Living It

I thought since people may read this blog, I should say a bit about me. Why honestly living it? Simply put, I am sharing my journey with you. So who am I? I am a mum with 2 young children, who is professionally trained in youth and community work. I am currently working in mission. I try to balance being a mum with practically demonstrating God's love to those around me....what most Christians endeavour to do - it just so happens that I am currently with Youth With A Mission Scotland. I like things in simple language. I value truth and honesty. I don't claim to be one who has it all sown up. My heart and vision to be transformed into the people God wants them to be. As a community worker, I have a passion for good practice. I believe that when we develop a new project, people should be able to see that it is run well with good policy and practice because God wants the best for us - we should do our best for Him. We should be an example to others of how to do things well. This ...

One of our YWAM Stirling statements is that we want to engage with individuals and communities with a biblical world view. I am currently trying to unpack that a little. What does it mean to have a biblical worldview? People who know me, know that I am not one to use theology terminology, so its focuses in community and church - seeing it from where I am at - now. So I don't claim to have arrived. (I am not sure I ever will!) I have looked at Mark d Roberts blog series on Biblical worldview the matter and he explains things in a way I understand... Two things that Mark has written stick out at the mom "1. There is one transcendent, sovereign, all-powerful God who created all things. 2. Matter matters, because God created heaven and earth and saw that all things he created are very good." What God created was good. Sin has got in the way. God created us to be relational- with Him and others. The earth He created was good and is His. Yes it is important to be i...

Whether we know it or not , we all have a world view. A world view is developed by our beliefs, values and framework of how we interpret and understand our world. It also relates to how we relate or interact in it. Jesus lived in this world. He interacted with the people. He did not set himself apart in order to look down on people. He did not follow the rituals of the Pharisees. He spoke directly to the people. He connected with people where they were at in their daily life. We all have things that have influenced our thoughts and values. I am coming from the context of a Christian community worker, who is currently working in a mission organisation. As a community worker, I know people within my field that would say that I can not be anti - discriminatory and Christian as I have set values. However we all have a worldview, regardless of whether it is religious or not. In my eyes that argument can not hold up. In professional practice I can see I respect the right to seld determinati...

Most of us at one time or another have engaged in a conversation at some point where the notion of community has come up. We have all heard statements like "It was not like that in our day", "We have lost our community spirit". The notion of neighbours talking over the fence and watching out for each other is regarded as nostalgia, since our lifestyles are more fast paced and individualistic. Perhaps my first question then is "What does the term community mean to you?" I am not going to go into a long detailed explanation of the varying concepts of community in this blog. Further reading on this can be done here http://www.infed.org/community/community.htm In short the term community can relate to a geographic place or neighbourhood , a community of interest e.g . a church community or sport or hobby group. The third notion of community comes from communion. Communion can have deep profound attachments such as an encounter with God or it can equally hav...