Youth Work

A few words about the youth work and what the young people of St Blane's are doing. Over the past few months the Bible Class has been working hard. We have put together a few youth services. We had a trial while Alex was in Canada last year: we ran a whole service ourselves. Kenneth Mackenzie was our guest speaker in June and has had a lot of input since.

It was suggested that the Bible Class should do more in church since most of the time we hide in the hall before church and don't tend to see anyone. It has been a great joy to begin this journey of learning through doing these services together. It has been great that so many of the congregation has supported us as we bring a different aspect to church.

The young people love taking part. We have a few who love playing instruments, which have been welcomed by our wonderful organist Mike. In church at the youth services we have done the reading, prayer, offering and even drama. It is so important the young people feel like they belong somewhere. If they don't belong in churches where do they belong? They have to feel like they are part of the church. The Bible Class wants to get to know the adults of the church because we have so much to learn from each other.

I have started asking people from the congregation to come once a month to share their journey of faith with us. It has been a great encouragement to hear all the different stories of faith.

Before every youth service the Bible Class has been going around to Kenneth and Janet Mackenzie's house for rehearsal and FOOD! It has been a good way of bringing the church and the young people together.

I want to say a big thank you for all of your support. Please do come to the youth services. February youth service will be taken by Paul Christmas and the Boys' Brigade - don't miss it.

Radio Rainbow, Frequency and more...

Now is a great time to be a young person in any of the churches of Dunblane. There is so much going on, so many opportunities to meet together to discuss faith issues, explore the Bible and pray and also to have fun. In Dunblane Primary School over 40 youngsters join Nerys and DJ every week at the lunchtime Scripture Union Club while a similar number meet with church youth workers Lesley and Louise and teachers Garry and Sandy at the High School. At least 30 of these children will attend a weekend away at Lendrickmuir, SU's centre near Dollar, in February, accompanied by a team of adults which will include eight members of Dunblane churches. Last March, after attending a youth conference on prayer, some of the young people asked if they could meet to pray for their school. A monthly prayer breakfast was soon established and is attended regularly by up to 15 youngsters.

Frequency, the monthly Saturday evening event for High School children led by Lesley and Louise is also well attended. The programme is varied but always includes food and fun and also Bible study, prayer and worship. Some of the youngsters have recently formed a Frequency worship band and have started meeting to rehearse under the guidance of Nathan. Many of them were inspired by their visit in June to Frenzy, a youth event which featured a number of Christian bands. Others benefited greatly from a week away at Imagine, the Scottish Christian Youth Festival held at Inverurie in August.

During the summer the youngsters met every Tuesday afternoon with Lesley and Louise for walks, picnics and other activities but the highlight of the holidays was the last week when over forty of them came every evening to the Cathedral Halls to find out about Heroes of the Faith. Most of these young people were also busy in the mornings helping at Radio Rainbow, the Dunblane Churches Holiday Club for primary school children. The theme this year was transformation with the teaching taken from John's Gospel. Over 60 children came every day and enjoyed the songs, the craft activities, the challenges and the group work. The team, led by Nerys and DJ, was made up mostly of youngsters who acted out the daily Bible story and helped the adult group leaders with the teaching and other activities. During the coming year Nerys and DJ's hope is to provide more training for these young people with the support of Scripture Union so that some of the older ones can become group leaders and take on more even responsibility in the club.

None of these activities could have happened without your financial support and your prayers and encouragement. £1000 was donated by the churches last year to enable the Bibleworld Studios to come to Dunblane in March. Over 400 pupils from all three primary schools visited the exhibition during the week. The trailer was also packed with youngsters and their parents during the open evenings. This year we need your help to run Radio Rainbow and Frequency again (estimated costs for 2007-8 £500 and £200) and to set up a fund to pay for training in leadership for the teenagers. We would also appreciate your prayers for the children, the team and the leaders.

Louise McCready