Jodie McNeill lives in Jamberoo, NSW, Australia, and is the Senior Minister at Jamberoo Anglican.
Home: 20 Tate Place, Jamberoo NSW 2533 Australia. Email: jodie@jodiemcneill.com Phone: +61 425 222 338
I’ve written an article for Growing Faith about the controversial issue of whether or not it is good to bring kids along to funerals.
For a long time, this practice seemed to be either discouraged or even taboo.
But in my opinion, having children at the funerals of people they love can actually help them learn and grieve.
For more, read my full article, ‘Should you take children to funerals.’
The other day, as I trained a bunch of youth and children’s leaders at my church, I was vividly reminded of the impact that youth leaders have on the teens in their group.
For many years I’ve trained youth ministers and leaders about the importance and impact of their ministry.
But now, as a parent of teenagers of my own, the significance of youth ministers on the teenagers has arrived very close to home.
Read my tribute called ‘Thank you, youth leaders’, in today’s sydneyanglicans.net.
Call it a midlife crisis if you will, but it’s more than just a little weird seeing the little babies you once held in your arms turn into five-foot-something young women who have one foot firmly placed in adulthood.
This is very exciting and rewarding. God has made beautiful young women out of our lovely little girls.
But the process of development is something that Mandy and I still try to come to terms with on a regular basis.
With this in mind, I wrote this article Who’s that adult in my car for the Growing Faith website.
When I write for Fervr.net, I deliberately try and pitch it at teenage girls aged 13 and 14… just like my two teenage daughters.
After all, if we who write for Fervr can connect with that specific demographic, then we’ll be more likely to connect with the wider youth audience… or so we imagine.
With that in mind, I’ve written an article about cute cats.
This article focuses on the reality of human conflict. I noticed that our cats had conflict, yet still appeared to remain as friends… and realised that the same was also true for humans.
It tries to encourage children to not freak out when their parents fight… and for them to realise that just because they have conflict with a friend that it doesn’t mean the end of the relationship.
Hopefully there’s something helpful in the article for all of us… whether we are 13 and love cats, or 40 and prefer dogs.
Here’s the article http://fervr.net/teen-life/lets-agree-its-ok-to-disagree
Choosing songs at church can sometimes be harder than it seems.
Sometimes we seem to have too many new ones. Sometimes there are too many old ones.
So, here’s a guide to choosing the right mix of oldies and newies… using the same formula as the radio stations.
Read the article here at sydneyanglicans.net.
