Duties of parents: Update
Many of you will be aware that over the last year or so, I have been working in my spare time editing JC Ryle's Duties of Parents into modern English. Now that the work is finished, I am pleased to say that 10 Publishing, a division of 10ofthose.com are looking into getting this work published. So, until the work is published and printed, I'm afraid that it is back to the turn of the 20th century... you can read JC Ryle's original text online here.
I'll keep you posted as to when this gets published and is available to buy.
New year news 2012
It has been a while since we last posted any news from our clan. With a new family member, a new home and a new job, the last 18 months have flown by.
In our last news update, we were pleased to announce the birth of Leoni Grace and we mentioned our move to Essex where I (Alan) was taking up a new position in a church as Youth and Children's Minister. Leoni is now approaching 18 months old, and the job is going really well. So, as you can imagine there has been much going on in between now and our last post, and so I'll just cover the highlights...
Capital Youthworks Seminar
As promised, to all those who were at a recent seminar held by Capital Youthworks, here are the downloads and extra documents I made reference to.
First, the files that relate directly to the seminar...
Seminar handout
Parent profile Excel spreadsheet (Excel 97-2003)
Parent profile Excel spreadsheet (2007)
And here are the extra documents related to YCM registration processes and forms...
YCM registration process
Initial contact card (for youth groups)
Registration form
Members file
Parent profile sheet
Jesus in every book of the Bible
In Luke 24:27 Jesus reveals to two of his disciples that all Scripture is about him and then proceeds to show them from the books of Moses and the prophets (the Old Testament). In Hebrews 1:1-2 the voice of Scripture is expanded to include the New Testament (which speaks of all that Jesus said, did and continued to do through the mission of the Church). All Scripture really is about Jesus. Here's a quick overview of how you can find Jesus in every book of the Bible...
ESV Word Cloud
Ever wondered which words were used most often in the Bible? Well, this word cloud above gives a snapshot of the most common words in the ESV text of the Bible.
5 top tips: pastoring your family
Most Christian parents know that they have a unique role in pastoring their children. The majority of these parents also know that they are the primary pastors of their children. How do you pastor your family, though? This is the question that most parents struggle with. What do we actually do to bring our children up to know and love Jesus?
When middle ground is best
Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.
Proverbs 30:7-9
Open Youth Ministry cycle
Open youth ministry is the opening of church youth groups to allow them to be places where young people can hang out in an implicitly Christian environment. The idea being that non-Christian young people will recognise something different about the group (the loving atmosphere, or the time devoted to the group by the leaders) and want to know more.
In my 14 years experience in youth ministry so far, I have encountered several versions of open youth ministries, all of which appear to have repeating life-cycle, to some degree or another. In this article, I put forward my own observations on this cycle for comment and discussion.
Dissertation on infant baptism
This article is the full dissertation submitted towards my BA (Hons) in Youth & Children’s Ministry at Oak Hill Theological College in May 2007. The full title for the dissertation is as follows: A defence of infant baptism in the context of the growing practice of the dedication of children of the church, with particular attention to “discipleship” in Matthew 28:18-22 and the New Testament.
It is my hope to provide an abridged version of this dissertation, one that is a bit more readable for people 'on the ground' (so to speak). For now, the full technical version will have to do.
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