Welcome!

Hi as I've said above, this is a place for me to share some of what's going on in my life as part of the year team at Oxford Community Church.

Those of you who've been receiving my email updates will know most of this already.

So, since September 2007 I've been part of a group of 6 young men and women, looking to give a year of their lives (actually it's only 10 months) to be trained, challenged and hopefully matured slightly in the way we live our lives. This is achieved through a variety of different methods.

1) Disciplines:
We are encouraged to pray and study the Bible everyday, with the aim of reading the entire Bible in one year. Over the past 6 months, I've found this regular reading and prayer has changed my attitudes probably more than anything else.

Other disciplines we're encouraged to try and form habits in include fasting and regular exercise.

2) Study Breaks/conferences:
One of the great pleasures of this year, has been going to Study breaks and other training events. Being able to listen to stories from those who're often a bit more experienced and wiser has been amazing.

3) Regular accountability:
Probably one of the most scary parts of the course. I have meetings at least once a fortnight with a mentor, who asks me very awkward questions about how I'm doing in all aspects of life. He also gives advice and covers me with prayer regularly. It's been a challenge to be honest and open, but leading a life when you know you're accountable regularly for how you act is strangely releasing.

4) Ministry:
The church is very keen on giving us as a team and as individuals responsibility in leading certain areas of church life. So this year I've been doing a few bits and pieces like leading the 7-11's children's work, helping run a Christian Union at the local college, bits of admin with the church website, some pastoral visiting to sick members of the church and most recently, helping lead a discipleship course for guys in their 20's.

5) Assignments:
These vary from month to month, we usually have reading of some kind to do and then a piece of work. Some are essay based, some a little more artistic, I put together a video for the last assignment. We'd been learning about the different aspect of God's nature and were asked to pick the one we found most difficult to see/accept.

This month we're looking at the cross and how it impacts the way we look at our mission.

That's a brief outline of what the year involves. Life still goes on around this, so I find myself regularly praying for peace and strength. If those of you who pray would say one for me from time to time, it'd be greatly appreciated.