Living It

It has been a while since I last posted here and if I am honest I am pondering what to write. Do I give you a catch up of the last 18 months and an apology of why I have not written? No. Not really. Those of you that know me know the personal journey I have been on....or at least you may think you know it. It is getting to that time of year where I think about doing my Christmas card letter, and even for me summing up this year is going to be hard. Personal bereavement at the beginning of the Spring hit me a curve ball out of the blue and the impact, impression and devastation will be around for some time. Ministry wise, programmes we expected to run did not get off the ground. And the community run swimming pool and leisure centre that I have been a part of for 3 years (I resigned my directorship in October)  is about to be handed back to the council as the organisation can not recover after an electrical fire in the control panel. I do not have high hopes in the council...

Let me share with you a vision... Several years ago the YWAM Stirling had a vision of teaching interns mission in the community. The idea was that we would offer an internship programme and the students would learn what it is to have a missional lifestyle working in a community based setting. The participant would go away with an accredited course known in the UK. Sadly the idea never got off the ground as we soon found out that we needed at least two participants in order for the trainers to be accredited. Several years on and the vision or desire to have an urban based missions course has not left us. Running a community based Discipleship Training School. For those of you that know nothing about Youth With A Mission. A Discipleship Training School (DTS) is a residential training course that combines Biblical teaching with outreach experiences. It touches on topics like the Fatherheart of God, Encountering God, Evangelism, The Holy Spirit, Calling and Vision, Tradition...

Many of you may know that I embarked on saving a sports facility 2 years ago. The council was closing it and that was that. Or so many thought... In my heart though I felt there were issues of integrity with this decision and so I quickly joined with some local mums who had started  a petition against the closure. I had more than enough on at the time but as a community worker my professional values were at stake as far as I was concerned. I could not stand by and see a facility be demolished because I knew it would have a detrimental effect on the long term health and well being of the community. It soon became apparent that the decision would not be reversed and the last option was a community buy out of the facility. Fighting demolition is massive, but thanks to a great team within the community that evolved we have done it - it is the community worker's dream. I am so proud do be a part of this. What started as my off time,  soon became part of ministr...

 Hi folks On the 2nd June I will be taking part in a 10.2 mile walk raising money for the organisation I work for. YWAM  Stirling is a Community Development team, part of YWAM Scotland. YWAM Stirling has to raise all its own funds, therefore any contribution that can be made is vital and would be used to sustain the work of YWAM Stirling and help it develop and do more. Please click the link below and visit my profile page. Bt Donate allows you to give securely. Thanks Fundraiser profile page - BT MyDonate

What does Missions mean to you? Is it a sense of going? Is it someone who is "set apart"? Is it for someone else? Mission can conjure up a whole host of ideas in people's heart. If you say "There goes a man/woman in a mission" There is the idea that the person is purposeful, authoritative, driven (perhaps even JCB like - no one is going to stop them) Sometimes the church has even fallen into that trap - we are going to go, change and impose our way and culture on someone else. We are also aware of the other side of missions too though. Missionaries like Gladys Aylward who was not accepted by the mission authority. Instead of giving up Gladys was obedient to the calling she felt, spending her life savings on a passage to China. I have been in missions for 7 years now and it is fair to say that I have got used to not fitting into other people's boxes. In my time I have had conversations with people who struggle with the fact I am in ministry and my h...

Today is the day. It has been over a year since my sister had a prophetic word about writing a book, and it took a year to write and organise....but today is the day when "Marigold the Journey home" by Marisa Rosie finally arrived on her doorstep from the Lithuanian printer. A story for kids of all ages about the Fatherheart of God and how much God loves each one of them. For me the story has extra significance as each character is one of my sister's childhood soft toys and there is even one or two of mine too.    For a full synopsis of the story please  go to http://marigoldandfriends.co.uk There are prices including p&p for UK, EU and rest of world

Trying raise funds to develop new things. Please consider making a contribution. We would really like to have an office or space to do more things and share it with others needing a space. Faithfunder Crowdfunding | Crowd Sourcing