Methodist Conference days 6 & 7 - including the whole family of God

I have felt that both yesterday and today have been interesting and productive days. I've enjoyed the debate, the getting up to speak in front of people, the speed of the business and the pressure of keeping up with which of the many pieces of paper we're on. For me, now that I've got the hang of it, it works. However I know that a lot of people do and would struggle to engage with the last two days. We are all different and all need to be enabled to contribute, which is why yesterday Sam (ex Youth President) and I brought a notice of motion aiming to create space for the way Conference is done to be reconsidered. You can find the text of the Notice of Motion here : http://www.methodistconference.org.uk/media/198578/noms%20yellow%20tuesday%209%20july.pdf (208, second one down, link may change over time)

(A notice of motion is an idea which is brought by people during Conference and is voted on by Conference. Sometimes they are related to report which are already part of the agenda, sometimes they are a new thing, like ours)

I am really excited that the Notice of Motion was passed and felt a huge sense of achievement. Yes the work hasn't been done yet but I do actually feel like I've made a difference now as this important topic will be seriously thought about. It could be something that makes a significant difference to our church governance.

In society big advances have been made in the field of learning and the way people are naturally best able to understand things. We know that people learn in different ways - for example through listening, through doing, or through discussing. When I have worked in schools recently I have found that there is much more variety in the way things are taught than there was when I was a pupil. The church needs to pay attention to these advances.

For some standing up and speaking in front of 300 people is unimaginable. For some focusing on a debate style meeting from 9.30am to 7pm (with breaks) is impossible. Many lay people work during the week and therefore find it difficult to attend Conference. There are other ways of doing it. 3Generate has drastically changed the way that the voices of children and young people are heard, now including varied, active, creative and ever improving forms of conferring. I really believe we need to take this experimental attitude and give it a go within the whole church. The Methodist Church in Britain needs to seriously consider how effective it is in enabling the ordinary 'person in the pew' - young, old or in between - to engage with the decision making processes of our church, which are meant to be accessible to all. I quote from the Methodist Church website:

'decisions are made as openly as possible, giving opportunities for all to contribute. It is important for all views to be heard and taken seriously, especially where Christians disagree'

We need to make more of an effort to include the whole family of God in our governance structures and processes - at all levels - so we really are creating opportunities for all to contribute. The majority of our church members are switched off to the decision making processes of our church and if we really are who we say we are, we need to try harder to hear those voices. I am grateful to the members of Conference for supporting this step.

Back to the general update - so yesterday was a good day, and today was also a good day. Lots discussed and excellent contributions from the 3Generate reps, including a successful Notice of Motion from Roxanne which means that the Larger than Circuit discussions will now include consultation with children and young people. Both days included a profile-raising event for our partnership with the Street Child World Cup, along with the Methodist Churches in Nicaragua and Brazil. Yesterday we did a flash mob blowing whistles and saying a prayer and a poem, and today was the Methodist Celebrity vs Methodist Children and Youth football match. I am sad to say that the Celebrities won 10-7, but pleased to say that it was hugely fun and got a good amount of attention for the Street Child World Cup. You can find out more about our work with SCWC here: http://www.childrenandyouth.org.uk/big-sleepover/scwc/ You can also see the blogs of the last two days from the 3Generate reps here http://3generatereps.wordpress.com/ and their video blogs here http://twitter.yfrog.com/315crksbdgrexrhcmorrpmavz?sa=0 and here http://twitter.yfrog.com/17x46ebmdnatvrwtcwcebvsrz?sa=0

Methodist Conference - Days 4 and 5

Yesterday morning we attended the Conference service at Westminster Central Hall. It started with an interactive clapping thing where different parts of room had to do a different clap. There was also drama and a sermon and singing. During the service the ordinands (people training to be ministers) were 'received into full Connexion' which means that they enter into a relationship of service and support with the church.

It was super hot so we went to St James' park and found some shade to eat our lunch in. Pretty soon I headed across the city because I was helping at one of the ordinations. It was a lovely service at Wesley Chapel with about 650 people. One of the OPPs, Sarah, and I distributed communion. Another OPP Matt valiantly tried to direct people from their seats to us in the right order - not much space, wonky pews, music so they couldn't hear his instructions = very confused people! Made me smile :) There were about 8 people being ordained including the first Welsh first language minister! The service was enjoyable but I was feeling much too tired. I hope it was a really meaningful moment for the ministers which they remember forever. I've heard or seen on social media a lot of ministers saying 'this day__ years ago I got ordained' which I've loved - a reminder every year of that special day and the calling from God to be a minister.

Went out to a nice pizza place for dinner and then went to bed without blogging as I didn't have my laptop at the accommodation.

Today was a full on day of business. It included a long and well supported report about ministers with ill health. There are some really challenging points in this paper - I think it needs a change of culture in a lot of places, as there is a lot of pressure put on people. I hope the paper is taken seriously and we become better at looking after each other.

We also discussed the Faith and Order report (Faith and Order do theological thinking), heard a bible study, heard some great stories from world church friends and also I seconded a Notice of Motion which was about ensuring the work on a resource about the topic of Cohabitation asked for by 3Generate does not get overlooked and dropped unintentionally. You can find it here if you're interested: http://www.methodistconference.org.uk/london-2013/2013-07-08/1700-pm/notice-of-motion-205 and the debate will be online soon.

Had some really interesting conversations with people today during the breaks. They are never long enough and I'm rushing back to my seat having not got a drink or gone to the toilet because I've got caught up in an interesting discussion!

In the evening we had dinner at Central Hall as usual and then got taken on a tour of the impressive building by some of the stewardy/tour guide people. They took us all the way up to the dome - a lot of stairs and up very high. The view was incredible. My phone battery had died from all the tweeting & emailing I'd been doing so I didn't take any pictures to put on here but Abby and Roxanne did. My day was finished off with lots of laughing with friends old and new - one had gone back to their room to find no bedding, another no towels and another had had his toiletries taken out of his toiletries bag! Luckily everything is where it should be in my room and I have now caught up on blogging so off to bed. Tom did a video blog but it hasn't uploaded properly so that should get put on tomorrow. Roxanne's (sideways) video blog today can be found here: http://twitter.yfrog.com/c9qsfzmwrzbfiehpzqkvuxiez

Looking forward to tomorrow as Sam (ex Youth President) & I are bringing what I hope is a 'challenging in a good way' Notice of Motion so we'll see how that goes. I'm really excited about it.

Good night!

Methodist Conference - Day 3

Today was a fantastic day! Myself and the 3 children and youth reps really enjoyed it. In the morning was the induction of the President and Vice President of Conference. I thank God for Mark and Mike who are now the ex President and Vice President; I have valued their companionship this year. Mark's message that we are lovely and worthy of love has stuck with me, and I appreciated Mike's astute observations, for example when he picked up on the need for churches to look after their lay workers better. I wish Ruth and Daleep all the best in their roles and am excited to see and hear of their adventures.

In the afternoon we did some practical businessy stuff to set us up for the week, including the first discussion of the budget.

At 5pm was the 3Generate Children and Youth Assembly report. I was feeling really quite nervous but trying hard not to be! I presented the main report and got some interesting questions as well as lots of encouragement. Questions included how will things like 3Generate will be staffed within Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network, why hasn't 3Generate brought more challenging resolutions, and why can't the 18-23s bring resolutions through 3Generate. Then Tom presented the second and third resolutions which are about churches supporting young people through exam stress. Quite a few people agreed that young people - in fact people of all ages - face stress and the church can do something about it. The fourth resolution was proposed by Abby and was about churches creating space for children and young people to ask big questions. Again people were supportive and it was highlighted that this issue affects people of all ages. It's exciting that children and young people can be leading the way bringing up these issues.

The positive reactions in person and over social media were very positive - it was overwhelming how many people have been so supportive. There were many encouraging and moving comments but one in particular brought tears to my eyes: 'think the debate from 3Generate reps has been the best so far and may turn out to be the best in the Conference. ' Wow - I am so proud to have been part of the work with the reps. How exciting to be away from home for a week in London involved in shaping a movement of 8 million members at 15 years of age!
I thought the atmosphere of the debate around the 3Generate report was good in the fact that it was very much about action; not just agreeing to the report and patting the young people on the head but going home and doing something about it. I think the next step is some sort of accountability on these resolutions - wonder how that would happen? It was also good that people were asking challenging questions about the report. It's my prayer that Conference would critique this report in the same way they would any report.
Roxane tweeted through the presentation and I recommend you look at @3genreps on Twitter to see a really good narrative of the debate. The reps did such an amazing job today - we are so blessed to have them as part of our church and our Conference.

Bed time now! You can find the reps blog for the day at www.3generatereps.wordpress.com and the video blog is at http://t.co/s722rzV6VD

Methodist Conference day 2

A weensy blog tonight as it's late, my eyes are stinging and it's a big day tomorrow (more about that later)

Today the 3 children and youth reps arrived. Abby and Rox, both 16, are from Wales and Tom, 15, is from Leeds. I have worked with this quite a lot this year as they have been involved in the rep training weekend and other bits of pieces such as meetings and consultations around the Connexion.

They got here at lunch time so in the morning I got some last bits and pieces done and popped down to the PCC for as much as I could. Jobs included getting everything ready for the 3Generate stand, printing rotas, presentation and other stuff, and continuing some preliminary discussions about things which will be discussed later in the week.

This week Tom, Abby, Rox and I are joined by Meg (Youth Development Officer) and Sam (ex Youth President).We had lunch then spent about two and a half hours going through the agenda and what we think and want to say. I'd given each of the children and youth reps 2 reports to particularly focus on, although they can say things about other reports if they want to. This approach seemed to work as the agenda is very thick and daunting! During our time this afternoon the reps fed back to the group what their thoughts were on the reports they had been given and we discussed together what points we want to make. It was really helpful having Sam in the room to offer his perspective having been in this position last year. I cannot advocate the idea of 'team' enough!

We headed over the Central Hall and set up the 3Generate stand, which took a surprisingly long time but doesn't look very impressive! I'm going to blow up some balloons tomorrow to jazz it up a bit :)

We planned to do some sightseeing today but we spent a lot of time briefing and then it took a while to set up the stand so the reps valiantly sacrificed the sightseeing. We are presenting the 3Generate report tomorrow so needed to focus on getting prepared. Hopefully we'll have some time on Sunday to do some touristing though.

After dinner (which was very slow coming because we got forgotten!) as the weather is nice we sat outside to look at the presentation for the 3Generate report and work out what the Abby and Tom will say when they present the resolutions that come with it. This took about an hour and what we came up with sounds really powerful I think. The reps have worked so hard today - they are amazing. They are really excited about this week and have come prepared to contribute. Expect great things people!

You can read the blog by Abby and Rox about the day from their point of view here: http://3generatereps.wordpress.com/2013/07/05/youth-reps-at-methodist-conference-day-1-2/

So tomorrow is the big day - for us anyway! We will be presenting the 3Generate report from about 5.15 onwards and you can watch it online at www.methodistconference.org.uk/live

Methodist Conference day 1

This week in my role as Youth President I am attending the annual Methodist Conference, where key decision making relating to the life of the church takes place. Myself and 2 other young people are here as elected representatives of all the children and young people connected to the Methodist Church in Great Britain.

So ... here ends the first day of Conference.

Today I was privileged to attend the Pre Conference Consultation, an annual gathering of representatives from partner churches around the world. There were about 30 people from all corners of the earth - a fantastic blend of cultures and world views which led to stimulating and creative discussion. It was, I felt, a refreshing time together. I enjoyed discussing interesting topics these interesting people.

I lost my programme somewhere along the way so now I have to cast my mind back remember what topics we discussed. As I left my house at 4.50am this morning it feels like the day stretches back a long way!! Fortunately I was tweeting throughout the day and these tweets not only serve the purpose of sharing with the a wider audience what happened, but of reminding me of what happened!

The first session was on the topic of 'Innovation in Evangelism'. This was led by two of my colleagues from the Discipleship and Ministries Cluster, Jo Cox and Jenny Ellis. Jo opened our minds to the changing context in which we find ourselves in the UK and challenged us to think about how we can 'do evangelism' when people are in a completely different place to where we are, and to where we can presume that they are. The post Christendom nature of Europe at the minute must look to some like a paradigm shift. It must be strange when you come from a country which was 'given' Methodism by Great Britain; now you hear stories of the demise of the church and of Christianity in that same place. We can feel like we are becoming ever smaller - like the golden days are past. I was aware that for many of the countries represented their history and current position is very different. I think it's important to cast our eyes upwards and see beyond the boarders of our tiny island. As I was reminded today we are part of a church of 8 million members!

Jenny and Jo demonstrated to us a new resource that has been produced called 'Table Talk'. This consist of cards with interesting and challenging questions around a topic eg 'evil' or 'forgiveness' or 'death' which aim to be a springboard for a conversation. I've seen similar ideas and resources out there but the questions are really good quality so I recommend having a look at it.

Second session was about media - and I tweeted my way quite successfully through that one! I'll just repeat a couple of points that have stuck in my mind - Media is a magnifier. If you get the right story and the right outlet (and the right timing) it can go huge. - You can't not communicate. If you don't say anything it can seem like you don't care. You are either communicating intentionally or unintentionally but you are always communicating. We spent time in groups discussing the worth of communicating, and the challenges of communicating. Consider this; the church of North India works in an area with many languages. It was either 18 or 80 - either way it's a lot. How can you communicate effectively both internally and with the outside world when this is the case?

After lunch we had a group photo and then the third session of the day. This one was on the 'people to people' programmes being developed by the World Church Relations Team. This is something that I have discussed with David Friswell, who leads that team, in the past and I am hopefully that some really good programmes will be created over the coming months and years. In my group there was myself, Linda Crossley from Methodist Women in Britain, Jose from Portugal, Alwan from India and Trish who went on a 'people to people' type programme to India a few years ago. It was fascinating to have such varied perspectives in the group. One question was whether this type of programme should be 2 way to which our group said emphatically 'yes'. We went on to identify that we can help each other in different ways and perhaps at different times in the lives of our churches.

I snuck out after that missing the last session as I wanted to work on some of the things I need to have ready for this week. Feel like I have lots of things to juggle but it will all come together, I am part of a brilliant and supportive team, I feel like the other 3 children and youth reps and I have some good things to say and it is and will continue to be a great, God-filled, hope-filled week.

Intergenerational friendships

Hello world!

Again, apologies for not blogging for so long. I know I’m rubbish – sorry!

I want to talk about something that came up while I was at the Methodist Women in Britain annual residential conference, in Swanwick. The theme of the weekend was ‘Crossing the Chasm’.

I first came into to contact with Methodist Women in Britain when I met the lovely Jill Baker, the current President, at Conference 2012, and I have got to know the movement better over my year as Youth President. Jill and Rachel, the Helen Kim Memorial Scholar (http://vimeo.com/58792816), spoke during one of the debates about MWiB and particularly the place for younger women in the movement. My two memories from their (very enthusiastic and slick!) speech are Rachel explaining that MWiB is ‘about more than just making jam!’ and them finishing talking about the involvement of younger women by one saying ‘it’s good news for us!’ and the other saying ‘and it’s good news for me!’

While at the Swanwick Conference I was interviewed during the opening session. One of the questions I was asked in the interview was ‘how can we connect with younger women when their lives are so different from ours; they spend so much time surfing the internet and using social media, I feel like we have nothing in common and I have nothing relevant to offer’. What a poignant question! Clearly many older people feel that there is a chasm between them and the younger generation. Can we cross this chasm? Is it worth crossing?

I started my answer talking about the value of real life relationships. I am a fan of social media and value it as a tool to use to keep in touch with friends and family across the country and across the world, but in my opinion it cannot match real face to face friendships.

I became a Christian at the age of 16 and since then have been a part of four different churches in three different towns – one Anglican, two Pentecostal, and one Methodist. They are four quite different churches with different styles, different demographics of congregations and some differing theological viewpoints. Many differences but I want to draw attention to a similarity. In each one I made friends – or rather, I was made friends with! I’m not the most ‘people’ of people (my husband on the other hand is a charmer and does plenty of friend making for the both of us!) but as I look back over the landscape of my life in past 7 years I can see a number of Christian people, particularly women and particularly women who are older than me, lining the way. They have played a very significant part in my life and my journey as a disciple. They have a part in who I have become and am becoming. They have demonstrated a simple, heartfelt, unwavering care for me. Some I have been and am very close to, some I don’t know very well but have received many a friendly smile or hello from. Some have been around for years, some for a few months or even weeks. Two were my youth leaders back at the very beginning; an unforgettable example of how to share your life (including the sucky bits) with young people and by doing this show them how God is there through it all. One was my host for two years; she welcomed the most random of people into her home (including me) and lived a beautiful combination of generosity, prayer and evangelism daily. Another is an elderly lady who always gave fabulous hugs while everyone else shook hands during ‘peace be with you’; the only person I felt comfortable to share a room with at the church weekend away.

Some of our church friends at our wedding

Young people need these sorts of relationships. They need more than Facebook friends and Twitter followers. They need people who will notice when they don’t turn up for a few weeks. They need people who will cook a good healthy meal with plenty of vegetables for them when they are living on pasta and cheap tomato sauce at university. They need people who will believe in them. They need people who will sit next to them at church. They need people who will invite them round for a cup of tea. They need people who will tell them they are praying for them when they have exams. They need people who will say ‘you look lovely today’. They need people who will send them encouraging cards when they have moved far away from home. They need people who will look them in the eye and say ‘are you ok?’. They need role models, companions, stories to learn from and shoulders to cry on. They need people with wisdom and experience, with love, with hugging arms and squeezing hands and praying hearts who are actually there in their lives.

Church can offer the sort of community that I haven’t found anywhere else. Young people may not often come into contact with people of other generations other than family and teachers – I don’t think I did, until I joined a church. Now I have friends in their 0s, 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s!!

Young people; chat to the older people around you. The chasm between generations needs to be crossed from both sides. Get to know them as individuals. Make an effort to build a friendship with someone outside of your normal comfort zone. It will brighten up your life and theirs.

Older people; don’t underestimate what you can contribute to a young person’s life today. As I told the women at the MWiB conference, God has put you where you are as the person that you are today. You can cross the chasm. Be brave - reach out to a young person. It really will be good for them and good for you. Your love and care will make a huge difference. The internet is no match for you.

Note - safeguarding vulnerable people, including young people, is important. To find out more about the Methodist Church's safeguarding policy click here: http://www.methodist.org.uk/ministers-and-office-holders/safeguarding

Truth and lies about poverty

This morning many of us will have read or heard news reports of Mick and Mairead Philpott being found guilty of starting a fire which killed their six children in May last year.

The tragedy was the result of a plot in which Mick aimed to frame his ex mistress for arson, and gain custody of four of his other children whom she had removed from what had been the family home.

It brought tears to my eyes to see the cheeky little faces of those innocent children. They remind me of the hundreds, maybe thousands of children I have met as I have worked in schools, churches and communities.

One report I read was in the Daily Mail. The front page:

It seems to me to be both unfair and completely disrespectful to use this story to take shots at the welfare system. To describe innocent children as being ‘bred’ as ‘cash cows’ dehumanizes them and detracts from the true horror of this story. The true horror of this story is not that this family took home £60,000 per year in benefits. The true horror of this story is not that they had 17 children. The true horror of this story is not that this man appeared on the Jeremy Kyle show asking for a bigger house for his huge and convoluted family.

The true horror of this story is that six innocent children, human children with personalities and friends and tempers and favourite subjects and toys and toothbrushes, died because of the actions of the people who should have loved them and protected them from harm.

I do not think that the welfare system caused Mick Philpott to turn mystically into the selfish, controlling, deceitful man that he seems to be. This is what the Daily Mail seems intent on implying. What makes a person who they are? What makes someone risk the lives of their children, for any reason? To blame the welfare system is a pretty big and unsubstantiated leap. There are thousands of people who need to claim benefits and are honest people and loving parents. At the other end of the scale there are those who are rolling in money yet cheat on their taxes, exploit others and have unhealthy relationships. A recent headline story of a man who killed his parents for their £230,000 inheritance shows us what we actually already know; rich, poor or somewhere in the middle, people can choose to be selfish, or malicious, or deceitful.

The danger of running a headline such as the one in the Daily Mail is that it twists the emphasis of a tragic story to create a rhetoric that demonises those in our society who are living in poverty and relying on the welfare system. This is an abuse of the memory of those children.

Our society is being encouraged to believe a number of lies about people living in poverty. We are told that ‘they’ are lazy, that ‘they’ are cheating the system, and that ‘they’ have an easy comfortable life raking it in on benefits. Cases like this are out there, but they are the absolute minority. Yes, there are people who take advantage of our welfare system, but not many, and we need to know that despite what our government and the media sometimes tell us. According to the Truth and Lies about Poverty Report recently published by the Joint Public Issues Team, benefit fraud is about 0.9% of payments, about £1.9 million. On the other hand tax avoidance is about 6% of revenues due, about £30 billion. Only 3% of families on benefits receive more than £10,000 in housing benefit a year – many struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis. Only 8% of families claiming benefits have three or more children.

People living in poverty need to be helped, not hated – even those abusing the welfare system. As Christians we are called to love people. In my opinion the story of the Philpott family shows the disastrous consequences of selfishness and greed, not the disastrous consequences of the welfare system. And I think that the lies about poverty that we hear – and ultimately the idea that some people deserve good and healthy lives and some don’t – boost the selfishness and greed in our society.

The story of the Philpott family didn’t make me angry that they took home whatever in benefits. It made me sad most of all; sad because of the suffering of those children, and sad because it showed me that the claims of the Truth and Lies about Poverty report are correct. We are being tricked. We are allowing ourselves to be tricked. Stories of individuals behaving in awful ways are being used to turn us against those living in poverty. As Christians we must speak out against this.

‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Defend the rights of those who have nothing. Speak up and judge fairly, and defend the rights of the poor and needy’. Proverbs 31.9 This blog was first posted on the Youth President blog. It has a large number of comments on it which are worth reading. It can be found here: http://methodistyouthpres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/truth-and-lies-about-poverty.html