Blog (Page 17)
Location confirmed for Epic Board Games
G’day Parents, Just a quick note to let you know that tonight’s youth event will be held in the portable building between the main church building and the church office (which looks like a house, just to make it more confusing). It’s commonly known as the Pizza Box. We’ve received a number of RSVPs but we can fit a few more people so it’s not too late to sign up. Rocking up without RSVPing might be okay, it would just…
Last youth event this Friday – RSVP needed!
G’day parents, Hopefully you’re aware of our Epic Board Games event this Friday. I wrote about it here previously. We’re currently at a point where we need two more rsvps to go ahead with the event. The more people who come, the more flexible we can be with what games we play and how we run the night and it’s always helpful to have approximate numbers. For those who have already rsvp’d, thanks heaps, we’ll contact you directly regarding the…
Youth Event: Epic Board Games
G’day parents, We’ve got our final Friday night event coming up in just under two weeks. Here’s the details: Board games are fun but not always epic. Forget Snakes and Ladders, forget Monoply, we’re going way more hardcore than that. Plus: food and friendly people! This event will run from 6-10pm on Friday the 10th of November. We’ll confirm the location closer to the date when we have a good idea of numbers. It will be in Diamond Creek or…
The PONG approaches
G’day Parents, I’ve written about the Youth Unite ping-pong-a-thon previously. If you missed that post, please do have a read. I received an update on the campaign from the organisers and wanted to share some of the details with you here. GIGANTIC. WEEK. OF. PONG. Team Pong, this week you: – Broke the All-time School Venue Record – Recruited another 250 Pongers to the team – Had a 14 year old event organiser raise more than $3,000 – Had your…
Why our next Youth Unite is so important
[vimeo 77140285 w=640 h=360] Tony Talks about the anti-slavery movement from Destiny Rescue on Vimeo. G’day Parents, Last week I wrote about our upcoming Youth Unite event. This video is from one of the organisations we’ll be supporting through this event. It’s a small snapshot into what these groups are doing on the front line. I recommend having a watch and maybe watching it with your kids as well. There is more reading and videos on the Destiny Rescue website…
Youth Unite Term 4 – October 27
G’day Parents, Youth Unite is something we’ve been involved with for a long time. For our last event this year we’re doing something a little different. This video gives you a bit of an idea about the cause we’re supporting: [vimeo 226983566 w=640 h=360] 2017 Ping Pong-A-Thon 2017 // Promo from The Pong on Vimeo. You can click here to read more about the event and the cause. As for practicalities, see below: Youth can fund raise in advance by…
Sunday@6 in the school holidays
G’day Parents, There are three Sunday@6 services this holidays: 24/9, 1/10, 8/10. At each of these services there will be a prayer meeting at 5:15 which everyone is welcome to attend (we meet in the Prayer Room near the back door and do a variety of prayer styles). The service is at 6pm followed by supper afterwards. We aim to finish our services by 7:30, something we achieve 95% of the time. On 8/10 we will have one of our…
Sunday@6 Dinners in Term 4
G’day Parents, Our Sunday@6 dinners are a great point of connection for people across all age groups and I highly recommend popping them in the diary so that you and your family can come and enjoy the food and company. Here’s what term 4 looks like: 15/10 Dinner 29/10 Dinner 5/11 Cup weekend (no dinner) 12/11 Dinner 26/11 Dinner 10/12 Dinner (Confirmation Service) 17/12 Community Carols (No dinner or normal service) 24/12 Christmas Eve Services at 5pm and 11pm (No dinner) Kirk P.S. Actual Sunday@6 dinners…
Some key dates for the rest of the year
G’day Parents, This is not an exhaustive list of dates but they are on my radar: October 27 – Youth Unite. Click here to see the Facebook event. December 10 – Baptism and Confirmation Service at Sunday@6. Email kirk@stjohnsdc.org.au with expressions of interest. December 17 – Diamond Creek Community Carols (replaces Sunday@6 service that night). Date TBA – Board Games Night. More info soon. I’ll give you more details on these events as they get closer. Kirk
The 3 Stages Of Adolescence
G’day Parents, I came across this interesting clip on adolescence which you might like to watch. It’s American so they use terms like “Freshman” which I don’t really understand but the basics are there to relate to Australia. Clip here to watch the clip. The YouTube channel this clip is hosted by has lots of great stuff. It’s mainly targeted at youth workers/ministers but I like to think of parents as the real full time youth ministers so I lot…
Entry level service opportunities for youth
G’day parents, At our most recent Sunday@6 service I mentioned that there are a few simple but important roles that are ideal for youth to take on if they’re wanting to serve at church. The obvious ones in my mind are reading the bible, hospitality and praying for people (either up front or in prayer ministry). I was encouraged that multiple people responded and signed up for bible reading and prayer. If your kids are keen to serve Jesus and…
Free Maths Tutoring in Term 3
G’day parents, This Sunday at 3:30pm we will be hosting free maths tutoring for high school students. This is something we’ve done for a while now and is a fantastic opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of. Sometimes I wonder why this hasn’t been more popular than it is. Remember, it’s free! Normally this would cost about $60 an hour! Here’s some details: At St. John’s in Meeting Room 2 (to the left of the toilets). Bring your school work…
Key dates for term 3
G’day parents, Here’s a few key dates for term 3. Pre Sunday@6 dinners (5pm every two weeks): 30/7 13/8 27/8 10/9 Free Maths Tutoring, 3:30-5pm every two weeks, always leads into dinner: 13/8 27/8 10/9 Both the dinners and the FREE Maths Tutoring come highly recommended both because they’re high quality and great for relationship building. Kirk
Panel Night July 23
G’day Parents, This Sunday we’re hosting a special Sunday@6 service which features a guest speaker from Barcelona and a panel where we’ll attempt to answer peoples’ big questions about God, life and faith. Click here to see the Facebook event. Panel nights are important because young people value transparency and the willingness to discuss questions and doubts. We try and do these nights a few times a year to get a good sense of where people are at and what…
Classic Youth Games – July 16
G’day Parents, First up, I’m about to go on leave for a few days so there will be no post from me next week. However, I’m back on Sunday 16th for our 5pm CLASSIC YOUTH GAMES. This is going to be one hour of people’s favourite youth group/youth camp/school camp games; at least the ones that fit in our building and are legal 😉 We’ll have a mix of high intensity and low intensity so there should be a good…
Sunday@6 in the Holidays
G’day parents, During the three Sundays of the school holidays we give our cooks a rest and take a break from 5pm dinners. However, on the last Sunday of the holidays (July 16) there will be some fun-times activities from 5-6pm. Classic games from youth group/camp. Pop it in your diary, more details to come. For the rest of the year we plan to do one big pre-service event each term as well as some post-service activities during holidays/long weekends.…
Reminders for the weekend
G’day parents, Three key things to note for this weekend. Our Youth Games and Movie Night on Friday. Click here for details and to RSVP. Please respond today if you know you’re coming. Tomorrow (Wed) I will send out a message to everyone who has RSVP’d with the address and what to bring. Our Girls Life Group is doing a fundraiser on Saturday. Click here for details. At this stage they have had zero people register in advance! You are able to…
6to6 Prayer Day and how to prioritise upcoming youth activities
G’day parents, First up, just a quick reminder that we have our 6to6 Prayer Day this Saturday. Twelve hours of non-stop prayer in the foyer at St. John’s. Each hour is facilitated by two adults with Working With Children Checks and their job is to encourage/help people to pray. For this reason, I reckon that 6to6 is a great opportunity for youth. Every hour of the day will be an appropriate time for them to come along and experience prayer,…
Youth Event: Games and a Movie
G’day Parents, We’ve got a chance for youth to hang out coming up soon. Here are the details: Time: 6pm-10pm We’ll start with some easy to learn, fun to play, multiplayer video games. And snacks! Then get pizza. And watch a movie! Click here to RSVP and vote for the movie you’d most like to see. Democracy will rule. This will likely be a house party in Diamond Creek although we may move it to the church if there’s a…
Encouraging a youth leader
G’day parents, This last week I was fortunate enough to receive some un-asked-for encouragement from a few people in my life. It was great and reminded me of something very true: no one ever gets tired of being encouraged! (They might get sick of being encouraged in a patronising way but that’s not really encouragement in my book ;-). Anyway, I thought I’d let you know that when it comes to encouragement, youth leaders really value it, especially from a parent…
Free Maths Tutoring Returns
G’day parents, This Sunday at 3:30pm we will be hosting free maths tutoring for high school students. This is something we’ve done for a while now and is a fantastic opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of. Remember, it’s free! Normally this would cost about $60 an hour! Here’s some details: At St. John’s in Meeting Room 2 (we’ll put signs up). Bring your school work with you (especially maths stuff). It’s free! All year levels of high school. Students from…
Update on 5pm Activities
G’day Parents, This week I have news on our 5pm activities which have been running before the Sunday@6 service each week. It’s possible this might get complicated so I’ll try and be extra clear by using the ancient art of formatting. 5pm Dinners WILL continue every fortnight. Here are the remaining dates for term two: 21/5, 4/6 & 18/6. The activities that were happening on the alternate weeks are going on a temporary PAUSE and will not be running for the remainder…
Youth Unite and Excursion
G’day parents, If you’re getting this message on Friday arvo, this is a last minute reminder that Youth Unite is tonight at 7pm. Also at short notice is a chance to go to a play staring one of our year 10s. Their school is putting it on with Scotch College which means it’s going to be in a very nice (expensive) auditorium. Click here for details. We need to get your RSVP but this Monday afternoon (May 8th) if you’re…
Youth Unite Mid Year Event – May 5
G’day Parents, Three times a year we meet up with other youth ministries in the Northern Suburbs for an all-in event called Youth Unite. They are a really positive example of people from all different backgrounds getting together because of Jesus and I expect this one to be no exception. Click here to see the Facebook event which has the details. Diamond Valley Baptist are hosting this time, they are literally in the same street as our church, just a couple of…
Millennials, internet addiction & other people
G’day Parents, I’ve recently watched a few interviews with leadership guru Simon Sinek. He’s been talking a lot about the millennial generation (the generation that came before today’s youth). It’s good stuff. I recommend watching this video as it has lots of insights into technology, culture and parenting. Whilst it is primarily about young adults, I can see a lot of this stuff filtering into youth culture right now. As for St. John’s, our 5pm dinners/activities will begin again on…