Volunteering in London with 'Oasis' Charitable Trust

Reflections of a year gone by

2008-05-03T21:48:00.003+01:00

I no longer write on this blog - mainly because my time with Oasis has ended and i no longer stay in London. If you've arrived upon this page then feel free to read about my experiences as a volunteer Charity Worker in South London. The Blog was initially set up so that i could maintain contact with my family and friends whilst away from home.

Some reflections.......Gap years are a great idea - a chance to test out your skills, perhaps decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. I found the experience to be extremely grounding. I think I've developed a better sense of awareness about my limits - how well i cope in different situations, how i respond to crisis and also to being very poor etc.

So, now this Blog will 'float on' around the world wide web - hopefully others will read and be interested in taking opportunities to support the people in their communities. That's why i ventured into this because ultimately i felt my role within society was to help where possible.

The year has ended and now i move on - different job same focus.......

Alan the bouncer

2007-07-11T18:40:00.000+01:00

We have a bouncer here at church.co.uk to deal with the difficult people that come through the door....The move to hire Alan came about as a result of my dealings with some intimidating and aggressive individuals. I've never heard of a church that has a bouncer so we must be the first. You might be saying "i thought the aim behind the church is to be inclusive to all people!" but i've come to the realisation that you cant always be inclusive. We don't have the energy to be constantly inclusive to all people because a lot of the people we deal with are very demanding. If i've learned anything this year it's about having good boundaries. I certainly feel determined to change people's lives but there is only so much i can do. Often i've felt a burden to be the answer to all people's problems perhaps because of my open job description. Volunteers don't have a definite position and so i found myself using my skills wherever possible and over time this has taken a strain on me. The result of months of hard graft is i've got little energy for the people i had so much time for in the past. I'm still pleasant to them but i've lost sight of my initial aim to support them.

There is this one homeless guy who's deaf in one ear. I've been working with him to try and get a hearing aid through the NHS but as times gone on I've lost the energy to deal with all the hurdles we need to overcome. Because of his hearing deficiency you have to repeat everything twice and because he's homeless you never know when he's going to turn up at the church. This makes meetings impossible. Alongside him there are lots of other homeless guys all desperate for a listening ear (excuse the unintentional pun) struggling with loneliness and poverty. For a long time i would try and speak to them all because i felt that was my job. I didn't feel there was a commitment in conversation but this led to me identifying need and then wanting to do something about it. This year has been a great training for my journey into Statutory Social Work. I'm well aware of my limits and i realise the importance of joint working whereby people work together to solve issues. I'm not sure i want to work for a church in the future. I've enjoyed the chance to outlive the values of my faith in a church setting but i feel more passionate about professional working. I've struggled at times with the less professional approach of the church (this is not a criticism) and look forward to the more structured approach within professional social work. No doubt i will face other challenges and i approach them with an open mind.

I've discussed with many people that Churches need to become more like efficient businesses. Businesses have a product that is culturally relevant in the sense that people use it. Alongside this they have long term vision and aims.....Church.co.uk is on a journey to run like a business. We offer our services like products and then market them in line with the current marketing campaigns around us. People are essentially interested in the fellowship the church offers but it does us no harm to appear professional. We're also very aware of our mission. We ask the questions about what our niche market is.....is it the homeless or do we have a problem in our community with youth crime. We work to the needs of our community and we try to identify the needs of that particular group. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing me next year when i move to Glasgow is finding a church. I moved to London because of my struggle with Church. I have wonderful christian friends and am grateful of the nurturance my home church has given me. However, Church.co.uk suits my theology perfectly. I do not go to church to receive and i do not go to church to listen to a sermon i cant relate to my daily life. In my eyes a sermon that doesn't offer practical advice is nothing worth hearing. That may be a strong view but Jesus never preached anything that didn't have a practical meaning. I go to church to act upon my faith and i go to church to leave with direction and mission for the week ahead. "your being to picky Andrew!", no I'm not. All church should be like this, and i can assure you that a church like this will not lose most of it's teenage population at age sixteen. It's not just the responsibility of a youth worker to youth work but the responsibility of a whole church - 'working church - a church that works'.

So he says.....who's the king of peace and i said jesus.....he said - you're looking at him!

2007-06-15T18:46:00.000+01:00

Again apologies for disappearing in a virtual sense. In reality I'm alive and kicking and currently beginning the dissent from the summit of my year in London. Perhaps my lack of Blogging reflects my state of mind. I'm now thinking about the future and this means i spend less time reflecting on my current position. I'll try my up most to keep blogging right until the end.

I faced a very difficult situation today when one of the homeless guys well known to the church began to be disruptive in the coffee shop. In the absence of the leadership team i got a call from the cafe staff asking if i could go up and assess the situation. When i got upstairs this guy was preach-shouting (a mixture of shouting and preaching) at the staff. We find that many of our visitors to the coffee shop like to tell us about the love of God as if preaching to the unconverted.

I knew the homeless guy in the coffee shop quite well and on more sober days he and I have looked at getting him permanent accommodation. When he saw me he smiled and opened his arms to go for the hug......not only that he went to kiss my neck!! A little surprised i stepped back and told him that a hand shake was appropriate but a kiss wasn't.....at that he accused me of calling him gay and i quickly rushed to reassure him that i was not saying this. Prior to engaging with him i had thought that maybe i could ask him politely to calm down and perhaps usher him to sit outside but it became apparent very quickly that he had no intention of leaving the building. Things became worse when two well built black guys came in looking very drugged up. As i listened to our homeless friend i watched as the two guys walked straight up to a group of customers and began begging for food. The two girls working in the coffee shop were busy serving customers and so i was left with the dilemma of which person to deal with first. I thought that the two other guys coming in gave me an opportunity to ask the homeless guy to move on (saying i had other work to do and would he be kind to allow me space to do the work) but he told me that he was fine and would hang around in case i needed any back up - he then proceeded to talk about his twenty years in prison and the action he had taken to gain respect on the streets.....

I left him for a moment and went over to the other two men, one of whom was sitting on the table eating some rice. The other was asking a customer for food. I asked the one on the table to sit on a seat and he looked blankly at me. Luckily his friend told him to move and the customer said he would buy them both a coffee. For the moment i was assured that the customer was happy to have them there and i could go back to dealing with my homeless friend. By this time he was beginning to talk quite aggressively about how he would sort the other two guys out if they did anything to disrespect the church.....difficult situation. The last thing i wanted was three drugged up men fighting in the middle of the coffee shop.

Eventually the two men left because they felt they had to wait too long for their coffee and the homeless guy left after about twenty minutes of telling me about his past in Jail. Probably one of the most intimidating situations I've been in this year because of my vulnerability around confrontational people who i knew nothing about. But there is part of me that thrives on that crisis intervention. It's always difficult to assess whether the easiest situation would be just to call the police or to deal with the situation yourself. Ultimately my decision in the end was down to my respecting people......i mean i knew that eventually the homeless guy would leave as long as i gave him the time to listen to his story. The other two guys i wasn't so sure of but they never behaved in a manner that warranted calling the police. Others might disagree and say that i put myself at risk......but i suppose the term 'risk' identifies a situation that people won't go into and at times most people wont even talk to a homeless person. You'll never catch me sky-diving but I'll always be prepared to work with the people who others might not because that's the risk i enjoy.

two posts in a row not a common thing

2007-05-29T14:05:00.000+01:00

I'm covering for Hannah the greatest administrator in the world (she told me to write that) at the moment and this has provided me with prime time to Blog. I was on the bus earlier and this homeless guy came on. You might ask...how did i know he was homeless? Well, he smelt homeless and he had a big bag which looked like it had his life's contents in it. He was very pleasant. As he had attempted to get on the bus another man walked in front of him and he kindly stepped aside to let him on. As he walked along the bus he was smiling and he seemed very content. I have found that in London many of the homeless people I've worked with are quite content to be homeless. Something someone with a home will never understand but i imagine that homeless people begin to enjoy the process of living for what that day brings. Anyway, this guy on the bus pulled out a bottle of lilt....it was new because of the fizz when he opened it. He took one long drink and then lifted the bottle into the air and toasted himself. Now i found that totally fascinating. It was like he had earned that bottle of lilt or that he was really enjoying the taste of a nice drink. For people who live with the constant supply of nice juice it might be a strange concept that a bottle of lilt could be so satisfying but this man was really enjoying it. When i think about it, i appreciate food more this year than i ever have. Living in London on very little money has been a huge challenge but it's made me appreciate the smaller things much more. I'm certainly not homeless or without the support of caring people but in some ways i can empathise with the guy on the bus. The bottle of lilt is a treat.....daily i have to think about how buying a can of coke will influence the money i have for other things.....
that may sound crazy but a coke is a treat and i feel proud to say that....

Now I'm off to lunch at the Ritz.....caviar anyone?

over and over and over... like a monkey with minature symbols

2007-05-29T13:34:00.000+01:00

I realised a long time ago that the kids here are hard to please.....in the past i thought it was about me not understanding the kids but now i realise that they are just difficult to please. However, i love the journey of identifying 'what works' - trying different things in an attempt to find the solution. On Sunday i had to leads kids church (zooped up Sunday School) where the leaders have had real difficulties engaging the kids. To give you an idea of the difficulty - there was a fight last week where one boy just started punching another. I had always felt that i could really affect the kids mood by changing the environment and so i decided to take all the tables and chairs out the room. I then shut all the curtains and put coloured lights in to create a 'cool' atmosphere. I placed cushions on the floor where i hoped the kids would come and chill out. I covered the floor space that was left in paper and put on some music.

The result was incredible....the kids totally relaxed. We played a few games to get their energy out and spent the rest of the morning drawing on the floor. I asked them to do three things: 1) draw the place where they feel the happiest 2) draw the place where they feel most unhappy and 3) to draw their favourite creation. This totally clicked in with their busy imaginations and apart from a few complaints about the music they happily drew and chatted away. We ended the session by eating maltesers and dancing. As the kids left i couldn't believe how well the session had gone. In fact it was perhaps the first time i had felt truly satisfied with the results of a session i had run. So often I've tried different methods of engaging the people we work with and often it's seemed as if we've failed. But on this one occasion i had got it right and i think that shows me how important it is too keep things fresh. In a sense there isn't a certain thing that works but the term 'what works' relates to the ongoing process of locating things that do work. Very often when you do find something that worked the challenge will be to build on it because kids (especially) crave something new and exciting. Doing the thing 'that worked' over and over wont always be successful......

voluntarily volunteering to stop

2007-05-21T17:09:00.000+01:00

You would think that volunteering would be easy.....work when you want, take a random day off if you feel like it. After all your not getting paid! It's just not the case here. We work like normal employees who work more hours than normal workers. I've never sat down to do it but i'm sure i work on average a twelve hour day. We've just finished kids club and I'm genuinely finished. Emotionally, physically and mentally. I feel like i couldn't do another kids club again but then tomorrow arrives and something strange happens. I feel re-motivated by some unknown energy. It's happened all year.

every piece of work i have done here has been about the toughest thing I've ever done. Kids who's instantaneous reaction is to anything is cry.....kids who talk of their future in gangs..adults who cry because of the difficulties facing them and their families because gangs terrorize their neighborhoods...passing homeless people asleep in the middle of the pavement because they can't access a bed for the night. The need destroys me. I can't meet it all and i can't really deal with it all emotionally. Last night i walked home past a man asleep on a pile of clothes beside a clothing bank. This is in Brixton one of the most dangerous boroughs in London. The chances are high of being mugged on the way home let alone the chances of being attacked whilst asleep on a pavement. The next morning on my way to work i passed the same man still asleep on the pavement....was he dead i thought? but who in London would stop to check. I didn't!

My mum will be glad to hear me utter the words i think I'm working too hard. I've done it all year and incredibly I've continued to work hard even when i didn't have the basic supports in place. I suppose the idea of a frontline gap year is too push you well out of your comfort zone so that when you reflect on it there is significant personal change. What worries me is my future and that on the 5th August on the train back to Scotland my mental state is going to actually reveal to me the extent of the damage done. I suppose stepping out of your comfort zone can be both flourishing and damaging. Flourishing if you've got the wisdom to see your limits and damaging if you push yourself too far. This feeling is the result of four weeks where the church has relied solely on it's volunteers and running a church that's open six days a week is not easy.

This Blog is me voicing an honest refection of how i actually feel in this moment. I don't Blog often because it takes too much energy at the end of a very long day. Tomorrow I'll feel different and my tendency would be to blog a more positive comment. Also, i don't write these things to be lost. I'll be sure to voice my feelings to the people who manage me. So a final story from today. Warm sunny day cafe buzzing....in walks one of our resident homeless men. His name is peace. Throws up all over the floor.........

The attack of the pegs

2007-05-15T09:55:00.000+01:00

It's not often that hanging out the washing turns nasty but on this day it did. There i was just putting out my clean clothes to dry when one of the pegs threw itself at my face. I squealed in pain and Sam my Brighton born colleague came running out and was also attacked by several pegs. One hitting him right in the eye. Blinded by this attack the pegs took over and what you see in these photos is the results. The attack was both unexpected and cheeky. I'll never approach hanging out the washing in the same way again......

Financially challenged

2007-05-11T18:35:00.000+01:00

One of the privileges of my job is working in our coffee shop. It's the open door to the community and most of the time the first contact we have with people we'll go on to support. Up until today i had never done a full shift in the coffee shop. Normally i only manage to squeeze a half day into my weekly schedule but this week our volunteer shortages meant i had to do a full day. People are always intrigued by an open church (probably because most churches always look closed) and this means that we attract a diverse range of visitors. The church is also on the way to the Imperial War Museum and so we get a lot of tourists dropping in, either to ask for directions or to enquire why in fact the church is open. We have our regulars who worry about the growth of the cafe...They like the quietness and get concerned that their secret hideout will be discovered by those they try to escape. We have the homeless who drop in for a free coffee, a trip to the toilet and a chat. The Cafe is also very popular with the Oasis staff and it's a really good way for us to socialise informally.

I love the process of making coffee. Grinding the beans and then the smell as the coffee pours into the cup. Steaming the milk....and pouring it so that the froth is left until the end. Then watching the milk and coffee combine to form a pattern. I also like it how willing people are to talk in the coffee shop. I have never witnessed a customer come into the coffee shop and been treated only as a customer. We love our coffee but we love people more! The people in the coffee shop respond to the way we ask questions and serve with a smile (not a cheesy one but a friendly one).....they come back. We call customers by their names, we ask them about their work and their families. It's like a coffee shop and a support agency in one. I worry that this is coming across as if Church.co.uk is the perfect church. Far from it, such a thing doesn't exist! We have our weaknesses but i think we're doing something right through the coffee shop.

I was standing serving a group of kids and carers when Rachel my fellow volunteer came and told me there was a man here to see me. I handed over the order to her and made my way over to the guy. He introduced himself (he was Irish) and we quickly established common ground about being Celtic. He told me he was going to tell me something and asked if i would not judge him for it. He asked if he could speak to me in confidence and then quickly followed that question up by telling me he wasn't in trouble. This stopped me from giving the confidentiality policy talk to him and urged him to tell me what the issue was. He got round to explaining that he had had his van clamped on the New Kent Road and that he needed £24 (to add to the £61 he already had) to have it unclamped. He would have to do it today or he would face being charged £250 tomorrow. He came across as very genuine and i really did feel like he was telling the truth. But i feel as time goes on i become more assured in these situations and can ask questions that in the past i may have gone to get my manager to do. Part of me did believe him but i needed to test his story because i just couldn't be sure. In a politely put way i asked if he had his van keys with him.....that took him aback a little and he explained that they were with his colleague sitting in the van. It was like a game. My sceptical experience of people asking for money playing up against my gut feeling about this genuine case of need. I then asked in the instance that i got the money whether i could take a walk back to his van with him.....to back myself up i talked about the previous occasions where we had given people bus tickets etc and i had gone with them to buy it. That question was too far for him and began to accuse me of judging him. He told me i was a bad christian and that i was not willing to trust in God the way he had trusted in God when he was guided into the church. I explained that i really wanted to help but because of our limited finances i would need to see the situation myself. On that note he stood up and told me that he would speak to his home church about me and he was sure they would be very disappointed. He told me that i was an immature christian and had a lot of growing to do. Instead of arguing my case i decided to apologise that i couldn't help him and was sorry that he felt that way about me. He left the church mumbling under his breath.....i returned to my coffee making duties.

Now. I have two feelings about that situation. One is of great victory where i foiled the plan of a man looking to cheat money out of a church. The other thought is of disappointment with a system that is full of people who lie their way into being supported. When i started working with the Salvation Army i was a naive young man willing to believe any crisis story. By the end of my time working with the homeless i was sceptical because of the people who had abused my trust. However, i decided not to call myself sceptical as this was a really negative frame of mind and instead decided i would be appropriately questioning. But what if that man was telling the truth?..... was it a coincidence that he forgot his bank cards? left his keys with his young colleague? Asked not to see the the senior minister but just a normal christian? That man left the building either more frustrated with a society that doesn't trust or angry because he was outsmarted by what appeared to be a engagingly naive young man......Would you have given him the money?

On the Frontline.....now and then

2007-05-09T10:04:00.000+01:00

We are so short staffed here just now....Dave Steell my boss and senior minister of Church.co.uk is currently leading a team in Uganda. Pete Brierley my boss and youth and community pastor is on holiday in America. Tim Broadbent who coaches the football programme alongside me is away in Zimbabwe talking about our football project. Andy Flannigan the worship leader and personal mentor is also in Uganda and Jill Rowe the Oasis Frontline Director is on holiday. We are thin on the ground in terms of experienced staff. In fact we're thin on the ground in terms of staff over 25.

On Sunday the service was lead by Hannah Li, aged 23, the Church administrator. Worship led by Dan Nolloth, age 23, the church caretaker. Finally Andrew Nelson, age 23 was the speaker for the service. So as you can see the magic number was 23....quite literally the church congregation was left in the potentially capable hands of three 23 year olds. And how did we do? Well the feedback was great. I was told that i didn't come across as if i was preaching at Church.co for the first time....an old pro was another comment. What was great was that many of the people who've started coming along to church because of the many programs we run throughout the week were the first to speak to me afterwards. I did worry before hand that my message would not be relevant to someone new to the church.

Once it was over it felt as if I'd conquered a huge milestone....perhaps now i can retire i thought to myself. But no, Bank Holiday Monday offered well required rest and Tuesday was a clump of mixed tasks. In the absence of the senior minister I'm dealing with the people we support. One after the other i met with people in the morning then it was straight into school to mentor Oliver twist and then straight back to lead 8-12 year olds football. After the fighting mass of fighting and crying (and that's just the leaders) that resembles football coaching i arrived back to the Church to help out at the launch of Danny Smith's new book 'Slavery now and then'. Natasha Bedingfields mum was there and i considered making a comment to her about how much i admired her daughter.....but you'll be sad to know i didn't. At 11:15pm the event was cleared up and over....at last i could make my way back to Brixton.

That's a long day and today started again at 9am but before when i used to really struggle with the long days i now find them easier. But that's due to a greater comfort with London, the better weather, the lighter nights and a passion for my work. Not that i didn't enjoy work before but everything becomes easier when you feel at home. Scotland is home but London feels more like home. It's like when a footballer starts playing for a new club. It takes theme time to settle in before you will begin to see their best form. I don't think that's anything to do with their ability it's about a frame of mind that in turn affects the way they play

preaching a nervous encouragement

2007-05-04T13:29:00.000+01:00

A week gone without one Blog....poor show on my part. The reason for my written absence is nerves as this Sunday i have been asked to preach/speak at the main service. An honour i never thought I'd get and an honour that makes me very nervous. Mentally I've been preparing for it all week but practically only today have i had time to sit down and really flesh out what it is i will say.

Worst case scenario is that i commit heresy in front of the congregation and never get asked to speak again. Best case scenario is that i do well and share the glory of having spread a strong practical message - therefore furthering God's kingdom. I will also have the honour of having preached on the same stage as Steve Chalke, Tony Blair and the Bishop of Durham.

Beneath the nerves i am excited by this opportunity.

A Birthday to remember.....

2007-04-27T11:36:00.000+01:00

I'm well aware that my Blog is a mass of confused thoughts and that when i look back on it I'll realise how I've contradicted myself. But i think that contradiction is great thing....I've been completely honest in this Blog and therefore the people reading have been given an opportunity to share in my journey....i hope that it may have also ignited some reflection in people. Blogs will be read by people who you never meet and it's wonderful to think that in some way they might relate to what is being said. I believe an honest Blog is one that will connect with people and that is why I'm going to offer this confession......

Monday 23rd April, a training day for me where my team we're being taught how to teach sex education in Schools. This was a great opportunity for reflecting on teenage crisis and in some way trying to re-connect ourselves with being thirteen. (not quite sure why i started on about this topic - not really sure how to get out of it).......On Monday evenings i make a fifty minute journey up to Essex to help plant an Oasis youth club. As i got ready to leave for Enfield (Essex) i received a text from my sister: "Andrew, have you forgotten something?".....it suddenly hit me that her birthday was the 24th April (the next day) and i had totally forgotten. I text back quickly: "No I've not forgotten. It;s your birthday tomorrow!". Cat replied: "Andrew you dope, my birthday is today!". For the first time in twenty years (rough estimate) i had forgotten my sisters birthday and i felt terrible. Especially since Cat is always so good at remembering my birthday....in fact Cat always buys me the best gifts.

I never want this Blog to appear as me sitting on my 'good boy' pedestal writing about the perfect church and world changing work. The reality is that my family mean more to me than anything I've ever written in this Blog. To have become so detached that i forgot my sisters Birthday bothers me a lot. Daily i act as a role model for young people and daily i consider how to have a more positive impact on the community i work within....However, if i could only impact one area of the community i would impact families. To appreciate one another by remembering their birthdays, using and practicing love as a natural daily thing. I have no doubt that the struggle existing within communities is partly down to family breakdown.....

Apologies Cat.

feeling accepted in church....is this a common thing?

2007-04-24T12:02:00.000+01:00

One of the favourite parts of my job is meeting new people who come along to the church. Mostly we find that the people interested in what we do are people who have had a negative experience of church and have taken time out to reflect on what to do next.....over the last two weekends I've been getting to know a couple who are really unsure about church as they've had many an unhappy experience. I'll call them Harold and Madge for the purposes of confidentiality and they are truly great people. Harold would class himself as an atheist and Madge has grown up in a christian family attending church all her life. Despite their difference in belief they are very much in love and it's great to be around them.

They have been worried how churches would react to their relationship and therefore not attended. Isn't it awful that people would be worried about attending a church because of how they will be judged....when they heard about church.co.uk they decided to attend aware of our inclusive ethos. I think we sometimes underestimate how much it means to people when they are accepted for who they are. Harold in the two weeks he has attended 'head space' our evening service has become really encouraged by the idea of church. He likes the idea of a church community that is more concerned with supporting each other practically, rather than one that only teaches the bible. Our approach in head space is to reach out to all people and as a result we've developed a service that allows people time to reflect on their lives and how they can make more time for themselves and others.

I feel so encouraged that Harold, Madge and others have found a place where they can be comfortable with who they are....in society we are always conforming to demands but in church we should be able to come as we are and feel fine about that. This is called being 'inclusive' it's challenging because when people come as they are they smell, they swear, their drunk.....they cry. As a people are we willing to include people like this into our groups? Right now it's easier for me because it's my job to be inclusive. I hope that after the job is over i will continue to be inclusive and accepting of people. There has been discussion between me and my boss that after this year i will struggle to find another church. The struggle will exist because there are small number of churches in the country who are similar to Church.co.uk.....i hope this changes. If you want to read more about what inclusive church looks like then read "the intelligent church" by Steve Chalke. A great book which is truly inspiring for Christians and non-Christians alike.

caring for a number needing more care than i can give

2007-04-19T17:35:00.000+01:00

It's sprummer (a word made up of spring and summer) in London. I've noticed a change in the people, their happier. I wonder whether London sits dormant during winter anticipating the burst of summer. In the space of a few weeks my attitude towards this place has changed. After work we go to Bishops park and play football with some of the young people. There is talk of barbecues and drinking cold beer in the garden.....The youth work I'm doing has taken on a different shape in that we can now make use of the outdoors. No longer are our resources subject to what we can do in a church sports hall. Now we can take groups of kids to the park to play softball and football. Throughout winter parks looked dull disused spaces but now the parks are coming to life with groups of people engaging in sporting activities.

At Kids Hub (kids club) yesterday we took the young people to the park for the first time this year. It was a great idea because in the space we could allow them freedom to enjoy themselves. In a building there are so many restrictions, especially for kids where electrical equipment, stairs, kitchens etc pose such a hazard. Most of the boys opted to play football at the park and so a game of 'no out of play' jumpers for goals football ensued. I takes me back to watch fifteen boys cluster around one ball all battling for possession (even if their on the same team). It also make me laugh to watch the game use up so much space. No matter where the girls played soft ball the boys would end up running onto their turf. With a lack of sidelines the game has a flowing freedom but also a frustrating disorganisation. Sadly, during the football an argument erupted between two of the boys and i stepped in to stop it. However, the result of my intervention was that one of the boys turned on me and began to tell me to get out of his face (this was coming from an 11year old).....I 'got out of his space' quickly and my team mate stepped in. It was a really negative experience for me because he explained to my team mate that he felt i was always on his back and he really didn't want to be around me. What also affected me was the way he was speaking. He sounded more like an adult in the sense that he was telling me to get away before he did something bad. I didn't feel worried for my safety but I'm not totally comfortable with conflict and didn't have the opportunity to put the situation right. I think he's a great kid but he does misbehave a lot and so as a leader i feel a responsibility to step in. Maybe it's been a good learning experience for me because being a leader means that you will be asked to deal with conflict. At the de-brief session afterwards me and my team discussed his behaviour and we discovered that his mum and dad had split up in recent weeks.....

We don't have the benefit of background information at Kids Hub, which means that we often treat kids as a group and not individual cases. I would not be lying if i said that most of the kids at our club exist in a mass of poverty, social exclusion and family breakdown. It is so difficult to find the balance between caring and disciplining problematic behaviour. All year I've been trying to adjust my approach to enable me to make the young people feel cared for and at the same time aware that there are behavioural rules they most follow. So difficult..... I remembered something the other day that i learned in University. We were taught to approach every young person with the mindset that they could be coming from any number of difficult situations. Again this is difficult and for the most part i think I'm consistent with this approach. However, there are times when forty kids is a number to great.....more volunteers would help!

rediscovery as a continued theme

2007-04-17T11:24:00.000+01:00

So back in London after two weeks away I'm feeling fresh and energised....i spent the first of my weeks on holiday in Scotland and the second of my weeks working at Spring Harvest (t-in-the-park for Christians) in Skegness. Last week at Springy i began to long for London and my work...i longed for the kids, the families and my workmates. The festival is filled with inspiring christian speakers and i really enjoyed the input as a way of recharging my batteries. However, it also brought me back to a place i had been before. A place where i felt overloaded with input and not being able to transfer that into output. So now back in London i feel really keen to work on. I feel a sense of direction that i haven't felt for a while. It's almost as if i re-discovered why i want to work with people and why i chose to follow this path to fight social justice (i don't think i ever lost it but you know....rediscovered direction)

It was encouraging to work with young people at Springy who were really hungry to change the world. It reminded me of what it was like to be 18 and just realising for the first time that life outside of education was a wealth of opportunities to have a practical influence on the world....anyway I'm writing this during working hours and i don't consider it work so i should stop. I think I've RE-realised that it's important to have a focus in your work. I feel really passionate about a lot of things but i want to have a clarity throughout my social action....i like seeing people fulfil their potential and it disappoints me when people aren't aware of the opportunities available to them...

Sorry mate you cant come in this way.....oh yes i can i've got a press pass

2007-03-29T17:52:00.000+01:00

Sunday night was the 'voice of slavery' gig in Kentish Town. Stop the Traffik (part of Oasis) were involved and i decided to go along to help. I've never arrived at a gig two hours early but it was brilliant..... The headline act for the night were Razorlight and i arrived just in time to see them soundcheck. After this i was employed in the task of setting up the Stop the Traffik stand and putting on a Stop the Traffik t-shirt....the latter being the most challenging (it's not always cool to wear skinny t-shirts and being at a gig i felt it essential to still look a little cool). As the punters began to arrive i handed out fliers and asked people to sign declaration cards. Stop the Traffik hopes to have 1million signatures by September to take to the EU and so having everyone at the gig sign up was essential.

The other part of my work that night was to sell key rings priced at £1. This i found really difficult because i didn't like bothering people when they were either chatting or watching a band. In fact i got some very angry looks at the beginning of the night from people obviously feeling they had spent enough on the £25 without being pushed into buying a keyring they might never use. However, this changed as people's attitudes softened and the beer flowed.....

After about two hours i was waiting at the stand as I watched one of my colleagues tip two hundred pounds worth of keyring sales onto the table.....i asked him his tactics (i felt seriously challenged by his sales) and he explained that he just asked everyone if they wanted a keyring! Inspired by his 'let's stop slavery approach' i started out afresh with my bag of key rings and headed for the VIP area. The VIP area was different to the punters area in that it was less crowded and far quieter. This created a good temperature for discussion and i felt confident that my communications skills would be best used in the VIP area. Indeed i was correct and i worked the room talking about Stop The Traffik, the abolishment of slavery and dress styles. I was very quickly selling most of my key rings and engaging people in the whole abolishing slavery thing (most people had come along to see razorlight, Finlay quay and supergrass). During one conversation and sign the declaration card session the girl i was standing with screamed "it's Finaly Quay" and pushed me over to him. I stuck out the signature form and he politely signed it. From this point on i was now the Stop The Traffik volunteer who had collected Finlay Quays autograph.....people all round had seen me meet Finlay and i was crowded by people desperate to sign the declaration form and also see if he had actually signed it.

I watched Razorlight from the VIP area play one of the best sets i've ever seen. I then rushed downstairs to stand at the door as people left in an attempt to promote Stop the Traffik one last time. Once everyone had left the building i stood outside with the people awaiting taxi's in the hope that i might sell a few more keys. Eventually i accepted that no more key rings would be sold and i returned inside to clear up. During the clear up process it was so exciting to be allowed backstage and to see razorlight standing a few yards away. It was such a great opportunity and one that i imagine i would only get in London. Being with Oasis has opened up a lot of doors for me and i will always remember that. However, i was very aware of one thing during the gig and that was how distant Christianity seemed from the whole event.....Steve Chalke bravely took to the stage after one of the bands to speak about Stop the Traffik and i felt for him as delivered a perfect message to the wrong audience (is that because Christians don't always exist within this audience?). His discussion would have been relevant in any church but not in a gig venue in front of hundreds awaiting to see popular bands play. I was just very aware at that time of the gap between the christian outreach and non-Christians. Sadly the christian world doesn't have a razorlight!!

Staying on in London with Oasis would present me with many fantastic opportunities. However, at the same time i know i would struggle to exist within a christian bubble. I hope this doesn't come across as a criticism because it's not. I love Oasis and in the future would love to work for them but for now i see no point in being a spiritual young man existing inside an already spiritual environment....i think that Jesus might agree.

so who are.....? i'm a church volunteer!

2007-03-22T17:39:00.000Z

I'm doing this really exciting piece of family work at the moment which I'm really enjoying. I'm enjoying being involved in a crisis situation. That might sound strange enjoying somebody else's crisis but it's the buzz that i enjoy most about people work. I really like the communication between different workers and piecing together how we can improve this families situation. Obviously i can't go into much detail about the circumstances because of confidentiality but i can say that this family has been victim to gang crime and have decided to leave their council home. This has led to many issues for them, namely the threat of being classed as intentionally homeless. If this happens they would certainly struggle to find housing in the future.

Because of a gang related incident one of the children is now in hospital. I had arranged to meet the mother in the hospital to discuss the options available to her. The walk to the destination went well and i was very impressed with how quickly the green man appeared as i waited to cross roads. Inside the hospital i was also successful at navigating my way to the Children's ward. However, once there i found some obstacles. Two women were sat at the security desk and neither of them possessed welcoming smiles. As i approached the desk i felt neither confident or very able to describe why i was in fact there. As i explained who i wanted to see both women continued to give me a blank unimpressed look. After my introduction one of them asked if i had the patients date of birth and i said 'no'. This wasn't a piece of information I'd asked the mother for. Had the women asked, i could have told them the patients address or surname but without the date of birth it seemed i was going no where. I tried to pull out the trust me I'm a nice young man with a nice smile and nice accent card but again i was greeted with secure looking security staff faces. I was beginning to feel really worried because it looked more and more certain that i wouldn't be allowed in and therefore i would be breaking my commitment of meeting the mother (although i do it, i hate letting people down....especially blow up people). I decided as a last ditch attempt to convince the guards of my genuine position i would call the mother. However, her phone was engaged and i was quickly asked to leave and next time to arrive with the appropriate and essential information.

On leaving the hospital i considered my position. I mean, to the security staff i was just a community centre worker.....i had no position of authority or declared responsibility. This i felt was very frustrating because if i was approaching the same situation as a positioned social worker i probably wouldn't have the same problems. I would have an identification card, a smart bag and probably the confidence of being an established family support worker. Instead i was a twenty three year old male, dressed casually and looking very out of his depth (when i reality wasn't) because i didn't feel confident about my role. I love the Church i work for and it's ethos but the part of work I'm trying to establish (advocacy and support) is a tough challenge because currently i have no professional authority. Some might say that this kind of authority is irrelevant if you care but i don't think care alone is enough....in order to find out certain information you need to be someone who's title speaks for itself. I'm sure that people's perception of me changes once we've chatted but at first glance they must think how can this young church worker have any relevant involvement in a Caribbean family's life. I've had this discussion with people throughout my years of people work and still feel that once i have a few grey hairs I'll be more accepted in this people work environment. My role now is to show that despite my few years experience i care a whole lot about the welfare of people in this world and my feeling that this passion entitles me to be where i am. It may be that in years to come my passion is substituted for my experience....I hope not.

On my way home i received a call from the mother explaining that in fact she had not been in the hospital when we had arranged to meet!

Brixton is a great place.....in the morning!

2007-03-21T18:47:00.000Z

I always get worried about my trek home to Brixton at night.....Throughout my whole time living there i have witnessed little of the horror stories that have embedded themselves into my head. Daily i am offered drugs and the Police presence often makes you think that something has happened. (just to clarify i have rejected all offers of drugs!). When we first arrived in Brixton there was a sign at the end of the street asking for evidence regards a fatal stabbing but since then i have not heard of anything. No matter how much time i exist in safety i will always be affected by the fairy tales that are attached to Brixton. Fairy tales of gang riots, muggings and shootings.....The reality is that the crime exists within gang circles and the muggings happen as often as in any other city. If your stupid enough to walk home through brixton at 3am then you may be mugged......Despite my safety I don't think i'll ever feel truly comfortable in Brixton!

However, in the Morning Brixton is just buzzing with activity.....i really like leaving the house to join the other ten thousand people heading into the centre of London. At the Bus Stop i await the number 59 and watch as a continuous line of people walks past me. It was only this morning that it really struck me how difficult it was to get from one side of the pavement to the other. My team-mate Steve was standing on the other side of the pavement and in order to get to him i had to time my move to perfection. In order to dodge the next person i had to be sharp, silky and a little cheeky. People were flying by at an incredible rate (faster than the average 5mph for a walking person) obviously focused on their journey to work. I noticed a gap in the line of people traffic and made a move......out of no where a pram appeared (yes, without a parental driver) and i was forced back into my position. Undefeated i steadied myself to make another move across the pavement and next time was more successful. So overcome with my achievement that i hugged Steve and he hugged me.....we had done it!

Although a little dramatic the above highlights one of my biggest frustrations about London. How i long for days where i can walk or cycle to work.....oh and if you get a chance to see the film 'freedom writers' do it. I took my Oliver twist esc mentee to see it today and it was great. Educational yet inspiring.

Frontline for 18 -25 year olds.....oh and the odd fifty year old

2007-03-19T17:20:00.000Z

Please do not let this most recent post distract from the one I've just written below but I'd like to point out my latest media appearance. If you visit www.oasistrust.org you'll see that a 50yr old looking Andrew Nelson has made it onto the front page advertising Frontline UK.

It's certainly not my greatest picture that i agree........

Living for today.....

2007-03-19T16:35:00.000Z

This whole Gap year thing is strange because there are such distinct stages. You start and it's difficult adjusting to a new environment but eventually you become settled. Then you begin to work hard and perform well but by the time you've got to here it's time to prepare yourself for moving on. This is how the year has felt to me. As time goes on i feel more and more comfortable in London but more and more anxious about my future.

On Sunday we were discussing the concept of living for today. Does anyone ever live for that day alone and nothing else? Dave (senior minister) used the example of people going on Holiday to aid our understanding. He explained how people always say "but, we're going on holiday in July" indicating that they're looking forward to going on holiday. This is fine but it suggests that the here and now is miserable. I feel as guilty of this as anyone. In fact i constantly think about the future because i like to feel in control of whats ahead. However, I'm very aware that this stops me from enjoying some days for what they are. It stops me from embracing every day spent in London so that i don't reflect on it years later and think about how i should have appreciated it more. The days when I'm content and enjoying life as it comes are rare because constantly I'm reminded of the future by other people. I realise that it's just part of life but how wonderful would it be if there was a wider acceptance in society of today and what that brings.

It was also discussed that people too often dwell on the past and how good things were. But in reality the past is only good because we block out all the negatives and only remember the positives. I know for a fact in five years i will only remember this year for diverse London, great people, great food, culturally engaged church and not the times i have struggled. In Social Work i was taught about Solution Focused Brief Therapy where people going through the therapy are encouraged to focus on the future. It is considered that the past although important is a reminder of how things were and exists as a negative influence. Whereas, the future is unwritten and people are asked to think of their issues only in a future sense. It is felt that this helps people to overcome their problems in a more positive way.

Dave used a really useful analogy to help us think about living in today. He talked about teaching his son to ride a bike and how frustrating it had been for months to see him make no progress. But suddenly on Saturday it had just clicked and he could now ride a bike without any assistance. One of things his son had struggled to realise whilst learning was that he had to keep pedalling. If he stopped pedalling he'd fall. If he looked back on the bike (checking to see if his dad was still holding on to him) whilst pedalling he also fell over. However, when he began to look forward and pedal hard he found that he could ride the bike. The future is only meaningful when we've enjoyed the journey to get there. If we don't pedal today then we'll always be living for the future and that holiday that's three months away. This is something I'm really gonna focus on in order to really squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of this year because because before i know it it'll be over!

TV Appearance

2007-03-16T19:28:00.000Z

Yesterday i had the priveledge to make my first national tv apearance. The heaven and earth show is on BBC1 at 10am on Sunday. I'm an extra in an interview with Malcolm Duncan from Faithworks. Faithworks is part of Oasis and they were doing some filming in the centre. It just so happened that i was working in the coffee shop when the filming took place and they asked me to sit in the background....

Please check it out

No picture of inky face but one of my weekend in Suffolk....

2007-03-15T10:55:00.000Z

See if you can guess which one i am....here's a clue i'm wearing green!

If i wanted to document my day i'd show you my diary....

2007-03-15T10:39:00.000Z

Just wanted to quickly reply to a comment left on my last post. I've not had any Blog abuse yet but i feel that this comment verged on abusive.

I would like to think that no friend of mine would ever use the word 'retard' especially when describing someone. I find even using this word within my Blog offensive and would like to point out that if this word is so readily used within someones vocabulary then they are a danger to the peace that we crave within society.

The comment also pointed out that i "did nothing today" when i actually got ink on my face and observed London in the sun. If this Blog was just about work then i don't think it would do my year in London justice. Much of my experiences happen outside of a working environment and it is these i care to write about. Also, I promised right back at the start of this Blog that i would include stories about 'the embarrassing things that happened to Andrew'. These incidents happen rarely and so i tend to document them when they do.

I would encourage 'anonymous' to read this Blog with an open mind and hopefully think more carefully before posting a comment with such abusive intent. Or i would ask that 'anonymous' be a little braver with their comments and at least give themselves a name so that i can respond. I would gratefully appreciate peoples comments in response to what 'anonymous said'. Thank you Suzie for already doing this.

carrier bags and sunny days

2007-03-14T19:07:00.000Z

Aw man the weather was so good here today.....

Because the weather was so good i decided to walk into Oxford Circus on my lunch break to visit the borders book store there. I got completely lost on the way but thankfully ended up in Oxford Circus without really thinking i was going the right way. Once in the book store i purchased the magazine i was looking for and made for the exit. Outside the store i was again welcomed by the warm sunshine and i decided to walk back to work instead of taking the tube (the buses were all held up by protests today. Something about spending 70billion on our nuclear submarines...).

Again i managed to get lost on the way home but thankfully ended up at millennium bridge and i enjoyed the walk home along south bank. In the sun London really comes to life and your greeted with such a diverse group of people all enjoying themselves. On one park i saw homeless people enjoying the sun alongside people who were not homeless (i rather liked this). It was nice to arrive back to work and find people sitting on the steps outside and i had a great conversation with a disabled guy I've got to know really well....I walked back in the coffee shop entrance to find Oasis officials chatting about the future and felt good when they took time to say hello to me.....i felt a spring in my step as i walked through the coffee shop back to my office, smiling at all the customers.

Once back in the office Sam my team mate asked me if I'd been using ink. I asserted that i hadn't and then he asked why i had black ink all over the side of my face. I looked at my hands and found that all the print from the 'borders' bag had come off in my hand so when i touched my face it had transferred......not the best look i feel!

Creating a culture of over protection

2007-03-13T18:54:00.000Z

Again i approach another Blog entry with the guilt that it has been some time since i last wrote about something. I think i used the 'I've been busy card' to early in this whole Blog thing because busy back then doesn't compare to busy now. I'm now cooking on Gas whereas in the past i was cooking with a solar powered torch. I really like writing on this Blog but it's very difficult at the end of a long day to write something. I guess one of the benefits of a Blog is the self discipline. Anyway on with the blogging......

We had a team meeting at the beginning of the week and we were discussing our approach to work. As a volunteer its hard to be as disciplined about work as you might be in paid position. Perhaps this isn't the normal experience of voluntary work but i think for me the pay acts as a reward and within voluntary work you have to find other rewards for your work. I tend to feel pretty guilty if i don't work hard and this has been the driving force behind my work. However, at times i have still felt the temptation to take a morning off with the pushing factor being that I'm not getting paid for my time.

Our manager expressed that his biggest worry for us as Gap year workers was that we would develop a false reality of work and therefore has pushed us to consider our voluntary years the same as a paid years work. Our managers other concern was that we were creating too protective environment for ourselves. Throughout the year we've spent time with our mentors who encourage us not to work to hard and to watch our stress levels. Whereas perhaps a Gap year should be a time when you should work harder than you sometimes feel capable of. To do this allows you to test your limits and to also really test your capabilities as a future employee.

In a world where depression and stress affect so many people, the generation above us are desperate to protect us. Having trained as a social worker I'm well aware of the dangers such as 'burn out' and 'depression'. However, i wonder whether the current problems are creating a generation of workers who are over protective of themselves and never really push themselves without a bout of tiredness affecting their determination to work hard. Is it possible to get burnt out in a gap year....in the past i would have always said yes and now I'm not sure but i think i have to be very careful about the balance of work and fun in my life.

Stray shots and direct punches

2007-03-06T19:11:00.000Z

I can quite confidently declare that my youth and children work skills are improving while I'm here....it may not appear that way as i stand shouting at a group of thirty kids who don't appear to be listening to me. This has happened on many occasions. I have also been victim to shouting louder than i've ever shouted in an attempt to try and regain some control of a room full of kids. Whenever this happens i think to myself 'that's what I'll be like when I'm a dad'. Its the fact that my skills are being challenged that tells me I'm improving.

For example, tonight at football i tried in vain to remain positive and encouraging throughout the session. However, as soon as we stepped into the sports hall i failed - J decides not to work on his passing and instead decides to shoot at the wall, eventually hitting F in the face with a volatile left footed volley....seeing only the injured child and the culprit i instantly roar at J to sit out for two minutes so i can speak to him once i've dealt with the injury. Meanwhile T has gone in the huff because he can't do the passing exercise and C has run out of the building because S punched him....That's a normal night.

Under those kind of conditions and my people skills stretched to their max i can only be getting better at crisis intervention....or maybe my physical health is taking some severe punishment.

Blog Back

2007-03-06T15:04:00.000Z

Apologies for my obvious lazy attitude towards my Blog (work has been very busy and the Blog as well as my health has suffered!)....I have to go and do under 14's football now! Ever a joyful struggle. However, i'll write something after the football is over.

Stop the Traffik...

2007-02-15T17:39:00.000Z

Please do support the cause 'stop the traffik'....it's part of Oasis and based in our building. Basically the aim of the group is to stop human traffficing around the world. Their current campaign is based upon the chocolate industry where they are encouraging people to eat fair trade chocolate only....there is some really interesting stuff on their website:http://www.stopthetraffik.org/. Please check it out.

I'm writing about Stop the Traffik because i think it's a great cause. However, it also brought about an exciting end to my day. Dave Parr (currently doing a voluntary gap year as Steve Chalkes driver) asked me at around four o'clock whether i wanted to help him attach a Stop the Traffik banner to the front of the church....i happily agreed. As Dave later said "you always feel like you've done a good days work when you've been up a ladder". So up a ladder i climbed, banner in hand... Now it might not sound so exciting but it really was. The Church is right in the centre of Lambeth so we were drawing a lot of attention from the commuters walking by. One guy even came up the steps to ask us what Stop the Traffik was....that was before we had even put the banner up! Now the banner is up and i am pleased with our work. Sometimes i get frustrated that the community we serve doesn't know how much we have on offer here. I would love to be able to find a way to tell all people but i realise that these days it's harder and harder to reach some groups within society....especially in London with such diverse language and culture barriers.

I'm now into my sixth month in London and i feel like time is slipping away.....we've achieved so much as a working community centre but i feel like there is so much still to do. We now have the coffee shop pulling in good numbers of customers, the kids clubs are establishing themselves as popular events within the community (one kid has refused to go to his drama lessons because he wants to come to our club)....At the school where i work half a day a week Oasis Mentoring is 'well' cool....within the year group we work with all the kids want to be mentored by Oasis! The Football Training is looking like producing a successful football team which will be entered into a local league come next season. My main project 'the advocacy service' is growing wings and it looks as if it will be fully in place by the time i finish to be carried on by the Church congregation and volunteers.

Then sometimes i fear what will happen when me and the other volunteers leave and the team will go from 12 to 4....then i remember that the great thing about this Church is that it's part of a bigger agenda. One that i'm in no way control of and one that i will never fully grasp....

Imax.....

2007-02-14T17:04:00.000Z

Today's been very cool.....

We had our first Kids Club trip and we visited the i-max cinema to watch 'Lions of the Kalahari'. What a brilliant event it turned out to be after i had lost my glasses, cleaned up sick and facilitated a mental game of 'duck duck goose'. I remember when i was at primary school and we had school trips. Teachers were so organised they had everything under control. We on the other hand were a group of eight young people with the kids of twenty parents learning how to do an outing for the first time.....

When H told me he needed to go to the toilet i could tell by the colour of his face that it wasn't because he needed a pee. Scared that he would be sick all over the pizza i rushed him to the nearest toilet where he did the inevitable. I hadn't been expecting that! His mum works across the road so we went to get her. She arrived and told us he was fine and so we carried on with the day. As soon as his mum left I saw him go to the toilet. When he returned i asked him if he had been sick again? He informed me he hadn't! I wasn't so sure and so i went to the toilet because i knew he wouldn't have flushed it away....in the toilet i found the inevitable and returned to tell H that he would need to go home. It was a real shame because he didn't want to leave. I knew to check the toilet because once when were at a football centre he needed a pee and so i showed him where the toilets were. I also needed so i went after he had gone and found that he had actually peed in a shower! I decided to use the toilet....

When we arrived at the imax i needed to go to the toilet (a theme appearing here) and so i asked S aged five to hold my glasses (i dont know why i couldn't just have taken my glasses to the toilet!!). When i returned the glasses had gone and S didn't have a clue where they were! Just as i started looking the film started and i had to wait until the end before i could find them. I did find them..... crushed up against the chairs in front!

As for Duck Duck Goose, well its always mental no matter who's playing....there's always one kid who slips whilst trying to run round the circle at full speed! I think today i learned that despite difficulties these kids have cemented themselves in my heart. The longer i work with them the more i see their potential. For weeks we've been working on passing at football training and the kids just weren't getting it! But last night i watched as three of the boys passed the ball from one end of the pitch to the other and then scored....the feeling inside was amazing, like i had just overcome the greatest of challenges. As i tied my shoes this morning i started thinking how great it was that we were working with kids of age 7+ because as long as their living in this community we'll be involved in supporting and encouraging them.....Even just walking home from the imax today was brilliant....being out of the centre you see the kids in a different light.

I thought i'd add some pictures of me working.... in case it was in question i actually did work.

Does God love chickens?.....probably

2007-02-13T18:45:00.000Z

I report sadly that Andrew's hair was cut at 12pm today....i'm sure each of you reading this Blog will have at some time taken a constructive look at his mop! I can report that Andrew is happy with the cut but sad to have now lost what can regarded as a useful homeless outreach tool....Many people made commented how Andrew's hair looked like that of a rough sleeper.

The image below is a wonderful one.....i encourage you to follow your dreams. I led the evening service on Sunday night and i used this image. I felt pleased that everyone could open mindedly see the beauty of this cartoon. It's by edward monkton who is quickly becoming my hero alongside jesus, my dad and the tellytubbies (what they did for this world is a constant inspiration).

2007-02-08T17:56:00.000Z

Woke up this morning and found it had snowed....that was a nice surprise. Managed to squeeze in an early morning snowball fight before it all melted. It's not just the people that move fast in London it's also the weather. It rains quickly, the snow melts quickly.....so now there is no snow left!

Carrying on this theme of good deeds i wanted to write about a couple of things I've seen in the last week. On Friday i went out with my team to celebrate my Birthday (I'm now 23) and we had a great time. It's the first time since we arrived in London that we've all gone out together and we really benefited from it. Things were getting a little tense at work mainly because we were spending too much time working together and not enough time socialising. But after Friday night we all felt great having witnessed each other's company in an environment outside work....Anyway, we were standing at the bus stop awaiting our bus home when we were approached by this guy. He asked us if we had change of a fiver so he could buy his bus ticket. Each of us raked in our pockets but were unable to find five pounds worth of coins. We apologised and turned to walk away. Then in a moment of inspiration i said "we could just give you the one fifty to buy your ticket!" and each of my team agreed. At first the guy hesitated but took our money gratefully and bought his ticket. It was so wonderful to see his face once the ticket was bought. It was like he had just realised what had happened and was like wow! He asked us how he could repay us and we refused recognising it as a kind deed that would cheer him up. We found out his name and chatted until our buses arrived.

Then last night i was travelling back to Brixton on the Bus and i noticed that the girl sat behind me was crying......Here goes i thought searching for a sweet in my bag ready to cheer her up but then i noticed she was on the phone, talking the issue through with someone. But i was ready, i had rhubarb and custard sweets in my bag. There is a definite routine in London of get up go to work come home and sleep. People are in that zone and i think very unable to deal with things that don't fit in with their routine. On Wednesday i was walking from my house to the bus and suddenly a guy behind me just yelled.....I got such a fright. I turned round and saw a man with his face was all smashed up and cut. What surprised me was not his appearance or actions but instead the reaction of people around him. No one seemed at all concerned or bothered. They were just walking focused and efficiently....they were in their zone.

Inclusive or exclusive in your view of other faiths?....can we truly respect people when we dont respect their faith?

2007-02-05T17:32:00.000Z

Inclusive or exclusive in your view of other faiths....surely followers of christ should be the most inclusive.

Every Monday morning we have training and it always inspires me. Today we were talking about our understanding of other religions and asking the question 'are we inclusive or exclusive in our view of religion'. We also considered what we as followers of Jesus are called to do concerning other religions. What i took from the session was the importance of having an inclusive stance towards other religions. Indeed, it was proposed that when we are exclusive of other religions we become defensive and this affects the way we present our faith. The war on terrorism is a perfect example of exclusive faith. George Bush presents as a christian quote "God loves America", yet we fight with weapons. Do we really want to wipe out another faith as a response to what has happened (i'm sure these are questions that have been asked before but it's just fresh in my head today). I also realise that i haven't felt the pain or desire for revenge that may come with losing someone to a terrorist act.

When we are inclusive we embrace others peoples views and in turn people feel respected. To open up some debate about who is right and who is wrong again is destructive. Instead acceptance is the key. As followers of jesus we are called to love and accept....yet so many Christians feel the need to attack other religions. It almost makes me want to break away from the term 'christian' because the influential people out there do the term so much harm. Think Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and others in the public eye who i cant think of right now. What Oasis feel strongly about is creating a new understanding of the term 'christian'. I want to be a follower of jesus.... Following the actions of someone who had such a love for other people seems more appealing that the 'anti' abortion, homosexuality, sex before marriage picture of christianity currently in parts of society. Please help to change this picture....

The thing i like most about what we covered today was this statement.... "Jesus came to the earth not to create religion but instead to show Gods love". Simple and comforting. Where did we get it all so wrong....

Chocolate as an approach to relieving the grieving

2007-01-29T17:33:00.000Z

London is a lonely place, anyone who has moved here would tell you that. I've benefitted from being part of a team moving into a new place together and so not experienced loneliness as other might. The reason i mention this is because recently i've seen example of London's loneliness. One example is my team-mate. She had received some bad news through a letter and sat crying on a bus. In a bus full of people nobody approached to ask if she was okay. Even the person sat beside her showed no response to her emotion.

Then on the train last wednesday me and my friend Dan watched as girl said goodbye to her friends and then burst into tears as they walked off the train. Dan and I had been at a concert and on the way to the train picked up some chocolate. Dan asked me if we should offer the girl some to cheer her up. We were both so moved by her grief that we felt we had to do something (surely that's the natural human response!). So after a couple of minutes i took the kinder bueno out my pocket and approached the girl. As i got close i said "i see your upset so i wanted to give you this to cheer you up....it's both nutritious and delicious". The girl smiled and took the chocolate. I returned to my seat smiling. Me and Dan watched as she ate the chocolate and her grief turned to happiness. Once the chocolate had been consumed she turned to us and said "thankyou, that's cheered me up no end". It was a really nice moment.

Spontaneous good deeds is something we should all take the opportunity to do. Although it takes a small step on our part to overcome our inhibitions it has the potential to change someone's day. No one should ever sit on a bus and cry without being offered some form of reassurance. I hope that you agree with me.

Kinder Bueno: Now the chocolate bar associated with spontaneous good deeds......mmmmm

Hub House - Save the youngsters

2007-01-26T14:03:00.000Z

I wanted to draw your attention to one of my webpage links. These can be found on the left hand side of this page under a section call 'places you wanna go see'. The specific link is entitled hub house and it outlines the centres plans to open up a state of the art youth centre. Pete the head youth worker is running the London Marathon to raise funds and he would value your support.

The youth centre when up and running will offer young people an internet radio station, a training suite, a meeting area and a beauty salon as a career opportunity. This youth hub will touch hundreds of young people lives. Your support would be greatly welcomed.

New experiences are a good thing but I wouldn't like to be hit by a car

2007-01-22T16:04:00.000Z

If you ever want to experience something then come to London. I believe that the people responsible for advertising London around the world could really market the city with the slogan ‘experience everything in London’. Obviously that’s a weak statement because I’m not even sure of everything that there is to experience but I’m pretty sure that you can do it in London.

I’ve had experiences in London that I wouldn’t have gotten in Perth. For example eating Jamaican food (seriously it’s some of the best food I’ve ever had, jerk chicken or even just rice and peas with jerk sauce). Maybe that’s a bad example because someone in Perth could make Jamaican food. My point is that I’ve been opened up to so many different cultures and it’s a really wonderful experience. Often I sit on the bus into work and try to work out where the different languages being spoken are from.

The reason I’m writing about experiences is because I had a very new one yesterday. I was leaving the centre heading to the post office to post a letter (obviously! Although I could have been going for a chicken mayo baguette, only £1.99). As I fixed my headphones into my ears I looked up to see a car screech to a halt and man bounce up onto the bonnet and then smack onto the road. First onto the scene I pulled out my phone and called an ambulance. By the time I got through to the right people I was beside the man. He was conscious but obviously in real pain. It was really hard to speak to the emergency people because the traffic hadn’t stopped and the vehicles passing were really noisy. I explained to the man that I was calling an ambulance and they would be with us soon. The driver of the car was standing over the man looking very concerned. Another pedestrian had come running over when it happened and he began to speak to the injured man. He asked him where he felt pain etc. Within about two minutes of my call the Police, the Ambulance and the Fire Brigade joined us. I had to give a statement to the police about what I saw (from what people were saying the man had walked out in front of the car from behind a truck). I told them I only saw the collision.

The man was taken to hospital and we were reassured he would be fine. Then I went to the post office to post my letter and I was more careful than normal when I had to cross roads.

New years resolution failure

2007-01-16T10:39:00.000Z

I never could do new years resolutions...and it seems a week in i've already failed to Blog everyday....

Yesterday we had a training session on group communication and in front of each other we had to present for 90seconds on a subject of our choice....I've always found talking in front of people fine but yesterday in front of my small team i couldn't. Not a very nice experience becuase i felt totally useless afterwards.....Perhaps it's becuase there are so many good publice speakers within Oasis and as a result you see yourself being able to reach a different level. I mean Steve Chalke is a great public speaker and i suppose that is what we're being asked to strive towards.

It was interesting to learn the traits of a good public speaker....one that makes eye contact with his audience, one that captures people's attention and one that uses stories and illustrations that people (young and old) can relate too. Dave our minister told us that these were essential skills for a church leader to have. Mainly to keep the church excited by it's vision.

After a visit to Church.co.uk one of my good friends once asked me a question. "If God is really so incredible and his word so wonderful, why do we need preachers and exciting speakers to sell the word?" Is it time to stop preaching, to change what church offers to people. To something active, something more community based....something that revolves around community and discussion and fellowship. Tea and coffee drinking and chatting. Minsiters as discussion prompters and carers. Encouraging people to meet and greet. Just a thought out loud becuase i think my friends got a point....I'm hoping i'll get some responses (gavin matthews).

Not always easy to be inlcusive

2007-01-12T13:14:00.000Z

I'll set the scene. The coffee shop in the centre is contently quiet. A few people sit scattered at numerous tables. Some having meetings, some reading books and others sitting reflecting. I'm behind the counter cleaning cups and plates awaiting the next customer to arrive so i can put my coffee maker hat back on. I really enjoy being in the coffee shop becuase i get to meet lot's of people. I always feel that its an opportunity to encourage people to make this their regular coffee house. This i do by chatting to customers and smiling warmly....(i would like to think that the face of the centre is one that smiles).

Every so often the tranquility of the coffee shop is disturbed by what can only be described as a penniless poet. Indeed, this is what he calls himself. The penniless poet enters the coffee shop loudly and aggressively and sits himself down beside the nearest customers. Once there he begins to resite poetry that he has written himself (some of it's actually very good). The problem with the penniless poet is that he makes a nuisnace of himself. He doesn't do anything quietly. He doesn't let other people speak and he can be very aggressive and nasty.

The dillemma facing the centre is how we deal with the penniless poet. We want so badly to be able to offer this homeless man a place he can feel welcome but while he acts the way he does we can't allow him into the coffee shop. So every time he arrives we always have to get the police in to escort him out. It doesn't matter how hard we work to settle him or chat to him he always does something that puts the safety of the customers in jeopardy....It really breaks my heart to see him taken out by the police.

The penniless poet shows me that it's impossible to be completely inclusive becuase no matter what you plan to do somebody will always be excluded. However, this shouldn't hinder our attempts to be as inclusive as possible.....

A glimpse of sunshine on a cloudy day

2007-01-11T18:21:00.002Z

I’m sure we all experience the moments where a small incident can change a bad day into a good day. I don’t know what you call those small moments but they’re wonderful. Today I had such an experience. Struggling to motivate myself on a slow Wednesday afternoon I groaned at the thought of doing kids club. I couldn’t understand why I felt so unenthusiastic because I love kids work. When the first kid arrived he came straight to me (F – you might remember him from past stories). Leaping and bounding he had one thing on his mind….Football. He grabbed my arm and we went through to the theatre of dreams that is the centres sports hall. Half an hour later and a full five-on-five football match was in swing. Me the oldest and tallest joined by nine 10year old boys in a game that made me so thankful to have the privilege of working in such an environment. It was an honour to be playing football with these boys.

Now I cant quite pinpoint when my attitude changed during that day but whenever it happened it’s a moment that is going to keep me motivated for a whole term.

2007 - a new era for this Blog

2007-01-11T18:21:00.001Z

My new years resolution is to Blog something everyday. Whether it’s just a paragraph on what I’ve done that day or a paragraph discussing the finer points of ‘inclusion in 2007’, I really want to update the Blog regularly. I think this will help people to get a greater understanding of my work in London.

I have a feeling that by updating my blog more regularly my work will seem less glamorous and more real life. Perhaps you’ll come to realise that I’m actually the tea boy for Oasis. Or worse, realise that I never actually do any work and this blog is filled with other peoples’ stories. Upon refection that isn’t actually a bad thought because I would love to be able to share other people’s stories. It’s a severe reality that many people leave this earth without ever having been able to tell their story. In this next term of work I really want to push on with the drop-in advocacy/support/advice service. Its development will allow the centre to offer a service for the excluded - Those people who haven’t had the chance to tell their life story.

One thing I’ve experienced in all my work with homeless men is that they love to talk about their lives. As a young trainee Social Worker (how old are you Andrew?) I was in the mindset that it was my job to provide the answers for people. This meant I probably never really gave the guys I worked with the opportunity just to talk. By allowing them space to speak it probably would have created a more honest and natural relationship. Three years on I feel really strongly about allowing people the opportunity to tell their story. Whether realistically this is always possible I’ll find out. What I know for certain is that people benefit from an unconditional ear that listens for no other reason than to enjoy a person’s life story.

The key to life is finding your spiritual home....not breaking the key

2006-12-19T17:17:00.000Z

At Long last I find myself in a position to write a blog entry. Its 16:49 I arrived in work this morning at 08:50 so I feel that entitles me to finish for the day (it’s the first time in two weeks that I’ve not had to work at night (it’s all about fifteen hour days here). Oasis enocurage us to work hard and also rest hard…so either I’m working hard or resting as hard as I can (that means doing absolutely nothing)….layed flat out on a bed somewhere or sometimes I just find a street corner to fall asleep on, comfier than you would expect.

Saturday was an especially long day….got up at seven to be at the centre for eight. Stewarded an event called equipped to lead until 6pm and eventually got home at around seven. I was really knackered, more mentally than physically. After four months of consistent smiling and engaging with hundreds of new people my head is beginning to feel a little fatigued….I don’t really enjoy feeling like this though because I get my kicks from being around people….Anyway I got back to the house at seven and relieved got my keys out to unlock the door. As I put the key in lock I thought about the food awaiting me and the comfy couch I could collapse in. Unlocked the bottom lock and the top lock and went to open the final lock. Put key in the lock and tried to turn it…..Strangely it didn’t move. Puzzled I tried and tried to get the lock open but it wouldn’t budge

(we’ve just moved into a new house and we got keys cut, we had never checked to see if all the keys actually worked)

I ran to Tesco’s just down the road to get my team mate Katherines keys (she was doing some shopping) and when I arrived back at the house her keys also wouldn’t open the lock. The only person who had keys I actually knew worked was Sam and he was in central london somewhere. I really didn’t want to go hunting for him. I decided to call him and explain the situation. As he answered my call I felt the key move in the lock and decided to hang up and attempt to force the lock, perhaps the key did work but it was just stiff. For about ten minutes I forced the lock until it was at a point where it was stuck….i was sure that if I could move it a little further round the door would open. I decided that I would ask my neighbour if she had a hammer.

After explaining to my neighbout that I wasn’t trying to break in she got me a hammer and a pair of pliers. I was pleased ot receive the pliers because I knew they would work better than the hammer. Once back at my house I placed the pliers on the key and turned…click went the lock and I felt a sense of relief knowing that I could now get in the house. As I pulled the key out the lock I noticed that in fact I had snapped the end of it off and in fact the door wasn’t open….Instead I had snapped the key in the lock. Gutted is the only word I can use to explain the way I felt at that point. Not only was I tired, hungry and cold. I was also locked out until I found a locksmith. Now, late on a Saturday night emergency locksmiths aren’t cheap….As I called round the different companies I was quoted prices of £85 - £120. Eventually I managed to get a company to come out for £70 within the hour.

An hour passed…..no locksmith (it was freezing that night)…..two hours passed no locksmith…..three hours passed and eventually on the horizon I saw transit van headlights….i was in the house within another hour. So what have I learned from this expereince?? If something won’t move….don’t force it!

Finding the write time to Blog.....

2006-12-14T17:29:00.000Z

I have been positively rubbish with the Blog recently....However, i have many valid excuses.

I am in the process of moving house (from my treatment room bedroom to a proper house in Brixton)

We have had two Christmas parties to organise. Last night i created and hosted the entratainment for 35 families. Some really good community engagement which made all the hard work worthwhile.

When not part of an orgnaising committee i'm handing out flyers in the local neighbourhoods to advertise our Carole's by Candelight service or dressing up as Santa Claus.

Also, i'm home a week on Friday and i hope that face to face i can tell the people who read this what i'm doing.... Special mention to Todd Whiteford and Garry Weir who have complained about my lack of Blogging. Apologies to them. I'm just finding it hard to write around this crazy time of year called christmas.

When i say church....what do you think of?

2006-12-07T17:02:00.000Z

Work is pretty hectic at the moment as we're closing in on Christmas. The centre is full of promotion flyers. Full of promotion flyers in the hope that the centre will soon be full of people. Thats the big vision anyway. Full all day every day. This morning i was street walking meeting people and promoting the christmas showcase at Church.co.uk. I was surprised by people's general enthusiasm about the event. Prior to starting the rounds i was sure people would be put off by 'another' church event. But they weren't and it was an up-lifiting experience for me....

Part of the trip out and about was to drop off flyers regarding our carers and kids service called 'Hullabaloo'. We visited a number of Schools asking them to advertise our service to carers by putting up posters. Most happily obliged, some were a little less willing. But generally the trip encouraged me that we were working in partnership with other organisations. However, when we arrived at the NHS health centre for Children and Parents we were given a frosty reception. In fact it was more than frosty. We were told to leave instantly and that they had no interest in promoting our service. Now, whether that was becuase i was young or whether i mentioned i worked for a church or becuase they'd had too many services like ours come to them. Anyway, on what had been an encouraguing trip i was a little disheartened by the events at the NHS health centre. My feeling is that in order for the Church to begin to have a significant impact in Britian it has to begin to work with existing services. Around about 100 years ago Church.co.uk records show that it had on it's staff team 10 doctors who delivered around 120 children. When the government created the NHS the Church had no doctors and no babies were delivered. Now the government finds itself in a situation where the job is just to big (stories of there not being enough beds in hospitals!). Indeed the Government would have benefitted in the long run had it continued the services of the Church back in the day. And indeed the Church would look very different to what it does today. It would have qualified teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers, counsellors, health visitors...etc etc.

The job facing the Church is to fill a gap in service provision that supports other orgnaisations and develops partnership working. A service that meets physical need first and then we can rely on God to work on people's spiritual needs...becuase he will but not if we keep talking at people instead of listening to them. A massive task, but it's begun....

Community spirit....Not just for Christmas

2006-12-03T15:58:00.000Z

A week has quickly gone by and my holiday is over.... At the end of last week i had began to feel my energy levels at a low and i really needed a break. But now after some home cooking, a warm comfy bed and quality time spent with my family and friends i'm ready to head back on down to London and work hard on the build up to Christmas. Christmas is a very busy time for Church.co.uk..... Youth Events for the young people, events for the older people and general community engagement. Armed with a few peices of my mum's chocolate traybake i also plan to shine some delight into what might be a miserable time for some people....That Chocolate traybake is quite something, just ask anyone who's has the opportunity to try it!

Christmas is definately a time of year when communities come together, whether that's kids playing in the snow or people attending school shows, pantomines etc etc.... Christmas is a unique time of year where different groups of people get together. I remember speaking to one of the mums dropping her child off at kids club. She asked if Church.co.uk would be putting on the christmas carol event again this year. I explained 'yes' and she was very pleased. She went on to tell me that earlier on in the year they had experienced a power cut. When the power went off she paniced not quite sure what to do....but then remembered that she still had the candles from the carol service at Church.co.uk. She lit them and was able to resolve the situation until the power came back on. She told that story with a real joy and gladness that really encouraged me. I'm not sure whether people enjoy church christmas services becuase they like singing or is it that they enjoy being part of a community.... Church.co.uk was packed last christmas and it will be again this year but just for that day. It's a real challenge for Churches to find attractive ways outside of christmas to bring people together in their communities.

Detached aka out in the wilderness

2006-11-24T17:30:00.000Z

One of the boys has stopped coming to the wednesday night club and so me and a colleague decided one evening to go round to his house and check he was okay. I've probably told myself hundreds of times that the best way to engage with a community is to live in it but recently i've struggled with that concept probably becuase i've found this community a bit scary. But on this night when we visited this house i had one of the best expereinces of my year so far.

As we arrived at the high rise building where he lived we noticed he and his brother were standing on the street about 100yds away. Brilliant i thought, now i dont have to climb the hundreds of stairs or get in the lift where guys have unrinated against the buttons...(true story). we got a really warm reception from the boys as we greeted them....Perhaps becuase they saw this visit as special treatment (indeed it was, we visited becuase we cared). I asked why he had stopped coming to club and he explained about one of the other boys annoying him. I explained that if he were to come back i'd keep a close eye on the other boy and try to make sure he left him alone. The boy still didn't seem to keen on coming back to club and so we just chatted for a while and then left. On our way back out of the area we met another boy (named Papa) who is probably one of the nicest kids i've met. Very layed back and always smiling. I asked him about football and how he was getting on.... he explained he was doing fine and might come back to football club at some point (inconsistency is our biggest problem). While we were talking to Papa some other kids came by and asked us who we were....we explained to them that we wroked for the Community Hub at Church.co.uk. They seemed interested. At that point a door opened an a woman looked out. Suspiciously she asked who we were (and why we were talking to her kids) and we explained about Church.co.uk. She also seemed very interested and we chatted for about ten minutes. In the end she offered to promote our work to other mums and she also said that she would send her kids to some of the available clubs..... It was so nice to be in the community engaging with people and getting to know them. Afterall the better we know the community the more relevant our services will be.

The following day it was kids club and the boy we had spoken to was back.....Appeared to have a great time.

Welcoming Tide....Incoming

2006-11-23T20:41:00.000Z

The 'Bottom' of the country

Sam and Kat playing chicken with the tide... Basically you have to see how close you can get to the incoming tide without getting wet. Kat inevitably got very wet shoes...she fell

The underwear trial at Eastbourne

2006-11-23T20:39:00.000Z

I’m running out of socks…..

I think the story I’m about to write verges on innapropriate in the sense that I’m about to discuss the topic of underwear. However, I ask that you read this with an open mind….I’m not about to tell you how often I change my underwear or discuss ‘going commando’.

Over the weekend I worked at Youthwork the conference in Eastbourne (lovely little place). It’s right on the bottom (bottom!! Ha….) of the country. For one whole weekend the little city of Eastbourne was engulfed by Youthworkers (that’s a scary thought when you think about your own expereince of youthworkers). I have to say that some youthworkers struggled without any kids being there. I suppose it’s a bit like a drug addict going without drugs for a weekend… They shake, they sweat…. So, as you can imagine Eastbourne was quite a sight. The basic outline of the event is for Youthworkers to congregate and discuss new methods of doing youthwork. My job was to steward which, involved guiding, smiling and engaging….Things I enjoy doing. One South African guy actually told me I was a fantastic steward.

What was also nice was that I got to leave my institutional home for the weekend. We were booked in at the Carlton Hotel, easily identified by it’s pink exterior. It wasn’t five star but I was just glad for a room with a carpet and a shower….The shower was heaven sent. If you weren’t aware, I don’t have a shower in my ex health centre home. As a steward at Eastbourne we were well looked after. We had backstage passess where the lounge was constantly filled with food and drinks to keep our energy levels up. In the morning we got croissants and in the evening £10 vouchers to eat wherever we wanted in Eastbourne…. I think we deserved it considering a steward works three 15 hour days. As I write this I’m very tired mainly because I didn’t get a break at the weekend…Although, however tired there is always something to keep you smiling at Church.co.uk. Whether it’s the ten toddlers who attend Hullabaloo on Thursday mornings or the kids at football group….sometimes a latte from the coffee shop provides a nice kick. On most days I’m motivated by the team around me. Always laughing, always joking….. Although having my accent copied has ceased to be humerous.

Okay, so I was in Eastbourne…. It first struck me on arrival at Eastbourne train station that I’d forgot to bring a change of boxers and socks….. Oh oh I though to myself. As a steward (face of the conference) you need to look fresh and clean. Clean underwear only helps to set you up for the day. I decided that I would clean my underwear each night and let it dry on the radiator over night so it would be ready for the morning. First night came, washed my stuff in the sink… and in the morning they were fresh and dry. I remember thinking that I might never take spare underwear away with me again… Cleaning in the sink was the way forward.

The second night came and I started the process of cleaning….Running the hot water, adding soap….Then I heard the football on the TV and I ran out the bathroom to catch Match of the Day. Sam my room-mate came in at the end of the football and we chatted for a while before going to sleep. Now, had Sam gone to the toilet before he went to his bed what happened might not have happened. I remember us having a discussion about bladder control and Sam saying that he could need the toilet before bed but keep it in until the morning (potentially dangerous if you ask me, potential for accidents!!). Because Sam or I never went to the toilet after I had put my underwear in the sink I woke to find them still happily floating in the now grubby water. Rubbish! I thought as visions of a day with wet underwear on flashed through my head…. Luckily my team mates were able to lend me some spares they had brought with them. Clean brown socks from James..... and nice pink nickers from Karin...........!

(Just for those who have slight concerns about me, i was joking about the nickers thing....!)

Dog.... a mans best friend

2006-11-16T18:15:00.000Z

Charlie the dog now a very good friend of mine....I usually hate dogs but this dog is the best i've ever met.... he's immense. Playful, doesn't smell, doesn't drool, always up for a laugh and a great listener!

When God made me he broke the mould (the egg has hatched)....accompanied by charlie the dog

Me and Steve from my team enjoying the autumn leaves... looks like something from a menswear catalogue

Church included in this Blog for the good of the Church

2006-11-16T18:13:00.000Z

Dave (senior minister) was leading training this week on ‘urban church’. Really interesting stuff that left me feeling really inspired to learn as much from this year as possible…. What does urban church look like? Or perhaps I should phrase it how does our urban church (Church.co.uk) look? It looks pretty inclusive I’d say. I think the majority of the people in our church are people that have been rejected by other churches. Rejected referring to not being supported to be themselves or not being supported during a difficult time in their life…. If that doesn’t quite make sense then here are a couple of examples of inclusive church that Dave gave us at training.

After the morning service Dave was approached by one of the men in the congregation. The guy told him that he had been attending the church for two weeks and felt that he’d like to make it his regular place of attendance. He enjoyed the people attending the church and felt at home. However, he explained to Dave, there was one slight problem…. he was gay. Dave said ‘cool’. A little surprised, the guy asked what the churches policy on homosexuality was? Dave asserted that the church didn’t have a policy on homosexuality and that he was more than welcome. Still not knowing how to respond the guy asked Dave if he considered homosexuality to be a sin. Dave responded: “If homosexuality is a sin then you’re a sinner but that makes you just like me and everyone else in this church…sinners”.

The other story Dave told my training group was about a couple that approached him to dedicate their child. Dave agreed when they initially asked him. However, when it came to getting their details it became apparent that they were not married and had two kids together. Dave decided to dedicate the child despite the parents not being married. It would be interesting to know how other churches would have reacted. Anyway a couple of weeks after the child had been dedicated the parents had continued to attend the church. After one service they approached Dave and asked him to marry them….I think the stories a very powerful witness of what God will do if we open ourselves up to people.

Inclusive church takes risks, and I suppose is willing to include the people that other churches might not. When I was visiting Brighton the advocacy team I met told me about their unique selling point. It was “we work with the people other organisations don’t want to”. In a sense churches unique selling point should be to “involve the people that society other parts of society doesn’t”….

Friendly trips to London....

2006-11-14T10:35:00.000Z

Just the average weekend...... Friday spent visiting an advocacy service in Brighton (see picture below)....The beautiful Brighton Beach

Saturday/Sunday spent with good friends......Waterloo Station

The South Bank... looking over to the tower bridge

Some stunning contemporary London art and a picture of some guy with sunglasses.....

more than a game of football

2006-11-10T16:52:00.000Z

It may not seem like it, but i do more than play football here. However, to find out the other things i do you'll have to keep checking my future posts becuase again today i'm going to focus on Football. What strikes me is that it's more than just a game... I'm not sure everyone will agree but for me it's a constructive way to release a weeks worth of stress. For others its just a reason to fight (some will remember the infamous Ped of Friday Night Chrisitian Football) For most it's a way of keeping fit.... Tonight its 11 to 18 year olds football and no doubt some will come to fight, others to laugh and some to show off to their mates. In fact i haven't been running this football for a couple of weeks due to half term breaks and friends staying but tonight i return to the theatre of theatrics that is our football field.

Last time i ran this football session i was put in charge due to the absence of my two more expereinced colleagues Tim and Pete. It's always a little tense during the games becuase the group is made up of kids from different areas so in a sense different gangs come together to play football. Most of the time when it's well refereed there are no problems but when its not well refereed chaos can erupt. Now, it wasn't becuase i was a poor referee that chaos erupted on that night i think it was more that the two leaders who have developed the best relationships with the kids were absent. Therefore the element of respect the kids have for them was absent.

It all started when one of the boys accidently kicked the ball in anothers face. A shouting matched was the result but i managed to settle everything down with my whistle and my scottish slang. Problem was that the two boys had history and the ball in the face incident opened up old wounds and as soon as the game finished the two went for each other. Again we managed with the help of the older males to control it but it became inevtiable that they were going to fight at some point that night whether under our supervision or not. We managed to get all the boys off the pitch and onto the street so they could begin to walk home. However, instead it turned into a massive circle with the two fighters in the centre squaring up. From what i could see the guys i knew from football had turned into fighting machines, they had tensed up and were totally focused on the other person. Normally jolly guys who were laughing and joking looked angry and serious as if this was about more than just a ball kicked in the face. Instead it was about pride, territory and reputation. It was very scary to watch. It was even scariar to know that i was in some way responsible for the kids and the leaders. I really didn't know what to do.... But i remembered thinking that whilst we were outside the pitch the football session was over and the kids had a respnsability to make their own way home. Was my safety and the other leaders more important here, i also remember thinking! But i also saw that this fight could get messy especially as both boys were supported by groups of peers. The best option i thought was to try and get the group to the main road two hundred yards away where the mass of people and street lights would surely distract the situation. Instead the whole situation kicked off, a punch was thrown and another then all the boys from one group jumped in and it became a five on one mass. Then realising how unfair it was other guys jamp in to pull them apart. As the boys separated the male who had been ganged up on ran for the main street and i breathed i sigh of relief knowing that he might run home and the whole thing would de-escalate.

Not that simple, instead the running away male shouted a load of abuse about the other guys mum and the whole thing really kicked off. As a result of shouting he was chased by the guy he had offended with his comment and all that guys mates. Instead of keep running for the main road he turned round and ran back towards the oncoming group of males and was tripped up and beaten pretty badly. Again the wider group of guys there stepped in to pull them apart. One of the other leaders took the hurt boy and walked him briskly home whilst i and another leader stayed back with the group of boys to try and slow them down. The whole thing was crazy and left me feeling really shaken.

I tried the night it happened to write about it for my Blog but i struggled, mainly becuase i was still really affected by the whole thing. Now i feel more clear about the situation in my head and after i've written this i'm attending a conflict resolution session with the group of boys to discuss their actions. How will it go..... I'll let you know

Borat the movie, insight or the truth

2006-11-09T16:51:00.000Z

I'm sure everyone is aware that Borat the movie is now playing in Local cinemas. I went to see it with some guys from work including senior minister of Church.co.uk Dave. It's a very funny film, mainly becuase his humour is based on 'shock factor'. He says the things that other people wouldn't. After my Blog yesterday i got a comment from a friend which made me think about this film. Basically i was trying to think of the times i'd been shocked at the hypocracy of Christians. Now no-one is perfect and i too am not perfect (a shock to some i know) at times i will be a hypocrite to the faith i support. However, at one point in the Borat movie (the film is filmed with real people, in real situations) he is having dinner with some southern american VIP's. Around the table is a senator (i think) a pastor and their wives. Towards the end of the meal Borat invites a prosititute to the house where they are dining. When the Bell rings he gets up and goes to answer the door. Upon seeing the inappropriately dressed woman (and realising what she was) the guests at the dinner table become very agitated. The Pastor get's up from the table and say's in a statement way "i'm sorry i can't be here anymore" suggesting that this was an atmosphere too uncomfortable for him. Jesus walked comfrotably amongst all people despite their actions. The man who plays that pastor had an opportunity in that Film to be a tremendous witness to the world that Jesus lives....instead he wasn't. Like me I'm sure many others feel their fighting against this sort of 'christian' action. When this bit in the film happened Dave the senior pastor cringed and hid under his jumper....

Friends to the end

2006-11-08T18:47:00.000Z

Friends are great things. Their the people that allow you to be yourself, they have the ability to make you laugh like no one else can and they are the people who you can offload your problems onto. I have some great friends made both through the church and outside the church. Taking the friends who don't go to church to church is always a difficult one. Mainly for me becuase i dont want them to feel like i'm imposing my values on them. Often i'll be chatting to someone and we'll talk about church and they'll be interested but i always feel there is a barrier in our conversation perhaps becuase people feel negative about the term church. A lot of my friends went to Sunday school and then stopped going to church when they became too old to attend.... why is it that there wasn't things in place that would hold people's attention. Obviously as people approach teenage life they begin to question the world around them and question whether this christianity thing they've been told about in Sunday school is really true. Exploring is a wonderful thing when your young.... i remember the first time i was allowed into town by myself, wow! The responsability made me feel so old. I also remember the first time i really i was asked whether i was a christian.

I was 12 and at Scripture Union camp... This leader approached me and a friend and asked if we wanted to accpept God into our lives. I hadn't really thought about it but felt it was a really big decision. I then remember the leader asking us if we wanted him to pray for us.. My friend said 'no' and I without wanting or knowing what was right said 'yes'. After he prayed he told me i was now a christian and i remember feeling awful.... that some massive responsability was now being placed on me... to be something i wasn't ready to be. That night we had an evening meeting and afterwards i approached the leaders to talk about how i felt. As soon as they took me into the office i burst into tears and explained that i didn't want to be a chrisitan.... i wasn't ready. They explained that it was okay and that i didn't have to be a christian if i didn't want to. They also explained to me that being a chrisitian wouldn't change me much...Anyway i left the meeting deciding i wasn't a chrisitian becuase it was a bit scary. I felt so pressured by that Scripture Union leader and i've never forgotten it. I suppose it's affected the way i apporach people when we're talking about God.

I've gone totally off track there, this wasn't what i intended to write when i started out... but i love that about writing freely (There's always the chance you'll offend but then again sometimes your words will inspire). My two closest friends G and T (they asked to be referred to as this because of my approach to people in earlier Blogs). No, i'm not referring to Gin and Tonic as in my alcohol addiction (don't worry mum and dad) but my friends G and T (all sounds a bit mad really, am i going mad.... voice in head says nobody reads this). Right, my two friends came down at the weekend and we had a great time laughing, partying, socialising and partying and laughing. First thing they did when they arrived as take me out for Tea... No questions asked, they did it without thinking... and reassured when i offered to pay that i need not worry about money when with them. They've always been like that to me. I know a lot of generous people but these two have since i first met them been the most servant like people. They support when i'm weak they care about my family and my other friends. And their outward actions towards others are amazing. They're nice people to be around.

Their not Chrisitans but support me completely in my faith (another great thing about them). They came to church with me on Sunday and in the past they've come to church back home. On Sunday we were asked during the service to write encouraging cards for one another, it was a great idea. I instantly knew who too write my encouragement cards too, G and T. Afterall they were sat right beside me. Perhaps at this point i was in a position to encourage them to take a step of faith (some people might have) but inside i felt only a need to encourage the people they were. For me they're actions are like that of Jesus and i feel no pressure that they should become chrisitians. I feel confident from what isee in them that the God i know works through them. I know what i'm writing is slightly contraversial but recently i've been thinking about the term chrisitian and whether it matches up to say christlike (follower of Jesus!)..... I know lot's of followers of Jesus who call themselves christians and i know lots of people similar to jesus who don't call themselves christian! These thoughts are only those of a young man on a journey to find God and Jesus in the world. I love what i read about Jesus and i follow him becuase he offers me direction in such a messy world, direction to help those who are suffering. Someone said to me the other day that if Jesus came back we'd kill him..... just like we did before becuase he'd be so contraversial and so unlike what we have made him. He's the coolest guy that ever walked the earth, where did we manage to lose sight of that......we need to let our young people see him for what he is!

A week gone bye

2006-11-07T10:18:00.000Z

Time is flying and i apologise that i've not been able to update my Blog. Recently work has been hectic. However, i'm pleased to inform this Blog that i've got stacks of thoughts in my head ready for a night spent on my laptop where i can begin to share with you my experiences. While i have the time i'll share this little story.

On Friday i spent the day in Brighton visiting a church that has set up an Advocacy/Advice service. I learned so much about setting up projects and the hurdles that you have to overcome. I also learned that about a year ago the project in Brighton almost shut down becuase someone within the church who opposed the service stole all the policies and procedures. They're files weren't backed up on the computer and so they had to start from Scratch. How cheeky is that.... and how un-christian like (in reference to societal stereotypes) to steal all the policies. Anyway it's nice to be part of a working Church where people feel passionate about outworking and finding ways to engage with people. As the saying goes... if your not part of the solution. Your part of the problem......

A football Oasis

2006-10-31T18:46:00.000Z

This is the eventual tournament winners, the guy pointing is the one that i pushed! Read on to find out about my alter ego - Vinny

I'm the one smiling looking like a real swell guy.... however on the football pitch i'm an animal

Last week I had the opportunity to represent Oasis in a charity football tournament. It went well. We got put out from our group by the team that went on to win it. We then got put into the Loser's tournament which we won.... Although the losers cup victory was sweet the tournamnent will be remembered by my teammates for other events surrounding me. In the match with the team that went onto win the tournament i got involved in a bit of scuffle where i was fouled and then the guy complained to the ref so i pushed him in the back. Then straight after i tackled another player and he pushed me and i shouted at him.... we both got sent off for two minutes! I eventually came back on and scored one of the best goals of my life. It was so good that the people watching round the side of the pitch applauded and i became an instant 'fans favourite'.... the way i kicked opponents and scored wonderful goals made for total entertainment. Funny thing was that prior to that game i had lectured one of my fifteen year old team mates on controlling his temper (the guy attends our football programme so technically i'm his youth worker). I've always considered role modelling very important so when i got sent off in front of him i ruined all the stuff i had said to him earlier. It's interesting that they now respect me more for getting sent off than they did before..... figure that out!

Pleased tea see you....

2006-10-30T15:15:00.000Z

This is the Oasis Tea man... he's very helpful as you can see. Don't ask about the headware, some say it's a tea cosy becuase he's see's himself as a giant kettle!

It's good to walk (like the phone advert "it's good to talk"....) ha ha

2006-10-27T10:06:00.000+01:00

I like to think that I’m a good navigator (others who have been victim to my navigation might disagreee). This morning I had to be in a school for 9am to do some mentoring work with an 11 year old boy. In Perth most journeys made can be done on foot so I’m still in this frame of mind where I feel I can walk most places. Slowly I’m learning that in London the distances between places are far greater (that’s why they have such an effective public transport system). At times my reluctance to use public transport proves to be a hindrance but it can also be an advantage. Some colleagues have found my walking approach inspirational - expressing that too often they use the underground for short journeys. On the other hand as I mentioned it can be a hinderence because I find myself walking extreme distances to get places. On foot there is always the chance you’ll take a wrong turn…. For example I found myself walking this morning quite confident I knew where I was going. I knew as soon as I got on the Old Kent Road it was a straight journey. Problem was… couldn’t find the Old Kent Road only the New Kent Road. Turns out that the Old Kent Road is the New Kent road…. This was explained to me by the bemused londoner I stopped to ask!

Fish wive tales

2006-10-25T13:12:00.000+01:00

I took a picture of these two London Gypsy's whilst out and about in London. Scary people who use their head scarves as weapons.

Working gap years have the potential to turn education leavers into education leavers with perspective...

2006-10-25T12:50:00.000+01:00

I live in what could only be described as a big white building. It has Oasis themed orange shutters on the windows, four floors and two movement censored showers that don’t work when you move about in front of them (when they suddenly stopped working I was lathered up ready for the rinse. Not the nicest experience rinsing your whole self in a basin of tepid water). There are five residents in this big building: Me, Tim, Pete, his wife Becka and our little friend the mouse who lives on the ground floor. We don’t see much of mouse but he leaves his mark on every item of food left vulnerably on the worktops. The building used to be a health centre/ homeless hostel and so it has a institutional feel to it. For example there is a reception area outside my first floor bedroom. There is a large walk-in cupboard where they used to stock spare clothes for homeless people in the winter. Next door to my bedroom (an old treatment room) is a chiropody chair. It still works which makes for excellent entertainment when bored. It’s quite a lonely building and I still don’t feel quite at home in it. The building sits on the Lambeth Road, which means that it’s noisy throughout the night, seriously the noise never stops. I’ve just had to adjust to sleeping through it. Underneath the house runs the Bakerloo underground line, which often keeps me awake late at night….

This environment is far from the tranquil silence of my home in Perth. I’ll be honest and say that there is times I wish I could sleep there and then return to London every morning. However, in this noisy large building I’m learning more about myself than I ever have. I’m adapting to an environment that I’ve never had too. I’m overcoming fears and anxieties that I’ve had for years. It’s the learning curve that drives me on…. The knowledge that after this year I’ll be able to look back and say I stepped out of my comfort zone to have some experience of what it feels like to be uncomfortable. London is amazing. On Sunday I had the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, occasionally I eat the best doughnuts I’ve ever had (made fresh – melt in the mouth) and sometimes I eat these chips – crispy on the outside and fluffy in the centre. But there are aspects of London that make me uncomfortable. The shooting’s, the stabbings, the general way people just don’t look at each other (who can you trust?). Maybe I’ve not made much sense about why I’m here. If so maybe I can say it better. I reckon that experience is everything when working with people. Although you can get a degree to give you the relevant skills, life experience gives you the confidence to put those skills into practice. I feel the higher up the scale of need I work the more I’ll learn (the kids I work with here have put new demands on my skills, something which can only benefit me in my future work).

Oasis are very keen on the idea of mentorship and so very quickly I’ve been given a personal mentor. His names Ally and he’s trained counsellor (don’t worry I think it’s more chance than my actual need for counselling) originally from Edinburgh. Anyway, I had m first meeting with him, which was great. We ate a meal and then went for a pint. The whole thing was very relaxed and he gave me plenty opportunity to talk about any problems I was having (you know, my hair, my style, girl problems etc etc). Ally dropped me back at the institution (home) around 10pm and I went inside feeling very at peace. I always check the mail when I enter the building because we get a bunch of interesting stuff through the post mainly because it used to be a health centre (free drug samples, new receding hair treatments). Anyway, I was just walking to my room when I heard a door creak and I stopped a little freaked by the noise. I stood for sometime waiting for any follow up noise but none came and so I carried on walking to my room. You can imagine that I was a little anxious and was quite keen to get inside my room and lock the door; I’d be safe in there at least. However, as I walked to my door Tim and Pete jumped out in front of me and I screamed…. Screamed like I’d never screamed before. Holding my heart I collapsed to the floor in total shock at what had just happened…. At first, I’m told they thought they’d killed due to my reaction and then when I spoke the tension dropped and they started laughing. It’s the worst fright I’ve ever had and I still haven’t quite recovered. I think if my heart has ever been close to stopping it was then. No doubt this moment will go down in my Oasis Legacy ‘the time we gave Andrew a fright’. Had I died during the experience then it would have been my legacy….

J and the giant egg drop

2006-10-24T11:06:00.000+01:00

In an earlier blog I talked about J an interesting little character. J could well turn out to be the star of this Blog because it’s never a dull day when he’s around…

I’d been asked by Pete the head youth worker to lead the Wednesday club night for 7 – 11 year olds. I was quite happy to do this and so went about thinking up games, activities etc. I decided to do a game called the giant egg drop; some of you may be familiar with it. Basically, you have to design a capsule that will protect an egg when it is dropped from around 8ft using the materials provided (tissue paper, plastic bottles, string, celotape, straws). It sounded like a great plan because it would focus on the teams working together as a group, something the kids who come are not great at.

J arrived at the centre around 3:50pm and started a fight with a boy called F…. After this incident J calmed down and I have to say that he was one of the star performers in the giant egg drop. Instead of dropping the egg capsules from 8ft (me standing on a chair) we decided to drop them from the balcony that overlooks the games hall, it’s roughly about 20ft (whether anything could protect an egg dropping from that distance was something I didn’t even consider, I knew it would be fun!!) The activity went really well. I had been worried about getting their attention to explain everything but that went fine and the kids seemed pretty excited by the whole thing, which created a great atmosphere. All but one of the capsules was unable to protect the egg inside. The suspense between the capsule dropping and me opening it up to see if the egg had survived was excellent. The kids were totally engaged.

After the giant egg drop we played dodge ball, an energetic game enjoyed by most kids…. Most that is but not J. Sigh, it’s this whole issue of him not being involved. He hates it when nobody passes to him. It’s very difficult to deal with an issue like this because all the kids want to be passed the ball. By continually meeting J’s demands we won’t be doing him any favours. He has to come to terms with team games and dynamics, which is going to take a lot of persistence and patience, but I’ve got plenty of that. J became so agitated by the game that he walked out of the hall, out of the hall beside it where some kids were doing t-shirt painting, out of the reception area and out of the front door onto the street.

I clocked him leaving and walked after him, I was relieved to see that Becky one of the other leaders had also see him go. J was walking fast (I’m not sure where he was going) so I had to run to catch up with him and then I walked along beside him not quite sure what my next move should be. I spoke to him calmly and tried to focus his attention on anything but the issue in hand. He wasn’t having it though. I don’t know J very well at all and so did not feel in a position to use any amount physical force to stop him. With a child in tears and a street full of people I didn’t really know what to do. However, I remember watching ‘brat camp’ last week and when two girls decided to walk off from the group the leader just walked with them knowing that eventually they would stop… I hoped this would happen. Thankfully one of the other mum’s was passing and she grabbed J in a hug asking what had happened. I know her quite well and so I explained about the dodge ball and nobody passing to him. With J still in tears a man then stopped and asked what was wrong (he was quite aggressive in asking) and again we explained…. This man was very accusing in his manner and I felt a little defensive because although J was in tears we were just dealing with a dodgeball issue it wasn’t as if I had done something to upset him.

To make matters even worse two policeman suddenly appeared asking me questions “who was I?” and “what had happened?”… I explained who I was and why J was in tears and they told me about their duty of care and how they had to stop. The whole thing just got a bit mad really. Although in hindsight I’m thankful that these people were around to help settle J. Maybe it’s a good example of all the factors are going to have to work together to help J. He’s no doubt difficult but with the right amount of support from youth workers, family and friends and a certain respect for authority (the police) J will be just fine. When we got back to the centre J was sat down by Pete and spoken to about the dangers of leaving the centre. I’d like to think it won’t happen again but with J around you have to be prepared for anything….

Cigarette packets carry a health warning. Should our churches...

2006-10-19T13:49:00.000+01:00

On Saturday I had arranged to meet a friend at Camden so that we could visit the famous ‘Camden market’. We had arranged to meet outside Camden underground, as this was the place both of us were familiar with. I arrived bang on 12:30pm as planned and found that most of the people visiting Camden had decided to meet outside the underground. Now it’s not a very big space outside the underground, the width of a pavement to be exact. So you can imagine it was very busy and I wasn’t quite sure I would be able to see my friend when she arrived (for any interested parties! Family, friends etc this was not a date). Within this mass of people there was so much going on… it made for very good people watching. After a couple of minutes of waiting I received a text saying that my friend would be about 15mintes late so I decided to sit back take in what was going on around me. To my left was a man with an advertising board which read ‘reduced prices on Dr Martins! Interested? See this man’ with an arrow pointing downwards towards him. In front of me it was a constant routine of meetings and greetings. Some people greeted one another like they hadn’t seen each other in ages. Others high-fived, some snogged and some jumped up and down with excitement. It made for very interesting observation. At one point I got approached by a guy with an Oxfam petition, with time on my hands I spoke to him about the work Oxfam were doing and also the work of the Oasis Trust. I signed his petition and he gave me two free badges (Yessssss!). During this time the guy with the advertising board went off and returned soon with a bag of chips (they smelt really good). Then something happened…..

A guy (about the same age as me) walked out of the station and sat on the railing beside me. Shortly after his arrival he tapped me on the shoulder and in a London accent said “s’cuse me bruv, don’t mind if I smoke do ya?” Without any hesitation I said, “yes” because I really didn’t mind. Then when I thought about it I was amazed at his willingness to ask in this seemingly selfish city. So, I turned and told him that I really appreciated him asking my permission to which he replied that he felt really bad about smoking close to people. Smoking is quite a big issue in my larger family. I have very clear memories of a family meal at the ‘Wheel Inn’ where my auntie made a massive fuss about the couple who had started to smoke close to our table. Which is fair enough because it’s not a nice smell when your eating but my auntie really did create a very uncomfortable atmosphere for the smokers…. Smoking really affects my eye’s and so I’ve always struggled with people who smoke in public spaces. But here in the midst of a buzzing street where hundreds of people were moving around this young guy asked me if he could smoke….amazing. Yet with that wonderful experience I came across one not so memorable.

I have to say that when my auntie made a fuss about the couple smoking I felt uncomfortable both for them and within myself. This was a similar feeling to when I saw across the road from the underground an outdoor Christian evangelist. No, in fact I didn’t feel uncomfortable I felt angry…. internal anger. I realise that the guy with the microphone has great intentions but does he realise the destruction he’s doing to the state of the church, Britain’s impression of Jesus, the Christian faith…? I watched people walking past so intent on ignoring the speaker. Intent on ignoring what they’re being told because either they’ve heard it all before or they don’t particularly want to be preached at on the one day they can enjoy away from work. I think the big question is how do you evangelise to a busy city like London.
I had a meeting with my manager last week and he talked about the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. He spoke of how Jesus wasn’t just concerned with their spiritual well being but also they’re physical well being. This is shown in the fact that he wanted to feed the people who had come to listen to him. I think the evangelist on the street offers a spiritual message but what is he doing for people’s physical and mental needs. In a city like London people work long hours and as a result their mental well being suffers. At Church.co.uk our aim is to offer a holistic service that meets people’s needs. We aim to offer a counselling service, an advocacy service, alcoholics anonymous meetings, gig nights (for the indie kids), a buzzing coffee shop, sporting events, social events, aerobics classes, mothers and toddlers groups, parenting classes, after/before school clubs, breakfast clubs and homework clubs. And then if people choose too they can learn more about why we offer such a service…. Church.co.uk is just a small part of the larger Oasis vision for establishing community support (google: Oasis academy Enfield). Does anyone really want to be talked at these days (in reference to the outdoor evangelist)…. Would it be more effective to support people with compassion through action…. And words if their interested.

He scored a goal.... and then ran off crying

2006-10-17T13:02:00.000+01:00

J is 9, male and from a black African family. He's arrived at football wearing the full brazil strip with 'Ronaldihno' no 7 on the back of his shirt.....I wonder what Ronaldihno was like when he was 9????

J is an interesting young man. He comes along to football on Tuesday nights and also attends youth club on a Wednesday night. In the past he’s been kicked out of every other youth club he’s attended mainly because of his behaviour. Our aim is to be the youth club that keeps him, we want to be the place that he wasn't too bad for... ultimately, we feel this will have a long term positive impact on J. At football last Tuesday he was being particularly difficult, being nasty to the other kids, not listening to instructions and running off if thing’s weren’t going his way. This is difficult to deal with as a leader because it can have a really negative impact on the other kids and also your energy level’s. Towards the end of football we split the kid’s into teams and play matches. Realising that J was struggling I decided to see how he would respond to being made team captain. The result…. J in tears because the rest of the team wouldn’t listen to him (at least now I know not to use the captain thing again because the kids can’t stand the idea of peer authority).

Eventually it all settled down and the games started. It’s total mayhem when these kid’s play and as a referee it’s hard work. You have F who cries when he’s tackled, B who get’s mad when his team begins to lose and so he starts kicking people, E who just stops altogether when the other team scores a goal. The idea of Tuesday night football is that we create a positive peer environment and for a lot of kids it works. However, it demands a huge amount energy from us as leaders to remain encouraging and enthusiastic whilst also handling the conflict that arises on the pitch.

So while this is all going on J is really struggling. He won’t take his turn in goals and he’s not reacting well when his team doesn’t pass to him. In fact if he’s not at the centre of the play and scoring the goals he gets angry. Tim my colleague had been refereeing most of J’s team’s games and it wasn’t until the last round of games that he came onto my pitch. It started out well, both teams playing fairly and having fun. However, when J’s team go on the attack and score he became unhappy that he wasn’t passed too. He later bursts into tears when I disallow a goal for unfair play. With a short one to one chat I managed to restore J’s esteem and he played on (for a short while). J’s team start a wonderful move passing the ball around and he’s screaming for a pass, but they’re not passing to him. Creatively his teammates make their way up the field with the ball. J stands just outside the goal screaming for a pass (becoming more and more agitated). Eventually he gets a pass to where he’s standing and he scores with a wonderful shot but instead of celebrate he runs off the pitch crying, shouting abuse at anyone who gets in his way…. I still haven’t quite worked the whole thing out. Anyway, I gave him a red card for being over elaborate (joke).

It's challenging work. I left football last tuesday feeling totally knackered and de-motivated. These boys had taken everything out of me. But in reflection i realise that's why i'm here. To be pushed to my limits so that in response i will grow as a person. I wrote that Blog a week ago and today myself and Tim (colleague) are preparing for another night of Football. How am i feeling?? The same way i felt before last Tuesday's session.... I canny wait!!

Praise... sometimes hard to give but very effective

2006-10-16T09:54:00.000+01:00

This is something that I’ve been thinking about since I came to work in London. Although my role covers other things than youth work it is within this part of the job that I’ve had to learn most quickly. I mentioned previously in my Blog that the young people were very much affected by a gang like culture that surrounds some of London’s suburbs. Just the other day a 51yr old woman was stabbed in the back of the neck by a sixteen year old male. Steve and Helen a young couple who work at church.co.uk were mugged on Monday night whilst walking home. Luckily, neither of them was injured but Helen had her bag stolen and with it her phone, mp3 player and wallet. Although they were shaken they were more saddened by the fact that within the group males that circled around them there were 11 and 12 year olds…. Very often it’s the younger members in gangs that commit the offences because they are trying to establish themselves.

I think I’ve benefited from being able to approach work with some of the young people here without any background knowledge. Although at university I was taught about the importance of background information as protection, in this situation it might have been a negative thing. Had I known that I was going to be working with young people who were in gangs and had been involved in serious violence my approach would have definitely changed (I probably would have been more reserved and slightly fearful). However, instead I’ve met some terrific young people who show all sorts of potential. The fact that I later hear they were involved in serious gang crime doesn’t distort my picture of them as a great person. It was discussed at uni last year that sometimes focusing too much on people’s past stops us seeing their future potential…. I’ve developed a real heart for these young people. I’ve found that they respond so positively to praise, more so than I’ve experienced in the past. Could this be that they’ve lacked encouragement in the different area’s of their lives….

One of the youngsters mum’s is a really good cook, she brought these samosas for us one week and they were amazing. I told the lad last night that his mum’s cooking was amazing…. he grew the biggest grin on his face. I’ve always found that praising people is one of the most effective methods of relationship building but I realise that it’s not something everyone finds easy to do. From a young age I’ve always responded to praise so I figure that some other young people will also respond well to praise. Everyone has or does something that offers the opportunity for constructive praise…. Do it and potentially change someone’s life.

The challenge of offering a listening ear

2006-10-11T12:51:00.000+01:00

I took this picture when I was out walking along the thames (well not on the thames but beside it, jesus walked on water not me!). Having worked with the Salvation Army in Perth i'm aware of some of the challenges facing homeless people. However, it seems to me that homeless people in London are much lonelier, in fact i think becuase of London's size it is very easy for anyone to feel lonely . Many of the homeless people I have come across so far are really keen to tell they’re story or to have somone to talk to. One example is when I was leaving the centre on Sunday night I was approached by this bearded fellow. He asked if I knew where he could find a hostel for the night. I replied that I was new to the area and wasn’t quite sure. He picked up on my accent very quickly and explained that he was born on Skye. From there he went on to chat about his life and how he ended up in London. Then Dan, one of my colleagues came out of the building and he told the man where the local hostel was (the original thing he wanted to know) but he explained that it was fine and he would leave it for another day. Then there’s this other guy goes by the name of ‘the penniless poet’ and all he does all day is go around reciting his poetry to people. On hot day’s he sits outside the centre and speaks to the people coming in and out. On wet day’s he comes into the café and goes round the customers telling his work. He’s tremendous entertainment and it’s funny because you’d think customers would consider him a pest but everyone responds well to him. On some occasions he comes into the café drunk and he has to be asked to leave. But he’s always welcome, that’s the key theme of Church.co.uk that everyone is welcome and should be made to feel welcome.

Anyway, I started out this blog entry with a picture I took. It shows a homeless person at the end of a tunnel sitting with his dog. I want you to look at where the wet footprints are. You’ll notice that around the man there is a huge dry patch where hundreds upon hundred’s of London’s people have walked past him. It clarifies for me how unwelcome homeless people are within society (therefore also clarifying the need for a place where these people are welcome not just to mix with each other but with “normal” people). What the picture also shows is how impacting it would be for just one person to approach that man and take some time out to listen. I’ve heard it a lot recently that sometimes the best service we can offer people is a listening ear but often it’s the last thing we think of…

Being Blessed to be a blessing to others not some spiritual elite....

2006-10-06T17:31:00.000+01:00

I remember sitting at the Train Station in Perth the morning I left for London thinking about the huge task ahead of me. Now two weeks into London i'm confornted with a set of new tasks that seem equally nerve racking.

It rained today which was nice... It was that kind of rain that gets you drenched so quickly that you don't have time to react by putting on a raincoat or putting up an umbrella. So becuase i got soaked i just decided to enjoy it, The London air can be so humid and thick so it was refreshing to feel the cold rain dripping off the end of my nose. Also i had just attended a 'meet the funder's event' where we were given a free Lunch so i decided to fill my pockets full of mini naan breads before i left to keep me going for the rest of the day. They were real good!

As i mentioned above, I attended a fundraising event today (lunch being the main highlight). It's really exciting to be at the brink of a project, to be one of the people who is going to take it forward and see it grow. We're pretty confident it will work because of the number's of people who come into the centre voluntarily looking for support. This we feel is our unique selling point to funders 'becuase we're a church open everyday people will come to us'. Other centre's offering advocacy perhaps don't have that.....Alongside the advocacy project the centre will boast a buzzing cafe, and youth centre and services for mother's and toddlers... Steve Chalke even mentioned building a football team as a form of developing community spirit.... The other wonderful thing about Oasis is the no fear to try something approach, if someone's got an idea and they can prove there's a need then it'll be given the opportunity to work!....

11 year old Mike Tyson's

2006-10-05T11:04:00.000+01:00

So yesterday me and three of my team mates stand attempting to engage a group of fifteen 7 - 11 year old boys in a game of basketball.... The result two fights and a mis-understanding of the term non-contact. In fact a non-contact sport just doesn't exist with these kids becuase everything they do is about peer dominance, more so than i've ever experienced before. So when they play sport, they really go for it arms flying everywhere, kicking, shouting.... It's like a battle field. To introduce them to basketball was therefore an interesting experiement which resulted in one kid recieving two punches to the face and another in tears becuase of the constant abuse he was recieving. I think it's perhaps the most difficult peice of youth work i've ever done becuase i really struggled to bring the situation under control. Despite their being four leaders we had to fight for control becuase the boy's were just kicking off all over the basketball court.... as soon as one situation was resolved another began.

I ended yesterday feeling very tired but a 'good' tired. By good i mean i had worked hard, i had expereinced a new level of youth work.... urban youth work where kid's are probably going to go on and join gangs. We always try to have a discussion with the kids about a constructive issue with a film clip as a tool (finding nemo as an example). Yesterday we were watching the lion the witch and the wardrobe and one of the kids just came out with "did you see that kid that got shot outside Macdonalds?" the rest of the group responded as if they had heard of it. Then the kid said "well, that's what you get for snitching man!". The story goes that a young man was shot outside Macdonalds, he was in a gang and basically had helped the Police in an enquiry and becuase of this he got shot. The boy (11 years old) in the youth club was well aware of this story and was well aware of the fact that if you tell on people you get shot for it..... it's a culture so unknown to me. But i'm having to learn quickly, the language the raised level of aggression as examples....

Despite the culture all the young people are great, similar to every young person i've ever come across... full of potential. It's so great to be part of an organisation that believes in encouraging all people to fufil their potential. That means often we work with people who are least likely to be included by society. The Church.co.uk centre aims to have an advocacy service up and running by christmas and i've been given the reigns to get it going. A wonderful opportunity which at times scares me. But the other day i was asked to help a man that wandered into the centre to write a letter. He was from Turkey and could speak little english. We sat down and using the few words he knew put together a letter to the council. We then had a cup of tea and he left with Letter and envelope in hand. Prior to that meeting i had struggled to see how our advocacy service would look. After meeing this man it was so clear that if we could just create a well advertised space for people to come it would be used.

The opportunities here are endless.... and so are the talent's. By turning a church into an organisation there is a wealth of skilled people who can meet the needs of all people. On our team we have builders, computer technicians, musicians who have sold hundreds of records, skilled coffee makers, designers, trained counsellors, nurses, doctors, professional speakers and so many more.

The art of speaking too soon....

2006-09-29T12:57:00.000+01:00

The view of the Oasis Centre from Waterloo station....

Its a great city to look at.....

This is the new office which will be deocrated

This is me being interiewed at at my team's welcome service by boss Jill Rowe. The balloons are for the birthday party that followed this service

You don't quite get an idea of how busy it was from this view..... but there were a lot of people there!!

So, just as i posted (that's the arty word for writing in your blog) yesterday that nothing funny had happened to me yet i spoke too soon. I've just managed to get a job working four hours a week as an outreach youthworker. This job basically entails me going out into the community of vauxhall and playing football with the young people. However, at this point in time there are little or no established links with any young people and so it will be a very challenging job.... but also very exciting that i have a blank canvas on which to work.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon i spent my first morning in the community with Tim (flat-mate, friend, colleague) whom i'm taking the job over from. His approach to the work has been taking a football down to the local park and either joining in with a game already being played or asking kids if they want to play.... This has had some success and some failure mainly becuase different kids turn up every week. On other occasions when no kids turn up at all, Tim would just spend his time kicking the football around (in the hope that some kids might turn up)..... Yesterday there didn't seem to be any kids around and so we decided to play one on one: "Two players each trying to score into the other person's goal". It's fun, fast paced and when played between an englishman and a scotsman, highly competetive. I quickly took the lead, lobbing the ball over Tim's head into his goal twice to make it 2 - 0. Gaining in confidence i began to kick the ball harder until i kicked it high over a fence and into someone's garden. As a boy of thirteen this wouldn't have phased me (clambering up the wall to collect the ball). Now 22 and local youth worker i was a little more hesitant to scramble up what seemed a very high wall. I tried the gate....locked! i looked for another way in but there wasn't one.... It seemed that the only way to get the ball back was to climb. And so, rolling back the years i pulled myself up this brick wall and over into the garden. I felt so bad! Once over i had a quick look around to check no one was watching and quickly i picked up the ball, throwing it back over the wall. Phew, i thought... i'd mangaed to retrieve the ball with no problems. I then made my way back over the wall where once down i could relax and begin learning from my over zealous shooting. However, once at the top of the fence I heard a loud banging noise. I turned round to see that a girl and her mum were at the window giving me the most evil looks..."what do you think you are doing?".... instead of just jumping straight over the wall and away from the scenario i paused (still sitting on the fence that belonged to these people). Through the years i've learned that most situations of conflict can be aided with a vulnerable looking smile. And so using my well mastered smile i attempted to change their looks of anger into looks of understanding. Actually, i'm pleased to say it worked and the mother began to chuckle the daughter beginning to smile quickly after. Now most people at this point would clamber back down the wall feeling a little better about what had just happened. Not me.... After building some kind of rappor with the two people i thought that it might have been better for me ask if i should not use the over the wall exit but instead come through the house...... Tim looking on realised what i was doing and shouted "just get back over the wall!!!!" and so after a bit more hesitation i clambered down the wall. Man, we laughed so hard as everything i had just done became clear!

After that some kids began to appear and we got a game of football going (i was so scared to shoot though!). So, quickly i've learned some valuable lessons about community behaviour.....

Internet non-access

2006-09-28T11:12:00.000+01:00

Things have been hectic this first week. i have met so many new people both in the community and working with Oasis. It's good but at times tiring mainly becuase i'm trying to develop some of those meetings into frienships. Internet access has also been something i've lacked so it's not been easy to write up my Blog. However, this will change as time goes on and our office goes from a large unused space to a buzzing,thriving, internet blogging, working environment. Currently we're doing the prep work to paint our office (i've mastered the skill of polyfilla). I've had a few requests for my address and so i thought i would post it here.

Mr Andrew M Nelson
1a Kennington Road
Lambeth
London
SE1 7QP

I'm glad to report that up until now nothing funny has happened to me. However, I realise that this doesn't make for good blog reading. Well, i think my grammar must be quite humerous at times (this is rushed you know).....

It's all happening

2006-09-25T16:28:00.000+01:00

And so it begin's... I've been thrust straight into the Oasis Network. Missed my train on Friday morning to London (becuase of a delayed train not becuase of my error) and it all seemed to be going badly. I was anxious enough already and missing my train brought me to the brink of quitting before i'd even left the country (joke). The introduction of some very helpful train conductors got me on another train....and on my way to London.

Arrived safe and tired at around 5pm.... got a cab to the church and walked inside. The place was buzzing with activity (in anticipation of Oasis 21st Birthday Party the next day). I had a cup of tea, met lot's of people and was shown round the corner to my accommodation. I'm living in an old health centre, my bedroom is an old treatment room. It's noisy but nice and as time goes on i'll become more and more accustomed to it. That night i played football with young people from the local community and i'm glad to say they were impressed. This has helped me break down barriers very quickly and earn some respect. As i know, gaining young people's respect is the first step to building constructive relationships. I was tired after football and so retired to my room....slept like a log, despite the constant roar of vans and police car's (very different to Craigie Road).

Saturday i helped out at the birthday party.... i have photo's which i'll post when i can. I met simon thomas ex blue peter presenter (and christian) and also Diane Louise Jordan. There were about 400 people in total at the church. Prior to the Birthday party me and my team had, had our official introduction to the church and i was asked to be interviewed. This came as a shock but also a nice opportunity to overcome any fears about speaking in front of my new congreagation.

Today i have just finished my first day of work, we had training in the morning looking at our impressions of Jesus'. Who is he to us.....? It was nice to get some of those thoughts out there. For example, Was jesus good looking? And did jesus have a home? In a relaxed atmosphere we laughed and debated such issues. The work is going to be slow in taking off, manily becuase we're going to have to come up with the work ourselves. But the potential for work in the community is already exciting. Discussion has already considered a advocacy service and a home help service.

Overall, arrival here has been smooth. At times i feel a little unsure and a little lost but i've made so many friends. To get me through the year that's all i really need.

O Team

2006-09-20T16:07:00.000+01:00

This is the team (plus a few hangers on) to be set free in Waterloo.... the tall guy at the back called Nick (big nickers) is the group joker. Famous for his Steve Chalke (founder of Oasis) impersonation. The girl with the hat (named Kat) is the group photographer. Steve, furthest right is straight out of a rap group and no doubt will keep us entertained with his gospel take on life.... The strange one with the birdsnest on top of his head is me. I've collected the name grandad becuase of my age (oldest by a few months) and my grandparent like warmth.

Fully trained in Community Restoration

2006-09-17T19:07:00.000+01:00

The term community restoration (The Oasis Vision) has proven totally inspiring over the last week and I imagine that it will continue to guide me over the next year. When Steve Chalke arrived on Monday to speak to all the trainees he brought with him a three hour long introduction to what Oasis was, is and aims to be….. He speaks with vision and passion about the state of the world and how effectively we can support vulnerable people. This first week has proven a success

I’ve met my team (hopefully I’ll be able to access a photo soon) who are all like minded individuals. I was surprised to find that I’m the only Scottish person working with Oasis this year, so i’m considered a minority (This could also be phrased to say unique). After a long first day where I left Perth at 4am to arrive in Leicester at 12noon I was glad to get to bed. It had been very hot in England and I had drunk a large amount of Water which resulted in a number of runs (notice, not walks) to the toilet. At 11pm I had hoped that this would be the last trip and I could sleep with my bladder relieved…. Everything went fine in the toilet and I sleepily flushed and opened the door to leave. To my absolute surprise a girl was standing waiting which gave me a fright… I screamed and then she screamed! I said “you’re a girl” and she said “yes, I know”. I replied “but you shouldn’t be here, this is a boys dorm!” she said “is it?”. After this we both laughed. As a male your toilet hygiene standards slip when your living with six other guys. I think I got a fright because I wasn’t expecting anyone to be waiting outside the toilet let alone a girl (thoughts flew through my head… did i put the seat down, did I even lift the seat in the first place….?) The girl turned out to be called Megan and along with the other guys in our dorm we all got on well. On the final night all the guys agreed that our toilet habits had improved as a result of Megan living with us…..

I promise that will be my last toilet story, please let me know if in anyway this was too much information. It’s my first ever blog and I need to be clear about the line between good content and too much content. Training as a whole was a success, and I’m excited about working for Oasis… They talk so radically about community engagement and resurrecting Church at the centre of communities….where it always was, and where it should be.

Not started quite yet

2006-09-04T18:05:00.000+01:00

I was really keen to get this Blog up and running before i left for London. So now it's working i'm well pleased. I don't enter London until the 22nd September therefore there won't be much to read until around the end of the month when the work/fun/disco has commenced. On the 11th of September i will carry out some basic training at Leicester University. The training will involve aquiring some of the basic skills neccessary to exist in London e.g. black belt kung fu, how to boil and egg in 1min and 30 seconds and how to eat healthily in the wild. This training will last five days. I am returning to Perth on the 15th September and will leave for London on the 22nd. I hope that over the coming year this Blog will offer an insight into my work but also at times be a source of entertainment. I have no problem talking about the funny things that happen to me. So watch out for many blog entries featuring 'the funny things that happened to Andrew'.

Safe at home

2006-08-09T15:37:00.000+01:00

Church.co.uk, Waterloo, soon to be my home!

Introduction to Oasis

2006-08-03T12:14:00.000+01:00

Oasis is an innovative organisation working in over 20 countries around the world commited to promoting inclusion and confronting injustice. Oasis develops and delivers initiatives that tackle social issues of poverty and exclusion.

In the next five years oasis will be opening academy schools and starting community health initiatives (See Oasis Academy Enfiled: Google it). Oasis will be developing 'community hubs' across the UK aimed at engaging with and meeting the needs of all people regardless of gender, race, class or religion. Church.co.uk in London (Waterloo) is the first of these 'hubs' and i feel priveledged to be at the beginning of what appears to be a very exciting initiative.