#mcym

[boots4youth-blog]

One Signature away

I’ve seen that meme going around, the one where President Trump is showing some newly signed executive orders, but the content has been edited to something silly, like a hand drawn picture of a cat. They’re honestly funny, but a document that President Trumps signs can have huge impact.

Another person who can have a huge impact with her signature is the Wing Commander of Hill Air Force Base, Colonel Hammerstedt. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been requested and delivered, asking for the allowance of Club Beyond at Hill AFB. With a stroke of her pen, the dream of reaching military teens for Christ can become a reality. I’ve been waiting for this moment for about a decade. 

Please pray that the Wing Commander sees the benefit of Club Beyond and signs the MOU. Pray that God inspires people to give so that we have the money to do His work. Mostly pray for the military teens and their unique struggles. 

I want to leave you with this excerpt from the MOU: “MCYM is an ecumenical Christian based youth ministry. The primary purpose of MCYM is to provide Club Beyond® services to U.S. Military Families to meet the needs of their teen-aged children. Military teens have been well-researched and well- documented to be at higher-risk of negative and suicidal behaviors than their civilian peers, based on findings of recent studies such as those of the Universities of Southern California (USC) and Iowa (UI).”...”In addition to the well-documented high-risk nature of military teens, MCYM’s effectiveness in meeting the needs and having a positive impact on military teens and their families is also well-documented in MCYM’s 2014 Global Qualitative Metrics Summary (reference (c)), which documents survey results from 2,000 random anonymous military teen and parent participants in Club Beyond.”

Love you all and God Bless,

Dan

[foodloosein]

A mile from my home, there are still places where time seems to have stood still. One such thing is Bhaskaran Nadarinte Kada. #timestandstill #fromthepast #kada #rurallife #peedika #naattinpuram #nadar #vintage #shopsmall #naadu #oldisgold (at MCYM Poozhikunnu) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCGC_GFlhvQ/?igshid=udwtu9uzq2hc

[beccaislearning]

Still learning...

Image by Martin Vorel on Stock Snap.

It’s been a little while since I last blogged. Over a year even! And what a year. While I dusted off my site and took a look around, brushing the cobwebs off of my Tumblr account, it was quite moving to think back to ‘year ago me’, surviving ME, writing writing writing at the PhD, living my normal Durham life amongst my familiar Durham people. This is the bittersweet beauty of writing, known to anyone who has stumbled across teenage diaries kept in boxes in back at parents’ houses in their childhood bedrooms.

So here I am, writing for the first time in Cambridge in this new life that suddenly sprung up from a job application in the summer. A new city, a new job, writing cross legged on a new bed (same old beloved quilts for familiarity), and still learning.

My role as Youth Ministry Tutor at Ridley is still (though I recognise I am very much still in the honeymoon period of it) the job I’d dreamed of. In my own training I was so fortunate to have the (holy) trinity of amazing tutors: Sally Nash, Jo Whitehead and Paul Nash. They modelled to me wisdom, creativity of communication, encouragement, holistic formation and a love of learning. Instilled in me over my years at MCYM was a value of lifelong learning. A year after I left the course, I began to put pen to laptop screen, and ‘Becca is Learning’ was birthed. I’d finished with studying (at that point) and had my then dream job of being a Youth Pastor at Carpenters in Chorleywood. I had graduated, I had written my first book, but was so aware that I was still learning.

When I moved onto Durham to continue formal postgrad learning, the title of my blog had seemed prophetic to this academic vocation. Alongside this however, an even deeper learning occurred as I learnt about chronic illness, life on hold, being cared for (so well, so deeply) and living in community. I will never be given letters to my name for those lessons (apart from maybe M.E.) but I am changed forever. 

And from there of course (while still writing the PhD) I am also now a teacher. Formally. And I’m struck by how beautiful it is to still be learning. Now I am learning how a college works. I am learning from incredible and inspiring colleagues who teach and minister so excellently. I am learning pre-lecture nerves and how actually I may even have learnt more than I realised over the last seven year season. I am learning how to make powerpoint presentations more beautiful, and what I really think about the content of a youth ministry training course, now that I may input my own convictions about this work. I am learning the beauty of being humbled, inspired and challenged by students. I am learning new rhythms of before work bedtimes, sustaining myself through teaching weeks, and what wet weather gear I need to survive on a bike in November. 

Last week I introduced our first year students to Paulo Freire, an academic who thought and wrote so beautifully about how important it is to always be a learner. He doesn’t know, but he has become a dear friend and guide to me in youth ministry. I find myself more equipped for this job than I’d realised and for that I am grateful, but I am also grateful that I have arrived in this new place and there is still more to learn: about myself, about youth ministry, and about a God who continues to surprise and intrigue me into further adventure and deeper becoming.

[paradisedesigners11]

ചെറുവക്കൽ മലങ്കര കത്തോലിക്കാ ഇടവകാഗം അന്നാഭവനിൽ ഷാൽബിക്കും കുഞ്ഞുങ്ങൾക്കും ഒരു ഭവനം നിർമ്മിക്കാൻ സഹായിച്ച ഫാ.ജോഷ്വ ജോസഫ് പാറയിലിനും Riyad MCMS കൂട്ടായ്മയും, MCYM യൂണിറ്റ് അംഗങ്ങൾക്കും നന്ദി പറയുന്നു. ഈ സംരംഭത്തിന് ഇവിടെ വേണ്ടുന്ന സഹായ സഹകരണങ്ങൾ ചെയ്തുതന്ന ഇടവക വികാരി ഫാ. ഡാനിയേൽ കല്ലുവിളക്കും ഇളമാട് ഗ്രാമപഞ്ചായത്ത് മെമ്പർ ശ്രീമതി ഷൈല മനോജ്, ചെറുവക്കൽ ഇടവകാഗം ബാബുച്ചാനും, ഷാൽബിയുടെ ബന്ധു മിത്രാതികൾക്കും, നിർമ്മാണ പ്രവർത്തനത്തിൽ അക്ഷിണം പ്രവർത്തിച്ച എല്ലാ വർക്കേഴ്സിനും നന്ദി പറയുന്നു. 25/07/19 ൽ പട്ടം സെന്റ് മേരീസ് കത്തീട്രലിൻ്റെ ചാപ്പലിൽ വച്ചു നടന്ന വി. കുർബാനക്ക് നേതൃത്വം നൽകുകയും ഭവനത്തിൻ്റെ താക്കോൽ ദാനച്ചടങ്ങു നിർവഹിക്കുകയും ചെയ്ത ഗുഡ്ഗാവ്-ഡൽഹി രൂപതാ മെത്രാൻ അഭിവന്ദ്യ ഡോ. ജേക്കബ് മാർ ബർണബാസ് തിരുമേനിക്കും, റവ. ഡോ. മാത്യു മനക്കരക്കാവിൽ കോർ എപ്പിസ്കോപ്പക്കും, മറ്റു വൈദീകർക്കും ഉപഹാരങ്ങൾ സമ്മാനിച്ച MCMS, MCYM കൂട്ടായ്മക്കും നന്ദിയർപ്പിക്കുന്നു. https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Y4OsfgeeM/?igshid=11nucesde8exz

[sports-insider]

Carpet Yoga Mats ab sofort bei in Deutschland erhältlich

Carpet Yoga Mats ab sofort bei in Deutschland erhältlich

BeeAthletica, der Sportmoden-Onlineshop nur für Mädels, startet zum Jahresbeginn mit einer neuen Marke durch: Das kalifornische Yoga-Label Magic Carpet Yoga Mats – kurz MCYM – erweitert das Sortiment und lässt Yoginis mit Sinn für Ästhetik und einer Vorliebe für farbenfrohe Designs bis über beide Ohren beim Sonnengruß strahlen.

Die außergewöhnlichen Designs der stylischen Yoga-Matten stechen…

[ciaramel0ns]

Guuuyyyzzzzz, I need some help! It is my 22nd birthday this month, and im after a new yoga mat! My current one is so old and tatty :( But I would love a super pretty one with graphics :) preferably non slip too! Ive looked at Aurourae and Magic Carpet Yoga Mats, anyone who has one could you let me know if theyre any good? :)

[paradisedesigners11]

MCYM Riyadh അംഗങ്ങളുടെ സഹായത്താൽ നിർമ്മിച്ച്, മലങ്കര സുറിയാനി കത്തോലിക്കാ സഭയുടെ മേലധ്യക്ഷൻ അത്യഭിവന്ദ്യ ബസേലിയോസ് കർദിനാൾ ക്ലീമ്മീസ് കാതോലിക്കാ ബാവ ഇന്നു നിർവ്വഹിക്കുന്നു. ഇതിന്റെ നിർമ്മാണത്തിൽ പങ്കുകൊള്ളാൻ സാധിച്ചതിലുള്ള സന്തോഷം അറിയിക്കുന്നു. https://www.instagram.com/p/B0UlIefAxeE/?igshid=1c1pybh0zbprz

[boots4youth-blog]

Going through the process

The process has started!! The chaplains at Hill AFB are looking over the proposal and so far they are positive about having Club Beyond come to Hill!  I’m going to get on a conference call, hopefully this week between MCYM/Club Beyond and the Parish Chaplain at Hill to discuss some details and iron out any issues.  From there it goes to the Wing Chaplain for support and onto the Wing Commander. Once the Wing Commander gives her approval we begin to hard road of fundraising so we can officially start this fall. Please pray for God’s favor, guidance and patience as we near the end of this road and the beginning of a new one!

[boots4youth-blog]

MCYM/Club Beyond - Sustaining the Future of Military Teens

[boots4youth-blog]

Waiting on the go ahead

Currently I’m waiting on MCYM to create a new funding site before I really start trying to raise the funds necessary to go to Stuttgart and begin the ministry that God has for us.  

Most likely I will be calling people this week to try to find support.   I’m not sure what the total amount will be, but I suspect it will be between $50K and $60K per year.  Why so high?  Well, this is basically my salary and matches with the cost of living in Stuttgart where an apartment for my family is going to cost over $2000 a month.  Thanks in huge part to Rose’s career I don’t need to raise money for the cost of things like medical, dental, and eye coverage or some of the other benefits.  Without her help the cost would be over $100K per year.  

Please pray about how you might be able to support this badly needed ministry!

[boots4youth-blog]

Possible location

After having a conversation with MCYM (Military Community Youth Ministries) we have agreed that Stuttgart would be the best location for us and they have an opening!   This would provide a location where Rose could find a job in her career fairly easily!   Please keep praying for us and help us make this happen.

[boots4youth-blog]

Moving Forward

For those of you who know me well, you know that I have a strong passion for ministry, specifically to military youth.  Rose and I have decided to move forward with fundraising in an effort to move overseas to Germany and reach military teens for Christ.  This is a risky, but exciting move.  I will continue to update this blog so you can follow the progression of God’s blessing and so you can see how I’m already ministering to military youth now.

So I’m asking for prayer, encouragement, and financial support so I can get my boots on the ground for military youth!

[beccaislearning]

Ten things I'm thankful for Tuesday...

1. Some normal life and productivity happening this week. I had a horrendous bust up with cross-country trains over the weekend and we're not speaking for the while. Plus it's crunch time with the assignment deadlines so I'm currently enjoying the productivity of being an essay churning out machine.

2. I had a catch up over the lovely wedding of Steve H and his new wife, Jess, with some old MCYM friends. The Heyeses hosted me with great hospitality and I met some of my friends' outrageously cute offspring. I even got a cuddle with one. And I saw the Nashes who are actual heroes.

3. Kat Marjoribanks and the lovely evening we had last night. She cooked me TUNA STEAK and we had a looooooong catch up. It was yummers.

4. Wes Anderson. We also watched The Darjeeling Limited last night. Originally I was worried that I didn't get him (The Royal Tannenbaums), but after The Darjeeling Limited AND Moonrise Kingdom I think I might really love his work.

5. A nearly completed quantitative analysis essay. 2,762 out of 3,000 this morning. Then I will be free. To complete four more assignments.

6. Warmer weather. It's getting sunny and the layers are slowly becoming less necessary. Soon it will be so hot in Durham that I will only be wearing a smile.

7. New running shoes and a good first run in them. They look super funky and the bright pink matched my face after 2.7 miles WITHOUT stopping. Bearing in mind that I've not run since Novemeber. I feel powerful. 

8. A Christmas present IN APRIL FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. What a treat. Thanks Hickmans.

9. New hair. I went a little darker and I like it. 

10. Meals from Oli and Tom, my housemate and her Yorkshire lad. They are excellent cooks and always feed me at the right time. You guys are swell... if it works out between you long term, maybe you can keep me as your pet?

[beccaislearning]

Reflections on the 'no' vote: Anika Gardiner

I studied with Anika at the Midlands Centre for Youth Ministry. We've been friends for eight years now and shared a lot along the way. I greatly treasure her faith and wisdom and sense of humour, and am frequently encouraged by her. It's my pleasure to share her reflections on the no vote on my blog...

Yesterday until about 6.15pm I felt hopeful and excited. Shortly after that I felt frustrated and sad. This morning I feel a bit deflated. 

Yes, I am talking about the vote against women bishops. As I am currently exploring my own calling, attend an Anglican Church, have a female priest in my family (mother-in-law) and am a woman – I was very interested in the vote and like I said felt very hopeful during the day. We even listened to the live feed on the BBC website – I think our little boy was a bit confused by the voice coming out of the laptop. We were pleased when there was a time of silence & prayer just before the vote, to listen to God’s voice. Then excitement with votes from Bishops and Clergy; only 4 bishops against it. But then the disappointment: not a big enough majority in the House of Laity. Lost by 5 or 6 votes... I didn’t realise I would feel this sense of sadness and frustration. I felt so cross and upset. How come a minority can make the decision? The majority of people voted for women bishops. Roughly 75% said yes. So how come that we still have to wait another 5 years until we (the synod) can vote on the issue again. And they will, it won’t go away. I really got frustrated by comments of women who voted against it; I cannot understand them. Where is the equality? Yes, I do understand that equality doesn’t mean we have to do the same things, but it means that we should have the freedom to choose and follow our calling. But we don’t have that freedom.

I was on facebook for quite a bit of the night, reading updates and comments by friends and family. Some people were talking about how we have to trust God’s will on this issue. Now I am not saying that I hear God’s audible voice and know exactly what he says and thinks; but to say that it was God’s will to vote against it doesn’t sit right with me. To me God is a God who sets us free and liberates us; Jesus challenged stereotypes and prejudices and whilst there are bible passages that are used by the opponents to justify their view point, I don’t believe it was God’s will.

What to do now though? I can sit here and continue to be upset and sad – and I probably will for a while. I am sad for those women who have campaigned for decades for this and might not see women bishops in their lifetime. I feel sad for Rowan Williams as this isn’t a nice end to his time as Archbishop. I feel sad for my mother in law who as many others had hoped for history to be made. And I feel sad for those outside of church who have feel church has let them down, maybe again. It doesn’t do the church any good. 

Saying all this, I think we cannot afford and we will not to stay in this place of frustration. We will continue to serve God and his people; doing the important things in this world and we will have to continue to pray and hope that one day in the not too distant future, this issue will be put right.

In the meantime, we should continue to respect one another (even those with whom we disagree) and should do so with loving grace enabled by the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

[beccaislearning]

Reflections on the 'no' vote: Sally Nash

Here is the first of a few voices that I'm proud to represent on my blog. Sally Nash is the Director of Midlands Centre for Youth Ministry, where I studied my undergrad. It might be more appropriate to refer to Sally as Rev'd Dr Sally Nash in this case; a profoundly brilliant and intelligent woman who has paved the way for other women in leadership, myself included.

Sally has modelled to me many important aspects of woman leadership over the years; grace, courage, vulnerability, reading the Bible as a woman, wisdom... I could go on but Sally's probably cringing a lot right now! It's such a privilege to have her voice represented here.

I was ordering one of my favourite meals – Melanzane Parmigiana  - and looking forward to catching up with a  good (female priest) friend who I had not seen for a few months.  As we were ordering we were anxiously checking our phones, Radio 4 had said the Synod vote on women Bishops was due at 6.15.  I was on the Guardian website which was providing live feed and I had to read it several times – Synod votes no!  I could barely believe it, we lamented long over this decision.  I got in my car to drive home, flicked on the CD and the first words to come out where “I had a dream” from one of those compilation CDs.  My eyes began to fill with tears.  The next song was one of my favourites, Janis Ian’s At Seventeen.  To paraphrase “I learned the truth at seventeen that leadership was meant for men” (the original says “life was meant for beauty queens”).  At seventeen  I was working in an environment where what was communicated to me was that I wasn’t worth investing in because I would marry, leave and have children.  It was then I began to self-define as a feminist as oppression just because I was a woman seemed so unjust. Although there have been some encouragements along the way there is still so much to be done for women around the world to be genuinely equal with men, watching the news makes this clear.  The episcopate being open to women is a theological issue for me, it is an issue of justice, of the church fully representing the God that we are all made in the image of.  It is consistent with my understanding of the Bible, it is not cultural relativism.  My biggest fear about the decision is the impact it has particularly on girls and young women who may well hear the message that they are not as valuable as males.  The language of taint that is sometimes used in the argument (in relation to not wanting the ministry of a male Bishop who has ordained women) is even worse, it has implications of disgust and the associated shame  I was reminded of Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and I see sexism as a parallel evil to racism and one which is pervasive.  He writes

you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people.

I have experienced this inferiority and bitterness myself in relation to being female in the church, it is hard to overcome sometimes.  I don’t know how to explain this decision to people who ask.  Only two Dioceses out of 44 voted against the ordination of women as Bishops and the houses of Bishops and Clergy voted for it.  The measure was lost by six votes in the House of Laity and it is interesting that the media seem to be largely putting up women to speak for the no lobby.   I write this the morning after, I pray for love and grace to permeate the aftermath of the debate and that all of those who are grieving will know God as comforter.

[beccaislearning]

Researching Shame: Call for participants.

I had the utmost privilege of completing my undergraduate degree at the Midlands Centre for Youth Ministry, of which Revd Dr Sally Nash is the Director of. She is a fantastically clever woman and a great encourager of others in ministry. I've personally benefitted from her great wisdom, intelligence and encouragement... so I'm a big fan! Over the past couple of years I've heard bits about Sally's research into shame within the church, and think it sounds like very important research into an area of church ministry that is worth getting right.

She's now at the stage of looking for participants to fill in her online survey and I'd like to strongly urge anyone who feels like it is appropriate to participate. She'll now introduce her research in her own words and please read ahead and take some time out to fill in the survey. You may, like me, feel even more enthusiastic and circulate this survey around your own peers/colleagues within church or ministerial communities.

Looking back over my time in church and Christian ministry there have been occasions where I have just wanted to crawl away and hide.  Sometimes it has been because of what I have done, sometimes because of what others have done.  It took me a while to realize what I had experienced was shame and I don't think the church has always been very good at helping people to process it.  Thus I am now looking to explore this through a research project. For a long time I have been interested in the relationship between shame and the church.  I am now researching this for a PhD as part of my post-ordination training.  I am now at the stage of doing a survey on the topic and would be very grateful if you would consider taking part.  There is much fuller information in the introduction to the questionnaire.  I am collecting data via Survey Monkey so it will be completely anonymous, I will have no idea who has completed it.  There are three different questionnaires, one for church leaders, one for church members and one for those in theological education.  Please complete whichever one you think is most appropriate for you.  If you know of other people or networks who may be interested in helping with the questionnaire then please feel free to forward this to them.  I will finish collecting data at the end of December 2012.

Survey for Church Leaders.

Survey for Church Members.

Survey for Theological Educators.

If you want to follow Sally's research progress or ask her more about it, you may want to find her on twitter at @mcymsally. You may also be interested in following her if you're a Spurs fan, or considering being a spurs fan. #coys