Wednesday 26 August 2009

Testing, testing.

After several years working in Old Woking, a curious pattern has started to emerge when we go out there.

The evening starts really well, with lads playing football, girls chatting to our girls; then right at the end it feels as though there is malevolence in the atmosphere and things start to get out of hand.

Three weeks ago, we had a good evening playing football - had some really good chats with kids asking us about God - only to have these conversations interrupted as we watched two very young brothers trashing a bike right in front of us. It all happened really quickly – first one of them picked it off the ground, rode it away a few yards, then he got off, lifted it above his head and slammed it into the tarmac. The wheel came off and rolled toward the older lad who had ridden the bike there. The other brother ran toward the bike and leapt up and down on the frame bending and breaking it as more pieces flew off. Then he picked it up and hung it from the overhead slide wire. It was as though he'd lost his mind and had gone completely nuts.

I fully expected the older lad to take issue with this but instead he laughed. It turned out it wasn’t his bike.

The brothers are both small - no more than 12, probably only 10. It was amazing to see the damage they could cause in such a short space of time.

Then another older lad decided to ride a more expensive bike belonging to a younger lad – I was concerned that he might have a similar fate mapped out for it - a fear that was shared by the bike’s owner. I took hold of the handlebars and took some verbal abuse and threats that I’d be head-butted. The bike’s owner had hold of its rear and eventually was made to say ‘please’ before the older lad would get off.

Last week we had the incident with our goalposts where everything went swimmingly until we came to packing up – when the same two brothers and the same older lad started jousting with the goalposts, and swinging around a heavy weight that would have broken something had it landed on them or someone else. On that occasion I shouted, as much for their protection and that of others, as for my frustration that they could be so stupid.

Last night was the same. It was a great evening. Five of us had gone out, our girls chatted to their girls, we had the goalposts up – and we were even joined by a local resident who was happy to play football with the lads - Alexandra Gardens take note! Andrew and I packed up – without incident. We chatted to the lads, including the older lad who had been a wally the week before - no brothers this time. The older lad is 15 but looks older and acts younger. He seems to want to prove that he’s a man by making veiled threats and joking that he has a weapon, when he doesn’t. Full of bravado - completely lacking in common sense.

As Andrew and I put the kit back in the car we became aware that the older lad was now by the swings. It was dark but as we got closer we could see Nancy standing by the swing and a couple of people in the basket being swung really high. Nothing was said, there were no screams but the older lad was laughing and shouting as he pushed harder and harder at the basket - there was the sense that whoever was in the basket wasn’t enjoying it – so Andrew and I stepped in and slowed it down, again taking abuse and threats from the older lad whose fun we’d spoiled. He laughed at us.

It wasn’t until we’d stopped the swing that Andrew and I realised it was Annabel, one of our volunteers (on hols from university) who was in the basket with a younger girl. She was shaken and took abuse from the culprit who had swung the bucket so high that it had shaken her. She walked off with his insults directed at her, Andrew and me ringing in her ears. What was more worrying was that the younger lads were joining in and saying, ‘Don’t come back’.

Obligingly I turned and said, ‘Fine, we’ll not come back then’. Older lad decides to walk toward me and make more threats. He tells me to come over to him so that he can nut me. I tell him I won’t fight. And I add that we won’t be back, either. The other boys hear this and start apologising – ‘We’re really sorry’ they say. ‘We didn’t mean it’.

Now, interestingly, Phil decided a few weeks ago that we would pray this coming 1st of September and not go out. The following week we’ll be planning – and not going out again. Was this all in God’s plan maybe? Certainly, if we don’t turn up for a couple of weeks it might focus their minds on whether they want us around or not. We’ll see.

It’s clear to me that things were going really well until just three characters turned up, so that now we have to think about our response and whether we need a strategy for dealing with any future events like this. It’ll be a big prayer subject of mine this coming week but I feel that the Lord may already have shown us the way.

What’s also clear to me is that we must take a leaf out of the Street Pastors’ book and have a team back at base praying for those who are out. We did this before when we had enough volunteers and there were none of these problems then – in fairness we’ve not had these problems when we haven’t had a prayer team back at base supporting us, although I know that others pray for us through the week. But there’s the sense that we really need to buttress our defences with contemporaneous prayer to try to prevent these events from getting out of control. It would be Satan’s way to put something into the minds of just a few individuals to upset the work we’ve started. We need prayer at that time for these lads, and for our protection.

Interestingly, there is a prayer room very nearby - even closer than the church, which is God- inspired and set up in someone’s house, completely independently of Outside Light. It’s there 24/7, it’s comfortable, peaceful and perfectly placed for the support of our work on St Peter’s Rec.

Is there anyone not yet with us who would like to support us in prayer who would be prepared to give up a few hours on Tuesday evening’s please? Ideally we’d get together a small team of prayer supporters so that we could put together a rota? If you might be prepared to support us in this way, please will you contact me jndurrant@gmail.com. Thanks

Monday, in contrast, was great. Even I played football. Believe it or not, Malcolm Ramsay, Big John Holland, young K and I thrashed a similar size team that included George and three good players. Well, we were thrashing them with our star striker Malcolm scoring some amazing goals - but I lost the will to live and let in some of their balls so that we ended in a draw.

There's a good feeling around the kids at The Vyne - we've got strong relationships building with several of them and they're happy to chat about life stuff. We thank God for that.

Thursday 20 August 2009

Ketchup. And Rules, Rules and more Rules

This week I watched an interesting dvd, borrowed from someone just back from a Christian conference. This was about Street Pastors. Street Pastors do similar work to us but the target age-group is older than the kids with whom we are building relationships. Young adults and older teenagers fall out of pubs and clubs high on alcohol etc, then get cared for by Street Pastors, some of whom are in their 80's!!!

The interesting part is the emphasis that Street Pastors put on prayer. As a rule their evening amounts to a team praying before going out, then a prayer team staying back at base constantly praying until the out-team returns. The overall result of this prayer/action combo is that the Assistant Chief Constable (covering Torbay) says in interview that crime is down 25%, violent crime and burglary being the main benefactors of this reduction. He calls this 'significant' and points out that the crime is only reduced in the area where Street Pastors are active.

For me it's really encouraging that a secular body such as the Police can see that Street Pastors is making a difference. The challenge might be, however, for the Police to understand that Street Pastors aren't going out because of their community spirit alone but because of the Holy Spirit. In other words, their good works should never be separated from their motivation in Jesus Christ. For Street Pastors to go out in their own strength would be folly. For the Police or any other body not to recognise that Street Pastors' work is inextricably linked with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ would be a massive disservice to Street Pastors, and to God.

The same is true for Outside Light. Yes, we want a better-balanced community, but we want it to be one in which God's rules apply, not our own. After all, there's nothing wrong with God's rules - many of our laws are based on them. We have the Ten Commandments as the foundation for our laws; in fact my all-time favourite Billy Graham quote is, 'They're the Ten Commandments, they aint the Ten Sugges'ions'. How good it is to have a clear line that we know not to cross, instead of the moving goalpost 'rules' of our secular society that become eroded by time and by people continually pushing at their boundaries. I was listening to the radio today about how many more young people are using alcohol than 15 years' ago - the rules may not have changed but they're getting hold of it somehow, so the reason for the increase is that the rules are not being adequately enforced, perhaps. The further Society moves away from God's rules, the more trouble it gets into!

Outside Light has, on occasion, had the luxury of a team that's large enough to be able to leave a small prayer team back at base, constantly praying. And when that's happened, there's been a general positive feeling that this has been worthwhile - there's been a really positive atmosphere. Contrast this with Tuesday night's report below. We have to find a way to ensure that our out-teams are covered in prayer for the entire time we're out. There's no question in my mind that it makes a real difference.

Monday – a 'different' evening to the usual. Just Michelle, Mary and I went out as Phil and George are both on their holidays, John was poorly and Helen had a lot of OL admin she wanted to do, so we left her back at base. I really didn’t want the hassle of taking the goalposts/balls etc to the field as I was the only chap that night and my knees creek too much these days to kick a ball around. Anyway, we got to the Vyne and within 30 seconds one of the lads, K, asked if we’d bought the football stuff. He wasn’t impressed that I hadn’t, so I made my apologies, returned home and collected the balls.

Got back to the field with the balls, the lads arrived at the same time from The Vyne drop-in and within minutes had joined up with another group of lads, and a (fit) dad who invited them to get into a game. Thus, God’s plans were not thwarted by my lack of health, spirit, motivation and energy. There’s certainly a change in dynamic when these lads are kept occupied; football is by far their favourite activity, I would say. This is another way of saying that all the time they’re doing stuff the Devil isn’t making work for their ‘idle hands’.

What’s very interesting is that the lads, as well as the girls, have taken really well to the various craft activities that Michelle and Mary do with them. One of these involves platting pieces of coloured string in order to make patterned strips of material. At their age I wouldn’t have been seen dead doing ‘girl-stuff’. So what’s different now?

Reflecting on this, it occurred that at their age I wasn’t at all comfortable with girls let-alone with participating in what’s generally regarded as feminine activities - perhaps because then I didn’t hang out with them in parks and on street corners – I engaged with girls only at school when there wasn’t that much opportunity to build relationship. Perhaps, therefore, there is a positive aspect to young people meeting with their friends, even if it’s outside where they can be an annoyance to others. At the very least, these should be confident as they grow into adulthood. Over-confidence can lead to problems, but confidence is generally an empowering thing; don’t you agree?

Inside The Vyne this week, Eileen organised a live band – with OL/Vyne volunteer Barnaby on drums. I heard only a little of their performance but they sounded good together. Bookings for weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs are being taken right now.

After we’d packed up and were walking away, three of the lads said ‘thanks’ for going back to get the football kit. It doesn't go unnoticed when we do things for them - although sometimes we might wonder.

Tuesday

Again, because Phil, Nancy, Nick and Jo were on holiday, and other OL volunteers were away also, I thought it might just be me starting out from New Life Church. Another confession: to be honest, I had hoped I’d be the only one to turn up that evening. We have a strict rule for our own protection as well as that of the kids, that we work in pairs as a minimum. I really didn't want to go out as I was having at attack of the 5.30-7.00-blues, a malaise that comes over me, curiously, every Monday and Tuesday evening but soon passes when I'm actually there and usually changes to positively-charged excitement by the time we return to base. I was also a little tired as a result of going out on Monday evening and having helped with Monday's and Tuesday's Baptist Church (Knaphill) Kids’ Holiday Clubs – although it has to be said these were more pleasure than pain. Anyway, to pass time while I waited to see if anyone else was coming, I picked up a Bible, flicked it open and the first words I saw were in Galatians, 6:9, ‘Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up’. No sooner had I read that than Simon (Coign Church) turned up – and after praying we went out.

We took the goalposts, arrived at the field and I thought we’d got away with it, as there were no kids there. Then within no more than a minute, they started to arrive. So we set up the goals, the girls cottoned on to me and together we played basket ball, while Simon played football in goal. Despite me being nearer to 60 than 50 and 6'5", the girls are always really chatty and wanting to talk.

Everything went well, except at the end of the evening. Whereas we usually have more volunteers to help pack up, this evening Simon had started to pack one of the goals, while another lad (who usually helps us and for whom we're really thankful) packed the other goal at the other end of the field. As I walked back toward the football area I saw that Simon had a large group of lads around him and they were being boisterous – more so than usual. They had hold of pieces of the goalposts and were attempting to hit one-another with them, and another young lad was swinging one of the weights around, (I used these to keep the goalposts in place) but if he'd dropped it onto his foot or someone else's, it would have broken a few bones, no doubt whatsoever). I’m afraid I let rip, as loudly as I could, I told them we wouldn’t bring the equipment again unless they put it down. For a couple of seconds there was stunned silence, (I can’t remember any volunteer shouting at them before like that). However after a couple of the younger ones made silly ‘ooooh’ noises, the older lads handed the kit back to me. What I was really pleased about was that one of the older lads who capitulated, was the only one who has ever made a threat of physical violence to an OL volunteer, who happened to be me. Of course he didn't follow through on that occasion, and on this one, he simply handed the pole back and said, 'here y'ar mate' and cycled off. Good job too, else next week I was planning to take some string to see how he'd like platting it into different shapes. :o)

We don't get to Heaven by following rules, nevertheless rules are there to be followed and to help us. This week we got by with the bare minumum that OL's rules allow. The kids in Old Woking took liberties with our rules and the result could have been dire for them and for Outside Light because of the litigious society in which we're living.

Blessings

John

Tuesday 11 August 2009

What Is Community?










We had a barbecue last night – paid for by a contribution from Alpha Hospital, our grateful thanks to them. This occasion was of benefit to the 35 or so young people, plus volunteers, both of The Vyne and Outside Light. We had hoped that it would also have been an opportunity for building bridges within the community, between residents around the park and the young people who use it - but sadly the residents didn't take up our invitation. We were also joined by Gabby (Council Officer), Councillor Whitehand, Nick the Vicar and two of our local bobbies all of whom saw a well-behaved, engaging group of young people just having a good time.

I’m really not sure why some, at least, of the 150+ invited households didn’t join us – the barbecue was free :o). Their reluctance might have arisen from uncertainty about our stated aims, or maybe because society is increasingly insular, passive and inward-looking. We get home from work, change our clothes, eat our dinner, make a cup of something or open a bottle and settle down in front of the telly. Of course, those with young children have a different routine. I’m talking now of the majority of those who don’t.

But imagine instead a society that’s dynamic, active and outward-looking. What kind of picture does this create in your mind? Is it a positive one? Would the world - our community - be a better place if we were prepared to miss an episode of Coronation Street and – dare I say it – speak to people outside of our normal domain? Isn’t ‘relationship’ the cement that binds a society together – and aren't the virtual relationships you see on our TV soaps just a poor facsimile for real life, a voyeuristic opportunity to cast judgement on someone's virtual actions whilst forgetting that, actually, they're just the product of some writer's imagination?

Is it, perhaps the case, that some of us would rather exist outside of Society within some kind of people-free wasteland where real-life engagement only takes place on our own terms, if we want and with whom we want? I remember a time when that was certainly the case for me. Was I selfish or shy, or was it simply that bad habits had developed and it was hard to give them up? To this day, if I'm honest, I can't be sure. I really hope it was either of the latter. And I really, really hope that it's one of those two reasons that the residents didn't turn up last night - because then we'd still have hope that one day attitudes might more easily change and a real commumity might develop right here in Knaphill.

Although I’m a creationist, (in other words I can’t accept that the Universe, our Sun, our world, its diversity of animals, plants and people, my eyes, my thoughts are all the result of an accident; that somehow supreme order has arisen from explosive chaos [I’m carefully watching my garage to see whether a micro-community forms from any 'new life' developing out of the chaos there]), I also see evolution all around me. Behaviour patterns are evolving all the time and what I once saw in my own behaviour and am seeing deepen in others right now fills me with utter disquiet. My perspective has changed (like a smoker’s might when they stop) and what I now see is a disengaged society, one where its populace take little interest in whatever doesn’t directly affect them - and then complains bitterly when whatever that was turns in their direction and bites them on their behind. I see a Society that would, on the whole, rather stay in and watch TV than engage with a neighbour, let alone a stranger.

Of course, there are exceptions. Football, for instance, encourages community of sorts. Church does the same. But in both cases there is often reluctance to regard the opposing team's supporter or alternative denomination or religion with high favour. Many of us exist within our own dark little world rather than the huge, bright and wonderful world that God created for us.

But this isn’t what God wanted for us. It’s certainly not what he wanted for his church. Jesus wants His Father’s Kingdom here on Earth – one in which God’s rules apply, not ours. He wants a world in which we care for one-another, not one where we would walk by on the other side of the road. He wants a church with no walls and its people living IN the community. But how do we begin to address that if we’re not even prepared to leave our TV sets and speak to someone we don’t yet know? Or if we stay within our own limited and limiting circle of friends – perhaps as a church that spends its life contemplating its navel rather than looking out at and embracing the glorious creation that's all around us?

And yet, increasingly, I’m seeing people who are stepping out; Eileen and her volunteers at The Vyne, Drop-In; Outside Light’s volunteers; the Councillor and Council Officer who turned up with the Police last night; the new Outside Light/Vyne volunteers, John and Barnaby - we’re all beginning to see what happens when we switch off the telly and step outside of our front doors to engage with other people whether they're young or old.

What, folks, do we have to do to be able to share the positive feeling that we’re doing something good when we’re out IN the community, so that others will want to be there too and so that we can become more accepting of one another? If a free barby won't get people out, what will? :o)

I know that Gordon Brown isn’t currently very popular, despite his extremely adept handling of several major crises when he first became Prime Minister. Whatever has happened since, I believe he has basically sound motives. And perhaps it was because of those that in a recent interview he was able to come up with this quote. “Community is basically, not buildings but thousands of acts of friendship and generosity and support for people” Gordon Brown August 2009.

Maybe there's a clue - not just for the wider community but for churches too. And it's a definition that I feel Jesus would have endorsed whole-heartedly.