A Week Up in Bonny Ol' Yorkshire... The Final Week of Training!

Well, what can I say? Our three weeks of residential training has come to an end, and I find myself back at home with my wonderful Stepney family, readying for what the next year will bring- crazy, huh?

This past week we have been up in the Yorkshire Dales, staying at the Westwood Christian Conference Centre in Slaithwaite, which was quite possibly the most beautiful place I have ever been to in the UK - it was just incredible. From where the conference centre was, you could see all the way across the valley, even when it was raining (oh, okay, it was mostly always raining, but my point remains valid - a very cool view!) It also had a swing right in the middle of the meeting hall, which was awesome!

Whilst we were here, we spent two days looking at the mission being lead by Andrew Grinnell and his lovely wife, Maggie, in East End Park, Leeds, and also learning more about interfaith youth work from The Feast, an initiative set up to bring Muslim and Christian young people together. I saw God at work in so many ways  this past week and was particularly moved by the work in East End Park and the wholehearted commitment of the Grinnell family to their community. Their mission statement was simply "Open hands. Open hearts. Open eyes." and it really struck a chord with me. He led a really powerful seminar with us on the forgotten five% in the United Kingdom and an in-depth study of Isaiah 61, where we explored missio dei (mission of God) and how it was less of the Church bringing God to the people, and more of the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit through the Father, which includes the Church.

As we were discussing this I remembered the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, where we are called 'the salt of the earth' (Matt. 5:13). You see, salt does not give food the flavour, but encourages out the flavours which already exist and enhances them, compliments them - and it occurred to me that this how we should be in ministry. As Andrew had explained to us, too often is ministry a case of people thinking that they are bringing God with them into what they plan to do, when He is already there and we are just there to seek out Him in all we do. Like Rowan Williams (former Archbishop of Canterbury) said, "Christian mission is about finding out where God is at work and joining in." Isaiah 61 is a powerful chapter, and calls for us to serve the next generation, and to be active in our seeking of justice and righteousness - especially for those whose voices simply are not heard. But more than anything, we should be working to emphasize the flavours that already exist, the God-given gifts of those we serve, because it is not "us" that 'will rebuild the ancient ruins, and restore the places long devastated' (Isa. 61:4) but '[Them]'.


I can't even begin to collate this past week, I learned so much and even had the opportunity to go down a mine-shaft and experience our own little slice of Sweden - Essential just keeps surprising me! Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we embark upon our first week of placements.

Hope you have a nice week!

ALOVEly time at William Booth College!

Goodness, how can I even begin to describe the past week of training? Utterly exhausting, exciting, moving, inspiring, reaffirming... the list goes on! We stayed at the William Booth College in Denmark Hill, London, and we focused on discipleship and mission within the Church, particularly within the Salvation Army; identifying what distinguishing features our expression of Christian mission and discipleship has by looking at our heritage. We also looking at different interpretations of that mission now, which included a lovely visit to Stepney to speak to Nick and a great seminar on the founding of ALOVE. As well as that, we enjoyed a lovely evening with the TYS' and their lovely family and got to go rock climbing too! (We've worn a lot of harnesses and helmets in our training... Essential is a very dangerous venture, it seems...)

Being relatively new to the Army, I found elements like the visit to the Heritage centre, the trail through East London, and the visit to the Founder's grave really quite fascinating, but one thing that really struck me was something that Lt. Colonel Sandy had said before the trail. He had said that to really know where you are going, you have to know where you come from, and it's true. Within the context of last week's training, and our chats with ALOVE and Nick, I realised that actually a lot of our "new" ways of approaching Christian mission are actually quite old. Certainly, Booth was unconventional and incredibly creative in his ministry, and as a result of his attentiveness to meeting the needs of his community he reached out to many people through the services that The Salvation Army provided. Something I encountered this week, for which I cannot remember where I read it or heard it (there's been a lot to process this week, I'm sorry!), said that if it is true, i.e it works, it probably isn't new - and I cannot seem to shake it from my head, I'm still sort of figuring it out what I think it really could mean to my idea of mission. In one sense I felt really inspired by the history of The Salvation Army and the incredible figure of William Booth, but in another, I kind of felt like we had maybe lost our focus, our reason for being here right now, and that isn't found in the way the chairs face, or making sure all the Songsters have the same bags, but in the people that God has called us to serve in the communities we live in. Much like Booth did in the founding of The Salvation Army, we need to be attentive and creative in the way that we respond to people's needs - and note that I say "respond", because we need open ears and open minds too.

This past week been instrumental in my understanding of mission and discipleship, and has been quite thought provoking too, and for that I'm incredibly thankful. We have been blessed to encounter each and every person that we have this past week, and I am full of hope and excitement for our Army and it's future because of them, and what God is doing through their lives.

And now we embark on the last week of training, and we are up in Yorkshire, hurray!

First Blog Post!

And so my Essential gap year has begun at last (hazzar!), and I find myself in my second week of training and at William Booth Training College, in South London. It has been a wonderfully engaging and inspiring couple of weeks so far; we've been team building, adventuring and exploring in Gilwell Park, and I've also been making plans for this next year with my church family. I'm more excited than ever before to embark on my placement at Stepney Green Salvation Army, they are wonderful and I simply cannot wait to spend this next year growing with them!

Personal challenges this past week have been numerous, and I'm learning to be more ready to accept change and also to accept new challenges that may face me - including leaps of faith from scaffolding platforms really high up! I've learnt a lot from the a-lovely ALOVE UK team, and the Essential students too, but more than anything I've really enjoyed the periods of reflection following our discussions and seminars. God has revealed himself to be at work in all the individuals that surround me, in the beautiful and dynamic settings we stay in, and also in me too. I feel like I'm teetering on the brink of a  big change in my life, and not unlike that leap of faith in Gilwell Park, I am on the edge of the platform surveying where I'm meant to be going and readying myself for that leap of faith, knowing that God will guide me and keep me safe - and that is wonderfully exciting!

For now, good bye, and may God continue to bless you and keep you!