So there it is for another year, the tricky second year successfully navigated. A fantastic day three, dodging the weather, but just enough sunshine. After team games was a fine dramatic presentation of the resurrection. And then the Psalm drummers led a very noisy, and very enjoyable workshop with African drums.

The culmination of the week was the Friday night celebration, the adults well beaten in the tug of war, the awards presented (congratulation to the Yellow team!), Barbecue, and then the kids showed off their djembe skills to the parents.

Then perhaps most impressive of all was the commitment of tired leaders to stick around and clean the muddy equipment, and put the Paget centre back together. Tired but happy, and a fantastic team effort. Lovely to see lots of the kids we got to know last year again, and to meet new ones.

If you are at church on Sunday you might just get to find out a little more. We’ll be having a special Bemerton Soul service at St. Andrew’s church at 10.30am on Sunday (15th) morning.

Bingfield Park was a rainbow of bright colours as the red, blue, yellow and green teams met and Day 2 kicked off to the sound of the vuvuzela!

It was a day for records as the gazebo went up in record time and a record number of children (around 27-30) turned up to join in the fun. They enjoyed the games of ”octopus” and “dodgeball-stick-in-the-mud” and participated excitedly in a scavenger hunt. This was only the beginning though, as the talented Herlock Holmes amazed the crowd with her ability to disguise herself and spotted the enthusiatic Dr Watsup disguised as a lamp!

After a fabulous few minutes singing and rapping the children then sat down to hear Steve tell the story of Jairus’ daughter and discuss how we know Jesus is powerful, taking full advantage of the opportunity to lay hands on him! The story led to some interesting and varied small group discussions.

The rain couldn’t dampen spirits as the day finished in a fever of football related excitement as the formidable red-green alliance took on the mighty blue- yellow partnership at football by numbers. After the excitement of the final scores, the children went home with the bbq invitations they had made at the arts and crafts table, happily singing today’s chant of “we are proud of you!”

Thanks God for an amazing day!

Day 1 of Bemerton Soul was a truly great start to the ‘week’ with practically all of our prayers being answered from the night before. We had beautiful bright sunshine all afternoon (cf – Tuesday afternoon), loads of kids coming along (23 on day 1, the most last year was 25) and everything went smoothly and safely.

The day began, as most Bemerton Soul days do, with a game of Octopus on the green space. Now a firmly established favourite for arrival games that has the added bonus of being able to adapt as more and more kids join the game mid-way through.

Then came the bit we were all waiting for, well the leaders anyway – the teams were announced. The competitive spirit came to the fore as chants and cheering got underway in earnest before the first team game of the day. The green team (Rev. Green of course) went with a presumptuous chant of ‘Green, Green, the winning team’ but it was the Yellow (Col. Mustard) who were fastest out of the traps and into an early lead after winning the first two games. Must be because, as their team chant says, they were keen as custard. Alas the Yellow / Mustard team couldn’t make it three out of three wins but they are the team with the yellow jersey (literally and metaphorically) after day 1.

And while the team games raged on those who prefered a more relaxed approach to the afternoon took to the Arts & Crafts tent. There Bee managed to do what Tony Blair or Gordon Brown never could and issued the kids with their own Detective ID cards. With name, important details, fingerprints and photo / picture holder It did look rather snazzy.

But my highlight was the detective duo of Holmes & Watsup. That’s Herlock Holmes, Sherlock’s great, great, great grand-daughter (the most famous detective in all of Islington, you must have heard of her?) and her ‘keen-but-not-bright’ assistant Dr. Watsup. Fantastically played by Kate and Corin and sure to feature later in the week. Herlock trained Watsup on how to be a detective, day 1′s lesson being Looking for Clues.

And we put those skills into practise with Tricia who gave us some clues about her life – her passport, her rock-climbing stuff and a photo of her family. From them we could find out a lot about her. And Tricia then told us the story of Jesus’ birth and from that we saw some clues as to why this Jesus was so special. Something we looked at in more detail in our teams.

But there was one problem yesterday that we need to improve on for Day two. The gazebo. While we’ve inherited a marvellous super-gazebo (three times the size of any normal gazebo) it seem to create three-times the headaches in putting it up. But with perseverance and a little help from some parents it was finally up after just 45 minutes of effort. Must do better for Day 2.

I’ll sign off by saying what a great group of leaders we have at Bemerton Soul and the picture above show you who they are. A team even Wenger would be envious off – a team of Fabregases and not a Bendtner amongst them.

Onwards to Day 2!

Bemerton Soul is back! Last year we were ‘Searching for Treasure’ this year we’re going to be ‘Looking for Clues’.

Bemerton Soul is a club for kids aged 5-11 at Bingfield Park on the Bemerton Estate. We’re going to be meeting from 2.30pm to 5.00pm on the 11th, 12th and 13th August. Each day we’ll have a range of activities including games, sports and arts & crafts. Kids will be put into teams and the teams will be competing for points with prizes being given out on Friday. We’ll also be looking in the Bible for clues about who Jesus is.

Bemerton Soul is free and is open to all local kids. To attend your child needs to complete a permission form and these are available at Bingfield Park on the day.

On Friday evening we’ll be having a barbeque, the big prize-giving,  a drumming workshop and a drumming performance by Psalm drummers. Adults and kids are invited to our Friday evening event from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

Bemerton Soul is run by St. Andrew’s, All Saints & Church on the Corner in partnership with London City Mission.

On Sunday 18th July we are going to have a Parish-wide joint service at 10.30am at St. Andrew’s Church. This is a chance for all three churches to join together to worship God and hear about what we’ve been learning at Starchasers this term. And it will also be the first showing of the Ruth film the kids at Starchasers have made. Afterwards we are hoping to have a barbecue to give those of us from the different churches a chance to chat and get to know each other better.

On Saturday 3rd July there will be a festival on Bemerton Estate to celebrate the area’s green spaces.

A number of local organisations are getting involved to help out and run activities and we, the Barnsbury Parish Team, will be on Bingfield Park. We’re hoping to have face painting, a bouncy castle, kids games & challenges and a BBQ.

If you live locally please do come along and if you’re able to help then please contact Stephen Mawhinney or Martyn Saunders. Or you can post a comment below.

(Click on the poster above to see a larger version)

Youth Minister – advertisement

Barnsbury Parish, Islington, is a vibrant, diverse evangelical team ministry. We are seeking to make and mature disciples of Christ and faithfully serve our community. Following on from our well established Children’s Ministry the next step is to appoint a full-time Youth Minister.

The Youth Minister will be primarily responsible for 11-18yr olds. You will be part of a creative and energetic team of clergy and staff. The Youth Minister will be responsible for leading, developing and implementing a thriving, sustainable Youth Ministry.  This will include encouraging Christian young people to grow in their faith; evangelising in a gracious and relevant way; and engaging with young people in the local community.

We are looking for a mature Christian with relevant experience of working with young people, who has strong organisational and communication skills, and who is self-motivated and flexible.  There is a Genuine Occupational Requirement (GOR) that the holder of this post is a Christian.

Length of Contract:  1 September 2010 to 31 August 2013
Hours:                      5 days/week (40 hours) or 4 days pro-rata
Salary:                     £23,868.00

Closing date:     12^th July 2010
Interview date: 24^th July 2010

For further information and an application pack please contact:
Sarah Wall, St. Andrew’s Church
020 7607 4552
swall3@btinternet.com

On Monday 31st May Church on the Corner and Ambassadors in Sport will be running the London Churches Football Tournament in Regent’s Park. Churches from across London compete in the different categories, in the beautiful surroundings of Regent’s Park.

Feel free to come down and join us. Take in the atmosphere of a wonderful day and maybe even cheer on our Parish’s teams – the two Church on the Corner teams in the Men’s tournament and St. Andrew’s Primary School in the Under 12 tournament.

You can find out more at the tournament website here.

Starchasers is back and this term we’ll be looking at the book of Ruth. In this book we see remarkable kindness shown by two of the main characters, Ruth & Boaz. And at this time, the time of the Judges, kindness was definitely not the norm!  The book of Ruth is a refreshing change from what has gone before in Judges.

We’ll be going through the story of Ruth each week and then we’ll be getting the kids to make a film in which they tell the story of Ruth. We are hoping to show this film at the Parish-wide Starchasers service at St. Andrew’s Church on the 18th July.

The weeks when we have Starchasers and the message of the mornings are:

25th April – Ruth 1
Theme – Ruth sticks by Naomi at a very difficult time
9th May – Ruth 2
Theme – Boaz shows Ruth & Naomi kindness at the harvest
23rd May – Ruth 3
Theme – Boaz is going to rescue Ruth & Naomi
13th June – Ruth 4
Theme – God blesses Ruth & Boaz
27th June – Ruth 1-4 – Making the Film (part 1)
Theme – The kindness of Ruth & Boaz
11th July – Ruth 1-4 – Making the Film (part 2)
Theme – The kindness of Ruth & Boaz
18th July – Parish wide Starchasers Service: Ruth 1-4
Theme – Kindness
Note: The Parish wide Starchasers Service will be at St. Andrew’s Church

You can find out more about Starchasers at the Starchasers page on the CotC website.

One Monday 26th April we are having a party to welcome  the Year 6s to THE GAP.

The theme of the party will be “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!” so come along in appropriate jungle attire and be prepared for some weird and wonderful challenges.

The party will be at St. Andrew’s church from 6pm to 7.30pm and all those in Year 6 up to the age of 14 are welcome.