January 30th

Thursday we went to Exeter to the Christian Resources Exhibition so that we could go to a couple of the seminars there. Ali went to one called 'A gospel of words or signs?' which gave her a lot to think about how to include deaf people into the life of the church. Jon went to a one entitled 'Why don't real men go to church?' which he found to be interesting. It was a good opportunity to hear about some different issues and other people's points of view.

Jon went to Open church on Friday lunchtime and attended the service on Sunday morning. It was good to have the links between prayer for the OMF missionaries that the church supports and Kang-San Tan (a lecturer from Redcliffe who was preaching) who used to work for OMF.

On Friday Ali went off to Eastbourne to the Children's ministry conference for the weekend. Eastbourne was actually sunny(!) but unfortunately the conference was very intensive so she didn't get much opportunity to see the delights (!) of the town - although early Saturday morning she did get a chance to go to the beach and watch the sun rise.

The conference had some really good seminars on puppetry and she learnt some great action songs with Duggie-Dug-Dug (that's Doug Horley who wrote 'We want to see Jesus lifted high' for those who don't know) - it was wonderful to see a whole auditorium of adults all getting involved and doing all the funny actions - the chicken dance song was particularly memorable! There was also very funny magic trick involving a square of cloth and a banana!

During the main teaching sessions they did show a couple of videos that were shown during the Children's ministry course last year at Redcliffe (good to see Redcliffe leading the way...) The most challenging aspect, apart from cramp from writing copious notes, was feeling lonel,y as so many other delegates had come in groups from their churches.

January 17th

Sunday last started early with Ali going along to the Gateway Fellowship at 9.15am which is a service for adults with learning difficulties. One lovely chap had seen Ali with her usual hat on around Cheltenham and told everyone there she had a hat. This was funny, but only because she wasn't wearing it! It was good to use Makaton to sign the songs - one lady thought Ali had picked up the signs very quickly, but Ali told her it was because she'd been using sign for a number of years and wasn't to do with some sudden ability! The people there were really friendly and welcoming.
Following straight on was the morning service where we were interviewed by the associate pastor, Fred and given an opportunity to share a bit about ourselves, what we hope to get out of the placement and what our plans for the future are. The music for the service was provided by a piano accompanied by three violins, a cello and a guitar! Jon read the morning's reading, our first 'proper' involvement in a Cambray service.
Evening saw Ali at church again, as it was her turn to read the reading. Music this time provided by the organ and a trumpet.
Tuesday this week was a review meeting with John, Fred and Don again. Good to spend some time with them sharing about what we had been involved in. Then Jon went with John to Oxford where John is teaching a five-week course on Christ in the Psalms, once a week. This course is a one- or two-year course run by several different churches to support people interested in ministry, building upon a course already in place in one of the anglican churches in Oxford. There is one full day per week of both lectures and practical teaching and is attended by about 40 people. It was really encouaging to see not just this number of people attending, but also the commitment from various churches to work together to train possible future leaders.
Ali, meanwhile, went to the lunch club again - really nice to chat with the folks there and find out a bit more about what they get up to.