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At church on Sunday I roadtested the radical suggestion I made in last month’s sydneyanglicans.net article entitled ‘The word of God, loud and clear’. In this article, I suggested the following:

“In normal situations, we listen to the Bible read before the preacher explains and expands the text. Wouldn’t it be better to hear the Bible expounded, and then hear it read? The text would gain even greater clarity, and the meaning would be amplified by the exposition just presented by the preacher.”

Well, it might shock you to know that before I had written the article, I had never seen this done in real life. It was simply an exercise in kite-flying, so to speak.

Anyway, when I put together the runsheet on Sunday for the gathering I was leading, I gave it a try, and it worked a treat. Not only did the Bible reader read with more clarity (since she had just been given a twenty-minute preparation for her task), but the whole congregation also benefited from hearing the word of God, after it was explained.

What’s more, it made the reading of the Word appear to have a centrality in the gathering that I’ve not experienced before. It was as if the reading of the sermon passage was the peak of the word ministry.

Have you ever tried this retrospective reading? Have you ever witnessed it first-hand?

Thanks to the ease of WordPress, I’ve put together a quick website for the youth ministry I lead at Sylvania Anglican. Check it out by visiting www.sylvaniayouth.org and tell me what you think!

The beauty of WordPress is that I can give all the leaders passwords, and they can help me keep the site up to date. I think one of the great advantages to using a CMS (Content Management System) is this ease of entry and editing. I remember in the not-so-old-days that to update a website required major HTML editing, with FTP and all other primitive nasties. Now, those days are behind us.

We’re also planning in time to convert our website to use the upcoming www.cyiada.com platform. Check out that blog to find out what is being planned!

It’s days like today when I remember why I love youth ministry so much.

I have just got back from a great weekend away with Slice, the junior youth group at Sylvania Anglican. And I can confidently say that it has been an amazing weekend.

Part of the challenge of the youth ministry at this church has been getting the kids from church families to connect with kids outside the church. Despite our plans, the Friday afternoon timeslot didn’t work well for our junior high group, as, amongst other reasons, many of our church kids couldn’t make it. So we ended up with two mainly distinct groups. So, we have decided to merge the two groups and run Slice at 10am on Sundays.

This weekend was the first time we brought the two groups together, and it was a real success. Because no one group dominated the weekend, we were able, in the power of the Spirit of God, to create a new identity for the group. God has done a great work in our midst, and we now have a great year 5 to 8 group with a healthy mix of boys and girls, and kids from church and non-church backgrounds. The 12 kids on the weekend, plus our great team of 5 leaders, forms something new and very exciting.

Stay tuned to find out how the first group goes when we get back in February!

Jodie has had a great year at work, launching and leading the new Youthworks ‘Year 13’ program. He keeps wishing it was around when he was 18, so that he could’ve avoided making his mistakes as a very young adult. He also keeps training people in youth ministry, organising the TWIST conference, and doing youth ministry and music at our church at Sylvania Anglican.  And last, but certainly not least, he loves relaxing with family and friends, usually with coffee in hand!

Mandy has been a busy mum, running a household of  three kids plus Hugo, our newborn (13 May 06.) She leads the ‘WOW’ (Women on Wednesday’) Bible study, and co-leads the youth with Jodie. As ‘Chief of Staff’ in the McNeill household, she continues to avidly watch ‘The West Wing’ for tips on how to keep the President in line.

Liana (9 in January) has entered the ‘Tweens,’ and seems only days away from adolescence. She loves to sing, dance and talk (frequently all at once) and would love a pony if she could somehow sneak one into her bedroom.

Jemimah (8 in February) is loving school, and continues to keep up with her older sister in many ways. She shares the family love of music, but has developed an uncharacteristic love of maths (drawing upon talents previously undiscovered in our DNA.)

Oscar (4 in January) loves anything with wheels. He plays with his cars 24/7, and only pauses when he stops to watch his favourite DVD…yes, ‘Cars!’ He loves preschool and continues to be a testament to the difference testosterone makes in a growing child.

Hugo (8 months) is a ‘mini-me’ version of Jodie…permanent smile, blonde hair, and an attention span that should keep the makers of Ritalin in business for years. Despite a few respiratory illnesses, he keeps smiling, and smiling… 

2006 has been a great year for the McNeills. We have settled in well to our new house in Sylvania (yes, ‘The Shire!’) and are continuing to love our church, job, and spending time with our friends and family, both new and old. We are thankful to God for our health, and for the ways in which he keeps sustaining us through the normal ups and downs of life. Overall, it has been a full-on year, with a new house, child, and job responsibilities for Jodie, which has made us feel a bit too frantic at times. But we look forward the opportunity to consolidate our roles and responsibilities in 2007 (i.e. less changes… yeah, right!)

To God be the glory!

It was great yesterday to meet and plan with the leaders of our all-new youth group at my church, Sylvania Anglican. We start the new group, ‘Slice’, next term.

I was a great joy to experience the enthusiasm and excitement of the leaders as we start something new and even a bit groundbreaking! We’re starting a group for years 6 to 8, and it’s going to run from 3.15 to 5.15 on Friday afternoons. The plan is that it will help smooth out the ‘bump’ between our children’s ministry and the teenage youth ministry.

However, in many ways nothing is really new. We’re still preaching Christ in his word to young people, encouraging them to pray and serve God and each other, and we still will provide leaders who love and care for them as spiritual parents. Nothing new there.

Pray that the new ministry next term will meet its goals, and will be a place where people Grow in God!

To find out about ‘Slice’ visit http://www.youth.sylvaniaanglican.org