Creating SparksLucy Moore |
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It
was obvious from the very start that Guildford Diocese's Creating Sparks annual event for children's leaders is eagerly
anticipated. The 160 places were sold out and the buzz of energy and enthusiasm
was apparent from the moment Alison Hendy introduced the day. It was a great
privilege for me to be invited to deliver the keynote talk on the title of 'This
is our Story' - ideal for any member of the Barnabas
Team. So much to say! So little time! Especially when we have the best stories
in the world from the best storyteller of all time to share together: it's
amazing how Jesus' stories continue to create sparks today. We used the idea of
sad endings and happy endings and thought about Fanny J. Crosby - someone whose
life in purely factual terms sounds as if it was going to have a tragic ending,
but who in fact lived a gloriously full life despite her numerous
disadvantages. And we laughed our way through 'The Sower' and 'The House on the
Rock' together. One person kindly came up later in the day and declared that he
never but never joins in the actions for songs or stories in church, but to his
surprise had found himself on his feet and joining in without even noticing. The
rest of the day was taken up with workshops and I led three on Messy Church, which, interestingly, hasn't kicked
off much yet in this diocese, though the 25 to 30 people signed up for each
workshop sounded very keen on the idea. The
bookstand sold plenty of Barnabas books, including about 15 copies of Messy Church, the last one being snatched up as we
were packing up at the end of the day with a cry of, 'Aha! It's mine! It's
mine!' |
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