A lot has been happening at OL these past few weeks – all good news.
Our meeting place at The King’s House has moved to The Vyne, where Knaphill Residents’ Association (Eileen) has secured the larger space for a trial 10-week period. Outside Light leaders are supporting this initiative by providing one volunteer each week, while others of us go out onto the field.
I was unwell the first week, but in on Monday and welcomed by ‘the usual suspects’ who were in good spirits – some were watching the tv security monitor, which they said wasn’t “so much Sky as Car Park”. They seemed genuinely happy – not the ‘rabble’ that’s said to cause destruction and despair outside. I suppose there were about 30 or so. Taking turns playing Pool, chatting, playing Jenga and proving themselves to be really pleasant young people.
I chatted to one young lad about the effect they have on adults and older people when they’re outside in large groups. I told him that they can look intimidating. ‘I don’t know why’, he said, ‘we respect our elders’; said without even a hint of irony.
It would be good to be able to put my finger on why there are perceived problems with young people when they’re outside in groups; on the one hand, as individuals, they’re charming – I’ve only met one in Knaphill, so far, who isn’t. On the other hand, in groups when it’s dark outside of houses, they’re often noisy and thoughtless. I must admit, that when I first witnessed their behaviour in those circumstances I wondered if they saw themselves as a part of the wider community – or had they formed their own community, with their own rules? For me, it seemed important that if that was the case, there should be found a way to re-involve them with the wider community, for their sakes’ and ours’.
Maybe there is a tipping point where schisms can occur – but I really don’t think that’s been reached as yet in Knaphill - it's more a minor dislocation. I suspect that a part of the reason for their bad behaviour is that the only facility they had when it’s dark – before Outside Light and Eileen - was the car park and its lights. It’s not rocket science, is it, that when someone’s in a poor environment, they might think it’s ok to act there in a negative fashion. Maybe by finding space for them first at The King’s House, then at The Vyne, that tipping point won’t be reached. It could be essential for our village, therefore, that this work continues.
Funding
And that was the message that I tried to give out again yesterday to Inspector Shanks, who has secured for us £1,000 funding from the Police Property Fund – this is the money made from goods confiscated as the result of criminal activity. We had a good chat about other projects around, such as Street Pastors and Street Angels – Inspector Shanks says there is an initiative to introduce Street Angels into Woking, and she hoped that Outside Light might be interested. Inspector Shanks knows that it’s important for Outside Light to have the freedom to share the Gospel with people, but she still intends to invite us to the first meeting.
Inspector Shanks also wondered whether a Community Fun Day might be worth planning, so that the young people and residents at Alexandra Gardens might get to meet each other and thus reconnect.
Our grateful thanks to Inspector Shanks for her support and affirmation of the work we're doing.
More Funding
A couple of weeks ago we were given another funding gift out of the blue by a charitable trust – which enabled us to buy T-shirts so that we’re now easily able to be identified by the young people we meet. We’re also hoping to build a website so that other churches can more easily catch the vision, and so that we can share our written policies more easily with them if they want to set up an Outside Light team in their own area. One of the advantages of developing a number of Outside Light cells should be that there will be inter-cell support – especially for smaller churches where perhaps there might only be a couple of people who have had the call to work with young people.
Thanks too, to The Ratclif Trust for their generous gift - which was God-timed to happen the day after we were turned down by two other charity funders 'because you share the Gospel' - as if it's wrong to offer people with a gap in their lives, something that's infinitely better and more positive than a bottle of cider!
Tuesdays in Old Woking
Tuesday nights have been a real struggle, it has to be said. At one point there were just two of us available on one of the evenings. Most often there have been three but that’s nowhere near enough to be effective. In Old Woking there is so much opportunity – relationships have already been built to the point that we can go to certain houses, knock on the door and know that we’ll be invited in for a cup of tea and a chat. But we can’t do that, and be out on the field chatting to the kids.
All that said, this last Tuesday we went from Zero to Hero because we were joined by New Life’s youth group and by two people from The Vineyard Church who were sussing us out, and Malcolm from my church. There were enough to make a football team against the local lads, which I believe the church team won – in large part because of Richard (Vineyard) and, of course, the guys from the youth group. George and Phil also played but the less said... :o)
I don't know if there are any other Christians in New Life Church who have a heart for outreach into the local community - perhaps you're nervous, perhaps you think you don't have the time. I'm sure the other Outside Light volunteers would join me in saying that every week we have the same fears anxieties and concerns. None of us has the time, we're all a bit anxious because we don't know what's going to happen - but we all do it nevertheless and there's not been an evening to date when we haven't felt God's presence and blessing.
This has been a long, hard winter for Outside Light in Old Woking. What we really need for the coming winter is somewhere to get the kids into. We also need to rebuild our volunteer base there. So, my major prayer request this blog is for your prayers for our Old Woking group. Please will you pray for premises and also for more people to volunteer their time. It’s a LOT better doing this stuff than staying in watching TV – with the exception of The Apprentice, of course.
Much Love
JD X
