...the book of the Bible and my friend Esther who is sitting next to me. Also Tom her brother and Bekah who I love like a sister.
So as I write this I find myself in Plumstead, Greenwich. I've been here since yesterday because I've been shadowing the team at XLP that I will be leading come September. And OH MY WORD! What have I let myself in for?!
All I can say is I am going to be insanely busy next year. Lewisham is a massive borough with 25% of the inhabitants being under 16 which means my work is never done. As Team Leader for the Borough I will be in charge of deciding what we do in schools (lunchclubs, lessons, assemblies etc), and what we do on various estates in the Borough too. I'll also need to be the key contact for stakeholders in the community (Police, Youth/Church workers, Social workers etc). From what I have seen it looks like the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. There is SO much going on, we do 3 lunchclubs, lunch pastoring, an after school club, 3 bus projects, a cooking club, a girls group, pre-coach classes, in class support and various lessons.
I have been to 2 lunchclubs and 1 after school club. Have loved the kids I've met - they love the current team so it will be hard to live up to their legacy. But I am quite excited about it all. At first I was pretty apprehensive about it all, I barely feel old enough to be considered a grown up, let alone responsible enough to be a team leader! I'm feeling a bit more chilled about it now. Have to keep remembering that anything that's out of my depth is not out of God's depth.
Talk about God he is being SO faithful! Like it is actually ridiculous. When I started applying for jobs I said to God that I wanted to be where he wanted me - that I would be obedient to where he took me. So I applied for about 15-20 jobs and said "right the ball is in your court now God"...I got 1 interview and 1 job offer...that made it pretty clear! and then as soon as I got the job a lady that I know had set me up with somewhere to lodge in Catford for cheap...win! Like he is just making the way so clear for me. Also my laptop died this year from old age (I swear you could hear the men running around turning the cogs inside it) but I found out I get a laptop as part of the job...and a blackberry! So really I am set up for the year. God is good.
Being here in London has really just made me realise how big a job there is in just creating community. How do you create community when:
people commute so far and don't invest in the places they live?
people are scared of the people who live around them?
people want to remain anonymous?
Any thoughts on the importance of community/how to create it welcome.
It's so amazing that we have a God who provides in both the big and small.
ReplyDeleteCommunity is always difficult, especially with teenagers. A Christian model of community is loving those we wouldn't otherwise want to and to encourage teenagers to do this (at least in my experience) is such a hard task when teenage life is so determined by which social circles you inhabit.
But adults are also entrenched in their own worlds and this makes it hard to get them to invest in community.
It is so vitally important, especially as (in Acts) the community of believers is what was a marker that brought others to Christ. But when you find out how to do it, could you tell me please?