Witchalls.co.uk is the website of Alan, Kirsten and Joshua Witchalls. Alan is a Christian youth pastor in the UK, Kirsten is a full time mum and careers advisor, and a Joshua is a growing young boy.
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Christmas, new year, new term, youth worker conference... let's face it December and January are killer months! That's my excuse for not posting anything for a while, and I'm sticking to it!
However, there are several articles in the pipeline, including one on parents and social networking, so don't fear: content is near.
In the meantime, here is my version of website hold music...
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We often have memory verses in our youth groups. Recently, we ran a memory verse activity that involved making desktop wallpapers with the memory verse on it. Our verse was Luke 19:10: "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost." Here are the two wallpaper designs the group came up with...
The Biblical Parenting conference was an initiative that I was involved in recently at Christ Church Bromley. It was a great Friday night and Saturday morning conference, with three great sessions given by Simon Manchester, our guest speaker.
Many people have made enquiries about whether or not recordings of the main sessions at the conference were available. This includes requests from people who were unable to attend the conference, as well as those who were able to attend and simply want to go over the great content of the day.
The good news is that the main sessions were not only recorded but also captured on video too. To watch or listen to these recordings, either click here to see all conference media on the site, or click the image above to be taken to this year's conference media.
Applying the Bible to young people's lives often means challenging them on sexual purity as an act of worship for our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. As this video clip shows, parents and youth leaders alike need to be just as gadget-savvy as our young people (if not more so), in order to a) be aware of the temptations and snares that exist and b) be able to teach, encourage and challenge appropriately...
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Like most people, I am an average typist. I use a mixture of the one-finger prodding technique in conjunction with the more formaly recognised touch-typing technique. This means that I have a relatively fast type speed but this is accompanied by a mistake or two along the way.
Recently, I was tapping and clattering my way around the keyboard typing up my notes for a talk on Psalm 19. As usual, I reached the end of the sentance and looked up, in order to check through the text and find the mistake I felt myself making as I typed. This is what I discovered on the screen (in case it isn't obvious, I've underlined the mistake I made)...
There are two mistakes we make with God and his word... - focus on the relationship and ignore the revelation - focus on the revelation and ignore the relationship
If we focus on the relationship and ignore the revelation, then we live as God’s people by purpose, but not practice - this happens when the Bible is not taken seriously - we focus on loving and worshipping God, without ever knowing what loving God actually involves.
If we focus on the revelation and ignore the relationship, then we live as God’s people by practice, but not by purpose - this happens when God's word does not permeate to our hearts. - we know everything there is to know about being a Christian, without ever loving him & worshipping him
You see, we are to keep the two in tension: - we have a revelationship with God.
Revelationship? That isn't a word! And yet, if you look at Psalm 19, that is exactly what we have with God: a relationship with him built upon his revelation through his word - first in the law and prophets (Old Testament) but ultimately in his Son, Jesus Christ (New Testament). A revelationship.
God's general revelation of himself in creation (Psalm 19:1-6) is sufficent for us to know and worship God's eternal power and divine nature, yet it is insufficent for a relationship. It is only when the Psalmist switches to God's special revelation of himself in his word (Psalm 19:7-11) that 'God' becomes 'LORD', the living God who makes himself known to his people and establishes a covenant relationship with them (Exodus 3:13-15).
The testimony of Jesus contained in the Bible really does revive the soul, make wise the simple, rejoice the heart, open our eyes, endure forever and is righteous altogether - because it is the revelation of Jesus in which we enjoy relationship with Jesus.
And so it is for this reason that we love Scripture: because we love Jesus. Every time we listen to his word, we listen to him and we can't help but love him even more.
