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Just come back from spending the weekend with the Yoof at Carroty Wood. We took 22 young people and it’s been a really good time! The theme for the weekend was “Chosen”, and the main sessions were based around Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

It was really interesting (or actually not, given we prayed for God to guide us) that each of the 4 main session speakers all linked well together and focussed on similar themes. We all spoke on something to do with God choosing each one of us, and that as Christians we are all part of something much bigger.

I was a bit disappointed that the young people didn’t seem to engage with the worship as much as I hoped they would. Joel led some amazing times of worship, and I really felt that it was true worship – you could sense God’s presence there. I guess the kids just aren’t as demonstrative as we are! Of course we don’t know what was going on with them on the inside, and I’m sure they were touched by God during the weekend.

Our prayer now is that the teaching and their encounters with God will have impact in their lives: that they will grow even closer to God and let their relationship with Him affect the way they live.

The cartoon is by Dave Walker.

A group of conservative evangelicals presented a “covenant” to Archbishop Rowan Williams on December 12. The text of the covenant is available from Anglican Mainstream. While I can sympathise with the authors’ desire to ensure that liberal bishops don’t undermine the authority of the gospel, I can’t help but agree with Bishops Tom Wright and Pete Broadbent who believe that this isn’t going to help the Evangelical cause, and if anything, will cause further disunity in the Church of England.

There are lots of opinions circulating the web on this issue at the mo…and love it or hate it, the good ol’ C of E needs our prayer more than ever!