Pie Jesu

This is me and my missus (making her FMH debut) getting pied last Sunday at the Under The Sea Celebration. It was (other than the pie-ing) a brilliant event; nearly150 people, many of whom had never been in the church. A gentle gospel challenge was given, and the kids who came to the Holiday club could share the experience with their parents. We sang the songs they sang, played the games they played and heard the stories they heard. I loved it.

The service was followed by a Barbecue in the sunshine, which deteriorated into a water fight. I had to keep dry-ish as I had a 6pm Evensong (as someone said, from the sublime to the ridiculous!)

In the end, it was a 10 hour non-stop day, as between the two services we essentially stripped all the Pulse scenery from the church and loaded the truck. I was definitely ready for a cold one by 9pm, only to discover I'd given my last Stella to Pete from Pulse!

You're the only one that I could live for

Awesome week this week, Under the Sea Holiday Club at Stebbing. Around 45 kids for four mornings. Your basic crafts games gunge jokes type set up, but, led by the team from Pulse Ministries, with the added extra of some serious prayer, worship, preaching, evangelism and fun!
I counted all the holiday clubs I'd ever done the other day, and reflected back on some of the ones I'd led. We'd be rushing around at the last minute sorting things out, whereas Pulse have us all praying and sharing and reading the Bible together for an hour every morning before we start. It's amazing; people are actually getting there early!

I know its sometimes a touchy subject but I cannot think of a better way to get children interested in Jesus than to actually give them the opportunity to spend time with him. Today we had a church full of kids lying on the floor, with quiet music playing, listening to God. It wasn't just for a few seconds, but for like 5 or 10 minutes there was a peaceful and holy atmosphere. Never seen that before, but want to see it again!

If you're thinking of running a holiday club, I highly recommend Pulse. They are consummate professionals (even though technically they are amateurs as they are not salaried but live by faith) with immense insight and wisdom, yet a gracious way of including what is already on the ground. Their aim is to grow the faith of the whole church, not just the kids, and that is happening here this week. I'm most impressed though that they do not see their role as a hit and run thing, but are committed to relationship with us for the future, and to seeing good follow up from the contacts made this week in the future.

I'm sure I'll be posting about them again!