Books and Covers

What an interesting 10 days! A week last Friday saw Phil trying to explain to around 70 residents of Alexandra Gardens why we were taking hot chocolate and bbq's to the young people who hang around their estate. These kids are noisy, and residents feel intimidated by them. In fairness to the residents, nobody would welcome large numbers of youths gathering outside their bedroom window late at night, talking loudly, sometimes shouting and always leaving behind litter. On the other hand, these are not exactly crimes of the century and neither are they indicative that these young people have bad intent. Despite their slightly intimidating appearance (they're often in large groups), we know from our contact with them that individually many are polite, intelligent, engaging and, frankly, not unlike many of the residents' own young children will likely be in years to come - or at the very least, not unlike the majority of young people of today whose choice is to not join regular groups like the Scouts, or stay at home. Their most heinous 'crime' to date is thoughtlessness. Books and covers.

And so, with some intensity of feeling, the residents made it clear to Phil that Outside Light is not welcome in Alexandra Gardens. Phil bravely faced a barrage of negative comments when he stood before them - 'We don't mind you doing your youth work, we just wish you'd do it somewhere else'. Also, they said that the kids were there because of us. Although only a small number spoke, I can see how easy it would have been to have believed that all of the residents were against the work we're doing there. But you'll see later that that wasn't the case.

Monday (following the residents' Friday meeting) we re-visited Alexandra Gardens this time not taking hot chocolate, (we didn't want to show disrespect for the residents but at the same time wanted to show faith with the young people by going). We did, however, meet Enid there who has been advising Eileen (KRA) about young people (the non-joiners) around Knaphill. What they told her was the same as they've been telling us, which is that they're not there to wind-up the residents; they're there only because of the 'outside' light in the car park, not because of Outside Light; and because they don't have anywhere else to hang around with their mates. 

So far, neither do they seem interested in 'hanging out' somewhere inside. That's a challenge. Why? Let's look at the options we're left with:

1. We leave them alone.
   Result: no change other than increasing tension between residents and them
2. We examine providing an indoor facility and making it really attractive
   Problem: even with huge investment, there's no guarantee they'd use it, especially if the facility is geographically not where they want to be
3. We meet these young people where they are and look at influencing behaviours
   Problem: what happens when it's wet and cold?
4. We try to make a bridge between young people, residents and council/councillors/KRA and to improve each group's understanding of the other two groups.
   Potential Result: We find something that the young people want to do - like playing football, and we somehow facilitate that by either providing floodlighting or by perhaps using football facilities at Winston Churchill School. Effectively taking them away from houses, to a place they'd rather be. A positive result all around.

All of which has taken me off the point of this particular blog - which is that what seems to be, isn't always what is. Books and covers..

Tuesday following the special meeting of residents at Alexandra Gardens, KRA held its own meeting (which had been organised some time ago), at which Ray Morgan (Chief Executive of Woking Borough Council) was to speak.

Again I wasn't there - I was chairing a meeting of Horsell Common - but I'm told that Alexandra Gardens residents once more turned out in numbers and that comments were made by the Chair of KRA and by Ray Morgan in support of Outside Light that led to around ten of them walking out of the meeting. This left a similar number whom Phil approached at the end of the meeting, but this time he found them to be broadly supportive and understanding of the fact that we're trying to help. Which brings me back to my opening point; which is that in the same way that residents have made judgement on young people whom they have yet to meet, I probably was guilty of having formed opinions of residents, only one of whom I'd actually met. My opinions were that: 

• the residents had a problem, 
  
• I could sympathise with their problem, 
  
• that their unforgiving response to the problem was unlikely to produce the result they demanded. In short, and somewhat ironically, I thought them very judgemental, lacking in human concern and not terribly bright insofar that through newspaper reports, they had succeeded in making their quite pleasant residential road sound like a sink estate in one of our larger cities.

All of which goes to show that the saying that one should never judge a book by its cover, is spot-on. In fact, I've said before in this blog that it's probably better just not to judge others at all - it's a shame that on this occasion I didn't stick to my personal rule. As a result of the Chair of the KRA and Ray Morgan speaking plainly to the residents, and because of Phil bravely walking up to those residents who stayed until the end of the meeting, there is now a glimmer of hope. It seems too that some of the residents were unhappy with the way Phil was spoken to at the earlier meeting, and they have since been talking amongst themselves - all of which resulted in an email being circulated indicating that they are prepared to partake in a panel to 'help solve the problem'. Books and covers.

With all of this said, anyone new to this blog would be forgiven for asking what Outside Light is all about? What's it for and what motivates us? Are we just a bunch of do-gooders looking to involve ourselves in a problem that doesn't affect any of us individually? Here are some pointers:

• Outside Light is unashamedly about sharing the love of Jesus. 
• Jesus sometimes taught in temples but his only sermon was delivered on a mountain. We believe that church is a great place for Sunday worship but we also believe that it could be far more than that. It could be 'Mission Control' - the place from where Mission to the community is coordinated. Outside Light is, therefore, for outreach. But since Outside Light is primarily for sharing the love of Jesus, it is not exclusively for church outreach. Outside Light is also very much engaged in Direct Youth Work - simply, we work with and serve young people where they are - outside.
  
• We know Jesus as someone who took action. We too are therefore called to action if we are to lead the life that God intends for us.
• Phil and I have considered of these young people - particularly the ones that live in Old Woking - how would we feel if these were our children? With a different God-design, my son Tom could be James (the boy with the foul mouth) or Phil's son Jack could be Sam, (the lad in prison).
• We also leave the comfort of our church and homes because we believe that Christians have a place in society and that according to our Faith, we have responsibilities to the world as defined in the Bible.
• We're concerned as to the vulnerability of some of the younger kids - some of the girls hanging around with the older lads, are very young. Although we're not certain that they are at any risk.
• We think that without adult interest, the behaviour of young people in large groups might degenerate further than it does when we're there. In fact we think that when we're there, their behaviour tends to be quite good. Since the residents suggest that behaviour is really bad most times, it might be fair to conclude that we're actually having a positive influence when we're there. Taking hot chocolate is a simple service that helps us show these young people that they're valued. I think it's accurate to claim that when people don't feel valued they're more inclined to let their behaviour decline.
• We've noticed as well that very often older people in cars leave when we arrive.
• Outside Light is also an expression of our love of God. It's a place for experiencing strong fellowship and it's therefore a place that Christians grow deeper into their Christian faith as a result of working and walking together, and of seeing God at work, especially in the lives of the young people we're serving.

I know that this blog is regularly read by people who as yet do not have a Christian faith. Several months ago it was a dilemma for me as to what we should therefore say about our walk in faith. How much should we emphasise the social aspect of our work compared with the Christian motivation for Going and Doing? Would our Christian motives affect any chances of funding? Yes, we do need funding, hot chocolate and milk doesn't pay for itself :o)

But to hide that we do this work because of our love for Jesus would be a denial of Him and that's simply one thing that we're unable to do. Let this edition of the blog be a declaration, therefore, that as well as serving young people, we're here very much to challenge what has become the traditional and popularly held perception of Christianity - but as an idea is in fact many miles away from the true tradition of the Faith - which is that Christians go to church on Sundays and they are irrelevant to the wider world.

Outside Light therefore challenges conventional ideas of Christianity that are held equally by those with no faith and (somewhat disturbingly) by some WITH faith. We very much believe that our God wants his people to look outside of church buildings and to start relating to their communities. Church buildings are good, yes - but unless we corporately look outside of the doors, GO and DO within our communities, our church will bear little relevance to anyone other than those inside! In this sense, Outside Light is intended to do exactly what it says on the tin - which is to spread the light of Jesus Christ, Outside. In this sense, Outside Light proves the exception to the Books and Covers rule. COME AND JOIN US.

Lots of love

John

Go and make disciples of all nations

I don't know about you but when I read the passage where Jesus commands us to go to all the nations, I get images of Christians donning their rucksacks, packing up home and venturing off to the four corners. I do not think this is what Jesus had in mind though, which begs the question, 'what is a nation?'...

According to Wikipedia, a nation is a human, cultural and social community. If that's the case then we have nations surrounding us here in sunny Woking by the bucket load...

Tuesday night was Outside Light in Old Woking. My day leading up to this had been somewhat strange and as I settle into my new role as an evangelist working for St John the Baptist Church in St John's, one of the challenges I face is being able to switch off, knowing when work stops and rest starts, trying to find those quiet moments to re-charge. 

In all honesty I've been feeling really tired and drained. So in a funny way, arriving at Old Woking on Tuesday was encouraging - but not in ways you might expect. EVERYONE was feeling awful, tired, family issues, work obstacles, illness and so on. We had prayed the night before for a big night, we were expecting more from God, we just hoped it would be someone else doing it! On reflection the encouragement was, however, that our experience tells us that these are usually the best nights. When we are at our weakest, God's strength is able to shine out. It's actually more fun going out for Him when you feel least like doing it!

We decided to visit the young lad's family, the lad that is in prison. Once again we were welcomed in. We had been speaking with the prison about arranging an official visit, but this option was only open to official ministers. Tonight we wanted to talk to the family about visiting and to see how the young lad was. 

We spent the next hour in a God-ordained, Holy Spirit-filled, Jesus-centred meeting of people. This gypsy/traveller family were so open and welcoming and it was fascinating to hear about their backgrounds, their stories, their lives. The Mum has a strong background of knowing Jesus personally although this was some 20 years ago. When she spoke of it there was a tenderness and for my part you could see Jesus in her, albeit tucked away. 

She had been a committed Christian, until another family had treated them appallingly; death threats, accusations and all the hallmarks of Satan's handiwork. Unfortunately this had created unforgiveness and eventually this kept her away from the church. As you're reading this, please pray with all your might and wrestle with the Lord for Him to bring his daughter back. 

The young lad's sister was there and she kept saying, "This is really nice, I am really enjoying talking to you's, keep praying for us". We prayed for them at the end and it was a touching moment; my heart was so touched for this family by God when I was praying and all through the night. The sister went off and brought back a leather bookmark that she wanted to give us, it was a real token of how touched she had been. This was a present bound for her brother but she wanted to give it to us. They have talked about coming to church, keep praying. 

Before we go out each evening we pray and talk through the plan. Two of the young girls who we usually meet, arrived at the church and wanted to join us. We asked them to wait in the lounge as we didn't want them to know the intimate details of those we were praying for; however halfway through they entered the room and sat there praying with us. We prayed for them. The room was full of the Holy Spirit and it was a special moment. One of the girls said to me afterwards, "Did you pray for me because you love me?" My answer is not important, God is touching their hearts. 

Nancy and Helen had some special moments with some of the young people on the rec, some persecution too. There is a sense of deepening relationships and a bonding between us on the team as we go out to serve, I felt so much unity in our struggles and supporting each other. Helen and Nancy had some one-on-one time with some of the girls and the difference in their mood when they came back was tangible.

I hope as you read this you don't feel that we are parading good deeds before men, announcing our news with trumpets. We really want to encourage people, more than anything, that God is moving and he is using us ordinary, sin-filled, jars of clay to do his work and it is amazing and inspiring. We want you to share in that, come and join us. Take that plunge...

George

Monday

I echo George's feelings about what happened on Tuesday. This has been a strange week tiring yet exciting - and all of it positive.

The newspaper printed their story about the young people at Alexandra Gardens, along with our photo and, (with my permission), my telephone number. This resulted in quite a long call on Sunday afternoon from a parent who was quite angry that a small boy who was shown in that photo, had hit his son which - along with my positive comments about the young people - was taken as me condoning the 'beating up' of his son. Nothing of course could be further from the truth but interestingly the parent's tone didn't really soften until I said that we have regular talks with the kids, in groups, about God. The idea being that kids who are prepared to engage intelligently about God and are prepared to listen, can't all be that bad. 

Additional to the above, I had new calls from two councillors, one a lovely Christian lady Rosie Sharpley, who believes in what we're doing and will do her best to obtain support for us. Cllr Johns has already been a great help, and Cllr Kingsbury has also kindly made contact and made some suggestions. The Police have also been very supportive - my grateful thanks to everyone who is interested in what we're doing, and especially those who are prepared to help.

I'll say here again, that I have never witnessed violence when I've been out to the young people in that location. I suppose anything is possible but to date it hasn't happened in my sight. Tomorrow, (Friday) there's a meeting of residents, Police and, hopefully, youth at Holy Trinity Church Hall at 7pm. Phil will be there, I cannot be. Please pray for Phil, the residents, young people and Police/Council attendees that they might look at this whole issue calmly and seek a positive outcome for all concerned. 

Most of my evening was taken up getting signatures for the KRA petition for improved youth facilities. This gave me opportunity, however, to speak to a lot of young people, many of them sitting in cars - not unlike me at that age. Again, any swearing in my presence was swiftly pounced on by others who were talking to me, they were all polite, helpful and said they understood the issues that residents have with them, but there's nowhere else for them to go to meet up. Surely the answer is to find somewhere. BUT, it has to be a place that they'll go to. It's no good otherwise, because they'll just gravitate back to the car park.

Please pray that the Council will look seriously at providing floodlights for the Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) - it's well away from houses and that's where the kids really want to be if it's able to be lit up. Also, almost without exception, the boys all want to play football. If anyone knows anything about how Winston Churchill's excellent floodlit facilities can be accessed, please will they talk to me about that. It could be that we'll be able to organise for them to put teams together to enter a league - don't know, these are just early thoughts that I haven't yet discussed with my Outside Light brothers and sisters.

The rest of the evening was spent with someone I knew from years ago, who came along to the field as a result of the newspaper article. I have to confess that at first I found this awkward, because I really wanted to chat to the young people and encourage them to go to the meeting on Friday. But it turned out that this man and I had a really interesting talk about evolution vs creation. When you stop to think about the bits of the evolution story that don't add up, such as - what are the chances of male and female of each species evolving simultaneously for purposes of reproduction? Missing fossils (scales to feathers etc) where are they? Inability of different species to reproduce with one another, so how do you get from single cell creatures to the huge variety of species we have now? Missing link, where is the evidence? etc etc etc - it appears that the theory of evolution is much less believable than the idea of creation and therefore, (it hurts to say this but I believe it's accurate) requires greater faith. He wasn't so certain of his belief by the end of the evening. Another for your prayer list, please.

Wednesday evening we met at St John's church to consider the direction that we believe God is pointing Outside Light towards. At the meeting we agreed to apply to the Inland Revenue so that we might be able to be recognised as a charity. It's getting late now so I'll not go into the where's and whyfors about this tonight, except to say that we're all truly excited about moving forward with this project and, hopefully, encouraging others to experience the fellowship that comes when you step out together with fellow believers as Jesus intended.

I'll echo George's invitation. If you want to come along for a taster to see what it's all about, experience heartfelt prayer, witness God at work in the lives of young and not so young people, then give me a call - 01483 474737 - no obligation. I'll be pleased to tell you where and when we're next meeting. You'd be more than welcome.

God bless and thanks  - sorry it's another long one.

Love

John

O Ye of Little Faith

Last night was a significant milestone in the development of Outside Light. We knew the pressure was on - it was to be the End of Holiday BBQ, Mike Kerslake was videoing it, Tom from New Life conducting interviews with young people and Outside Light leaders, and we were expecting to be visited by our (genuine) friends from the police, out of uniform but no doubt interested on a professional level as to just how the evening would pan out. BUT the big question was, would it rain?

Umpteen burgers and sausages defrosted, a couple of gallons of hot chocolate made and, other lovely people from New Life and Holy Trinity Church recruited to give us a hand, I for one was certainly nervous and felt under pressure that it could all be a washout. But I had no need to be - Monday turned out to be one of the best evenings so far. No rain (as usual), great time and a first rate opportunity for us to engage with one of the residents; for Tina and Josh (police) to chat to the youngsters without the barrier of their uniform; and for Gabby from Woking Council to find out why these kids spend so much time in the car park next to the houses, when there's an open playing field opposite and they could instead stay away from people who don't much like them.

Our usual team were joined by other members of Holy Trinity Church, Eric, Malcolm and Christina, each mucking in and rolling up their sleeves to serve these young people. My evening was spent, as usual, running around collecting stuff I'd forgotten to bring :o) You'd never guess I did memory training twenty years ago and have a surefire technique that can help me recall lists of up to 15 items with little difficulty. The big problem with that system is that I have to remember to use it :)

When the evening was in full swing, Phil told me he'd just been visited by one of the residents who had complained, fairly vocally, about the number of young people hanging around. Tina (police), Gabby (WBC) and I took a walk around to the resident's house to see him. The gentleman is, I think, representative of many residents who live in that area. He finds the kids intimidating, dislikes their litter-dropping habits, rejects their behaviour (they're noisy) and doesn't understand why they're there.

I've sympathy for all of his points of view. However I know from meeting the kids that they're not violent, individually they're really polite; many ARE, though, thoughtless; they lack focus and they're there - as was eloquently explained by a small group to Tina, Gabby and me - because the car park has floodlighting. They'd be somewhere else outside, if it was away from houses, if that had floodlighting instead. 'We'd be over there' said one, pointing to the Multi-Use Games Area, 'if it was lit up'.

In the context, therefore, of understanding what motivates these kids to group together at night, Monday night was a valuable insight not just for us, but for Tina and Gabby. Maybe we can all build on that and work together to find solutions to the questions we're left with. How do we provide positive focus for these young people? How do we better the relations between them and residents? How may we best serve them?

In the midst of all this was George, with his shoulder bag, wondering amongst these kids, having conversations - really powerful conversations - what he described as 'the best night I've had doing this work'. Here's George's account. He wrote this while he was still high on the Spirit. It's vintage George and I hope it'll get across to you his enthusiasm for our Lord and desire to share Him with others...

"I can't believe we have been going out since April and I can't believe where we are at. Sometimes it is just good to pause and reflect. What a journey, and we're only 5 months along. Look back at those earlier blogs and be amazed at what God is doing - but there is sooo much more He wants to do.

Not for the first time I felt dazed when arriving at the rec. We have faith that there is some sort of plan before we arrive but you just don't know what you're going to arrive into. For a bit of fun, try and picture us as an army, God's army going into battle; weapons of the Spirit ready, barbecues armed, hot chocolate machine on, sword of God's word ready to fire.

We didn't quite arrive in helicopters, however I think that what we do on a Monday parallels quite nicely with the approach an army might take to a theatre of war situation. What struck me last night (other than a beautifully cooked burger), was that on arrival it was hard to know where to begin. Picture groups all over the field; where do you 'attack' first? I radioed for back-up, my commanding officer sent me off in a couple of directions, (not both at the same time, thankfully). He is a great commander as he knows exactly what is happening all the time, what to do, where the biggest need is.

I saw my colleague Captain Hazelden off in the car park conducting an information raid. I found an area where the young lads were coming to me, telling me stuff about their lives, talking about starting college etc. One lad was scared of being in a minority, he doesn't like big groups - which was kind of ironic given the feeling the residents have about him and his friends.

He fired a shot of reincarnation at me when I asked him what he thought life was all about, we kept getting interrupted by sniper attacks and I couldn't get a decent shot off. My commanding officer assured me he had some inside information and this man would soon be back in our cross-hairs. It wasn't long before operation Outside Light had thrown in a couple of smoke bombs, the smell of the barbecue hit the car park and drew the crowd over to the field. Brigadier Durrant was flying back and forth to barracks bringing in supplies. Field Marshalls Hill and Pepper were cooking up a storm on the barbecue. But the distraction and genuine acts of love and kindness had lowered the barriers for me to come in with some heavy artillery, I hit about 20 of the young people with gospel tracts.

One group were determined to fight back and I took a couple of hits, persecution and ridicule mixed in with some swearing. I radioed in to my commanding officer, He sent the weapon of mass construction, (the Holy Spirit), closely followed by this group asking me some great questions. The Holy Spirit enabled me to share the gospel with the four of them, the big guns came out and they were really struck by this black book with the words "holy Bible" written on it. It penetrated and we were soon into some deep debate, I was struggling to hold all of them, then Major H Morrow swooped in to cover the rear and was engaged in battle with two of them, which allowed me time to focus on the other two.

We had a great conversation, one of the lads allowed me to link up with our Commanding Officer and to pray for him, I challenged him to do his own praying at home later that night.

I loved it; no, I love Jesus; I love Him. Before I go into battle I hate the thought, I dread the conversations, I am not sure how I am going to start them; but if any of us didn't feel fear and anticipation then it would be all about us. Thankfully it is all about Christ - without him none of us would be here and we would certainly not be talking to these people in power without Him!

We are part of an army, lets not give up fighting the good fight. Operation Outside Light needs more soldiers; full training given, the best weaponry in the universe provided, survival not guaranteed, rewards are immeasurable...let me lay a challenge, if God said he would give you £10,000 every time you went out or shared the gospel would you do it? I am ashamed to say I know I would do more, yet we are serving something of infinitely more value than money and with infinitely greater reward...Outside Light needs you, God wants you!


George "


TUESDAY

Well, if you'll recall, Tuesday for much of the day was what might be described as 'inclement'. Again we had planned a bbq for Old Woking but this time the sun came out later in the afternoon and God gave us yet another great weather evening to enjoy. In Knaphill on Monday there must have been 60+ kids. In Old Woking there were perhaps only 30 but somehow they managed to consume the same amount of food - maybe more. Within minutes of arriving and before setting up the bbq, a 16-year old girl bravely came up to me and asked if we were 'funding' everything ourselves. 'Are you loaded?' And, 'if you're paying, why are you doing that for us?'

Happily I've been watching George and found it relatively natural to simply say that, 'What we are doing is a practical demonstration of God's love for you' and from there to share the Gospel. We got onto how she believed God probably exists and that she prays to Him when she's got problems. Seems odd, doesn't it, for this sort of conversation to be happening with young people. If a Martian landed on earth and took his 'knowledge' of their behaviour solely from the newspapers, he'd be forgiven for thinking that all teenagers were shallow, unthinking, uncaring and completely lacking any spiritual dimension. But here was a young girl who was thoughtful enough to ask how and why we were caring for her and her friends, and brave enough to admit her feeling that God is someone she can turn to when things get rough.

There followed another evening abundant in conversation, with George being sought-after by young lads keen to read his tracts and to ask questions. Helen (Len) found herself having interesting conversations too, with one particular girl about the life that her friend is living - which was quite disturbing and worrying.

After all the burgers had been polished-off and the bbq put away, Nancy and I went in search of 'James' who surprisingly hadn't turned up for a burger but had spent all his time playing football at the other end of the field. We started walking home with him and encountered an older man moving bikes that had been left outside his house. More Holy Spirit stuff came out of this conversation, resulting in an invitation to him to join New Life on Sunday. He's a 'history' and was happy with our offer to pray for him. We must have spent 10 minutes with that chap and interestingly James and his two mates hung around to walk back with us. That's an interesting dynamic - not sure if they were looking after us or we were looking after them.

Our walk back to Jame's house was hilarious. Really, every other word is a swear word but these are punctuated with the kind of wit that would have Billy Connolly fans rolling in the aisles. Nancy and I both tried listening to the funny bits - varied conversations ranging from the number of planets in our Solar system, to the number of galaxies there are, to how he hates hedgehogs because they frighten him. I know it doesn't sound funny here, but that's the art of a great story-teller. It's the way you tell-em, in other words. I've said before, I've reason to believe this boy will be powerful for Outside Light in years to come. His ability to tell stories is going to be a part of that, I feel certain.

When we got back to church, Phil and George were in the prayer room with "Sam's" mate, "Joe". You'll remember that Sam's in prison. Joe had come along to the church knowing that Phil and George were going to be there. He wanted to talk about Sam and about various other stuff going on in his life that's worrying him. He was happy for Phil and George to pray with him.

Getting together at the end of the evening we talked of the possibility that we might be able to run an outside church for young people. This seems natural and Nick, our vicar at Holy Trinity Church, is encouraging us to explore this. We also deeply feel the need for prayer-walkers, especially in the Knaphill area. It's significant to Phil that for years before the Gloster Road group got started, there were people from New Life walking the area and praying for it and its residents. We all believe that this has softened-up the area and has made the people there more accepting, and the devil incapable of response. In Gloster Road the feeling is that this area is wide open to Jesus - but in Knaphill, we believe there is much spiritual battle still to be done. We'd love it if other churches in the area could help us in this and prepare and anoint the area in and around Knaphill, soaking it in prayer, laying the salt that's the Word of our God and preparing the way.

Below is a video - poor quality picture - it was dark - really just to let you listen in on a typical conversation with a couple of younger boys. It's not word perfect - and you'll hear the voice of a boy who's reading from a cartoon tract about someone called, 'Mr Nice Guy, who is nice but sinful. It gets interrupted by another young boy but then continues - it'll give you a bit of a feeling for the process of sowing the seed that we have the privilege of taking part in.