Urban Devotion

2008-01-02T12:24:00.000Z

Happy New Year!
As you may have gathered from our horrendous lack of updates we are not using this blog anymore. Please click here to go to our new website. The site is currently in development phase so we would welcome your feedback as we ready the site for general use.

Blessings on behalf of all of us,
Andy

2007-01-11T15:21:00.000Z

NEW YEAR!

Welcome, belatedly, to 2007! Over the past week we have taken some time and space to reflect on the past term and look ahead to the next. As ever we are looking to what God is doing in our community and seeking to pursue this.

As this is a New Year we'd like to ask your advice. We want this blog to be a genuine resource that helps you to pray effectively for what God is doing in Perry Common and the surrounding area as well as for us as a team. How can this blog help you to do this?

Would you like more stories? More pictures? More prayer requests? A different design? Or something else?

Please share your thoughts and ideas with us...

This week we have taught over 250 young people at Stockland Green School and connected with many other young people on the streets of Perry Common. An immediate prayer request is for our youth venue. St Martin's Church are struggling to raise the funds to keep the centre open - particularly with us being the only people currently using the venue. Please pray that God would have His way in the situation.

Have a fantastically blessed New Year.

Love,
The Urban Devotion Team

2006-12-19T14:03:00.000Z

This is our last week of activities before we break up for Christmas ... we're back on Tuesday 2nd January 2007!

Tuesday
12.45pm - 1.20pm: Get God (Stockland Green School)
3.45pm - 5pm: Girls' Group (Christmas party!) & Boys' Football
7.30pm - 9pm: Detached
Wednesday
4pm - 6pm: Junior Drop In
10pm - 11pm: Football Social
Thursday
10.00am: Christmas Special at St Martin's Church for Reception Children & Parents of Perry Common Jnr & Inf School
4pm - 5pm: Christmas Hour with the children from Turfpits Lane After School Club
7.30pm: UDB Youth Forum Christmas Extravaganza!

May your Christmas & New Year be filled with joy & perfect peace.

2006-12-12T16:27:00.000Z

Hi there!

Just to keep you in touch with this week's activities....

Tuesday
12.45pm - 1.20pm: Get God (Stockland Green School)
3.45pm - 5pm: Girls' Group (creating Christmas Cards & decorations) & Boys' Football
7.30pm - 9pm: Detached

Wednesday
4pm - 6pm: Junior Drop In
10pm - 11pm: Football Social

Thursday
10.00am: Christmas Special at St Martin's Church for Reception Children & Parents of Perry Common Jnr & Inf School
4pm - 5pm: Children's Choir Practice
7.30pm: Volunteers Appreciation Get Together

Bless you & thank you for your continued support.

2006-12-06T14:31:00.000Z

Jehovah Jireh - God our Provider
God is so amazing! I've always loved the thought that God is the provider of all our needs....and well, I think the following will really encourage you.....
at the beginning of last month we were quite a considerable amount of money short to cover all the outgoings. We'd committed it to God through prayer and as the weeks flew by, by the end of the month we'd received sufficient monies through gifts and new supporters to cover the shortfall! If that wasn't incredible enough in our team meeting today Sam mentioned that we were £2000 short for the month of December and encouraged us to pray not in a blase way but with faith. When the meeting had finished we all got back to work and I opened my emails to find one from a trust to say that they had been asked to send us £2000!!! We were gathered around the PC hardly believing our eyes - totally in awe of our awesome God. How amazing is that?!

This week's activities:
Tuesday
12.45pm - 1.20pm: Get God (Stockland Green)
3.45pm - 5pm: Girls' Group (baking cookies & mince pies) & Boys' Football
7.30pm -9pm: Detached

Wednesday
4pm - 6pm: Junior Drop In
7.30pm - 9pm: UDB Youth Forum (Junior Volunteers - focusing on 'Health & Safety & Child Protection)
10pm - 11pm: Football Social

Thursday
10.10am: Perry Common Junior & Infant School Assembly
4pm - 5pm: Children's Choir Practice
6pm - 7pm: Kids Club (Christmas Special where parents are invited to watch their children receive their prizes for attendance)

HUGE thanks & blessings to you all!

2006-11-28T14:04:00.000Z

Get God!

You may be aware from previous posts that we have developed an increasingly strong relationship with Stockland Green school. We were originally involved with Stockland Green through Space teaching Sexual Health & Relationships lessons and this gave us the opportunity to do some one-off RE teaching a couple of years ago.

We are now teaching in Stockland - either RE or PSHE (Personal, Social & Health Education) -almost every week but our main point of connection has been through the Get God club we run on Tuesday lunchtimes. This began as a gathering point for those intrigued by the original RE lessons and provides a space for young people in the school to explore what it means to know Jesus. We have different people showing up every week but there is a core group who seem to be really open to Jesus. As such we have been able to be increasingly direct with sharing Jesus with them.

Please pray that they genuinely encounter Jesus for themselves - pray for James, Letisha, Pascal, Georgia, Gary, Jordan, Anna, Jade, Kirsty, Katie, Sophie and all the others whose names I have forgotten.

Other prayer points this week:

Tuesday - Get God, Football Club, Girls Allowed, Meeting to discuss involvement with Perry Common Junior & Infant, Detached
Wednesday - Junior Club, Senior Football
Thursday - Kids Choir Practice for 'Carols In The City 2006', Meeting looking 'Lifelong Learning'

Please also pray generally for various funding applications we are writing this week and also that local businesses would provide prizes for our Kids Club Christmas Special next week.

Thank you so much for your continued support.

2006-11-23T16:03:00.000Z

Just back from planting sackfuls of daffodil bulbs on ‘The Ring’ with children and staff from Perry Common School and the Wilson Stuart School and Sports College, local residents and organisations all under the watchful eye of 2 burly Birmingham City Council workers. There was lots of fun and laughter (in spite of a few rain showers!) and it was so good to see the more able children interacting with the not so able children all enjoying the whole experience. Hardly can wait for the spring to see the results!

2006-11-22T11:46:00.000Z

This week's activities include:

Tuesday
12.45pm - 1.20pm: Get God (Stockland Green)
3.45 - 5pm: Girls' Group (Dance Workshop) & Boys' Football
7.30pm - 9pm: Detached

Wednesday
4pm - 6pm: Junior Drop In
7.30pm - 9pm: UDB Youth Forum (Junior Volunteers - focusing on 'Roles & Responsibilities')
10pm - 11pm: Football Social

Thursday
2pm: Bulb Planting on 'the Ring'
4pm - 5pm: Children's Choir Practice for 'Carols in the City 2006'
6pm - 7pm: Kids Club (Theme: Who is this God? - Helper God. Power phrase: 'God's always there to help me out!')

Friday
9.55am -10.45am - Stockland Green (Yr 7 'Rights & Responsibilities')

We really do appreciate all your support. Thank you so much.

2006-11-16T01:43:00.000Z

Schools!

We have had some fantastic developments in our secondary schools work this week. We have steadily built up a relationship with Stockland Green Technology College over the past couple of years - running a Get God club, assisting with RE and PSHE (Personal, Social & Health Education) lessons, taking the odd assembly and working with SPACE to deliver relationships and sexual health lessons. The most positive aspect to our relationship with the school has been our friendships with a couple of the teachers. Pray for Dan and Clare as they grow in their relationships with God and live this out in the school environment.

On Monday I had a really positive meeting with the heads of RE and PSHE which ended with us being booked for over 30 PSHE lessons and over 40 relationship and sexual health lessons. We will also be continuing to deliver RE lessons. They even talked about seeing if they could employ me for a day a week!

Please pray for us Thursday and Friday as we lead 2 Year 10 lessons on 'A Christian Response to Suffering'. We would also love your prayers as we write and deliver five PSHE lessons next Friday.

2006-11-15T15:06:00.000Z

Can you believe that another week's gone by....time's going so quickly - it'll soon be Christmas!

Here's this week's activities:

Tuesday
12.45pm- 1.20pm: Get God
3.45pm - 5pm: Girls' Group (Hair & Beauty theme this week so lots of pampering) & Boys' Football Club
7.30pm - 9pm: Detached (last week was very encouraging - we had 31 contacts!)

Wednesday
4pm - 6pm: Junior Drop In
10pm - 11pm: Football Social

Thursday
9.55am- 10.45am: Stockland Green Year 10 RE Lesson 'Christians & Suffering'
4pm - 5pm: Children's Choir Practice with the children from Servant Ministries After School Club, Turfpits Lane, in preparation for Carols in the City 2006 on 16th December
5pm - onwards: Visiting Kids Club members & their families

Friday
11.50am - 12.40pm: Stockland Green Year 10 RE Lesson 'Christians & Suffering'

Please continue to pray for all the activities and especially for:
Amy as she's at uni on Wednesday & Thursday this week (I know she'd very much appreciate your prayers as she has a test on Thursday morning)
Andy as he leads the year 10 lessons
Mel who's co-ordinating the Children's Choir practice
and Sam as he meets with other organisations

God bless you abundantly for all your support.

2006-11-09T15:27:00.000Z

Girls Allowed!

I thought i'd update you all on how the girls group is going, it's been a while since i've said hello!

Girls Allowed is for girls in year six upwards (from the age of 11 for those who struggle with school years!), and is on for an hour and a half every Tuesday after school.

We recently had a club where the girls let us know what it was they wanted to do (using monopoly money!)and so now we have a curriculum based on that, which they seem to love!

We don't have a lot coming (we have got a faithful four and two girls who occassionally come along), so we've had lots of time to really invest in these girls, building up relationships with them, as well as building up their skills and self-esteem.

However, an area for prayer would be how we engage more of the young girls on the estate in the work of urban devotion, as even though i'm not after large numbers, i'm aware that there are loads of them that we have no contact with, who are missing out!

It's really encouraging to see how much my relationship with three of the girls in particular has developed over the time i've been with UDB now, when i look back i used to feel like i was never going to get a 'meaningful relationship' with any of them, but now they are so open with me, it just goes to show that trust in some of these young people takes a looooong time to develop!

So, there you have it, a brief rundown on what's going on with the girls atm!

Thank you all for your continued support - the prayer backing we get from you guys is vital to the work we're doing here.

Buckets of Blessings to you!

2006-11-08T14:39:00.000Z

Hi everyone!

Here's a quick summary of this week's activities:

Tuesday
12.45pm - 1.20pm: Get God (Lunch time drop in club at Stockland Green School)
3.45pm - 5pm: Girls' Group (the girls are making microwave shortbread this week... mmmmm!) & Boys' Football Club
7pm - 9pm: Detached

Wednesday
4pm - 6pm: Junior Drop In
6pm - 9pm: UDB Youth Forum (Junior Volunteers')- Bonfire & BBQ at Andy & Emma's
10pm - 11pm: Football Social

Thursday
6pm - 7pm: Kids Club - Theme: ' Who is this God? - Forgiver' & Powerphrase: 'no dirt can stick to me!'

Thank you again for your continued prayers.... we really appreciate your support. Huge blessings.

2006-10-31T12:18:00.000Z

Last week's Half Term activities went really well resulting in many positive contacts with local agencies and the young people; there was also a good write up in 'Perry Common Matters' (a local publication), and Andy had a phone call from a reporter from Great Barr Observer requesting photos for an article she's writing on the Community Care Project.

This Week's Activities:

Tuesday
12.45pm - 1.20pm: Get God (Lunch time drop in club at Stockland Green School)
3.45pm - 5pm: Girls' Group & Boys' Football Club

Wednesday
4pm - 6pm: Junior Drop In
10pm - 11pm: Football Social

and some time after school: Visiting Kids Club members

Thanks so much for your continued prayers.

2006-10-24T13:12:00.000+01:00

Urban Devotion
HALF TERM ACTIVITIES

Hi there! Here's a summary of all that's going on this week:

TUESDAY

Community Care Project 10.30am - 12.30pm
The Community Action Initiative group (consisting of 5 local organisations: Community Watch, Witton Lodge Community Association, Neighbourhoods Guide, Erdington Local Delivery Group (ELDG) and UDB) have planned a 'Clean-Up Project' for today and flyers have been posted to local residents inviting them to take part. Activities include litter picking around 'The Ring', Wendover and Sycamore Court areas and the wasteground behind St Martin's, followed by a free buffet at 12.30pm. A number of our youngsters have volunteered to join in working alongside Mel, Andy and Amy bringing opportunities to further develop relationships and at the same time making a positive contribution to the community.
Girls Allowed 3.30 - 5pm: Girls Club for 11 - 14 year olds
Boys Football 3.30 - 5pm: Held in St. Martins Youth Centre

Detached 7.30 - 9pm: Prayer walking/meeting with the youth on the streets
Football Social 10 -11pm

WEDNESDAY
Junior Club 4 - 6pm: 10 - 14 year olds
Junior Volunteers' Training 7 - 9pm: This is a new fortnightly scheme where we are investing in a group of young people who are now too old for our Wednesday drop in club by building relationships and encouraging them to be positive role models for younger people.

THURSDAY
Trip 12 - 4pm: bowling at Star City

FRIDAY
Football Tournament 12 - 4pm: held at Twickenham Park

Our prayer focus is that relationships increase (we do thank God for the increase of interagencies relationships) and that God will provide ALL that the project needs.

2006-10-16T17:14:00.000+01:00

'Prepare for & facilitate community transformation'

this is our vision and in one way we are within a process whereby this is taking place, the crime rate across the community is at a continual low, compared to other estates surrounding us, and many are grasping hold of opportunities for change.

At the same time in the last 6 weeks there have been 2 suicides on the estate - a reality that keeps me grounded and broken. Please pray with us that we will begin to see more transformational breakthrough at a relational level, beyond lots of contact. Pure and lasting transformation within the estate will only come through the holistic transformation of people's lives. This is the barrier we have to see broken through!

2006-09-27T16:43:00.000+01:00

Hi there everyone!

Welcome to my 1st attempt at 'blogging'! Fasten your seat belts..... Here goes.....!

48 Hours Prayer and Worship
commenced Friday at 8pm through to Sunday 8pm. The aim: to worship and listen to God, to pursue intimacy with Jesus and to develop sensitivity to all that He wanted to communicate to us and within the area of Perry Common. Following the 48 hours we met at TLCC (we couldn't all fit in the Prayer Room!) for feedback and worship. God's presence was very evident; there was such a sense of expectation of all that God is birthing in this area!

Specific prayer requests for this week:

Amy commenced her 2nd year at CYM (Centre for Youth Ministry) St John's College, Nottingham (where did that 1st year go?!) She's doing a BA in Youth and Community Work and Applied Theology which means she's away at uni alternative Wednesdays and Thursdays and is missed very much when she's not around! Please pray for Amy as she juggles all the practicalities of studying, travelling, and working within the community within such a tight timescale.

Assembly at Perry Common Junior and Infant School on Thursday morning Mel, Sam and Andy will be taking the theme 'choices', getting the children to think about how their actions have consequences, and showing them how God helps us to make choices. We are so grateful for this opportunity to have a presence within the school. Please pray for positive relationships to develop further and God's blessing for the team.

Please pray that amongst all the activities and busyness of all that the project brings our eyes will be ultimately fixed on Jesus, and also for protection for ourselves and our families.

Thank you - we really appreciate your prayers.... and you!

Huge blessings

2006-09-07T13:04:00.000+01:00

Well, this time last week i was most probably chasing the instructors at Woodlands Camp with very muddy hands, alongside Mel and six girls from Perry Common!

Last Wednesday-Friday was the residential, and we had an absolutely fantastic time!
It was so valuable with regards to relationships with the girls - and we even saw the division between them disappear! This was really shown on Thursday when it was one of the girls birthdays, and the girls who are usually unfriendly towards her decided to make her a little suprise party! How AMAZING is that?! - We've been working on this relationship for some time now, so to see it all clear up is fantastic!

They got to experience so many firsts, and really did enjoy themselves - they're already asking me to go to the 'money people' and ask them for more cash so we can go back!!

We did an assault course, zip wire, kayaking, walking across rope bridges over a freezing lake (called 'vines'), rock climbing and abseiling, archery and raft-building with Woodlands. All of it they enjoyed (especially the kayaking!), and were left hungry for more!

Because we managed to get funding for it we were able to also book two professional masseurs so that each of us got a massage, and also got facial and nail care things. None of the girls had ever had a massage or face mask before, so it was great to treat them and show them they're worth it!

They also tried lots of new food things, which is great, which included toasted marshmellows, bananas with chocolate melted inside of them, pastries (which they didn't like!!), and even cheese with jam on it (Mel's idea - and i must say, it is rather yummy!)

So, yes, a fabulous time was had by all!

2006-08-22T16:22:00.000+01:00

Andy and I applied for funding to do some work with smaller groups of young people, him with eight guys and myself with eight girls, and thankfully we got the funding!
What this project looked like is three (separate) community care projects, two lasting three hours, and the third lasting five, and two residentials (one for the lads and one for the girls).
The community care work was all based in a mainly council owned area – Rowdean close and dean close, which are almost exclusively elderly residents. We in total have worked on five gardens and done two litter picking sessions, and the results are great!
It was a lovely opportunity for us to spend time working with these young people and building up relationships with them. We were able to positively endorse them and what they were doing, and they were able to see that the work they did made a big difference.
The lads residential was apparently fantastic, and the girls one is in two weeks time, so watch this space for photos and more detail on those!

2006-08-22T16:21:00.000+01:00

Sunday 13th was our family fun day, from 12pm-4pm we opened the doors of Turfpits Lane to the families and children on the estate.
We all woke up to the sound of rain in the morning, but stormed ahead and apart from the odd drizzle it was fine! We had a bouncy castle, gladiator duel and face painting, as well as a bbq, and the time passed really quickly.
There were a few parents who stayed around, and it was a lovely time of just having fun with them and the children. A few young people turned up as well, and we had lots of people helping out. It was a real success, and something we will definitely look into doing again.

2006-08-22T15:20:00.000+01:00

The 5th August was the Kingstanding Carnival, which was a fantastic success!
On the 3rd we had the graffiti workshop (the results of which you can see in the photos above), and drumming workshop, both of which went well, although there was more interest in the graffiti!
The 4th was completely taken up with preperation for the next day, Mel, mum and i along with my dad, a mum from the estate and four children all pulled together to decorate the float, and then Mel and i had great fun in my back garden creating the t-shirts with the left over spray paint!
On the day we had an amazing time. We sounded fantastic (even if i do say so myself!) and the crowds were dancing away to the rhythms we played! On a personal note, it was so amazing to be doing something like this in the area i'm living in, along the streets that i want to impact, there was a great atmosphere, and everyone had a good time.
After the parade we had the YFC football cage set up which was also a great success, with lots of the lads from the area coming for multiple goes!
All in all, it was definately worth it. I'm glad we took that step of faith a week before the carnival in saying that we'd 'go for it' despite the obsticals, and if we were given the chance, i'd do it all again!

2006-08-01T14:40:00.000+01:00

August Already!

This week we launch our summer community care projects as well as a football project. We will also be gearing up for the Kingstanding Carnival this Saturday. Pray that we will have positive relational time with the young people, that the carnival preparations would go smoothly and above all that we keep our eyes on Jesus amidst all the busyness.

Thanks!

2006-07-20T12:21:00.000+01:00

Kingstanding Carnival - Saturday August 5th
We are hosting a float and stand at the Kingstanding Carnival. We have had numerous organisation obstacles along the way so please pray that we are able to get an effective team of leaders and young people together. We see this as an exciting opportunity to both engage with, and raise our profile, in the community. We are planning to have graffiti art backdrops and utilise the 'Stomp' style percussion that we have been teaching in Perry Common Junior School. Pray particularly for Mel as she coordinates the project.

2006-07-18T10:11:00.000+01:00

THIS WEEK

This week we have important meetings with the Perry Common Regeneration Forum and the College & Community Project.

This is the last week of term so pray for us as we gear up for our summer activities and pray for the young people in schools who are transitioning from one school or school year to the next.

We also say au revoir to Matt Lilley and Amy Graham who are moving onto pastures anew to continue being legends in all that God calls them to.

2006-07-12T09:35:00.000+01:00

July Update
We haven't updated you in a while so brace yourselves for a lot of information!

Secondary Schools
Since we last posted we have had two very successful days in a local secondary school delivering sexual health and relationships lessons. Our relationship with the school has developed significantly over the past year to the point where we have real favour. We are currently running a group for young people in the school who are interested in God, we are assisting with some PE lessons, we are developing a Christian Ethics program to fit inside their Personal Social & Health educational syllabus and we are involved in running a summer school to transition some children from primary to secondary education.

Primary Schools
Our primary work continues to progress with the development of an Industrial Beat club and partnering with a local school's forestry teaching with some environmental projects. We are looking to hold a special drop-in club over the summer to allow those moving into Year 6 the opportunity to spend time in the youth club environment before they become active members of the club in September

Kids Club
We continue to see new children coming along to Kids Club. Over the past couple of months we have begun home visiting and as a result are getting to know some of the parents better. We are planning a Family Fun Day in August and hope to build on these relationships. We have had some friendship issues amongst the children that has caused some tension between a couple of the parents so please pray that God would bring peace to these situations and draw them to Him.

Drop-In Clubs
Due to electrical problems we had to close down the clubs for two weeks. Whilst this was a shame we had some significant relational time with some of the young people. We have lots of young people in the transition age between the two clubs and some have begun to filter through to the older age group. This has coincided with some of our older young people moving on from the club environment. As a result we have a completely different set of young people in the Tuesday club to those who were around before Christmas. Please pray that we would be able to sustain these relationships. At the moment the primary connection points with the older young people is through detached work, living in the community and Wednesday evening football with Sam and Andy.

Summer Activities
We are currently devising our summer program. This includes two complementary single sex community care projects for which we ahev successfully applied for funding. We will be working with 8 young men and 8 young women from across the community to directly impact one of the council estates in our area. We will then take them away for a residential trip in a rural location. This should be a fantastic opportunity for building relationships with the young people. We are also planning to run some Skills sessions (graffiti art, DJing etc) as well as our usual clubs and holiday activities.

Team
Matt and Amy G will shortly be moving on to pastures anew. They have been fantastic members of our time this year and will be sorely missed by the rest of us and the young people. Please pray heaps of blessing on them whilst also praying for wisdom in how to bring closure to their relationships with the young people. From the start of the next academic year we will have a core team of Amy K, Andy, Mel and Sam along with several amazing volunteers. We have a couple of potential additions to the team so please pray that God would speak to them and to us! In order to sustain and develop our existing projects we realistically need a couple more committed volunteers - particularly another male! We have also applied for some funding this summer to assist us with our team development.

Thank you so much for your continued prayer support. Please keep praying and reply to this post if you feel God is speaking to you about UDB.

Love,
Andy

2006-06-21T13:22:00.000+01:00

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy from the YWAM team's stay with us here in Perry Common. We were massively blessed in having them with us and many people in the community commented on the different atmosphere on the estate. Rather than me trying to do justice to all that happened over the two weeks why don't those of you who were around click on '# comments' at the bottom of this post and tell some stories...

2006-06-20T16:34:00.000+01:00

Coming Soon...
A full report with photos on the last two weeks with the YWAM team in Perry Common.

For Now...
Please pray for the various activities taking place this week, including:

'Industrial Beat' drumming clubs
Junior and Senior Football
'Girls Allowed'
Junior & Senior Drop-In clubs

We are also involved in a couple of community initiatives:

Andy is talking to a group from Leicester about how UDB works to see community transformation amongst children and young people
Amy K and Andy are submitting funding applications for some summer community projects to a community forum.

Next week we are spending two whole days in one of the local secondary schools teaching on Relationships and Sexual Health.

Sam and family are away on holiday for two weeks so please pray that they will have a relaxing and enjoyable time.

Big Blessings to you all.

2006-06-14T13:26:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of updates these past two weeks. We have had a YWAM DTS team with us and have been very busy on the ground. We have worked together to put on daily sport events as well as various activities in primary and secondary school. The team have been fantastic and a real blessing to us. We have particularly sensed the significance of the increase in prayer across the local area. The presence of the team has facilitated partnership between UDB and the three local churches with various people providing hospitality and accommodation to the young people.

This Thursday we are running a special World Cup Kids Club which includes a big-screen rendering of England vs. Trinidad & Tobago followed by a barbeque to which we have invited all the children's parents. Please pray for a deepening of relationship between our team and the parents.

Also pray blessing on the YWAM team as they preoare to leave Perry Common on Friday evening.

Thanks!

2006-05-30T10:03:00.000+01:00

If all this blogging lark sounds like a foreign language click on the link below:

AQuickGuideToBlogging.doc

2006-05-30T09:15:00.000+01:00

WHAT'S GOING ON THIS WEEK?
Here's a quick summary of the practical activities we are involved in this week

Tuesday
- Community Care Day: Working with the young people to serve and express God's love to the people of Perry Common
- Girls Allowed: Girls Club for 11-14 year olds, treasure hunt!
- Boys Football Project: Kingstanding, 2-4pm
- Football Club: 4-5pm
- Senior Club: 14-18 year olds, 7.30pm-9.30pm

Wednesday
- Girls Day Out: Waterworld, 10am-2.30pm
- Boys Football Project: Kingstanding, 2-4pm
- Junior Club: 10-14 year olds, 4-6pm
- Football Social: 10-11pm

Thursday
- Boys Day Out: Mountain Biking, 9.15am-2.15pm
- Boys Football Project: Kingstanding, 2-4pm
- Perry Common Cell Group: 7.45-10pm

As you can see we are quite busy this week so please pray that we would keep our guys on God and his heart for the young people rather than losing ourselves in managing the activities!

Thanks!

P.S. We'll publish some pictures soon...

2006-05-22T11:50:00.000+01:00

We are 2 weeks into a season of prayer, and already there have been numerous encouragements through the Holy Spirits working in our hearts and within the local area.

As we have been praying it is like a new freedom has descended on times of prayer, both a freedom of prayer and a freedom of heart from which to pray. There have been many words about preparation, and going deeper, and these challenges have been both to our prayer investment into the area but also the investment into our own spirits of sensitivity to the Father. There is a tipping point, a 'right' depth that needs to be pressed into in order to sustain the seed and growth of the Kingdom.

Within the physical realm of the community there has also been a new openness, both in relationships and in receptivity to prayer. This is encouraging and yet we are also well reminded that this is a battle ground, and in order to extend the grace of God into the community we have to stand firm in prayerful authority on behalf of the community and each other.

Please pray with us this week for:-

Crime rate - (Increase for first 2 weeks in May)- pray for exposure / conviction and for the rule of peace over the community of Perry Common.

Government - There is a bit of a tussle at the moment within the political realm of Kingstanding (our Ward) with BNP candidate voted in through a mis count - pray for breakthrough of Gods rule of peace.

Scotty & pukka - 2 of the lads that God has really layed on our hearts at the moment - pray for revelation / conviction / salvation.

UDB - Pray for Andy who is currently in Ukraine doing short term mission stuff - Pray for energy for him - and blessing on Emma (Andys wife!)

TONIGHT - UDB presentation at neighbourhood forum - boldness in communicating who we are and what we believe - favour in response to what we do.

Thanks for your journeying with us in prayer, we may never know the full reality of the investment that prayer has made here, but how exciting to stand before the Father one day and hear him explain it!!!

Big Blessings

2006-05-09T10:05:00.000+01:00

I just spent a weekend with the Northumbria Community (see link), and it was an experience unlike anything else really... one thing that really struck me is how they somehow have managed to strike the balance between a deep, transformational and steady relationship with God, and living in a vulnerable and available community. It's not about segregation, slicing up our lives into 'God' times and other times, but about a full integration of God into EVERY area of our lives. Now this is something I've heard a multitude of times before, but have always struggled with the application of. But I am really encouraged that it is possible, it is realistic and it is something that we can each put into place in our own lives.

They talked a lot of finding a spiritual rhythm, using the routines, the repetition that each of our daily lives hold, and finding out how to bring God into those moments. I was really challenged by the liturgy they used as well - I had kinda dismissed liturgy as a valuable form of communicating with God, and that was ignorant and just plain wrong! There's so much power in daily and repetitively claiming God's truth regardless of whether I feel like it or not, and I think it is a way of waking up our spirits to embrace truth as truth, not as something to give or take.

Having said all this, one thing that really spoke to me was the fact that they were so real about the journey of trying to adopt a lifestyle like this - it takes discipline, it can be a hardship, it can be exciting, it can be rewarding...and all of these are equally valid ways of God changing us more into Christ's likeness. The hard times are worth pushing through, the good times are worth celebrating, and gradually we can become God's living presence in the community in which we live. So be encouraged!!

2006-05-08T10:43:00.000+01:00

This week begins a journey of prayer for us in UDB as part of the missional community of Perry Common, as part of the UK and as part of the global prayer community. This week is National Prayer Week across the UK which we are connecting in with specifically to pray into our local community, and as such the prayer room is hosting a significant increase in prayer across the area. This Saturday coming is the national prayer day (Trumpet Call III) at the NEC and in the midst of that is the launch of redeeming our communities - prayerful pursuit of community transformation that has socio-economic impact. June 4th is the global day of prayer for which 500 million people worldwide will be uniting to pray. Leading up to this day will be 10 days of prayer, and follwing on from the Global Prayer Day we are hosting a team of Urban Missionaries through YWAM for 12 days, over which period the plan is to invest over 100 hours of prayer in each week into the local community.

Exciting hey, please join with us as we link up with the purposes of God across the earth, and if you would like us to send you more info about any of the specific events and how you can connect in with us in the midst of it all please email us at office@urbandevotion.org. We will keep you updated through posts on the blog of the things God speaks into us that may be of encouragement to you and your journey or inform your interest in ours!!!

Big Blessings

2006-05-05T16:10:00.000+01:00

"Each time your spirit goes under and faints in the testing & trials which come to you, you lose mastery over the powers of darkness, i.e. you get below them instead of abiding above them in God. Every time you take the earth standpoint - think as men think, talk as men talk, look as men look - you take a place below the powers of darkness. The mastery of them depends upon your spirit abiding in the place above them, and the place above them means knowing God's outlook, God's view, God's thought, God's plan, God's ways, by abiding with Christ in God."

The above is an entry in the journal of James Fraser missionary to China, I have found it a really helpful reminder of the things we know yet so easily forget. In the context of our missional journey this struggle to remain in Jesus and not under the influence of the powers of darkness is a daily one - holding on to faith, prayer & patience is not that easy. Thank you to those of you who are journeying with us in prayer. Please Pray that we will remain in Jesus, both for our own sanity, and for the sake of the breakthrough that only he can release.

2006-05-02T15:11:00.000+01:00

PRAY!

Wisdom for how to develop the project into the wider Kingstanding area
Vision for Melissa as she begins shaping UDB's work with children in and around the estate
Blessing for our team - Alex, Amy G, Amy K, Andy, Ann-Marie, Dean, Emma, James, Joel, Julie, Lou, Louisa, Matt, Mel, Sam, Victoria
Kids Club - pray for the children that come along that they would meet with God and discover His love for them.
Weekly Drop-In Clubs - pray that real relationships would form in the midst of activity and that the young people would discover Jesus.

If you would like to pray more specifically for any of the young people that we encounter please email us

2006-02-21T14:02:00.000Z

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