Wow, great weekend. While the weekend did present a lot of challenges and there was not much sleep to be had, it was a great weekend with the young people and I believe a lot of Kingdom work was done. Over the weekend I was on a secular retreat with 35 young people and leaders with a central theme of empowering people to make change.
One of my favourite quotes is by Gandhi when he says to “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Well, that is what we tried to encourage and empower the young people to do this weekend. The group YoMo (http://www.yomo.co.uk/) was responsible for running the retreat or “residential” as it is called here. The young people learned about how to do a campaign for change and then planned an actual campaign to put into action in their community to address the issues they feel are important. YoMo did an excellent job facilitating this training providing loads of information, resources, and helped make each community group make a DVD to use to further the campaign.
It was awesome to help facilitate the weekend with our group from Broughton. It was such a cool thing to see them come alive and get passionate about the real issues in our community like litter being everywhere, drug needles all around in the park, gun violence, safety in the parks, and bus fair prices.
A popular thing here in Broughton is called “MC-ing” and this is basically free-style rapping. One of our young people wrote and performed an awesome rap about the issues in Broughton and it is now part of our campaign DVD for the change we wish to see in Broughton. I feel so honoured to have been a part of a group of young people that truly embraced being the change they want to see in their community and their world.
I also had a great time investing in loads of new young people and providing much entertainment for them. I can’t tell you the number of times I was asked to say phrases and words I use in every day conversation back in the States such as “totally radical, hand-10 bro, dude, and killer wave.” Many young people here think we all talk and live like we are from a bad American sitcom set in California.
I’ve never been around a group of kids so hungry to know things from the States like if Cool-Aid is as “nice” (meaning tastes good) as they hear it is, if McDonalds portions are really bigger and greasier, if I’ve ever seen a Native American Indian, if people in Texas really ride horses, if I’ve seen a tornado, if we really hang out in coffee shops all the time like on “Friends,” and all the loads of different words and phrases between American English and British English. While it got a bit old and a bit frustrating, it was such a joy to me to be able to invest these little bits of time, attention, and love into young people who are in such great need. “I am third” was a common thought over the weekend as I was reminded it’s about God, others, and then myself.
During my time with God yesterday morning he reminded me of two great truths out of Luke 21 and 22. In the story of the poor widow and her offering to God, Jesus says:
“I assure you,” he said, “this poor widow has give more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” (NLT)
Are you giving to God a small part of your time, energy, and resources out of your surplus or are you truly giving everything you have like the poor widow? How can you give, give, and then give more this week? I include myself in these challenges.
And then in Luke 22:26:
“But among you, those who are the greatest should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.” (NLT)
Are you living as a servant leader? How can you lead by serving this week?
I close with this simple prayer:
God help us to change. To change ourselves and to change our world. To know the need for it. To deal with the pain of it. To feel the joy of it. To undertake the journey without understanding the destination. Extracts from “A Common Prayer” by Michael Leunig via Dave Andrews “Not Religion but Love” p 17
Go and Do!!
