The Next Chapter

Heaven & Hell video 1

November Creativity: Words & Pictures

We had different workshop sessions at Cross-Section last night which produced some fantastic things.

The WORDZ session challenged young people to write a psalm or write some new lyrics for the song You are Holy which we've used at most Cross-Section evenings.

Here are the new words for the verse from Belinda and Richard

Shout out loud now (Shout out loud now)
Praise him loudly (Praise him loudly)
Let Heaven hear you (Let Heaven hear you)
Hear your praise (Hear your praise)

God we need you (God we need you)
God we love you (god we love you)
God we praise you (God we praise you)
Praise you with love (Praise you with love)

We'll be using this next time Cross-Section meets on Sunday 27th January

Also the Photostory workshop produced the video in the next post (and another one - comng soon!)

Some pictures from Past evenings

November Cross Section

BREAKING NEWS

The next Cross Section will be on

SUNDAY 28th OCTOBER @ St Mary & St George Church, Sands

FROM 6-8pm

We'll be welcoming the NEW CROSS SECTION BAND

BE THERE!

Can't nobody do it like Jesus

We had a fabulous Cross-Section last night with the young people from the choir and dance team of Ruach ministries. First they sang and danced for us and then thye got all the young people (and us oldies too!) involved in learning three parts of the one of the songs and three sections of their street dance.

It was amazing to see the young people opening up to this new type of worship and the adult creche were totally transfixed by it all.

Pastor Mark also delivered a brilliant message which was really challenging. So challenging that, although we'd said we wouldn't have a Cross-Section in October, we're now looking for a venue so we can follow up on such a great night.

September's Cross-Section will be held at Union Baptist Church on the 30th September.

We are going to be exploring how we can persevere in our relationship with God.

We will also be exploring how we can worship God to togther through Gospel music and Street dance, and will be joined by young people from Ruach Ministries, Brixton, who will teach us how. Check them out at http://www.ruach-ministries.co.uk/

It will be a Cross-Section not to be missed, so make sure you are at Union on the 30th

Make Life Make Sense

Y-Life
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Fresh cafe is next Wednesday and Thursday.

As well as all the usual fun of cafe, sport, dance, karaoke & chat

We're exploring how we MAKE LIFE MAKE SENSE with

video of your answers to that question - see yourself ont he bigs screen!
a big art project of your pictures and photos of LIFE
a LIFE Prayer zone with chill out and a sensory labyrinth where you can get one of these exclusive wristbands Y-LIFE

If you're aged 11-17 in or around High Wycombe it is THE place to be in the summer!

Examen

At Cross-Section on Sunday we introduced the young people to the Examen. Sarah Brush led the young people through this reflection back on the day with some inspiration from (Jenny &) Jonny Baker's Worship tricks.

It's a very simple mode of night time prayer which St Ignatius used to round off the day.

Simply...

• You relax and breathe calmly
• Remember you are in God's presence
• You reflect back on the day
• You ask yourself two questions:

What are you most thankful for today?
What do you regret most that happened today?

• You conclude by thanking God for the day and all that has happened and listen to anything God has to say about it.

You can also deepen this with further questions for each of the two main questions - have a look here for some ideas of how.

Cross-Country!

You know when you've been Banjoed

We had a fantastic Cross-Section at St Birinus & St John's (Banjo's) Booker site!

Although there was some uncertainty from young people about being divided in two directions at the start, it was clear that they got a lot out of exploring one room focussed on LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR PASSION, PRAYER, ENERGY AND INTELLIGENCE and another room focussed on LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.

There was a Third World Room, a prayer pool for floating candles, a see-through graffitti wall helping people look at things from both ways, a hand tree where people offered the gifts they can use to serve God, puzzles that led to bible passages, images of God that helped young people reflect on their perceptions of God as well as the cafe and the adult creche.



Join us at St Michael & All Angels Hughenden on Sunday 24th June!

Wyde's hits the streets!

For the first time last night the burgundy and cream colours of Wyde could be seen walking the streets as Stella and I went Open-Wyde for the first time. We were scouting in the area of Naphill and Kingshill (Stella's patch) looking for young people, who we had heard reports of, hanging around in these areas. It was really great to be back on the streets again meeting with young people in their own space. We made contact with a few sporadic young people in Naphill and with a large group up in Kingshill.

Detached youth work is such a privilege...to walk up to a group of young people, introduce yourself and then to be invited into their world, and to engage them in conversation, it is so cool. Yeah, it does happen to some extent in churches, but it is when you are 'invading' their space rather than them 'coming into' yours that there is a greater feeling of privilege.

We will seek to try and meet up with these guys again, and their friends, so if you have nothing better to do on a Tuesday evening, or if we missed you hanging around last night, come join us in Naphill and Kingshill. Or if you just see the burgundy colours out and about, come and say "hi," we're not that scary, honest!!

Press Release re first Cross Section

Last year, four youth workers began to dream some dreams. Each of the four felt a need for churches in High Wycombe to bring young people together; to offer a space for all young Christians to express and celebrate their faith. From small house churches or big old medieval foundations, they saw all young people coming together in different churches around the district. In February, this dream became a reality. The first Cross-Section was hosted by All Saints’ parish church on Sunday 25th February. Young people from churches from around the town and surrounding area came to explore together the journey of the prodigal son. After hearing the story and being challenged to think about which of the sons’ experience was closest to their own lives, the young people scattered through the church to respond through art, through silence, through chatting in the café or through the Prodigal Son labyrinth installed in All Saints for Lent. The evening was fabulous and working towards it (and to the future events) has been so enjoyable. Four very different people with different outlooks on youth work and youth ministry yet with the same vision of serving young people across High Wycombe in the places where they already worship and in places they’ve never been. In February it was a huge medieval town centred church but next it’s a modern church plant in a housing area (St Birinus, 29th April 6pm) and then in a medieval rural church (St Michael & All Angels, Hughenden). We began with dreams and now we’ve seen some of them come to fruition, we’re still dreaming. We’ve got hopes of bringing the young people together to explore their faith in so many different styles with a Gospel choir, DJ worship and some reflections on modern monasticism from a Taizé brother. As well as continuing Cross-Section, we are also setting up a team of Christian youth workers for detached work in High Wycombe. Please keep us and all the young people in your prayers as we continue to work and explore together.

Sarah Brush, Stella Voaden, Matt McNulty & Paul Scott (The Wyde core team)

Next Cross-Section

Cross-Section @ All Saints

We all had a fantastic evening at All Saints for the first Cross-Section.



The ISCF band led us in singing and Stella gave us a challenging "inspirational" talk about the story of the prodigal son and the young people explored the story further ...

through prayer...





through art,



through the graffiti wall,









the labyrinth and in the cafe.


We also had a crowd of adults taking advantage of the adult creche. It was great to be in such a hugh old building and fill it with such youth and energy. Next time we'll be doing something different at St Birnius church in Booker on Sunday 29th April. BE THERE!

What is Wyde

Wyde is a Christian organisation dedicated to the development and empowerment of Young People in and around the Wycombe area

Wyde seeks to work WYcombe wiDE.

What Are Our Aims?

We seek to enable all young people to meet with the living God through Jesus Christ by;

• engaging all their senses and imagination
• facilitating their worship and spiritual growth in creative ways
• enabling them to develop community with one another and Him

We seek to reach young people isolated and excluded from their local community by;

• demonstrating the love of God
• helping them discover their identity within Gods Kingdom
• enabling them to fulfil their true potential

How are we seeking to achieve this?

Two Projects

As an organisation we have the vision to put our energies into two distinct projects. One of these, Cross-section will be focused on the discipleship of young people in and around the Wycombe area. The Detached Youth Work, is a long-term vision that focuses on reaching out and engaging with young people within their local community.

Cross-Section

Objectives of Cross-section

Our Objectives for Cross-section are to:

• provide a space where the young people are free to express themselves without fear or ridicule
• explore expressions of creative prayer and worship i.e. labyrinth, painting, different forms of music
• have a medium that is movable and that has familiarity in multiple venues
• have adults journeying with young people as they build and deepen their relationship with God
• encourage young people to take part in and have ownership of activities
• provide space for Ecumenical relationships developing the churches into a united community

The Vision for Cross-section

Wyde’s vision for Cross-section is to provide the young people with a space where they are free to explore, and develop their relationship with God, in a safe environment. We would look to host a bi-monthly gathering that has the ability to travel round and visit a number of churches in and around the Wycombe area. Supporting both the larger churches with big youth ministries and also those who are smaller and who would appreciate the encouragement of a large group of young people descending on them. It would therefore have to be a very versatile thing, with the ability to fit into the differing church spaces in the area; from the traditional with fixed pews and altars, right through to the modern flexible spaces. We will seek to include familiar elements at every meeting, so that there is continuity between gatherings.

The emphasis for Cross-section will be on meeting with God and worshipping God through the creative. We will therefore seek to use forms of worship across the whole creative spectrum; using art, meditation, prayer, silence, songs, candles, monastic traditions, music, and a whole host of other imaginative practices. We will also seek to teach and disciple through Cross-section, again this will be in creative and engaging ways.

We will look to empower young people to be involved in the planning and orchestrating of Cross-section, giving them opportunities to grow and develop their gifts.

One of the main emphases of Cross-section will be that of relationship, getting along side the young people and journeying with them in their faith. It will provide opportunities for churches to open the doors of their buildings and hearts to young people.

The proposed dates for Cross-section in 2007 are

• 25th February
• 29th April
• 24th June
• 30th September
• 25th November

meeting from 1800-19:45.

Detached Work

Objectives of doing Detached Youth Work

Our Objectives for doing Detached Youth Work are to:

• show young people Christian love and welcome
• go out into the community and meet young people where they are
• build relationships with young people
• listen and journey with the young people
• empower young people to use their voice in their communities
• do activities that build up self-esteem and help young people identify their gifts and strengths, and empowering them to use them e.g. video, music, art, craft
• build and develop key skills e.g. leadership amongst the young people
• get the local churches and para-church organisations working co-operatively
• offer a place and space for them to meet and grow in relationship with God

The Vision for doing Detached Youth Work

Wyde’s vision for doing Detached Youth Work is to work with all young people. We want to take the love of Jesus out to the marginalised and the exclude. We want to go out, to meet them in their space, go to the places that they hang out, places where they meet with friends, and the places where they maybe accused of making trouble.

Our initial vision is to go out on to the streets and into the parks and others areas where young people are, set up a detached youth work team and work with young people there. Ultimately our vision is to have a bus that can be taken out to these places and provide a safe place for them to come and to share. As with all youth ministry our emphasis will be on building relationships and getting alongside the young people, helping them to realise that they are loved and accepted for who they are.

We are seeking to empower young people, to give them a voice in the community, helping them to feel like they are a significant part of it. We will work in partnership with them to develop their potential, grow, and develop projects with them.

How can you and your church help?

Prayer

The first way that you and your church can help us is to pray for us, the Wyde team has met and prayed together about these visions, and we believe that they are visions from God not from ourselves. For them to take off they need to be swamped in prayer.

Some prayer points for guidance are:

• That young people will come to know the Lord Jesus, and that they will grow and develop their relationship with him.
• Praise God for the vision, gifts and abilities that he has given us, that he cares for young people and that he brought us together to work with them for his glory.
• Pray that we as a team are truly seeking God’s face and not running off in our own direction.
• Prayer that we as a team will learn to work together effectively.
• That others will catch the vision, want to be involved and to see the work move forward.
• That volunteers will come forward to be part of the Management Committee

Volunteers and Advertising

Currently Wyde is the collaboration of a group of Youthworkers from within the Wycombe area, however we realise that the work God is calling us to be involved with is much bigger than we are. Therefore if we want to see these visions get off the ground it is imperative that others come and join with us, and volunteer to be used in God’s Work.

Cross-section is launching on 25th February 2007, at All-Saints Parish Church in High Wycombe town centre, it promises to be a great night, where we hope young people from all over the Wycombe area will be able to meet together and worship God. This is the first opportunity for you as a church to show your support to the Wyde vision (other than through prayer) by enthusing some of the members of your congregation to help us out, to come along and to volunteer.

We hope and pray that many young people will come to this gathering, however if they don’t find out about it, they are unlikely too. We would also ask that Cross-section becomes something that you and your church promote and advertise.