Focused on Focus and other such George-ian things

Over the past week we have continued to explore exciting sights in London, including one very magical location.  We have also had some great meetings, learned new skills under pressure, and hung out with 20+ rowdy teenagers and pre-teens ready for the summer holiday.


This past Sunday was our second weekend with St. George's, and like last weekend, we helped out with the youth.  This meant that we only attended the beginning of the service for a few of the songs.  However, after the service, we were able to meet some more parishioners and got into some good conversations.  We've said it before, but it holds true that St. George's is a very welcoming place.  Whenever we're around the church, there's always someone willing to talk to us, answer our questions, and most of the time to invite us to their place for tea or dinner.  After the service, we went back to the Valentine's house for lunch with the PCC.  This was a relaxed gathering just to say thank you to the group and to celebrate the end of the term together. This meant that we sat and talked for a few hours and were well fed by our wonderful host, Catherine Valentine.  Once the PCC lunch was done, we walked just a few minutes away to attend a birthday party to which we had been invited.  The birthday girl, Miriam, is a PhD student who attends St. George's, along with her PhD student husband, Anton, and their 6-week old son (who we're sure will eventually get his PhD as well).  We met many of their friends, and had more dessert to celebrate.  Next, after a few moments of rest, we went to the evening service at St. George's.  At this service we were simply worshipers, enjoying being filled and fed by the Spirit and through communion.  To finish off the day, we went to the pub next door and enjoyed a drink with a group of fellow congregants.  Brian liked the taste of the new beer he tried, and liked even more the conversation about communion that emerged at the table.

One of the big tasks that lay ahead of us all week is the Focus holiday.  This week-long camping holiday with St. George's is from July 21-27, so we've spent a lot of time this week preparing.  Monday was the major preparation day.  We went through the list of suggested and required items to see what we needed, like bath mats, salt, and sleeping bags (we'll let you decide what was required and what was suggested).  One important need for Brian was a pair of Wellington's, or Wellies (rain boots).  In order to procure these, we headed down to Oxford Street again (we were there in our first few days) and went to Primark.  The store was CRAZY.  There is a good chance that this was the busiest store both of us have ever been in in our lives.  After fighting through the crowds, Brian spotted the Wellies selection, which consisted of one style: Union Jack (the British flag).  With such a limited selection, the choice was easy.  Now Brian can sport his British pride in style.

On Monday evening we had dinner with Mary, a long time member of St. George's.  She treated us to a proper English dinner, complete with roast chicken, roasted potatoes and parsnips, Yorkshire pudding, steamed vegetables, gravy, red currant jam, ice cream for dessert, followed by a cheese plate to ensure we ended on a savory note (with tea of course).  Mary was a nurse, who worked at the local children's hospital for many years (and she still makes rounds and prays with patients there).  She also spent two years in Uganda as a ward sister teaching local nurses.  It was good to talk with someone who had been with the church for so long.  She was very complimentary toward John Valentine, the current vicar, and excited about the church growing.

Tuesday we attended our second staff meeting, which consisted mainly of talking about the Focus holiday.  We went through the whole schedule together to make sure everyone was on the same page.  The other major item on the agenda was talking about how things would run during August, as most of the staff were going to be on holiday at some point during that time.

After the staff meeting we had lunch with the Student Worker and Ordinand at St. George's, Liz Clutterbuck.  We heard about her time at St. George's, the changes that she has made to the student ministry there, as well as her experience with theological training in the UK.  We appreciated her focus on getting students involved in leadership positions by releasing them to do what they are passionate to do.  We've heard that a few times in the conversations that we have had, and it's something that we'll definitely take back with us.

Tuesday night we had dinner with the Valentine family, which was lovely.  In the two weeks that we have been here, we had yet to have a meal with the whole family.  The food was wonderful, thanks again to Catherine, and it was really good to continue to get to know them.

Wednesday we journeyed to Holy Trinity Brompton, the church whose reputation brought us over here in the first place.  We went to the church's offices and met with two women who are on the staff of HTB.  Laura Douglas-Bates runs Student Alpha UK, and we talked with her about the changes that have taken place within the program and what they have seen working across universities in the UK.  One of the most successful things that has happened is called Student Alpha small.  This program is slightly pared down and packaged so that students can run it in their dorm halls or living rooms with a small group of their friends.  It is again a way to get students ministering to their own peer group, and the program (which is free) does most of the work for them so that they can focus on their relationships.  Next we met with Sarah Miller, one of the two Student Pastors at HTB.  She talked with us about the structure of the student ministry at HTB and the lessons that they have learned over the years.  Again, as with the Alpha changes, relationships play a key part and their structure is built in order to maximize relationships.  It was also interesting to hear how they chose and discipled the leaders of their small groups (who are students themselves), and also how they will be introducing mentors to the ministry in the fall in order to have a more inter-generational approach.  We're looking forward to working with both Laura and Sarah in the upcoming week as we're working with students at Focus.

After these great meetings, we walked across the street from the HTB offices to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  We enjoyed seeing some amazing sculptures and other pieces of art, most of which were Christian.  The museum has a lot of artwork straight from churches, such as stained-glass windows and architecture.  It was like walking through a bunch of historic churches, but all the cool parts gathered in one place.

After seeing the Victoria and Albert Museum, we walked up the road to Harrod's.  Harrod's is a seven story luxury department store that is takes up an entire city block.  It is enormous.  We spent around an hour walking through just a few of the levels and saw jewelry (one set of earrings which were quoted as costing 92,000 pounds), groceries, pastries, chocolate, a book store, china, Waterford crystal, sculptures, and toys.  We wanted to be able to say that we had bought something, so we spotted some scones for 90 pence each and purchased two for an afternoon snack.

Wednesday evening we also returned to the home group which we had attended the week before.  The meeting was wonderful, again.  One of the things that really impressed us was how comfortable the members of the group felt about asking deep and challenging questions, as well as how these questions were responded to.  It is a testimony to how well the group is run and the love that the members have for one another.

Thursday morning we attended the School Leaving Service for St. George's Primary School.  This service was like an appreciation ceremony for those students who are moving on to secondary school next year.  We were asked to run the sound booth and projection and got a quick tutorial on how things worked.  It was simple enough until just as the service was starting, a teacher came back with additional sounds, pictures, and slides to be put up on the screen at certain points throughout the service.  By the end, we managed to be the sound effects people for a play, worship coordinators, and DJs.  It was a nerve-racking 45 minutes, but we learned a lot and things went relatively smoothly.

After the students, parents, and teachers had left the church, we went back home to set up our tent and our air mattress to make sure they worked.  Indeed they did, and it was quite the enterprise setting up a tent in the living room.  Needless to say, we needed to hoover (vacuum) once we were done.

A few hours later we went back to church for the last youth group of the term.  Whereas last week there were only five youth in attendance, this week there were over 20.  The church was bursting with lively energy, to put it mildly.  We spent our time milling about, getting into some brief conversations with some of the youth, and trying to make sure things weren't broken.  At the end of the night, we were both exhausted and utterly convinced of the saintliness of Janet, the youth worker.

Today we assisted the staff of St. George's in loading up the van headed to Focus.  We packed a large marquee for the church, couches, chairs, rugs, decorations for the marquee, two microwaves, a refrigerator, two BBQs, a stove, a tea kettle (of course), tables, and much more.  St. George's takes camping to a new level and we're looking forward to relaxing in the luxuriously furnished and decorated marquee.

Finally, this afternoon we walked up to King's Cross Station to see a magical landmark, Platform 9 3/4.  Somehow the muggles have figured out where all of these Hogwarts-bound students enter the platform for the Hogwarts Express.  We're curious as to how it happened, but we suspect gnargles.  We enjoyed walking around the very large train station and pointing out where certain things were in the film.

Now, we're off to pack for Focus.  Please pray that we can get everything we need into our bags, that we get to our coach (bus) on time in the morning, and that Brian will not have to use his wellies (due to a lack of rain, not a lack of zeal for the Queen).