . . . they have a trust that comes from being Christians . . . They tend to be better folks all around. And they seem to want to believe in the good that exists in all people. . . . I think they want to believe in people. And because of that, you can easily convince, with or without convincing words. (p28,29)

I'll add this comment regarding techniques of deception. As a church attendee, I spend maybe two hours a week with everyone when we are gathered together. With most of those people, I have nothing more than a short conversation, yet I think well of these people. Based on what? A friendly smile? A firm handshake? We assume people are good during the week, but it's pretty easy to make that assumption on the basis of their public behaviour. We might be tragically wrong.

Chapter 10 - Detecting Deception

This is the most important chapter in the book. Let me say that again:

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER IN THE BOOK.

Why do I say this? In these pages we learn some skills that make us aware that things may not be as they seem. I learn about the danger of a bias I have within me, and I learn about the evasion used by these liars.

On the topic of bias, Salter comments

People are easier to fool if they have a stake in believing the liar. Therapists, for example, who believe that they have successfully treated an offender will be loath to believe that he has gone astray. To face that means that their treatment was a failure and their judgement of the offender flawed. This is true of all of us. We are all biased toward believing what we want to be true. (p203)

This is relevant for our churches, for Christians generally, and for Christian leaders especially. We want to believe that 'he is truly repentant' and that 'he would never do that again'. We have our own bias that can get in the way of us seeing clearly what is before us.

On the topic of evasion, page 217 includes nine ways that liars answer questions without actually answering the question. In other words, they evade the question rather than outright deny. Here they are:

1. Unfinished Business: "That's about all". "That's pretty much it."
2. Answering the question with a question: "Why would I do something like that?"
3. Maintenance of Dignity: "Don't be ridiculous."
4. Commenting on the question: "That's a hard question."
5. Projection: "Someone would have to be sick to do that."
6. Denial of evidence: "You have no proof."
7. Accusation: "Are you accusing me?"
8. Qualifiers: "I can't say."; "I could say . . ."; "I would say . . ."
9. Answers: "My answer is . . ."; "The answer is . . ."

Finally

There is a lot in this book that leaves me uncomfortable, I can't deny that. I want to believe that nice people are truly nice people. I want to believe that the world isn't such a bad place. But surely if I accept the doctrine of total depravity to be true, then it shouldn't surprise me at all that there is such wickedness in the world.

So, I continue in my life as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I will do what I can to ensure children are safe from the predators that walk in my community. And, knowing that these sharks circle around looking for the weakest child, I will seek to bring that child into a community of others where he / she will not only feel safe, but will be safe.

This book has been helpful. You probably won't read it, but I think that you should.

Review: Travelling the world as Citizens of Heaven

A few weeks ago I received an email. It read:

Dear Brian,

I want to recommend a book. It’s ‘Travelling the world as citizens of heaven’ by Stephen Liggins, from Matthias Media.

 

I’ve ordered a copy for our university age grandchildren as so many CU people come around their place and it’s a book I wish I’d read before I first travelled overseas as a young Christian.

 

I think you’d enjoy reading it and if you react the way I’ve done you may be able to recommend to Year 12 and university students.

Blessings,

 

Trusting that my correspondent wasn't going to be wasting my time, I purchased this book and I'm glad I did. Liggins writes a lot about his own experiences of overseas travel, beginning with an extended stay in London honing his skills in Cricket. It didn't lead to a career in sport, but had a massive impact on his spiritual life. This is something he hopes others will experience too, and his tips will help to achieve that. 

 

As is the case with most new books, it could rightly be asked, "Do we need more travel books?" Fair question. There are an endless number of travel guides printed in book and digital form. There are more travel documentaries than you could watch in a lifetime. But what sets this book apart is the audience he writes for, and the purpose he writes about. 

His audience is the Christian traveller, and his purpose is to encourage that Christian to consider how such travel will help their faith. Or how it might not help their faith. 

 

There are seven chapters in the book and chapters 1-6 all speak positively about the travel experience. Liggins writes about the people that he met in his journeys who were an encouragement to his faith. Some of these were people he had planned to meet up with, such as an old family connection. Some you would expect would encourage his faith, like the international fellowship group at All Souls Anglican Church. But some of those who encouraged his faith were simply fellow travellers he met along the way who were also Christians. 

He also writes about the encouragement he found in simply sharing his faith. Not in a street-preaching kind of way, but rather just talking about his faith a part of his life. This also led to many positive conversations about his faith. 

If I was going to summarise these chapters it would be "Don't neglect God while your travelling. And don't let sin ruin your time abroad - or your life." But that summary lacks all the story and experience that he writes about. 

Chapter seven - "Why travel?" - is the chapter that many young people should read though. Here he asks his readers to consider the motivation for their journey, and in doing so confronts us with the reality that maybe such a trip is a monumental waste of money and time. Not always, and maybe not usually, but it's a good question to ask. In fact, it's a question that burns in my mind at the moment as I consider travelling to England for a youth conference. 

This book is easy to read and understand. His liberal use of stories and his own experiences helps it to read more like a travel blog rather than a "how to evangelise" kind of book. The printing also helps to make it easy to read with a clear font and good spacing. 

I'm glad I've read it, and I will be sharing it with others. Or buying one for them to read. Or encouraging them to buy their own copy.

What have you been reading?

There are still those in the church who think that youth leadership is about playing games and having pizza. I enjoy watching people playing games (and sometimes I get involved) and pizza is clearly one of God's great gifts to the world. But ministry to youth is much more than these two things.

If you are going to remain effective in ministry of any kind, it is essential to keep learning. One of the ways you can do this is by reading.

So, what have you been reading lately?

Here are a few books that have been in my hands recently.

"Faith Formation in a Secular Age" by Andrew Root

If you're looking for a nice easy book to read, don't pick this one up. But if you're looking for something a little more solid that's worth chewing over, this is a good one. I don't think it's over exaggerating to say that this is a book for our time, and that ten or fifteen years from now, only some of what is here might still be relevant. Having said that, I think that Part 2 of this book will be relevant.

"Christian Youth Work in Theory and Practice" edited by Sally Nash and Jo Whitehead.

This book brings together a large team of youth ministry people to each write in a particular topic. What sets this book apart from many others is a response from another writer to each topic. This helps the reader to consider a bit deeper what has been written and how it might apply to our own lives.

"Living in a Gray World" by Preston Sprinkle

You can read a full review I wrote here http://ministryandyouth.blogspot.com/2018/05/living-in-gray-world-review.html

But in brief, this is a good book for youth leaders to be aware of. There are hints in here that are relevant for you as you meet young people who are working out where they are in their own sexuality. There is also some good wisdom in this book for teenagers themselves.

So, that's what I've been reading lately. What about you?

What are you reading?

Living in a Gray World - A review

Living in a Gray World

Preston Sprinkle

Zondervan, 2015

This book is now three years old, but is still relevant to the discussion. If I’d been made aware of this book back then, I would have happily added it to my bookshelf. Sprinkle aims to have a conversation with his readers rather than just being the author telling people what to think. A difficult thing to achieve in a book, but I think he does it well. 

In this conversation Sprinkle raises the questions that are in the minds of many people. “What does the Bible say about Homosexuality” is handled carefully and, I believe, correctly. This chapter follows his comments on what the Bible says about Marriage, which is a good way to start. “My best friend is gay . . . now what?” is a question that will be asked by more and more teenagers in our churches. This chapter provides some helpful guidance on how to react, what not to say, and making sure you understand what your friend is talking about. 

This leads me to some of the very positive aspects of this book. Sprinkle helps to better understand what different terms mean. For example, when we are asked “So you’re a Christian. What do you think about homosexuality?” the answer shouldn’t be a quick one. He writes:

“The topic of homosexuality is far too complex; it defies quick answers. It requires a conversation, . . . Blurting out quick answers will usually shut down any opportunity of having that conversation.” (119)

Perhaps understanding what the questioner means will help to answer the question in a way that is right, gracious, and actually answers the question being asked. 

I was also pleased with Sprinkle’s advice to the teenager who gets a negative reaction from friends and family when they ‘come out’.

“You’ve got to give your parents and friends some grace. For most of them, they simply don’t know what to say or how to react. They don’t realize how painful or ignorant their responses can be.” (92)

Preston Sprinkle writes in a way that is engaging and easy to read. This is what makes the book something that can be shared with all people. He also writes with a firm conviction to the Bible and the truth it teaches on issues like marriage and sexuality. So for me, as I read this book, my biblical convictions were affirmed and some of my attitudes were challenged. 

If you’re looking for some wisdom, this will help you. If you’re trying to work out where you stand, this will help you. If you are convinced that your opinion is the right one, this might help you think deeper on where you stand. 

I purchased this from Booktopia on recommendation from someone at a youth ministry conference. I’m glad I did.