Why I’m lucky I’m not a woman

We still live in a world that is grossly unfair to women - the result of a world whose direction has been set by male eyes.

In our Lab leadership team, six out of the twelve members are female. However, over the last year, only two of our weekly Sunday gatherings have been led by women. For me, this is something I feel I should be constantly working to correct and looking actively for women to encourage into leadership positions.

Either as a male or female leader, what should your responsibility be to the women you lead?

Sheldon Thomas from Target Against Gangs and former gang member Gavin McKenna talking about the deeper issues surrounding the recent riots in London and around the country.

First broadcast on 10 Aug 2011 on the Sky News Channel.

The Story of Everything

A great video from showing the narrative arc of God’s story, from one of the students on the CMS Pioneer Leadership Course.

HT: Jonny (again…)

The work that Frontline Community Church do in Liverpool has gained so much attention that the Guardian produced this film exploring their approach, and asking questions about how faith groups can fill in the gaps left by recent and forthcoming government cuts.

I especially love what the church leader says when he is interviewed, and the testimony from those who the church has helped. This is why we do what we do in Newport, and it’s great to see other Christian communities with the same approach who God is leading to do similar things.

HT: Dave

Video of Hope Newport 2011 in Alway.

Thanks Sarah, as always, for your amazing editing skillz.

Experimental Youth Work in Hull

Thanks to Jonny for pointing out this video, showing some of the incredible work at Hull Youth for Christ, supported by Church Urban Fund. Over the last couple of years, I’ve increasingly become aware of CUF and how amazing they are - unfortunately though they only fund projects in England, not here in Wales.

I have friends who have visited Hull YFC and been very impressed with their work and the way the team there live their lives in such an open way to the community around them. I loved seeing pictures of the breakfast club they run - a great, really simple idea.

Those of you involved in youth work, or even just wanting to live for Jesus in your community - how could you change the lives of young people in your area by supporting their whole families?

Found this clip from King of the Hill really interesting.

Is the problem that Jesus was too packaged-up with youth cultural baggage, or that the Dad wasn’t willing to accept a kind of Christianity because the culture around it was too alien to him?

What do you think? Was there a need for less contextualisation/inculturation or more tolerance of a different culture?

Thanks Rethinking Youth Ministry for the clip.

As a postscript: Does the church lose young people when they grow up because they grow out of the cultural fads that we’ve wrapped Jesus up in in trying to reach them, or because we fail to fully contextualise the gospel in a way that makes sense for their own culture?

Trailer for Blue Like Jazz: The Movie.

Really excited by this. Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller is one of a few books over the last few years that have really spoken my language - it’s incredibly honest and humble in the way it’s written.

Blue Like Jazz: the Movie is now nearing release, and is probably the biggest fan funded film to be released so far. After it failed to get enough investment from the film industry, fans of the book stepped in to make up the difference. Doubt it will make cinemas in the UK, but if I can hold of it I’d love to do a showing for The Lab somewhere.

A direct, but disarmingly accurate challenge to those of us who call ourselves Christians.

WARNING: Does contain bad language. Don’t watch if you are easily offended.

HT: Jonny

Francis Chan weighing in on the whole Hell thing. What do you think?