Simon Allen's blog

Should I warn the police about the #40days celebration evenings?

2012-01-26T22:46:00.000Z

It has been an emotionally tough week for me.  Everything I am responsible for has put significant demands on me. There are normally one or two pressures but this last week feels like they are all pressing in at the same time. I have found myself getting frustrated in a way that I normally don't - especially towards the cyclist who ignored the red lights when people were crossing!

Some of the pressures are the result of things going well. So for example Lionhearts FC, the football club I manage for children in school years 3-9, continues to grow at a fast rate. Last weekend at our A vs B league match we had 31 boys, which means 9 boys were a sub. This puts huge pressure on the managers, Michael and I.  Some boys were going to be disappointed about not playing enough of the match. Amazingly at the start of this season we were asking ourselves would we have enough for 2 teams, we now find ourselves asking if we need 3 teams for the 2012/2013 season!

In the Jericho Road Project the pressure is as a result of the huge potential of significant life change in many of the people we work with. We are working with people who are waiting to leave prison to come our housing project, we have many people keen to get key working support, as a team we have upped the expectations with a number of our residents which requires time and wisdom, many people are wanting to volunteer at the Feast, we have new people coming to Alpha this term and we are expecting the biggest ever residential trips to Chepstow in March and then Encounter Camp in June. In addition plans are progressing well for King's Debt Advice to be started again in March - more details to follow.

However last nights Feast did not present me with additional pressure despite the following incident happening. I spotted a new man at the Feast following a girl around and I am instantly involved.  I find out in a short time that the background is one of previous violence between them and he was threatening the girl at the Feast. I am then trying to quickly build a rapport with the man - it's key to resolving conflict! The 3 of us agree that it would be better if we all go outside. As we go to the front of the King's building, the dispute then escalates because another former (violent) boyfriend of the girl has appeared. The 2 men that start an abusive argument because they both said they could not trust the other not to beat up the girl.  So instead they threatened each other.  When the police arrived both men stopped them in the middle of the street. Crazy! The situation then looked even more wild because the police car was blocking Catford Hill, buses couldn't get through, traffic backed up, horns hooted. Once the police car was moved the situation quickly calmed down!

At the end of the evening I felt like I do on many Wednesday nights, "this is why I'm alive!" I felt a level of refreshment and perspective on my week. In the book of Isaiah there is a promise that when you hear the cry of those in need, God will hear your cry!

However for the Feast team we were not surprised that this incident had happened whilst the #40days celebration at King's Church was taking place (both events take place at the same time in the same building but in different halls!) I don't think we have called the police since last February when the 40days celebrations last took place and then we called them on 3 or 4 consecutive Wednesdays. What is the reason? Well somehow when the people of King's Church gather to pray and worship it stirs up something in the lives of people at the Feast.

Let's see what happens next week, perhaps I should warn the police that King's Church is meeting to worship and pray!

'Arms Wide Open' Hampers 2011 Summary

2012-01-19T20:57:00.000Z

As part of the King's Church 'Arms Wide Open' Christmas theme I co-ordinated the collection of Hampers and then the distribution to families in need. This is a summary of what happened. The list of food items for the Hampers included about 15 essential items and 5 Christmas treats and we asked for items to be good quality. Thanks to Big Yellow Storage Company for donating 150 boxes to be used for putting the food items in. Thanks to all the volunteers who spent hours sorting and getting the boxes ready to be sent out.

The response from the people of King's Church was remarkable with over 250 hampers being collected, we were preparing for around 100! The collection Sundays were an amazing picture of a community working together to benefit others. Whilst the majority were from individuals, families and community groups within King’s Church, there were many schools and companies who also got involved in providing Hampers. Here is one example,

“The Hampers below are provided by my team at LOCOG Accreditation and Uniforms department. They were so excited to know the great work that Kings is doing. I was overwhelmed by the response.”

The task was then arranging where to distribute all these hampers. Here is the list of organisations who helped us to make the deliveries to the families in need. I've added a few comments from the people who handed them out.

Lewisham Family Support and Intervention Service – 150 boxes

“Just wanted to say thanks again for the hampers. I had the privilege of giving out 8 and they were certainly very well received by people struggling and would have made a big difference to their Christmas. I've heard lots of stories of kids being excited to find the chocs!” Children’s Social worker

“Just a little note to let you know that social workers are all very busy delivering the hampers to our very grateful families. We were able to give some Hampers to our colleagues in other services such as Children with disabilities service, Meliot Road family centre and to our no recourse families primarily based in our Referral and Assessment service. So I can assure you the children and families that will benefit from the Hampers cover a whole spectrum of 'children in need' across the borough.” Manager of the team

Honor Oak Family Support team – 10 boxes

“I wanted to let you know how appreciative my work colleagues were about the quality of the food boxes; it gave me lots of opportunity to talk about the project and the church! If we are doing it again health visitors could provide a very extensive list of needy families for you.” Children’s Family support team worker

Lewisham Refugee Network – 30 boxes

"Thanks once again for the hampers you delivered before Christmas. The clients who received them were thrilled – it really made a difference to them."

The Bridge school of English – 6 boxes
Voluntary Care centre – 30 boxes
Jericho Road Project and those known to King’s Church – 20 boxes

I will leave the final comment to a member of King’s who emailed the following comment

“I was so glad that we decided to do this in this way. It made me feel proud to be part of something that is not about shinning glory on ourselves and bigging ourselves up as kind and generous but that truly wants to help those in need regardless of the status or thanks that we receive.”

Brilliant! Well done and Thank you!

Mistaken Identity - Being Simon Allen

2012-01-12T22:17:00.002Z

One of the oddest parts of my pre-Christmas rush was a conversation with a lady who phoned me because she wanted to find out how Simon Allen was. She had seen my photo and name in the newspaper, had then called the Caring Christmas Trees phone line who passed the call to me. For a few minutes I spoke to her desperately trying to remember who this lady was and not wanting to come across rude that I had forgotten her. She asked about my family and how I was etc. She found out quite a lot while I tried to work out who she was. However it was when she asked me "was I travelling to Germany again before Christmas" that I realised that she was speaking to the wrong Simon Allen (I've never been to Germany). When I told her that I was not the Simon Allen she wanted she commented that 'when I saw the photo in the paper I thought you had changed a lot'. In fact this lady wanted to contact a Simon Allen who lives very close to me. I have met him because we have mutual friends - it was a slightly strange experience meeting another Simon Allen!.

In fact the first time I knew there was another Simon Allen who lived close by was when my Doctor read out the wrong medical history to me. I am now careful when I go to the Doctors to explain which Simon Allen I am.

Within a day or two of this phone call, I then received a small parcel addressed to Simon Allen from the 2012 Olympic torchbearer offering me congratulations for being successful in the final selection to carry the Olympic torch. I was delighted but a little confused. I had been nominated months before (Thanks Kemi!) and had made it pass the first cut off, however on the day of the announcement in December I was told I was unsuccessful in making the final 10,000, and yet now I had a document informing me that Simon Allen was successful. I read on, before I allowed myself to dream too much about my moment carrying the Olympic torch, to find that Simon Allen was successful because I was a 'true fighter against a devastating illness' Ahhhhhhhhhh - that's not me!!!! Somehow they has got the wrong person again - perhaps it was the other Simon Allen again.

I laughed lots at the mistaken identity on the phone call but I felt gutted about the second one. It would have been an honour to carry the Olympic torch but ultimately I am a Simon Allen who knows I have my identity in Christ Jesus and He is never confused about who I am! Thankfully!

Never start back to work on a Wednesday!

2012-01-05T22:44:00.002Z

I returned to work yesterday (Wednesday) and following a quiet and restful Christmas/ New Year period I was hoping to ease myself back in gentle. I quickly discovered - Never on a Wednesday!

My reflection on the Autumn term 2011 was that I worked harder and more effectively than ever before.  It was a term that marked the 10 year milestone of the JRP as well as co-ordinating the Arms Wide Open Hampers. I also took on greater responsibility on the Catford site of King's Church. In fact the very last moment of 2011 in the office was handling an angry resident venting what he thought about the project (it was not very positive feedback in case you are interested!). In fact in 20 years of working in this field, I have similar memories of the final moments before going on holiday - I remember evenings at the Nightshelter on nights before holiday when I would not be able to leave on time because someone caused a disturbance. Some things do not change!

But after an almost complete break from the Project I returned hoping that I would have space to plan ahead and catch up on things I have not got to recently.

However Wednesday means the Feast and yesterday was also a very busy day in our office. It meant there were often 7 people in the room and our office is not very big. Plus I am getting a few weeks news in a few hours.

And it was the realities of the people's lives that caused me to feel out of my depth - A lady who we have helped for many years is now in HMP Holloway; met a new man who has just arrived back out of prison; a new couple who are squatting; there were 2 mums with newborn babies at the Feast (one mum's fridge stopped working 5 days ago); another girl in ICU barely alive in a coma following a drug overdose; rumours of the winter shelter in Deptford being shut due to a window being smashed, people who have wasted their rent money on ... well you can guess what!   The news kept coming (not all the stories can be written here) but perhaps you can see the extent of the emotional challenge.

I think it took me to the end of today (Thursday) before I started feeling like I had any control of it all. I have not yet been able to structure my to-do list but there is some order established. Thanks to the great team I work with - Andy and Dave. Interviews have been set, we have decided to buy a fridge for the mum who has no fridge and probably most importantly Dave, Andy & myself have time booked in next week where we will get together out of the office and plan ahead for 2012. There are some key challenges to making the residential scheme work effectively, the one I can mention here is the need to get suitable move-on accommodation for the residents who are doing well.

So perhaps the answer is to start back on a different day but perhaps it reflects that I have had a really good break. Or is it exactly as I would want it! I am always so excited that we are genuinely involved in the realities of the lives of people in need! I sometimes forget the level of involvement and trust we have with the people involved in the JRP. So perhaps I wouldn't want it any other way - Wednesday is the best day to be reminded!

Light in Darkness - The real Christmas message

2011-12-23T12:01:00.000Z

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light... For unto us a Child is born ... of the increase of peace there will be no end.

In the area where I live there has been a number of attacks (possibly up to 35) on people walking home. It is reported that he attacks from behind and does not reveal himself. Using a knife he forces people to hand over phones and wallets. My children are very aware of this. I train my children to be wise (so I will collect my 12 year old son after dark rather than he walk home) but also to live in Faith not Fear. Yesterday an older man told my children as they were playing in the street that their Mum was going to get her throat cut next. Fear for many generates more fear - the media is a particularly good example of generating fear - think Swine Flu. Moments like that with my childrfen are great moments to impart Faith and wisdom. Faith in the Light of Jesus means that the darkness is put out and more importantly the darkness can never overcome it. Keeping our perspective that we are loved by God and He has the best plans for us means that we walk in the light.

Isaiah 9 is a fab description of the new Kingdom of Light. When we (King's Church) decided that we wanted to demonstrate that our Arms were Wide Open this Christmas we did not anticipate the remarkable response from the Church. The headline is that over 250 hampers were donated but there are hundreds of individual stories of Light Shining. Friends and families who worked together to help vulnerable families. Individuals who spoke to their work colleagues and told them what their Church was doing. The response was amazing, here is one account from a lady who works on the Olympic accreditation and Uniforms department.

"They were so excited to know the great work that Kings isdoing." and "I was overwhelmed by the response."

The Hampers provided the perfect practical application to our Christmas Series 'Arms Wide Open' which peaked last weekend with 7 carol services welcoming 2700 people. I was delighted that Heidi Alexander MP and Sir Steve Bullock (Mayor of Lewisham) were able to join us.

Jesus is the light that changes everything. I hope you know the light of Jesus in your life this Christmas Time.

Have a great Christmas. Thanks for reading my blog in 2011, I'll be back in the New Year!

What does the JRP do for homeless people at Christmas?

2011-12-06T21:44:00.001Z

This is a question I get asked a lot at this time of year and whilst I fully understand the sentiment of people choosing to annually help the homeless, I am utterly committed to helping homeless people 365 days a year. You need to know that I am careful that charity is not offered to people who will use it to avoid taking responsibility with the resources and information they already have - agencies like the Jericho Road Project see many people who don't need a charity hand-out as much as they need guidance about how to live better lives. So, for example, I am not keen for our residents to be looking or expecting a charity hand out at Christmas. Rather, I hope that out of relationship with others (work place, church, family, other groups and social settings) they would receive as well as give much at Christmas. In fact, for our residents, it is relational connection that is often far more important than material items. Our residents have to stand up and take personal responsibility; sometimes they learn that in order to repay rent arrears it requires personal sacrifice and not someone giving them a hand out.

Having said all that, I can now tell you what the Jericho Road Project does for homeless people at Christmas. We keep the Feast meeting on Wednesdays until the 21st December when we will have a big Christmas Feast Event - we are preparing for over 150 people to attend this year! Every person will get a full Christmas dinner, a Christmas present and great entertainment which is Karaoke. These evenings are usually great fun but fairly intense for the team. Thankfully, every year, extra people get involved and help out. We have had companies and families saying they will get involved. You are very welcome to help this year! (But remember, homeless people need help all year not just at Christmas!)

And apart from looking after our residents we don't do a lot more in the Christmas/New Year period! (It almost sounds shocking doesn't it!) This is because there is great provision in London for homeless people during the Christmas time. Another value I hold to in my work is that I don't want to reproduce what someone else is doing very close to us, I would rather channel our resources into things that we can uniquely do! CRISIS at Christmas runs from about the 22nd for about 8 days. Each year I refer people to CRISIS and if you are interested for this year you can apply here.

This year, there is an additional bonus because the 999club in Deptford has opened their winter shelter already (1st December) and are staying open right through until March. If you need to refer someone they should make their way to the 999club - ideally in the morning - and register with Iris.

So, just to make it clear, we send homeless people to other places to get help at Christmas - this year CRISIS and 999club. Thankfully, we have a housing project 365 days a year that can then take people from the winter shelter, provide support, help people stand on their own 2 feet, rebuild their lives and, who knows, they may be helping at CRISIS next Christmas!

Arms Wide Open - SEVEN Carol Services

2011-12-01T08:50:00.001Z

This year King's Church is running 7 carol services, this includes 4 whole church evening events and 3 site based morning events. This is all running within the theme of Arms Wide Open which I think is such a strong theme that links the Message (preaching), the Moment (the carol services) and Mercy together. The 4 evening carol services will be of the usual very high standard including traditional carols, children or Youth performance, drama and readings. In fact this year we have asked some guests to do a reading at each service. Sir Steve Bullock, Heidi Alexander MP and Keiran Lang who is the Young Mayor of Lewisham (and also attends King's Church) have all agreed to doing a reading. As per previous years there will be short section near the end of the carol services that profiles the Jericho Road Project. This year I am excited that I will be bringing a prayer and a short explanation of the project. There will be a 'retiring' offering for the project as well.

So please do attend the carol services, Friday 7.30pm, Saturday 5pm and Sunday 5pm and 7.30pm.

Please look at the King's Church Arms Wide Open website which is looking great. (Ben and Brett have done a brilliant job on the promotion of Arms Wide Open!)

Today I am meeting Heidi Alexander MP, who is supporting our promotion of Caring Christmas Trees. We will send out a press release later today! I am very pleased with how the sales are progressing. The economic downturn is very real so I am delighted that we are on course to slightly improve our sales total of last year and I am hoping that we will raise about £4000 for the project. Lewisham Life have mentioned us in their latest edition and I understand that in their enewsletter next week there is another mention.

Finally the Arms Wide Open Hampers project has seen such a fantastic response. The community of King's Church has risen to this with arms wide open. We have given out about 230 boxes in the last 2 weeks and I am expecting that we will collect about that number of full hampers in the next 2 weeks. Boxes are to be returned by Sunday 11th December. I am loving the stories of people from King's going into their offices and explaining that their church is collecting hampers and then the staff are deciding which items they will bring in. I have increased the number of outlets for the boxes so now we are working with the social services teams working with at risk children, those on police protection and the young children teams, Lewisham Refugee Network, The Bridge School of English and the King's Church Pastoral care team.

This Christmas the arms of King's Church are reaching out further than ever before.

10 reasons to buy a Caring Christmas Tree in SE London

2011-11-25T10:08:00.001Z

1. Christmas is a great time to be generous to those in need.

2. The trees we sell are fabulous real Scottish freshly cut Nordmann trees. These are the most popular selling trees in the UK. We offer very competitive pricing as well.

3. The profit goes to the Jericho Road Project which houses very vulnerable rough sleepers in safe supportive accommodation. We have 6 houses in the borough of Lewisham.

4. Volunteers, many who have previously experienced rough sleeping, are involved. This includes distributing postcards, on the vans helping deliver trees and at the sites helping customers.

5. The Jericho Road Project provides about 4500 meals (3 courses) a year to people in need through the Feast which is our weekly outreach meeting.

6. The publicity helps promote the work we do to a much wider audience.

7. We help people change but it takes time and commitment, let me tell you about one man who was referred to us about 4 years ago for support at the Feast and help with his benefits. For the first year or two he did nothing to help himself, it was always someone else's fault and he would sit around expecting others to sort out his problems for him! However in recent times at the Feast he has become a brilliant helper. He doesn't need to be asked he does jobs such as emptying the bins and taking them out to the main bin. As you can imagine, this is not a pleasant job. He is not doing it because he has been told to do it but he has chosen to do it. This story demonstrates that with time and a supportive environment people will change. He has moved from being the problem to becoming part of the solution.

8. Real Christmas Trees make a room and a house smell brilliantly Christmassy.

9. The Project creates opportunities for vulnerable people to go on holiday, we go to Chepstow in March and then to an event called Encounter Camp in June.

10. Finally, we even deliver the trees to your door for a small (ish) extra fee.

Lionhearts FC - more leading than managing!

2011-11-21T10:29:00.041Z

I am reading a great book called 'The 360 degree leader' by a guy called John Maxwell. Page after page I am confronted by superb reflections on leadership; each section or even sentence requires me to reflect and question my own leadership. For example Maxwell explains the difference between management and leadership - "managers work with processes - leaders work with people. Both are necessary to make an organisation run smoothly, but they have different functions"

This got me thinking about the areas I 'manage' and especially Lionhearts FC which is the Saturday morning kids football team I am responsible for. Lionhearts has increased from 1 team in the 2009-2010 season into 4 teams playing in the South London Churches League 2011-2012. This means that we have around 50 lads between the age of 8 and 14 involved every weekend. This is a rapid expansion of players but also managers and leaders.

Whilst I hold responsibility for the whole club there are a fantastic group of people involved. However I get to lead the under 14's A team who as I write are undefeated after 4 league games this season. Last year we finished bottom of the league (see a previous blog 'Managing the team at the bottom of the league') so this season's success has come after a number of major leadership challenges. Imagine how you would motivate a team during a half time team talk when you are losing 7-0 at half time.

Managing the under 14's team requires far more working with people than working with processes. I think that all Football Managers need to be great leaders. It is about getting the most out of the players and this is achieved by valuing the players as people. Seeing players flourish as part of a team is one of the great joys of being involved in Lionhearts. That does not depend on how talented a boy is but on helping the lads develop in how they apply themselves. On Saturday the under 14's team I coached played with amazing passion and each did their jobs so well, prepared to work hard for the whole team. I won't name names for obvious reasons but I expect all the boys slept well on Saturday night because they worked so hard and were brilliant! Character was shown when they responded to being behind twice in the match coming through to win 6-4.

A winning team however does not mean that leadership becomes easier. Leadership is essential whether the team is winning or losing. Developing character is an essential part of life as well as key to playing good football (despite the examples set in some parts of the professional game). And when we next lose a match we will learn more about our team!

Finally a huge THANK YOU to all the Dad's who help 'manage' and also the young coaches who help with training and make Lionhearts FC a great place to be. Let's value everyone's contribution! And let's LEAD these young lads to become better people!

Who buys a real Christmas Tree?

2011-11-11T14:41:00.000Z

Caring Christmas Trees returns for it's 3rd year in South East London. We are aiming to raise over £4000 towards the work of the Jericho Road Project as well as increasing the profile of the project. We are selling trees to businesses with deliveries taking place on the 30th November and 1st December. Orders by the 21st November. Then individuals can order trees for pick up from a choice of 4 sites, prices start at £35 (delivery is extra). All the information is found at www.caringchristmastrees.org/selondon

Each year we want to increase our sales so we are asking the question "who buys a real tree"?

We have produced 25K 'Do you buy a real Christmas tree?' postcards and we are getting information into magazines, newspapers and online. However the best form of advertising is personal recommendation, so if you get a chance please put in a good word for Caring Christmas Trees.

This year Chris Rockall has joined the Trees team adding his considerable knowledge of promotion to help us get the message out.

Heidi Alexander MP has agreed to promote the Tree project and we will release a press release following a photo opportunity with Heidi on the 1st December.

We have planned for teams to go out on Tuesday's and Thursday's between 4-7 to hand out flyers at stations, to local businesses and to homes. If you are able to, please join us.

But if you can't make one of those teams, here are some other ways to help.

1. Buy a Tree
2. Promote Caring Christmas Trees at your work or school. Postcards, eflyers and posters available.
3. Help us get opportunities to promote Trees, for example book bags in schools, media outlets or link us to key people who will help promote the Trees.
4. Volunteer on the sites - great opportunity to help our customers and get you into the Christmas mood. Contact dave.barlow@kingschurchlondon.org to get involved.

Last year nearly 380 real trees were bought by families and businesses across South East London. This year we are reaching for more because we know that we can make a greater difference for vulnerable people. We help many rough sleepers but we also help prevent people become homeless. Your support helps us make a greater difference to those in need.

Lewisham Rough Sleepers Count - 9th November 2011

2011-11-09T09:25:00.001Z

Tonight we are conducting a rough sleepers count in Lewisham. This involves the agencies collating information on rough sleepers and then comparing our notes to rule out double counting. This type of count comes in higher than if we try and spot people rough sleeping during 1 or 2 hours in the middle of the night. Please email me if you know of any rough sleepers that you can verify meet the definition of rough sleeping below.

WHO WILL BE COUNTED?

In 2010 the Government widened thedefinition of rough sleeping and when estimating or counting

it is essential that those includedin the count figure fall into the following definition:

Peoplesleeping, about to bed down (sitting on/in or standing next to their bedding)or

actuallybedded down in the open air (such as on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks,bus

sheltersor encampments). People in buildings or other places not designed forhabitation

(such asstairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or “bashes”).

The definition does not includepeople in hostels or shelters, people in campsites or other sites

used for recreational purposes ororganised protest, squatters or travellers.

It does not include people who wererough sleeping in the area on a previous night or earlier in the

evening but who were not there atthe time of the count. It does not include people wandering

around or empty sleeping sites.

Bedded down is taken to mean eitherlying down or sleeping. About to bed down includes those

who are sitting in/on or standingnext to a sleeping bag or other bedding. The intention is to

establish that they are or will berough sleeping on the night of the count. Research has found that

in many areas people seen drinkingin the street or begging (even if they have a blanket or a

sleeping bag) are not necessarilysleeping rough and they should not be included unless they are

clearly bedded down or about to beddown at the time of the count.

All those who fall into thisdefinition should be counted, regardless of nationality or eligibility for

public funds.

Further guidance details can befound on the link below;

http://www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/3%20Carrying%20out%20a%20count_0.pdf

Arms Wide Open - Christmas Hampers

2011-11-08T21:52:00.000Z

This year the theme of the Christmas services at King's Church London is 'Arms Wide Open' and as a practical demonstration of the theme we are going to be providing Hampers for families who are in need. The main distribution will be through the Lewisham social services teams who are working with children at risk and those on protection. One of the social services managers said "please thank the church for thinking of our families". Until I met with one of the staff I had no idea how many families are in this position. I know that the hampers will go to some very needy people.

Here is the plan for how people are going to provide hampers. Very shortly we will produce a 'shopping list' which will be a mixture of everyday essentials plus Christmas treats. And my dream is that groups of friends or families or people in community groups or perhaps in your work place will get together and buy the items so that they can fill a box and bring that to King's Church (Catford, Lee or Downham) on the 4th and 11th December. Perhaps you can tell me your story of how you get involved in producing a hamper, perhaps it is your football team or knitting group, your youth group or community group.

But you don't have to provide a whole hamper. It may be that people bring only a few items or part of a hamper and that will work great because people can bring their items to King's on the 4th and 11th December and add it together with other part hampers to make whole ones. It means everyone can get involved whether it is one tin or one whole hamper.

The Hampers will have a message that reads "Happy Christmas, with love from King's Church".

Look out for the information that is being given out in the next few weeks. This is going to be a brilliant way of demonstrating our Arms are Wide Open to people in need this Christmas.

Life in Catford - Lasting Fruit

2011-10-30T23:02:00.000Z

The challenge of leading a project like the Jericho Road Project is that much of what I do is now through others rather than getting to do it myself. I mean that I help others to help others! However I started doing this work because I really like working with rough sleepers, alcoholics or in fact anyone who is down trodden and rejected people around them and now I get limited opportunities to do this. Last Wednesday gave me such a moment.

A group of 9 young men from King's Church joined us at the Feast for the evening. I took the opportunity to take 3 of them on a tour of rough sleeping spots in Catford. To be honest I am a little out of touch who is where but I knew enough to know where to go. But after looking though a few car parks and some more specific spots we had met no-one and we were walking back to King's Church, when on the steps of Catford Bridge station we met Neil (don't worry, as always I've not given you the name he told me). This man was drunk and collapsed, looking like he was staying for the night. He didn't know how to get back to his flat, couldn't face the future and encapsulated everything I love about working with drunks. He had great stories to tell of crimes, of prison, the pain he felt about his son going to Afghanistan, he couldn't face sleeping in his flat so he slept in a cemetery. We hit it off immediately. Some of his story made no sense at all, some of the addiction story was scripted from the manuals, he was charming and offensive at the same time. He talked about how hard a man he was, yet all I met was a lonely lost man desperate for hope. He had no problem believing there was a God but there was no peace in his heart. Sure if someone had threatened him, he would have attacked first but all we met was a weak and broken man. So we helped him to get to the correct platform to get a train home.

It was a delight to be doing what I've always loved doing. This week I will follow up with Neil and try to provide help. But the lasting fruit is probably with the 3 young men who were with me. Life looks very different when you view it from the bottom of the pile and for a short while we shared this man's pain, we walked with him and experienced the frustration and confusion he felt. We watched how others reacted to him. I hope that this man's years of destruction will provoke this group of young men to dream big dreams for how they live their lives and how they help others.

The Big Ask

2011-10-13T22:49:00.000+01:00

I guess that all milestones create feelings of reflection and/or plans for the future. So whether it is birthdays, new year or anniversaries there is a moment to wonder what has been and what will be. I must admit that I am far more likely to look forward than look back. I genuinely do not remember most of the bad things that have happened in the last 10 years, others have to remind me. So today I looked through a couple of hundred photos of the events of last weekend, and there are some fabulous photos. If I was slightly more technically savvy and had a little more patience (and time!) to get the selection right I would be linking you to my facebook page to see the photos. Perhaps tomorrow!

The photos got me thinking again about the amazing people that I get to work with. People from all backgrounds and experiences are in the pictures. There are people that until recently were using cardboard as a mattress behind shopping centres. There are people who give many hours every week voluntarily to help homeless and vulnerable people get a fab 3 course meal or get their flat cleaned up. There are others who provide us with housing which means we are able to house homeless people.

But it was while I was away at a church leadership event this week that it struck me that I get to make the Big Ask of lots of people very regularly. I ask a lot of my residents hopefully with the right level of support; I ask a lot of my volunteers and I try very hard to express my Thanks; I ask a lot of the team (3 of us in total) who are employed by the Jericho Road Project. And there are others but I realised that while I was comfortable making the Big Ask for all those mentioned, I am not as good at making the Big Ask when it comes to money. I probably feel happier asking for houses than pounds. There are reasons for this, I have always wanted the work I do to be told in stories and then because we have credibility, people would want to give to the Project. This has been the case and regularly people give to the Project. I have had a reluctance to go down the grants route, concerned that it requires lots of time and then lots of time convincing someone that you are doing your job correctly and then the funding stops. I prefer fundraising that is sustainable, the Caring Christmas Trees are an example of this with customers who come back year after year.

However there are great opportunities ahead of us that hinge on fresh financial input. For example we can with volunteers run a Money Advice Centre on an annual budget of 2.5K which by anyone's calculation is value for money. But am I able to make the Big Ask?

There is though an even bigger Ask - Am I going to pray that God would provide this and much more for all the opportunities ahead us? The Project is an adventure of faith that requires us to dig deep and trust that God will provide all our needs.

My guess is that in the next 10 years I will be making plenty of Big Asks!

A day and a week to remember!

2011-10-09T22:19:00.000+01:00

What a day and what a week! Today was a fabulous day as we celebrated 10 years of the JRP. Yesterday was our 1st ever Lionhearts under 14's victory. Add in the lunchtime event on Thursday and 3 Governors meetings it has a full and intense week. Thankfully I have a day off tomorrow and for once I plan to do very little. I will switch off the phone,spend the day with Rebekah and probably watch the film '127 hours', I read the book in the summer.
The response to today was great. One person who has been at Kings for some years said that today helped him understand what we are doing at Kings more than any other talk. And there were loads of other comments expressing great excitement about the day.
But it was tiring day and I will enjoy sleeping well tonight. Rest is the order of day tomorrow.

10 Facts about 10 Years of the JRP

2011-10-05T23:00:00.000+01:00

1. We have recorded 1131 different people who have been to the Feast.

2. Since the Feast began we have never had to do any recruitment for the team.

3. There have been 88 residents since the housing project started in 2004.

4. King's Church Sunday Attendance has grown from 250 to 1250.

5. About 14% of people who come to the Feast go on to attend Alpha.

6. We serve approximately 4400 3-course meals a year.

7. There has been a Feast table at every evening Alpha course since 2002.

8. We have taken 37 people on holiday this year.

9. I estimate that we have served 27960 meals at the Feast in the 10 years.

10. The Money Advice Service took on 60 new people in a single year.

"Have you got a Sleeping Bag?"

2011-09-30T16:42:00.000+01:00

On Sunday 9th we are celebrating 10 years of the Jericho Road Project at all 5 meetings. So in addition to having both Steve Tibbert and myself speaking there will be 2 short films describing the Project, I am so looking forward to the church seeing the films. I want people to laugh, surprised and challenged by the films. It will be a good Sunday to bring friends and family to. We are telling great stories that will inspire you! There will even be soup at the end of the morning meetings - another way of helping 1200 people at King's connect with the work of the Feast!

But we also wanted there to be a way that all those who come to King's can take part and so we are asking the church to donate sleeping bags or blankets to the project to help rough sleepers this winter. This will help in emergency situations where immediate housing cannot be accessed. The blankets are very helpful for people who are squatting - in recent months we have had families with babies squatting locally.

Some people might have a blanket or sleeping bag at home that you can bring. But others I expect will consider buying one or more and bringing them to King's on the 9th. It would be great to have a pile of sleeping bags left at the end of the day. Please do consider joining in, lead the way! Ask people you know!

Finally as a way of completing the celebration on the 9th we are having a gathering at 7pm for all those who have been involved in the Project over the last 10 years. We will have Cake, a free drink from the Coffee Bar, some Thank you's etc. We will be joined by people who are no longer regularly at King's as well. I am asking all the residents to join us as well as some of the famous Feast faces. It will be a special moment.

10 Year Celebration of the Jericho Road Project

2011-09-09T10:28:00.000+01:00

I have now been in Catford for 10 years and so at the start of this September I have been reflecting on the last 10 years as well as looking ahead. In this blog I am attempting to outline what is happening in the term ahead. Obviously the Feast, support group and housing continues to help people every day/week.

Our 10 year celebration of the Jericho Road Project will take place in 2 parts. On Thursday 6^th October we will be holding a lunchtime event inviting dignitaries from the borough. The Mayor Sir Steve Bullock, Steve Tibbert and myself will speak at that event. I am expecting over 100 people to hear what the JRP provides, something of the story of King's as well as how King's through the Jericho Road Project plans to continue to impact South East London

And then on the Sunday 9^th October we will present the Jericho Road project at all 5 services. Using DVD, powerpoint, preach by Steve Tibbert and myself we will celebrate all that God has done as well as look ahead. Please invite your friends to this event, it will be a great Sunday. King's now has over a thousand people attending on a Sunday and we can have a bigger voice to shout about justice and helping the poor to a society around us that is searching for answers.

The Flat Cleaning team will continue to meet every Tuesday to help people who are struggling to keep their flat tidy. Contact me if you are able to help. This is a great opportunity to help people keep their tenancies (preventing homelessness) and value themselves (a greater sense of self worth)

Encounter nights – Following the successful Encounter Camp earlier this year we are now running bi-monthly Encounter evenings. These evenings will follow the pattern of the camp; relaxed, fun, time to wait on God, prayer, worship. Please come along, the next one will be in November. Further details when I know them.

Remember Caring Christmas Trees – Our biggest fundraiser of the year is selling Christmas Trees. Work has already started and there will be the many volunteer opportunities in November and December.

The marathon walk we did in August is on course to raise £1000 for the Feast, that means 1000 three course meals for vulnerable and homeless people! If you are still to pay, please do! Thanks to all those have supported us.

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There is a Newfrontiers conference called Jubilee+ taking place on Saturday 1^st October taking place in Milton Keynes. This will be an excellent day looking at how Churches Can Change Communities. Speakers include Angela Kemm, Gavin Poole, Peter Lyndon and Martin Charlesworth. Book at www.jubilee-plus.org

Belmarsh and Isis Prison Fellowship have an open day on Saturday 15^th October 10am-4pm. Hear from volunteers and Chaplains plus news about Prison Fellowship. If you want to attend please contact me for further details.

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Follow me on Twitter @ simonjohnallen1

Jericho Road Project, King’s Church Centre, Catford Hill, London, SE6 4PS, 020 8690 4646 jrp@kingschurchlondon.org

Riot reaction

2011-08-17T16:37:00.000+01:00

This is my last blog before I take a summer break and I will try and keep it short and sweet.
The idea of making people, who were convicted of rioting, homeless is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in the whole 'riots' debate. In fact when I first heard it I thought it was a joke. There is nothing about it that makes any sense to me. So let me run the scenario...

If someone has been convicted of being involved in the riot they are being punished by the courts and the sentences given out in the last week appear to be strong enough to provide a deterrent. (Now is not the time to discuss the value of the judicial system that sends a mother of two to prison for 5 months for handling a stolen pair of shorts! I'll save that for another day) So if councils then evict that immediately becomes an additional punishment. Where does the additional punishments stop, perhaps if you keep rolling out the punishments you can stop benefits, stop health provision, stop education.

And if I run the scenario of eviction, immediately people who were not involved in the riots will be evicted which seems hugely unfair. It would cause huge disruption to an already massive challenge for inner city areas. Because immediately the Council would be under pressure to assess the family for housing under the homelessness Act. And many charities and other community agencies would be called upon to provide help when there are already too many homeless and vulnerable people needing help. This plan simply will make things a lot worse.

Normally I would say that the courts would never sanction anything like this. However the events of the last week have shown in a time when politicians are reacting strongly some normal things have been ignored.

The answer to restoring a broken society is to help people build self respect, understanding the value of working and for all people to respect authority. This is not achieved by seeing how much can be stripped away from people!

I don't do book reviews.

2011-08-16T22:25:00.000+01:00

I have never done a book review on this blog and I'm not sure if this will count as one. I do read books but unlike people like Matt Hosier I am usually just pleased to finish and move on without writing about them afterwards. However, it is summer and therefore a great time to read so I am reading a few books. In fact my wife who reads lot recently had a kindle for her birthday and the slightly strange thing is that when I look at what she is reading it is more often looking at the online bookshop rather than reading a book!

I went to the newly refurbished library on Torridon Road yesterday which is very nice although it appears that there are far less books in the library than there were before the works. (I don't think the library was looted last Monday) I found a book called 'Violent London' which is the story of 2000 years of riots and revolutions in London. I read a quote in this book "What is the world coming to when you can't go to the country fair without people smashing windows", it's almost a 2011 quote! However this book didn't feel like a summer read so I left it on the shelf.

Instead I found a book called 'Curing Hiccups with small fires' which is a totally bizarre book. 'From the endearingly odd to the dangerously maniacal, the British have always had a reputation for breeding eccentrics, Karl Shaw describes over 200 of the most hilarious, outlandish and occasionally downright weird examples.' I have only read a handful of the characters in it but already it makes modern eccentrics seem very mild. If there were tabloid journalists around in the 1800's they would have had more than enough to write about.

Take WG Grace, the grandfather of cricket, a Doctor, noble and upright, playing a gentlemans game. Yeh right! He refused to be out, famously saying "they have come to watch me bat not you bowl", ignored the umpire, one bowler got him out 4 times before the umpire dared give WG out. His brother used the stump to threaten the officals if he didn't like the decision.

CB Fry, a remarkable sportsman, was offered to be the King of Albania, others claimed outrageous expenses, many wore shocking clothing, some delighted in being naked, many were arisocrats who took advantage of their wealth and position. But what is amazing is that many have made such an impression on British society. The Revd William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930) name lives on due to 'spoonerisms', when parts of two words get mixed up. My favourite of his is when he announced a hymn 'Kinquering Congs their titles take ...'. The Revd John Wesley, father of Methodism, wrote lots of poems to suplement his income with many odd titles including Maggots: or Poems on several subjects never handled before.

Poets, sportsmen, adventurers, polititians - this book shows that firstly there is nothing new in odd behaviour, it has been done before, but secondly it does suggest that being slightly odd is part of making an impression on British history.

Enjoy your summer reading!

How to help society? It's always one life at a time!

2011-08-12T17:07:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was the great marathon walk day - 26 miles over the North Downs from Cuxton to Botley Hill. It was a tough day and my legs are feeling it today. The current total raised is about £800 with more coming in so I am hopeful of reaching £1000. That means 1000 3-course meals for some of the most vulnerable people in South East London. Thank you if you have made a donation.

But the events of the last week have cast a huge shadow over South East London and probably the whole country. So much has been said and blogged about the riots so I am not trying to summarise the issues here. I found the scenes on Monday deeply sad and I have spent the week living with the consequences of the actions of a few. For many we work with each week they live alone and often in great fear. This week has seen even greater fear shown, one man came to the door and wanted the outside metal gate closed to protect himself because he was scared of people walking past. Another was greatly angered because a friend of his had been robbed. Others because they are vulnerable and on the streets and not positive about the police got mixed up in the troubles even though they were not looting and rioting.

The soundtrack to Catford Centre in normal times is sirens but this week has been like no other. Last night driving through Catford we saw blue lights coming towards us and we saw probably 15 of those riot styles police vans that have appeared in the last few days. These were not the transit vans with grills on them, these are the vehicles that are more like tanks, something that is seen in Northern Ireland. Where they were going I don't know but it definitely creates an impression. Today I was helping one man and whilst in Catford I lost count of the number of emergency vehicles that were charging up and down, sirens blaring, often 2 or 3 vehicles together. There is a major operation going on out there!

The challenge for us all is how to live through this and beyond. There are so many questions and answers to these troubles but I want to come back to one answer that I know is true. Helping society recover always requires us to help one person at a time. The biggest plans for society stand or fail on the ability to help one person to change, followed by another and another. Politicians cannot change the human heart but the gospel is the story of good news that transforms the heart. I know that sometimes one person can take up a lot of effort or require great patience to help and you question is it worth it. But the time spent helping one young person or vulnerable person can result in changing a community. That is why the Feast will, where possible, help each person who comes in who needs assistance. As a project we will continue to help the most broken and needy, one life at a time!

Introduction to Homelessness Training

2011-08-04T15:08:00.000+01:00

A number of our team have been on this training and have found it very useful.

Introduction to Homelessness Training

Saturday 1st October or Saturday 26th November 2011

Housing Justice runs a very popular one day training workshop on homelessness and related issues. It is particularly suitable for volunteers in churches and smaller homelessness projects or people who are new to working in the field. This one day workshop is usually over subscribed so early booking is recommended!

The training covers: Role of the church, statutory and voluntary sector; homelessness law and local authority duties; mental health awareness; drugs and alcohol awareness; boundaries/dealing with conflict.

COST £25 per person for Housing Justice member organisations

NOTE HJ Membership includes two free places but please get in touch if cost is an issue. Some bursary places are available for unfunded churches or small organisations and for low/unwaged volunteers.

DATES Saturday 1^st October 2011 or Saturday 26^th November 2011

10.00am - 4.00pm

Venue Housing Justice 22-25 Finsbury Square London EC2A 1DX

Nearest tube: Moorgate

Further info/to book please email

Claire Garner c.garner@housingjustice.org.uk or call 020 7920 6600

Cleaning up a Mess

2011-08-03T16:10:00.000+01:00

A team has formed that has taken on a fabulous task. Mike and Jane Haley are now heading up a team that will regularly go into people's flats and homes helping them clean up, repair and generally learn some skills to maintain their homes in a better state. They are looking for more people who will be on a team who will spend a couple of hours each month helping out. This is such a fantastic opportunity and it can make a massive difference. At times this has been the difference between someone staying in a house or choosing to give up and becoming homeless.

Most of the opportunities occur on weekdays but if you would like to be involved at the weekend or evening please let us know. Perhaps you are in a group that would like to be involved. Please contact dave.barlow@kingschurchlondon.org or 020 8690 4646 if you would like to get involved. If you have some time please do get involved.

Also do not forget the £1 challenge - 5 ex rough sleepers walking a marathon distance over the North Downs Way on the 11th August. If you want to be a £1 challenge supporter simply let me know simon.allen@kingschurchlondon.org and then give me the money when you see me next. Remember: Every pound provides a hungry person with soup, main meal and a pudding.

5 ex rough sleepers walking a marathon

2011-07-21T11:37:00.000+01:00

FUNDRAISING FOR THE FEAST - The £1 challenge

The Feast is our weekly outreach meeting for homeless and vulnerable people.
Every £1 given provides a 3 course meal for a homeless person on a Wednesday night.

5 men who are ex-rough sleepers are going to walk a marathon distance (over 26 miles) on the North Downs Way from Rochester to Botley Hill near Woldingham – 11^th August 2011.

Here are the famous five ... and we asked them 2 questions.

Malcolm How long were you rough sleeping? 5 1/2 years
Why support the feast? “It’s a great place that helps people”

Dave How long were you rough sleeping? 1 year
Why support the feast? “helps people get off the street”

Terry How long were you rough sleeping? On and off for 7 years

Why support the feast? “the people at the Feast have shown me concern and compassion. It’s time for me to give something back”

Peter How long were you rough sleeping? On and off for 10 years

Why support the feast? “we act as a family”

Jamie How long were you rough sleeping? 12 weeks
Why support the feast? “How happy having a meal makes you feel. It’s the greatest thing in the world when you are on the street.”

Please help by signing up to the £1challenge - each person can give maximum £1, but if you are creative you can find a way to give more. Perhaps pay for all those in your family, last year someone paid for their pets. Email jrp@kingscentre.org.uk to sign up!

Thanks

Encounter Camp feedback night

2011-07-19T12:10:00.000+01:00

Encounter Camp 2011 was held between 20th-24th June and was a brilliant week. There is so much to talk about that we are holding a feedback night this evening - 7.45pm at King's Church Catford. There will be cakes to start followed by some film footage of the Encounter fun including Darren and Malcolm dancing, not together though. We also want to live out what we learnt at Encounter, which means that we want to give away what we have. Therefore there will be a time of worship, prayer and prophecy.

Everyone is welcome to attend this evening's meeting and if you like to forward plan here are the dates for 2012 - 11th -15th June. This year 17 came with us and I am hoping that 40 people from King's will come next year.

Crazy Comical Cycling

2011-07-16T14:20:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday I cycled to Brighton and on Friday I cycled back, It is the furthest I have ever cycled and it is something that I knew I was capable of but it was reassuring to actually achieve this. It took me 3hours 59mins to cycle 66 miles to Brighton and 3hours 17mins to cycle back because I only needed to cycle 56 miles! I then imagine how much faster the Tour riders are going. Well I averaged 17.3 mph (almost 28kph on the return journey. The tour riders average 43-45kph on flattish stages. Remarkable speeds!

I learnt some things along the way. I learnt that I couldn't attack the hills as I do on 20/30 mile rides. I found out I had no power left so needed to go through the gears and keep the tempo high (aerobic rather than power). Thank you to my friend Matt Cooke for his advice. This really helped on Ditchling Beacon and on the return through Westerham which is surprisingly hilly. It meant that I mentally was happy just to get up rather than have time targets or trying to catch up with another cyclist and then the great thing was that I was able to cycle strongly away from the top. I also learnt that you have to stay mentally strong, even when someone shouts from their car and makes me jump or when I fell over at traffic lights in Bromley. It was the first time I had fallen due to using cleats. (which means that my feet are attached to the pedal) Another comical moment was when I fell over my bike in the hotel and jammed the sprocket into my ankle leaving me with some fine looking wounds.

Which obviously brings me to the joy of watching the Tour de France. Quite simply stunning! This event operates on so many levels and I seem to learn more about it each year. The team dynamics are very complex but they are remarkable teams. This article from the Toronto Star described the beauty of the
team and significant the domestiques are. The riders are absolutely superb athletes and often appear machine-like. I like the itv4 coverage, there is great commentary and wise use of the advert breaks - Thanks!.

But having cycled over 100 miles in 2 rides this week I have one slightly different view of the riders.
They get paid to have that much fun! Yes they are in pain but simply cycling for a living and being part of such a brilliant event easily makes up for that.

"It's better to squat in England than live in Romania"

2011-07-07T06:30:00.000+01:00

I don't like hearing the statement above when it's a single person saying it but I am especially concerned when it's said by parents, in this case there are 2 children involved (6 months and 5 years old). The reason given is that there are no jobs in Romania; we will have to wait and see if there are jobs for him in SE London! Having not been to Romania it is hard to make comment on why it is so tough in Romania (or Latvia, Czech Rep, Poland etc) that makes travelling to a new country and then living a dangerous life of finding squats. Are other countries experiencing this in reverse?

I know there are reasons why England/Britain is a good choice. Comparatively we have it very good and our health system is still a most remarkable thing. A different parent from Eastern Europe explained that simply having a free health care system for giving birth meant that it was better to live in England. But these cases do leave me confused. There are so many questions that this presents;what really goes on for a family to chose this, where are their families?, is it right to have children living in a squat knowing that any day the police might stop you from living in that property, what about health and education, food and shelter - ultimately the most basic human needs are in question.

What was remarkable about the couple last night is that they and her especially were the most upbeat and resourceful people. She smiled and explained that because they have no electricity she persuades the owner of a fast food stall to heat up her babies bottle. She did not complain and talked of her faith that God would provide for them.

They had a huge impact on me last night. Just to finish, a few years ago I read a book called the The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins which described how people groups are displaced on a global scale for many reasons and how the church becomes the light on the hill that people go to because it is visible. Jenkins described how big churches in global cities would gather people from all over the world.

So let the light shine!!

A Feast of Delight

2011-06-29T13:12:00.000+01:00

Lucreta has been a volunteer at the Feast for a number of years and is also an accomplished poet. Not surprisingly she has combined the two! She has just had her poem about the Feast published in a book called 'Here and Now'. It goes like this -

The Feast

Volunteers mingle at four pm
Preparing dishes as they come
With the background sound of laughter
In readiness for the banquet at eight pm

Plaid tablecloths; seventy place settings
Brightens up the environment
For the needy to be served with a three course meal

They listen to a fifteen minute talk and
Applause approvingly; enjoying tea and coffee; plus
A take away and extra clothing before they depart

A hope for change;one hear their cry; one see their sigh
They destitute embrace the gospel and then they comply

The Feast changes lives; the destitute enfold hope
Visible in their eyes and in their lives

A Feast of delight, to be polite on Wednesday nights
At Kings Church, SE6

I have heard Lucreta read this poem a few times and it is definitely best read in her fabulous Caribbean accent. In fact I hope she performs a few poems when she is launching her new book Meh Landing Frock on Thursday 7th July at Catford Library.

Lucreta’s first anthology is a poetic journey from memories of his grandmother shelling gunga peas by the side of the road, to her first impressions of the UK in the 1950s, to the emergence of multicultural London and a return visit to St Vincent, the land of her birth. Creole patois features in both Lucreta’s writing and performance.
The event is free to attend with the opportunity to buy a signed copy from Lucreta. Lucreta is Vice-Chair of the Inspired Word writing group and would be pleased to speak to anyone interested in joining in with their activities.
Thursday 7 July 2011, 5.45pm for 6-7pmCatford Library

Life in Catford - on the buses 3

2011-06-19T15:02:00.000+01:00

Living life on the Jericho Road (representing the dangerous and difficult places in our society) rather than hiding away in our houses or our car with the music turned up loud is still on my mind. If social justice means anything it has to mean engagement and with parts of society that are not like me.

Today after church, I got the bus home with my 4 children. My eldest who uses the bus every day sits on his own, happy to disown the presence of his family, whereas my 3 girls sit with me where there were empty seat at the back of the bus! Upon sitting down, the guy next to me, on the phone, tells his listener that I have got on the bus. He uses a term to describe me that I have never heard before and I won't put on this blog in case I find it to be deeply offensive slang. His conversation which he is broadcasting to the whole bus then proceeds to be filled with plenty of foul language. I can deal with that fine, I asked him to watch his language and he agrees and then tells his phone listener (and the bus) that it makes sense because the kids don't need to hear that language. What I was unable to find a solution to, was the constant valuing of women as objects that he has authority over, anyone (thing in his vocabulary) who was female that came into view out of the window got a sexualised comment. This guy had no shame! He might think that children shouldn't hear swearing but he was very happy to let them hear sexualised vocabulary. When he got off the bus my eldest daughter and I started a discussion about his views on women. She told me up to the point he got off, she was desperate to get off the bus and walk! She really hoped that it had gone over the heads of the younger two.

Yesterday I saw a man wearing a T-shirt that read 'made to be laid' - now I find the term 'laid' fairly offensive especially on public display but it was the word 'made' that got me thinking. God made us and one of our key purposes is to procreate. Did this man even know that he was 'made'? The impression was that he was the author and maker of his life and the obvious statement he was saying by wearing this T-shirt was that he had a right to use another person for his own selfish gain. How did we end up here when God made sex for our good?

The sexualisation of young people through clothing and music videos etc has made the headlines recently and I am relieved that there is voice of reason in the midst of this onslaught. Yes the casual acceptance that is given to talking about and display your intentions regarding sex is deeply disturbing.

My task as a Father of a son and three girls who live on the Jericho Road requires my full engagement and now is not the time to hide my head in the sand. Happy Father's Day!!

Where have all the blogs gone?

2011-06-14T22:20:00.004+01:00

I have no simple answer to why I have not blogged for a month but it gives me an opportunity to catch up on all that is going on. (The one blog I did write, froze on me so never was published!)

Events that have happened in the last month. As a family we enjoyed some cold wet Derbyshire weather and then some hot dry Norfolk weather at half time. As I reflected on the weather differences in our relatively small country, I realised what a fascinating climate we have. My wife called it something else when we were stuck in a tent for a second wet day. Also in the last month Aston Villa Football Club have turned down or have been turned down by every unemployed manager. (Blues fans would probably argue that some who are employed as well).

Steve Tibbert has launched his book 'Good to Grow' which tells the story of King's Church over the last 15 years. It is almost 10 years since I joined the team and it is a story that I am delighted to have been part of. It also provides a resource when people ask how has King's continued to grow. The weeks since the launch of our 3 sites have seen a remarkable increase in people attending the church.

I have reached the 6 months since my knee op and last night I ran for the first time in about 10 months. I have been cycling and swimming but I was told it would take 6 months to run and the consultant was right. Even running last night I could feel it on my recovering knee although I felt it equally on my other knee so perhaps it is just par for the course when I haven't run for that long. Anyway it felt a significant step towards the goal of completing an Olympic length triathlon in the Olympic year/my 40th year. Which obviously leads to a classic blog topic 'Olympic tickets', I tried to get about £600 worth of tickets including the 100m final and I got £46 which means 2 adult tickets to an Olympic event. Still no email to inform me which one. Despite the huge criticism I was generally happy with the whole process with one major concern. The system favoured people who had more money or were willing to gamble more. The more bids you entered the more chance you had of getting tickets. Putting that aside, as a family we will thoroughly enjoy the Olympic games being on our doorstep. The free events will be great and also the big screens in the Parks should be excellent places to hang out.

Life has been very busy and I have had to remember to slow down a little and try to pace myself. Next week I am away with about 15 others from the Jericho Road Project at the Encounter Camp in rural Worcestershire. This is an event started by my friend Jim Harper who runs the event to allow people who have suffered from life controlling issues to have a place where they can meet with God and find healing. It will provide for me a different week from the usual hustle and bustle of the office/home. It will give me time to catch up with people who I might see regularly but don't have much time to catch up with.

So the blog is back, hopefully!

Blah, blah, blah - The Art of Communication!

2011-05-25T10:12:00.010+01:00

Communication. It's been taking up my thoughts recently. Whether it's bloggin, tweeting, website, emails, Sunday airtime at church, interviews on film, remembering what to say to which team. It has become a significant part of my work. So I am asking - Are we getting our message out? Who is on the other end? It is surprising how much is dependant on the power of the written word!

I want communication that delivers both the information but also empowers people to do something in response. I love writing this blog although some ideas require more work than others to get a finished blog. Recently I started a fortnightly email newsletter that does 3 things - it describes what has been happening, what is coming up and One story/issue. There are currently 80 people on the mailing list. If you would like to receive it, please email requesting the newsletter.

Whilst I do have a Twitter account until I get a mobile device that allows me to use it on the go I will not be Twittering.

In preparation for the 10 year celebration in October I am due to start filming people telling their stories of the last 10 years. Hopefully this will be a great resource but will be especially useful for the dignitaries event on the 6th October and the Sunday event on the 9th October, especially useful now that King's meets on 3 sites. If you have filming or editing skills that you can offer to the JRP please let me know.

Have you seen the Feast video we did last Autumn in preparation for the sale of Christmas Trees? For some reason I can't get the link to connect here - such are the joys of bloggin! Also because I have now attempted to get the link to this blog, the text has become one text rather than being spaced out with paragraphs and I've lost the spell check. In fact all I can do is type so I'll stop before the blog completely crashes!)

So communication, it's not as easy as it looks!

Managing the team at the bottom of the table.

2011-05-15T20:10:00.008+01:00

As the football leagues in England come to an end, lots of soul searching takes place for managers. Well that or Owners simply fire their manager who a matter of weeks, months and occasionally years ago they were convinced were the best thing for their club. 'He's the right man to take this club forward' quickly becomes 'He's taken the club as far as he possible can'. However this manager then becomes the best man for another job and so it goes on.

Another mystery of football talk is that people seem surprised that there is a club at the bottom of the table. The has always been, is now, and will always be a team who occupy the bottom place in the league. That is how a league works! One of the managers will be at the bottom. Well this year it was my turn to be the manager who was bottom of the table. It was the 1st year that Lewisham Lionhearts had run an under 14's team. For a few years now we have had an under 11's team playing in the South London Church League, last year we won the cup and finished mid table in the league. And this year we had a team in the under 14's league.

We had a very young team, mostly year 7's, playing in a league for years 7, 8 and 9. So we have got 2 more years to enjoy playing at this level. The players have made great progress in the year but being a young team brings it challenges, we were often shorter, slower, less fit, not able to pass as far, not able to shoot as hard. All in all we had a big challenge!

The highlight was seeing players respond with great attitude, working hard for the team and the low light was (twice) trying to find a way to inspire the team when we are getting thumped by the best team in the league - 'Let's aim to let in less goals in the 2nd half than we did in the 1st!' we managed this in both games. 'Let's try and score one goal!' we managed this in one of the games.

In the world of football all the talk will soon be all about next season, who is managing where.
The only threat to my managerial career is if Rebekah says that it is taking up too much time of our family time.

As far as I know I have not had a vote of confidence. Not bad for a manager at the bottom of the league!

King's Church Social Action Conference 2011

2011-05-05T12:59:00.003+01:00

This event happened last Saturday and here are some of my reflections from the day.

1. It is really good doing a localised event. It meant we heard from the chaplain at HMP Belmarsh for example as well as allowing me the opportunity to address our current situation at King's.
2. Needs to either be much longer or aim to do far less in the day. People wanted to go to more than one seminar which wasn't possible.
3. In the follow up, it is hard to manage the expertise and dreams of people but it is so important that we develop justice in different ways. Please bear with me if you want to discuss future options.
4. Dave did a fabulous job organising the event.

For those who did not make it here is a synopsis of my talk.

It was based on the story Jesus told of the man beaten up the Jericho Road.
The road was real and very dangerous, a bit like some of the streets in our city. As believers we are called to live on the Jericho Road. This means living with the reality of the beaten up lives that are around us. Then after a brief explanation of the biblical description of God's heart for the broken I then responded to this call to live on the Jericho Road in 4 ways.

Individually - we must be ready to stop and help those in need, perhaps by walking the Jericho Road's of Catford rather than driving through with our stereos turned up loud so we don't hear the cries from those around us. Once we have stopped we don't send the person to social services or the church or the police but we try and persoanlly respond to the need.

Our homes and our family unit - we discussed how we make the best use of our homes, don't underestimate the power of an invite! Jesus spoke so much about inviting people, who sits where, who gets the best food, who cleans the feet, invite those who can't invite you back. It is a big deal in some cultures but we are not naturally strong at this in the West.
How do we include our families in the 'justice' journey? Well great wisdom is needed! But I want my children to be able to walk the Jericho Road and be street wise as well as remaining compassionate. At meal times in my house we sometimes discuss people on the Jericho Road. When I told my children that some people drink so much alcohol that their liver fails and as a result their skin turns yellow, the kids asked me, Are the Simpsons, the TV cartoon family, alcoholics!

Local church projects - obviously I am great believer in the value of church projects, simply the financial and physical resources plus the leadership challenge required lead to churches operating expressions of compassion. It is good for the church, changing the demographics of those in the church plus helping people outside the church have their view of the church improved, as long as we do a good job of course.

Repaving the Jericho Road - "We are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside... but one day we must come and see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved. We are called to be the Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask., maybe the whole road to Jericho needs repaving." Martin Luther King - a time to break the silence
This is one that requires a push forward for us but we have advantage of 10 years of credibility behind us.

So a great day but only succesful if we go and do likewise!

Loving the Bikes

2011-05-03T21:26:00.002+01:00

Yesterday, the May Day Bank Holiday, is one of my favourite days of the year. The reason is that for the last 4 (or 5) years I have done the Tonbridge triathlon on this day but because of my knee operation I was not able to do it this year and I really missed it! Instead I went on a family bike ride round Bewl Water in Kent. It was a fabulous day with a challenging 13 mile route, the paths are quite rough and some of the hills are decent climbs (especially for my 7 year old!). If you do go, try and avoid the outrageous parking costs! Also remember what I said in a previous blog about the price of tea - I paid £1.50 for a lukewarm cup of tea. Outrageous!

But the bikes that really make this Bank Holiday so special are the motorbikes that literally take over the A21 road to Hastings. In previous years when I have returned from the Triathlon and travelled North back to Catford we have watch thousands of bikes travelling South. But yesterday we were travelling South at the same time as the bikes. It was a fabulous experience, bikes of all sizes passing us, every lay-by packed with bikes and bikers, spectators on the bridges, people on deck chairs at junctions, on some sections all we could see behind us were tens of bikes. It was a mass participation event with seemingly no one person or committee or company organising it, I found it so inspiring! Let me make it clear, the only time I have ever been on a bike was in India on one occasion and I have no desire to start now but I loved being involved in this fabulous event. We waved at the people standing on the roadside and we waved at the bikers.

I don't know how many motorbikes were making their way to Hastings (a lot) but when people join together with a common purpose and act together it is a remarkable sight. Whilst watching the Royal Wedding I was surprised at how moving it was and I am sure this was due to the huge crowds that were involved. My conclusion is that we humans are drawn to large events, being part of something much bigger inspires us and lifts our sights. It's good for our souls!

Camping without a sleeping bag

2011-04-26T14:13:00.005+01:00

Following a mistake by yours truly I ended up wild camping in a tent without a sleeping bag last week and this has got me very thoughtful about how rough sleepers cope. But first I must say ...

It was a fabulous week away with the best weather possible. We spent 2 days in the mountains taking on Snowdon via Crib Goch, and 3 days on the beach all spent with the Wonderful Kellets. The week was finished off with a visit to see the Sturmeys and Colcloughs in Wellington, two families we have met camping in Wales so they know a thing or two about staying warm in a tent. And we just had time to visit Godfirst church in Cheltenham before heading back to Catford. I loved last week; it had everything - adventure, amazing views, spending time with great family and friends, time with my wife and children - and I got back all ready to organise and prepare talks for this weekend's social action conference.

Anyhow, back to the wild camping. I managed to only pack one sleeping bag for our Dads and Lads wild camping trip so I was left with the only option which was to sleep in all my clothes and 2 dressing gowns (donated to me by my son and nephew) and donate my brand new sleeping bag to my son. After putting up the tents and the classic camp fire, we all headed to our beds and I managed to get to sleep OK and for the first 4 hours slept more than I was awake. But by 2am I knew that I was in trouble as the night had suddenly got much colder - obviously the cloud had cleared! Between 2am and 5am I tried everything to stop having cold spots on my body but every time I moved another part of me felt cold. In fact I had a recurring 'nightmare' when I came to, to realise that I did not have a sleeping bag!!

So it made me think that rough sleepers go through a huge amount of pain. I had a shelter over my head so was always going to be dry. And I also know that people sleep rough in far colder weather. But the cold wakes you up, it leaves you feeling vulnerable and helpless. There are some people I know who prefer to sleep rough rather than be 'inside' a house. One man in Bedford always slept rough and I remember finding him one night when there was a layer of frost on his bedding. A few winters ago I found a man in Lewisham centre who was sleeping with snow covering part of him. It seems the body can adjust to the cold but I don't intend to practice this 'skill'. Next time I will double check the number of sleeping bags before setting off to the mountains!

The Beauty of Mountains

2011-04-18T10:05:00.002+01:00

One of the times when I know I am most alive is when I escape to the mountains. And because of my Knee injuries and then the operation I haven't been up a mountain since the last day of July when we climbed Maeglase in Mid Wales. Today then signals the start of a new year of mountains and every year my brother-in-law and I take our boys away camping and scrambling. So assuming my leg holds up we will be getting our fill of the beauty that is the British Isles. Each time I climb I realise how untouched the mountains are. Sure there are paths worn by boots but there are many parts of the mountains that simply do not get affected by humans. But a long time ago I realised that I should live in the city but get to the hills as regularly as possible. So here we go ... I'm off to the mountains.

The smell of poverty

2011-04-08T16:45:00.003+01:00

When I went to Mumbai I was told to prepare for the smell that would hit me. Well on a number of occasions in London I have smelt far worse than anything I smelt in mumbai. Yesterday was an example of this - sadly in one of the houses I manage!! And because I wanted the causes of the smell out of the house immediately I cleared out the room. It was really foul, so if you are currently eating or feel squimish don't read this! Firstly there were the milk cartoons with various levels of milk in them, including one on the radiator. Next there was the blue bread After that it was the maggots in the ham Then suspicious looking eggs that I have now discovered are cochroach eggs. It was shockingly bad. I don't want to mention the rest. I cleared the floor in order to open the window to get some fresh air - but when I got to the window I was amazed to find it fully open. Ahhh! Late last evening and hours after being in the room I got a smell of it again. How did that smell stay with me? It is the smell of poverty. Of neglect. Reflecting a lack of self worth and ultimately a desperately sad end to this man's opportunity to rebuild his life! The room reflected his own heart!

The price of tea.

2011-03-28T21:47:00.003+01:00

Saturday I attended a conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster. Walking past the lines of police to get to and from Charing Cross station was most of what I saw of the demonstration. Although by the time I walked back through Trafalgar Square, there was a strange atmosphere brewing, people standing around waiting to see what would happen next. Seeing so many police, there were 4500 on duty in Central London, I had a number of questions. Who is paying for all this? Are there any police on duty in the rest of the capital? Where do they (the police) live? This is important because they are after all normal human beings and yet when you see this fluorescent clad mass guarding the famous buildings in Whitehall and Parliament Square (and seemingly most buildings in Central London) they felt like a different type of human, from a different planet!. They didn't feel like neighbours or part of families. It was reassuring that when I did speak to one of 'them' she spoke English and was very helpful and friendly. That was a relief! The conference was called 'Everything' and was a great day. I do need to report (see previous blog) that it did not have any sport so it could be called 'everything minus sport'. Seriously the day was very encouraging, I felt reassured that I am playing a small but important part in being an agent of community change in my part of the world. Anyway back to the subject of this blog - the price of tea. I have a theory that the more expensive the price of a cup of tea, the worse it is! I love tea but my wife loves coffee hence we go to 'specialised' coffee shops (naming no names). The price in these shops is disgusting (for what is just boiling water on a tea bag with a dash of milk) but the taste is even worse. However the best cup of tea is the one I make at home, which costs only a few pence to make. This is not just a theory, it is factually true! So on Saturday outside Westminster Abbey I had a pre-conference brew, the cost was £1.25, which is a better price than I expected for what is a tourist trap, and the taste was pretty good. But it was not in the same league as the 75pence cuppa that I had today in a small cafe near the Premier Radio studios, very close to Millbank in Central London. There is very little better than a proper cup of builders tea (minus the 2 spoonfuls of sugar). I was there because I was being interviewed for a radio show that is hosted by Steve Chalke. I was a little nervous although probably more about getting there on time, hence I was early and had tea. The interview was lovely, more like a chat in a cafe, talking about how we had got to 6 houses and how people's lives have been changed. It was fun and the 12 minutes flew by, Steve and his team were great. When it is broadcast I will post it on the blog. Tomorrow I am back in Central London for the CSJ Alliance conference which should be a very interesting day. Amongst the speakers is Frank Field MP who has the rather concerning job description of 'poverty czar' within the Coalition! I will, of course, be looking for the cup of tea that tastes divine! The cheaper the better!

Photos of Chepstow Trip 2011

2011-03-25T16:10:00.003Z

This Peacock is able to fly/jump up to the top of a very high tree. It lives in the grounds of the building we stay in. Last year someone asked me to call the RSPB to help the bird get down because they thought it was stuck.

Matthew and Pearl showing us how it should be done.

This is a 'roofless' chapel that provides endless photo opportunities. This photo includes nearly all the group who went.

Everything and a bit more

2011-03-22T14:59:00.004Z

We had a really good time last week, it was the 3 day project trip to Chepstow. The weather was great and we managed to get out and do lots of walking in the beautiful Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean. I will post some photos when I get them. As I suggested in a previous post there are usually a few who don't make it at the last moment, so on this trip we had 2 no shows but we still took 20 of us.

So now back in the office I am planning what is happening next at the JRP. So here goes.

This Saturday a few of us are attending a conference called Everything which is all about how do have the biggest influence we can have on society believing that God is much bigger than and very concerned about how his Kingdom affects all aspects of life. So on the advertising blurb there is focus on the media, the arts, medical and social change but personally it does seems to be missing something! Sport! How does the wonderful world of sport fit into Everything!

Next up is a Feast/JRP afternoon out on Easter Monday (25th April in case you were wondering). For the first few years of the project we did this regularly but during the last couple of years we have not done this sort of trip. Basically it means this, we reduce the crime/street drinking issues in Catford by taking them to a park away from Lewisham. On a serious note these are memorable occasions that people talk about for years. For some it is the only time they leave the city. You are very welcome to come and join us. Swanley Park has a small railway running around the park, and we will be providing a drink (tea/coffee only) and a piece of cake.

And then on Saturday 30th we have the Social Action Conference which I have blogged about before and I am really looking forward to the day. Please book in by emailing jrp@kingschurchlondon.org

Another one to mention here is Encounter Camp which this year is in June not August. So the dates are 20th - 24th June. Letters/flyers are going out this week and I am hoping we will take a group of over 25. Encounter is a weeks camping (or stay in a caravan for extra money) in a remote location 8 miles from Evesham, which happens to be my birth place. Encounter is a mixture of worship, teaching, hanging out, sport, fun for those who are overcoming life controlling issues. Knowing that God can do a far better job than I of turning lives around, the week is really about people encountering God and being changed. I am hoping that the weather in June will be better than most of August weather we have endured for the past 4 Encounters.

One final event is a fundraiser on the 3rd July when we are planing to join up with the North Kent Bikeathon and raise some money by cycling through Kent. The Rotary Club of Catford, who just this week sent us a donation from their Christmas collection, organise it brilliantly with the best treats at the staging posts. If you want to get involved and raise some money for the JRP, email me and we can arrange your entry for the Bikeathon 2011.

If you have read all that, Thank you!

Chepstow 2011

2011-03-15T07:29:00.002Z

This morning I am going to Chepstow with possibly 20 others involved in the Jericho Road Project for a 3 day escape to the countryside. I say possibly because I never quite know who will actually turn up on the morning. For all those who do make it, it will be a great trip - the weather forecast is fine, the place we stay in is nice and this year we will get to do walking and archery! Well I must go and pick up the minibus.

valparaiso polc 2011 gopro HD

2011-03-08T17:52:00.000Z

Why I love the Welsh!

2011-03-01T11:47:00.002Z

Happy St. David's Day!

1. There are the most beautiful beaches in Wales. Barafundle in Pembrokeshire is consistently voted one of the top beaches in Europe but I could list ten more superb beaches in Wales and I am sure there are many more that I have not yet discovered. The Beaches in Wales tend to be beautiful, non commercial, great for families to play with good surfing opportunities.

2. The mountains are stunning. Almost where ever in the principality you go there are Mountains; North and South but even in the middle. Snowdon is the most famous but there are many superb days out in the wild of Wales. Cadair Idris is worth the petrol money every time, Bristly Ridge is the best scramble I have ever done and on Pen y Fan, I had the best snow conditions I have had on a mountain.

3. My beautiful wife. Next week Rebekah and I will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary and I enjoy each year with her more than the previous one. She is wonderful, my best friend and I am so grateful to God for her.

4. Great place for holidays. Since a very young child I have holidayed in Cymru and I have loved it ever since. And now my children have the same affection for the place as well.

5. Way they promote themselves. I have discovered that the Welsh have a fascination with being the biggest , oldest, best ... in Wales. I went to a museum in the Gower (or as my Welsh friend Tim insists I went to a museum in Gower - there should not be a "the" in front Gower) which claimed to be the oldest museum in Wales, the Tesco's in Swansea claims to the biggest in Wales. And on the radio recently a hospital spokesperson was talking about the snow but started with " we are the biggest in the whole of Wales". Enough said

6. Patriotic fervor. This especially applies to the National Sport of Knocking the English down to size. Even if the Welsh team are not playing the Welsh will celebrate if the English lose. You have to admire their tenacity.

7. The Millenium Stadium. The RFU managed to build a fantastic stadium that cost them maximum £100million whereas the English FA managed to build a fantastic stadium at 10 times the cost. Also because the English FA took so long to get the job done they had to use the Millenium Stadium for quite a few years.

8. The Alarm. I know at this point I run the risk of losing all credibility but I really like the band from Rhyl. Simply brilliant gigs full of passion and energy but never losing their Welsh-ness. The only Welsh language album I own is an Alarm album.

9. Talyllyn Railway. A narrow gauge railway that runs for 7 1/2 miles from the coast into the Mountains. Loved it as a child, worked on it as a teenager, love taking my children on it now. It is the perfect antidote to the busyness of life in London.

10. It is described as God's own country! This is according to my Father-in-law although if you listen to my friend Drew Land, Texas is God's own country. Perhaps we should check and see if they are both proper countries first!

Happy St. David's Day

What hope for Young people?

2011-02-24T15:48:00.005Z

Recently I met with 2 lads aged 19 and 22, both care leavers, both had been in prison on short sentences (6 months), both unemployed and both were homeless. Sadly, there was little we could do to offer hope to them, everything was against them; in their opinion there was no one able to help them out of the very deep hole that they found themselves in. As a housing manager and also a housing advice worker it is so frustrating knowing that we were unable to help them.

Add to this the latest overall unemployment figures showed an increase of 44K but when you look slightly closer there was a rise of 66K in the age group 16-24 which I think actually means that the 24+ age group had a slight improvement (?). Next consider that there are fewer 16-24 year olds in education than there has been for the last five years. Hold on a second!, this cannot be right, these totals should not both fall at the same time!! If numbers of young people working drops, the education figure should be rising! These figures tell me that more young people are dropping out completely and this spells significant trouble for our society. There must be more of an incentive to get work and education, the coalition is promising some investment in this area which, judging by the stats, may be too little, too late for many. Perhaps young people are right and there is no hope left so why bother with education.

So where is the hope? I have 4 children, I have to trust that the combination of the best parenting we can muster plus helping my children work hard at education and living good lives will help them overcome the challenges that they will face to enter the job market. But I have thought lots about those two young lads and wondered if they are just the start of many that will find themselves at the Jericho Road Project door asking for help. With the Youth service disappearing before our eyes, who will take up the slack? I do feel like the Church where I work plus many others, will be faced with the challenge of stepping up in areas that we have not previously considered, perhaps even Young Offenders!

King's Church Social Action Conference 2011

2011-02-23T15:07:00.005Z

I am hosting a Social Action Conference at King's Church Centre on Saturday 30th April. The details are included in the flyer. This is an opportunity for all those interested or currently involved to meet together, be reminded about the importance of what we do and hopefully release people into showing compassion. There will be opportunities to serve on the day please email jrp@kingscentre.org.uk if you can help.

If you have worked out what Big Society is, then this is probably it!

40 Days

2011-02-16T16:28:00.002Z

King's Church is almost at the end of the '40 days' that is leading up to the church becoming one church on 3 sites. The highlight for many has been the Wednesday meetings that have been powerful reminders that God is real and active. I have only had limited time in these meetings due to the Feast being on at the same time, but each time I have been in, it has been great! I think that as a church we are in a better state as a result of these 40 days, indeed we approach Sunday when we will be sent to the 3 sites with confidence that God is at work not just in bringing new people to us but also making us more like him and less reliant on ourselves.

And despite staying at the Catford site I definately regard that we are being sent. It is going to look very different after this Sunday.

Personally the highlight from the last 40 days is the preach Phil did on the 6th February on the Word of God. It had all the usual ingredients of Phil's preaching; humorous, relevent, accessable and full of truth. It was a fabulous reminder that the Christian life is a radical way to live. If you missed it click here for the podcast.

Well after these 40 days the church will definately not be the same! Bring it on!

Life in Catford - On the buses 2

2011-02-02T09:00:00.003Z

Well, I am still not allowed to cycle or drive. Hopefully on Thursday I will be given the green light to get back on a bike (and start driving), in the meantime I have borrowed a training bike to strengthen my knee. However to get about I am still using the buses a lot. So here a few more observations -

There are many languages are spoken in the world and most are spoken in the buses of Catford.

Sometimes I am the only white person on the bus. I suddenly become very conscious of the colour of my skin.

The bus is great way to meet old friends and make new ones!

One evening a man, who I did not know, sat next to me with his can of
Tennants super strong, he says "you'll have to put up with me for a few
stops."

I introduce myself, he tells me his name.

He tells me he is off to a friends for a bit of herbal happiness.

I tell him I'm off to King's Church.

He tells me that they run the Feast at King's Church.

I ask him if he has ever been - he says no but his friend goes. He tells me her life story. So then I told him that I run the Feast.

So as you can see I will miss my bus adventure, miss bumping into Bob the Big issue salesman, miss bumping into the man who crashed his car into a parked car near my house. Although I won't miss the over crowding or the times the bus driver will not pick you up because his bus is already overcrowded.

Instead I will return to cycling where I will try to go faster than the buses!!

31st January 2011!!

2011-01-31T17:10:00.003Z

It is 2 years ago that I broke my Anterior Crutiate ligament (ACL) in a football match.

It is 6 weeks since my operation to replace the ACL.

It is my Dad's 65th birthday.

It is the day my son went away for a week to a mountaineering centre in Mid Wales with School.

It is the day when we finally completed Rebekah's tax return.

Other than that it has been a lovely day off on a beautiful January day. We celebrated my Dad's 65th by taking him to Ikea, which is almost as big a treat for him as taking him to Wickes or Screwfix would have been but they don't provide Breakfast! The Allens know how to celebrate in style!

Rebekah and I then had a noodle meal to mark the completion of the tax return.

But an added treat to the day has been listening to Andy Kyte (son of Malcolm who works in the same office as I do) who has his debut single out next Monday called 'Your time has come'. Andy did a gig on a Sunday night at King's Church last year and I loved it! Let's get him back! Have a look at his website to find out more.

So it has been a very satisfying 31st January and I am going out later to meet a friend of mine from Bedford who is working in London today.

The Bridge Project

2011-01-23T12:12:00.002Z

Last Thursday I visited the new premises for the Bridge Project, a crisis pregnancy centre managed by a friend of mine Julie. The centre is very impressive and the team have decorated it very well and these new premises will allow the Bridge to continue to help many people who are in despair and unsure where to turn for advice and help. Please click here to see their excellent website.

I would like to see a centre like this in the Borough of Lewisham that offers impartial advice to many people who are faced with very difficult decisions. It is therefore great that we currently have 5 people from King's Church who are on the latest training course.

2011 - 10 years of the Jericho Road Project

2011-01-21T12:02:00.002Z

In 2011 the Jericho Road Project will be celebrating it's 10th year. And with recovery from my knee op slowing me down, I have valued some time recently to reflect on the many people that the project has been involved with over the last 10 years. The plan is for a Sunday celebration on the 2nd October and a lunchtime event probably on the 29th September that will promote all that we are involved in to the many professionals and volunteers that we work with. We will get to tell lots of the stories of people's lives.

This week I have spent time with 2 of our ex residents. One has recently celebrated being drug free for 2 years after well over 30 years in addiction. Another recently moved into his own flat after being a rough sleeper for 18 months, then staying in the winter shelter at 999 club who then referred him to the Jericho Road Project and then finally he secured a flat! Both stories are great to hear again and again, so we will tell these stories and many other later in the year at the celebrations. Don't miss the 2nd October, it will be a great Sunday!

Life in Catford - On the buses

2011-01-14T15:53:00.002Z

My knee operation took place on the 20th December and therefore I have been living a very different pace of life since then. I have been using the buses to get to work and hospital appointments so here is a blog on life in Catford - on the buses.

There are 5 different bus routes (the 124, 284, 181, 202 and the 160) that I have used this week to make the journey to or from work. At times the buses travel through Catford at walking pace and definitely slower than the bicycle but for someone like me who is now walking very slowly and not able to drive or cycle the buses are great!

It is a great place for meeting people, some I know, others that I just get talking to. People are very friendly, yes even in Catford. I like the social side of buses but I found this morning that it is a challenge to write on a notepad whilst on the buses. I had some thoughts that I wanted to write down but such is the constant movement and start/stop nature of buses it is almost impossible to read what I had written. And also for my recovering knee the buses are a challenge due to being thrown all over the place when standing up. At those moments I need my crutches mostly to show to others that I have a need to sit down.

Buses are usually busy which leaves me with one big mystery of the buses in Catford. There are very few adverts inside the buses and most of the spaces are taken with 'how to behave well on the buses'. However on the outside there are loads of adverts, on the back and sides of buses and at the bus stops. It is obvious advertisers don't like to advertise inside the buses. Perhaps this because advertisers don't travel inside the buses or maybe it's because the people inside are not regarded as important enough! Admittedly there are lot of students and people with freedom passes but when there so many people inside with nothing to do but look at the sights of Catford they may well take notice of adverts. Churches often advertise on the back of buses but I've never seen churches advertised inside a bus. Perhaps those who make these sorts of decisions should get inside a bus themselves. Travelling by bus is not cheap so why the discrepancy?

In a matter of weeks I will be back on my bike and my days of bus travel will be over. There is much I will miss but I will be financially much better off with the bike.

Grab a bargain!

2010-12-18T17:47:00.002Z

The Caring Christmas Trees team of volunteers, probably 20 people today have battled through the snow and ice to get every tree to the right place. Thank you Thank you!

There are a few trees left due to the bad weather as we didn't have much passing trade as the snow engulfed South East London. Hence there are still 11 trees up for grabs. If you would like a tree and can offer a reasonable amount you can pick up a bargain, we have 4ft, 1 5ft and a few 8ft's left. Must pick up from King's Church Centre ideally during the Carol services tomorrow! Cash only

Grab a bargain!

2010-12-18T17:46:00.001Z

Waiting Patiently

2010-12-13T20:49:00.002Z

My operation is now due to be next Monday. Which means that I will be resting over the Christmas period. This year there will be no long walks, runs or bike rides. Waiting for this operation to happen has required patience and could yet require further patience if the weather causes a further delay. I didn't feel cross with the hospital last week, I know it will happen at some point, hopefully next week.

Before next Monday the King's Carol services happen over the weekend. The carols services at King's are simply fabulous. Balancing traditional carols and readings with creative performance, dance and drama, it is a great Christmas event that works for both believers and unbelievers. I'm really looking forward to it!

Caring Christmas Trees requires patience. Customers don't buy trees when I most want them to. Sometimes the tree count ticks over quickly and at other times the count stubbornly refuses to change. Behind the scenes of CCT there are drivers and porters who deliver the trees to the sites and this year direct to customers homes. Last Friday I spent a couple of hours with this team organising the trees, bases and equipment and this requires great patience. But I love those mornings, the drivers and porters are really good guys and we work together to make Caring Christmas Trees a success.

I remember as a child in the days before Christmas being unable to contain my excitement and desperate for the day to arrive. But now I enjoy the days of preparation knowing that Christmas Day will arrive soon enough. This helps when I read the following bit of one of my favourite books in the bible, a section that I have grappled with for many years.

"For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently" Romans 8:24-25

For me, waiting for it patiently feels like an unsatisfactory way to wait. Surely it should read eagerly or with anticipation or with great desperation. However I have learnt that patiently communicates the total certainty that, for those who are in Christ, our hope is secure. It is not in doubt, it's not a 50/50 decision, not a will it happen or not type of waiting. It is as sure as Christmas Day will follow the 24th December. Patiently also communicates that God is above all, he is the architect of our lives. But patiently also means that we are constantly looking, eagerly watching and enjoying all of the journey towards the hope that is secure.

Lewisham Life

2010-12-07T20:47:00.003Z

Lewisham Life is a free magazine that goes to every house in the borough and in the December edition Caring Christmas Trees are included. This article has brought us a lot of sales so far. I know because I have instant feedback on the 'how did you find out about CCT?' question. As yet there have been no references to Mumsnet though! (see 25 November blog)

If you fancy seeing the article click here

I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah

2010-12-07T09:15:00.005Z

Well the operation didn't happen, but only just. I was in my hospital gown, psyched up for 6 weeks on crutches etc when I was told by the matron that there was no bed available for me after the operation and despite my desperate pleas that was that, no operation. Hence I am still standing, not trying to walk on crutches. I have no idea when the op will be, probably after Christmas. However 2 people were very happy with the operation not happening; my wife and Dave who is administrating the Caring Christmas trees. The Lord works in mysterious ways!

But in the meantime there are trees to sell and we will soon pass last years total (283). We are still aiming for a total of 400 sales. The photos above are from the Centre for Social Justice offices in Westminster where we dropped off a tree last Wednesday.

Well the England cricket team are standing tall after their innings victory. It's a great time to be an English cricket fan. Roll on the 3rd test and wait for more records to fall.

Getting my inner washer fixed!

2010-12-04T10:07:00.003Z

On Monday I go into hospital for a long awaited knee operation. I am having a reconstruction of my ACL (acruciate ligament) and repairs to my cartilage, apparently I have damage to the inner washer! The ACL damage was a football injury and the inner washer damage in my cartilage was done whilst fielding in a family cricket match. Here are some of my thoughts.

I cycled home yesterday and thought it may be many months before I am cycling again and that is a sad thought.

It is odd not knowing how much I will be able to do after the operation. I know I will be on crutches for at least 6 weeks but I don't know whether I am winding down for the Christmas holidays or if this a pause before the storm of Christmas activities.

I am really glad to be having the operation during the dark winter months and then hopefully I will be running, cycling and swimming in the summer. I would love to be able to go camping and mountain climbing in the Easter holidays.

In the meantime I will adapt to a different pattern of life at home and work. There is always much to learn and I will look forward to what God has for me during the weeks of recovery. There will be less rushing, I will need to invest more time in people and then delegate, I will try to read more and of course I will enjoy England's tour of Australia!

Record Breaking Cricket

2010-11-30T16:14:00.010Z

The time has come to respond to pressure from some readers of this blog who were unimpressed by my quick dismissal of England's Ashes chances after the 1st day of play. I was delighted to wake up on day 4 and 5 of the test and hear that England have batted their way back into the match, the series and I was told in every article the history books!

In fact cricket is one of those sports that thrives on records and statistics. It seems that every test has a new record in it. It is true that records keep dull tests interesting! For example Siddle takes a hat-trick against England, but it is also his birthday. So this story becomes that he is the first person every to take a hat-trick on their birthday! Obviously there are lots of records. Each ground, country, wicket and player have their own records. I want to know if there has ever been a test when there hasn't been a new record!

ohh, I may have strayed back into being the pessimistic cricket fan that got me a few comments from the last blog. But hey, to keep my cricket loving readers happy; I will be less hasty in despairing when the morning news is disappointing. I will stay positive, I promise!

The thing about the Ashes in Australia is that due to it taking place overnight you only get to hear the state of the match once a day. I miss the hour to hour, session to session swings of momentum that take place. Actually England are now well placed to do very well in the series. A quick plug for a great cricket blog written by my cousin Will, who never doubted England even after the 3rd day, called Not Another Cricket Blog

Come on England - I knew you could do it! You're the record breaking team!

Strange days.

2010-11-25T14:03:00.003Z

I joined Mumsnet yesterday! www.mumsnet.com, started 10 years ago and is, judging by others, an influential website. I joined because I wanted to advertise the Christmas Trees, especially in the Beckenham area. But as I joined I felt like an impostor, was I allowed to join a mum's website? It felt a bit too creepy so I opted for using my wife's details (with her permission of course). Time will tell if mumsnet delivers tree sales or not. But so far the new site is going well, it has the 2nd best sales total so far.

But following my entry into the world of mumsnet I went to an Internet safety talk at my son's school. I was again reminded of the strange world of Internet identity. In fact one of the recommendations for young people is that they don't tell anyone about themselves, using a different name and a distorted picture (a Simpson's character for example). So perhaps the way of the Internet is to pretend to be someone you are not.

Talking of someone that you are not - last night I met a man who is rough sleeping in Lewisham and he came to this country aged 9 from an African country. Mother was born in England, father born in Africa. He was taken into care from 12 onwards. But now at age 23 he is not sure if has a right to remain. This means no benefit and no option of housing except through friends. If this story is true it is another example of the strange ways that our society works. People can live here for 14 years, be educated, get care through social services, go to our prisons, have a National Insurance number BUT the person still doesn't know if he has a right to remain. How strange is that!

Thankfully the cricket (England versus Australia) is not at all strange. It has followed the same pattern as many previous tours. How many times do we go into the Ashes tour in Australia with over inflated optimism, only to wake after the first days play to hear that it the same old story - the Aussies are on top!

This evening I am going to a dinner at Lord's Cricket Ground - now it doesn't get stranger than that!

The Allen's new house - A Competitive Spirit

2010-11-21T13:56:00.003Z

I didn't expect to win the Romanian quiz last night so I was delighted to finish in 3rd place (thanks to the rest of the team, including my son). However, I often make new 'competitions' out of ordinary situations I find myself in. Sometimes these are in my mind but often they are out loud, so I obviously make them achievable.

I won the competition against the foxes. They have not returned to the shed, in fact I have not seen them in my garden at all. Perhaps someone took my advice and has hunted them down. Following the fox blog, someone suggested that urinating in the garden gets rid of unwanted foxes but, thankfully, I have not had to resort to these sorts of tactics. (Yet!)

I worked with someone who managed to make the aimless task of shredding paper into a competition. The aim was not to let the machine stop in between putting paper in. In order to achieve this, you had to keep a constant stream of paper entering the machine. Try it; it is not as easy as you might think.

But the new house has created some other competitions. The first is what being a Dad is all about. It goes like this: the children wake up and put on as many lights as they can, I then try to turn them off faster than they can turn them back on again. And the second is that the new house has windows that produce the largest amount of condensation I have ever seen. The game on this one is to see if I can wipe the windows before pools of water appear on the sills.

I am very competitive about the Christmas Tree count and constantly compare us against the other sites. If you want to play, you have to buy a tree first and then look at the Christmas Tree website. The rules against Edinburgh are that we need to reach 10% of their total.

Danny MacAskill - "Way Back Home" - NEW street trials riding short film

2010-11-18T23:36:00.000Z

Stunning bike stunts

2010-11-18T14:06:00.003Z

Before I return to the "Changes to the Welfare system" (it takes me a long time) here is a great clip to enjoy which includes both stunning bike stunts and wonderful Scottish scenery.

Although how did they manage to film with such good weather? Amazing the stunts that can pulled off.

Also as I was cycling home, weaving through the traffic, rain falling, people getting in the way I imagined doing a few stunts to speed up the process of getting home...

Changes to the Welfare System part II

2010-11-16T21:40:00.005Z

The plan is for the universal credit to replace all the current out-of-work benefits and in-work support. Well let me focus on just one aspect of this, the intention to pay this new benefit on a monthly basis. WOW where do I start. I can only start with some negative comments before I try and find something positive about this idea. Here goes.

1. The amount of money people will have in one go. Currently JSA pays £128 per fortnight so a monthly payment at the same rate that means £277 each month. Imagine the damage that can be caused with that much money! Please let's have some common sense and don't do this.

2. The normal budgeting plan of the people I work with is spend all their "pay" within a quick a time as possible. Spend! Spend it so fast that by the end of the day it has all gone. On a fortnightly payment basis there is then only 13 days to endure before the same process happens again.

3. It is claimed that it will bring those on benefit in line with regular payment method of once a month. Most research shows that we are borrowing far more money than we should. There is nothing special about being paid monthly, it doesn't make people sensible about money! If benefit is paid monthly there will be more borrowing which usually causes more arguments (if 'friends' are involved or more room for loan sharks to charge hugely inflated interest levels.)

4. The way that so many find out there is a problem with their claim is when their money does not appear in their account. Once a month means it will be harder to resolve problems that arise. Once every 14 days know the claim is still a live claim, with the changes once every 28/30/31 days a person will find out if there is a problem.

5. Another softener to this idea is to introduce budgeting help. Well there is a clever idea, why hasn't someone thought of that before! Seriously, most people on benefits need help with budgeting and I along with many others have tried to help. If the rest of a persons life is chaotic budgeting help is just a small part of the solution. Ian Duncan Smith is aware of this so I hope that he has enough influence to prevent the government pretending that a simple answer of budgeting advice alone will solve the problems for people on benefit.

And now for some positives

1. Good for loan sharks

2. I presume there are cost savings although with everything being electronic controlled I'm not sure of the extent of the savings.

- Well I'm totally out of positives. Any ideas?

My memory is not what it used to be. Also, my memory is not what it used to be.

2010-11-15T14:53:00.007Z

This morning I forgot to attend a meeting. Yes, it was in my diary, I just did not remember. But that is nothing compared to what happened yesterday.

I was organising the Feast helpers' meal which followed the morning meetings at King's and someone (obviously an irresponsible person!) had left their car parked in the school car park. [This is where people who have been to either of the 2 morning meetings are meant to park their cars.] So at 1.30pm the car park helpers wanted to leave and because no-one owned up to owning the car they needed to lock the car in overnight. So I announced to the Feast helpers meeting (probably 3 times), "If anyone has a blue Corsa in the car park you must move it, it is going to be locked in!"

I was enjoying my roast dinner when half way through Rebekah turned to me and said, "It's your blue Corsa in the car park!" And, indeed, it was I who was the driver of the blue Corsa. The Feast team thought this was brilliant and probably remember nothing else from the lunchtime training.

The car belongs to my parents who were staying for the weekend and I had used it to get to King's in the morning.

My memory is not what it used to be.

Also, my memory is not what it used to be.

Changes to the Welfare System part I

2010-11-14T07:01:00.004Z

The news has been dominated by changes to the welfare system. I have so many thoughts I shall have to post a number of blogs.

Before I start I like Ian Duncan Smith. I spoke to him once after he had given a speech that included him describing that he was disillusioned with the effect politician can have, he realised that most politicians live in the Westminster 'glass bubble' and therefore were unable to really change the social injustices in our society. I asked him when did he come to this conclusion expecting him to answer "after I had been party leader" he actually said "before he became party leader". He realised what many of us know, that the hundreds of communities of people offering local help were more effective at really changing lives.

So here is my responses so far to the coalition's welfare changes.

1. I do not get the Big Society concept. I know that it refers to the thousands of smaller charities and community groups doing fantastic work. But whilst during the May election, it provided profile for some groups I am at a loss to know how the coalition is meant to develop 'big society', the obvious answer is resourcing big society, financially and people, but there has been no mention of these things and this is not what i would expect from a conservative government. So whilst promoting big society as the answer to significant public sector job cuts sounds like economic sense to some - why pay someone when volunteers will do it for free - the reality is that big society is never promoted from national profile, it is about local people feeling compassion and responsibility for others. Therefore I don't think government is able to promote the concept. I lead a charity that would be under the 'big society' umbrella and it makes no difference to us. We are still the same, needing good people to give much (time, energy and resources) and striving for financial stability.

2. The Child Benefit change announced about a month ago made a great deal of sense. I remember many years ago Phillipa Stroud, who now works in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) with IDS, explaining how surprised she was that child benefit was available to all. I do not understand why the previous government had not made a similar change to this benefit.

So whilst this change makes sense I fear that it has been implemented in a rushed way like most of the "austerity cuts" and welfare benefit changes . And then when you add the media scrutiny it means that once an announcement is made politicians cannot change their minds, they would fear for their jobs. This is daft because surely public consultation and wisdom in reflection brings a positive balance to planned changes. In this case it is the odd cut off point. If one person in a household is earning over £44K there is no benefit but if 2 earners earn £40K each (i.e. £80K) the household will still get the benefit.

Perhaps the pensioners winter fuel payment should be the next to be linked to need!

More to follow.

Carrying Christmas Trees

2010-11-09T20:44:00.003Z

The Feast training session happens this Sunday after the 11.30 meeting. This involves a Roast dinner, yes it will be a fabulous dinner followed by the training. We will discuss the delights and challenges of the Feast. There will be opportunity for feedback and ideas for the future. Hopefully the afternoon will be inspiring and fun! We will finish at 3.30pm

We will mention Christmas Trees which now has sales in double figures for SE London, see www.caringchristmastrees.com or as my youngest child called it Carrying Christmas Trees. In fact you can carry Christmas Trees by becoming a volunteer, which means that you either help set up sites or be there at the distribution sites. This is a really fun role and the places will go very quickly so book in today. Please volunteer online at the volunteering page of www.caringchristmastrees.com

And also we will mention that Barclays Bank are going to put some money into the Feast Christmas party. Which is great! Some staff from the bank are coming to King's to run a money skills session on Wednesday 24th 2.00pm-5.00pm which will be a combination of how to training exercises such as budgeting and shopping plus planning how the money will be spent at the Christmas Party. If you would like to be involved in spending Barclays money helping homeless people have a fab Christmas Party please let us know. You can come along to the skills training session or send me an email with your best ideas.

Shoes off if you love the Villa!

2010-11-07T22:06:00.002Z

I have followed the Villa for many years (I am typing this with a brummie accent) and yesterday I had a birthday treat by getting to see the boys play against Fulham. Craven cottage is a great ground to watch football although early in the 1st half when the ball was hoofed out of the ground by a Fulham defender it became clear that there was only one ball at Craven Cottage. Times are hard even in the West of London. It felt like a few minutes later that someone eventually managed to get the only ball back.

But the most surprising moment of the afternoon, apart from Fulham having a shot in the second half, was when I turned to see the massive Villa support who stood and sang throughout all waving their shoes in the air. This is totally true, hence the "shoes off if you love the Villa" chant. Apart from getting cold feet, football stadiums have come a long way that anyone would brave removing a shoe for fear of standing in all the rubbish fans leave behind. I never saw anyone on the Holte End in the 80's wave their shoe in the air. It was a spectacle with plenty of cameras being used to record it. Just wait for Sepp Blater and FIFA to find some way of banning this sort of behaviour.

Back to the game, 1-0 up at half time - super Marc Albrighton! Villa's dominant second half display lulled us into false euphoria that this was the easiest 3 points until the 94th minute Fulham scored, bubble burst. It felt like a defeat! Gutting, but I'd reconnected with all the passion of being a football fan. Even if I didn't take my shoes off.

I still feel young!

2010-11-04T15:07:00.003Z

Today is my 38th birthday. My children think I am very old and those I met at a gathering of the Newfrontiers London Church Leaders thought I was still very young!

I feel young, in fact when I am talking to anyone above the age of roughly 18 I can think that I am the same age as them. Ridiculous obviously but it is the way I think. In fact I find it a shock when I find out afterwards that I am 10, 15 years older than someone I met. And I think many other men do the same thing however I don't think women tend to do the same.

Yesterday I spoke with someone who was the same age as me. He was a Romanian man who was angry. He came to England in 1996 and twice he was caught and sent back to Romania but his third time he was successful. He got into England by climbing under a train getting onto a metal bar. I asked how do you stay on when the train is travelling at high speeds. The answer - He tied himself to the metal bar! He has a tough life, no benefit, limited work and rejection because he is Romanian and no right to remain. What a way to live and then 5 years ago his wife died. No wonder he was angry!

Talking of age and the Feast - it is always a great place to go to feel good for your age because so many people who come to the Feast have abused their bodies and sadly have aged much faster than they should. Hence people are really shocked that I have 4 children and (in their words) look so young. But they are even more shocked when I say I had all 4 children with the same woman!

I am looking forward to being 40 - I often think about what to do to celebrate that milestone. Perhaps a big mountain adventure in Scotland or to have a big joint 40th Birthday Party with Rebekah.

But I am looking forward to the next year, which I am sure will have plenty of adventures of its own!

Heroes and Villains

2010-11-01T14:38:00.004Z

Yesterday I was a hero. With my 2 youngest children we built a fabulous piece of art. As we began the masterpiece my youngest said "this is my best day ever!!" and followed it by announcing that I was the "best Dad she had ever had" Daughter no.3 was very quick to remind her that I was the only Dad she has got. [Earthly at least]

As I was enjoying the praise, I got thinking about Heroes and Villains, knowing that it wouldn't take long before my daughters thought I wasn't so great. In fact this afternoon, about 24 hours from my moment of being the hero, one of my daughters told me,
"I wish Mummy was here."
"Why is that?" I asked
"Because she knows how to look after us properly!"

So I went from Hero to Villain in 24 hours

I got thinking about my heroes this year. The surgeon who removed the cancerous lump from Rebekah. This was best summed up by son who when he met the surgeon thanked him for saving his Mums life. Other heroes would be those who contributed to us moving house especially those who moved us! Or friends from our campsite who helped us take down our tent after I had damaged my knee and couldn't walk without crutches.

But these are heroic acts and for a passing moment these people are heroes, yet the only one who stands the test of time to be my true hero is Jesus. His heroic acts have daily impact and have no limit, no restrictions. He is the one who who is worthy of my full praise. He will always be my Hero.

Now I guess with a title like this, the more sports minded of you may be thinking I would be talking about the mighty Aston Villa who despite the 0-0 result against the Blues yesterday are still the best team in ... well definitely North Birmingham!

However the game was another reminder that Footballers are not genuine heroes and never will be!

The Allen's new house - fox hunting in the city!

2010-10-30T06:31:00.004+01:00

I have had a couple of days off this week which has given me the chance to familiarise myself with my new house - actually our rented new house, which is the wonderful opportunity given by a friend of ours to live in his lovely house for many years. We moved in about a month ago. During this week we have had lots of visitors to stay, so far 6 adults and 10 children - although not all at the same time! Although we did have at least 22 children at the same time last Saturday afternoon as our oldest 2 children had a house warming party. It was the noisiest thing that will ever happen in this house!

But one mystery I had to solve this week was how fresh animal poop was appearing in the shed at the bottom of the garden. At least I really hoped it was animal!

So yesterday I took everything out and found the hole at the back of the shed where the foxes were entering what they obviously considered to be their toilet! Thankfully there is enough wood inside the shed to build another shed and so with my limited DIY skills even I was able to stop the animal invasion. I was very pleased with my efforts or at least I will be if I don't walk into the shed today and smell the foul odour of more fox poop.

Having said that I will probably experience the foul smell on someones shoe today. The foxes use our front door step as their other toilet as i found out in the dark yesterday morning, well actually I found out much later in the morning but when I trod in it, it was still dark!

Which all proves that the fox needs a natural predator and I have come to conclusion that the humans need to show some backbone and resist these evil creatures.

Obviously cute baby foxes tumbling and playing in the garden are exempt from the slaughter!

"more of a home"

2010-10-27T09:00:00.003+01:00

The Wednesday following our recent flat cleaning, the father stood up at the Feast and said Thank you for the help clearing his flat.

"My flat used to be a squat, now you have made it more of a home!"

There is more to be done and I am planning a return visit to keep some momentum with the family. If you would like to join a flat clearing session, please let me know.

Lionhearts first ever league game

2010-10-26T12:40:00.002+01:00

This season I am coaching the Lewisham Lionhearts under 14s team. This is the first time Lionhearts have had an under 14s team hence the 1st ever league game. I had 20 players there on Saturday, which if you have ever coached football presents a huge challenge. They only had 10 players so we loaned them 2 players and therefore everyone got on the pitch for at least a few minutes. We held our own for 3/4 of the game until we faded, both physically and mentally. I was very impressed by our players but the players will be more aware now of the need to train, both skills and fitness. As a coach it was demanding to negotiate so many player with all their own expectations. But it was still great fun, I love it. By the way the end result was 10-2. Please say it quickly and quietly!

The Feast Video

2010-10-22T09:26:00.002+01:00

The video is now on You tube - I hope you enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0E5G1ApYH0

The video will also be on the Caring Christmas Trees website. Have a look, show your friends.
Caring Christmas Trees website.

My highlights are the noise when we open the doors, Julie's talk, Kenny's dancing and Delores "Wotcha want to know?", Deano's list of what you can get from the Feast and Yvonne's worship. My lowlight is the voice over, I'll get someone different next time!

Enjoy!

Caring Christmas Trees website is live!

2010-10-21T09:08:00.003+01:00

Yes you read it correctly - we are selling Christmas Trees in October. But as I write this there is a fab frost on the rooftops and lots of ice in my garden. It makes me feel Christmassy!

Please go to www.caringchristmastrees.com for all the information. Buy your Christmas tree online, you can do it today! Via the website you can tell your friends or volunteer to help distribute Trees. Prices for 4ft, 5ft and 6ft are the same as last year! There is an increase in the 7ft and 8ft trees.

There are a number of new features for SE London 2010!

1. We have a new site in beckenham!
2. We are offering delivery for customers, at a very competitive rate of £5.95 for individual customers.
3. We are also selling business trees to schools, churches and offices. These are being distributed on the 29th, 30th Nov and 1st Dec! The prices include delivery 4ft £38, 5ft £43, 6ft £48, 7ft £57 and 8ft £68
4. We are selling Nordman's (the UK's favourite Christmas Tree) rather than Fraser Firs. Frasers only grow at higher altitude so are not suited to Southern England where we are getting our trees from.
5. We are getting trees supplied from an award winning tree supplier with trees grown in Kent and Surrey rather than Scotland. Therefore we are reducing the distance the trees are transported.

Job Vacancies at the Passage

2010-10-21T09:06:00.000+01:00

Housing Justice is pleased to advertise these two jobs based at The Passage, for projects relating to our work:

The Passage is recruiting for two new roles: Faith Groups Coordinator and a Street Outreach Worker

The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) recognises the positive role Faith based organisations play in preventing and tackling homelessness and believes more could be done to further effective partnership working between Faith group providers and local authorities in this work. CLG, working in conjunction with Southwark Council, have therefore commissioned The Passage (a faith based provider of day and residential services to homeless people) to explore what positive steps could be taken towards this aim and have funding for one year for the two posts below.

A Faith Groups Coordinator (circa £40,000) – Fixed Term for 1 year
This post will work with statutory and voluntary Faith based groups, in particular day centres, to produce an action plan to assist greater partnership working in preventing and tackling homelessness, and also assist Housing Justice with their Winter Shelter programme and link in with the Olympics More than Gold initiative.
Candidates should have a proven track record of working at a strategic level with Faith based and statutory agencies in the delivery of day centre and accommodation provision for homeless people, experience and knowledge of ensuring the needs of homeless people are prioritised in the planning of events such as the Olympics, and experience of producing good practice guidelines ensuring the continuation and long term sustainability of initiatives at a grass root level.

A Street Outreach Worker (circa £25,000) – Fixed term for 1 year
This post will seek to support the work Housing Justice and Crisis are carrying out in further engaging street soup run providers to examine practical ways of working in partnership to best meet the needs of rough sleepers, building on recommendations made by the LSE in their independent research carried out into this area of work.
Candidates should have a proven track record of working with both voluntary Faith based and statutory agencies in providing street outreach services to homeless people, excellent communication and organisational skills, a willingness to work unsociable hours (including weekends) and be able to demonstrate a genuine solution focused approach to tasks.

Both posts will have a pan-London focus and potential candidates should email their CVs and cover letter to recruitment@passage.org.uk by 12 noon on the Wednesday 27th October 2010 outlining how they have the relevant skills and experience required for these posts.
Interviews will be held on the 3rd November 2010.

This is my church as well!

2010-10-15T16:45:00.003+01:00

One angry man who had shouted very rudely was escorted out of the meeting by Deano, one of our regulars. Neither have ever been to any meeting at King's apart from the Feast. Deano dresses him down (in his very gruff voice) "don't you ever come in here and speak like that, don't you ever come into my church and shout at them!"

The angry man replied, "This is my church as well"

And I laughed!

2010-10-14T15:10:00.002+01:00

Well the blog is back, with a fresh look and with a wider view!

There will still be much about the Jericho Road Project but it will include much more as well. I will still post on Life in Catford, Christmas Trees and include job opportunities. But there might be more of my reflections on other issues such as news, sport, music, triathlon.

Well what has happened since the last blog?

I am due to have a knee operation on the 15th November - no excuse not to blog after that as I will be on crutches for weeks. Despite my knee being weak I am trying to get out on the bike as often as I can - I am limited in my walking and running is not an option - because I can and I guess it's strengthening the knee before the op.

Also Caring Christmas Trees website has gone live - www.caringchristmastrees.com please get ready to buy a tree, tell your friends and consider volunteering on one of the distribution days.

I moved house, there's enough material for a seperate blog entry there!

Plenty of stories of the Feast - we have even produced a short video and when I master the technology I will post it on the blog. Whilst I can't bear my voice on the clip there are some great bits, Kenny's dancing, Delores asking "What do you want to know?" and Deano's passionate talk.

This week we helped a family from the Feast to begin to clear their flat - perhaps a seperate blog entry story.

The blog is back!

CSJ Inner City Challenge

2010-07-13T11:09:00.002+01:00

The following is taken directly from the CSJ monthly email.

CSJ staff take part in Inner City Challenges
Two members of CSJ staff took up Inner City Challenges last month. Kirsty Turnbull, Office Administrator, and Chris Perfect, Policy Researcher, both spent two days volunteering at exceptional grassroots poverty fighting organisations.
Kirsty Turnbull visited the Jericho Road Project in Catford, SE London, to work with a team dedicated to Lewisham's homeless. She volunteered in the outreach dinner, joining the charity's Director, Simon Allen, on a street walk to meet the homeless, and participated in the charity's group activities. "It was amazing," said Kirsty, "I'm now looking into charities I can volunteer at closer to home. The team and clients at the Jericho Road Project were inspirational."

Conference in Brighton

2010-07-10T12:07:00.000+01:00

David Stroud spoke at this week's conference on "how are we doing in caring for the poor?". Here is a copy of the note found on Adrian Warnock's blog. Worth a read!

Why should you care?

2010-07-09T11:59:00.002+01:00

I have written this for my guest spot on Steve Tibberts blog but thought I would post it here first.

You don’t expect me to stop and look after someone in need. I like other people to do the stuff, just don’t ask me. I find that needy people drain me of energy. I don’t have the patience.

Does this describe how you feel sometimes?

When was the last time you stopped and listened to someone? I mean ‘listened to their story’.

Jesus told a story about inviting someone to spend time with you knowing that they cannot repay you. This was not conditional love – i.e. if you can pay me back I will offer you help. But it is open handed expressions of care that Jesus encourages us to do. Jesus says if they invite you back you will be repaid. BUT if you reach out to the Poor, crippled, lame and blind you will be BLESSED.

No.1 Get to know people. The widow on your street, the teenager who doesn’t fit in at school or church, the mother tearing her hair out in despair at her struggle to parent, the addict who is fixated on the next bit of gear. I spoke with a homeless girl last week who had suffered a mental health breakdown whose story was so sad or the rough sleeper who has been given a 6 month suspension on his personal benefits. There is often not an easy answer but we can always listen to people’s story.

No.2 Be willing to lose your ‘self’– you may miss your favourite TV programme or feel out of your depth, have your own faith questioned – Can God really help this person? Walk in Faith, pray for the person, practically help them.

The Blessing maybe a delayed blessing (it may be immediate!) but God is always true to his word – in the end, in the Kingdom economy – it is totally worth helping those in need.

Do you want to be repaid or BLESSED?

Significant moments

2010-07-02T14:36:00.002+01:00

There are significant moments that define a week, a month or even a year. Today was a defining moment that I may well look back on in years to come. We have submitted revised rent levels to residents and to the Housing Benefit department. The financial change may well mean that we are not losing money each year and will hopefully give us the springboard for future ministry development. We are only scratching the surface of the needs of the community around us. Come on let's take enemy ground - every day. Today it is for the 35 year old women who is sleeping rough in Woolwich but waiting for a place in our housing project. She is the victim of injustice but in Jesus Christ, justice is restored.

Bikeathon update
The number of riders has risen to 16 and the current total of supporters is 321 and rising. This is a great achievement, I wonder if we will reach 500 supporters??

North Kent Bikeathon

2010-06-29T21:44:00.003+01:00

Today Sean (who is also doing the Bikeathon) and I checked out the route and especially the altitude graph. Now some of you may think that Southern England is flat well let me tell you that the North Downs definitely go UP and DOWN. Some of the 14-16 (yes this is the Jericho Road Project so numbers can go Up and Down right up to Sunday morning) cyclists will not know what has hit them when they face the serious hills of North Kent. If you have not yet signed up to the £1 challenge it is not too late - already 243 people have given their support!

Life in Catford 4

2010-06-20T16:11:00.001+01:00

Last Friday I went to visit one of our houses in Murillo Road and it happened to be about 4 O'clock which I discovered is when the post school trouble is at its most visible. I passed Catford where there was a large police presence and a reasonable large crowd with mostly school children. I then travelled onto Lewisham where there was similar scene outside McDonalds only larger and had a more sinister feel to it, the police horse was in the middle of a large crowd. It felt like trouble at a Festival or after a football match when you can almost smell the tension in the air. Because of this the buses were all backed up and unable to move. Once again I was grateful for being on the bike and cycling free of the trouble.

The £1 challenge

2010-06-18T16:01:00.002+01:00

On the 4th July I am taking a group of residents, ex residents and friends of the Project to take part in the North kent Bikeathon organised by the Catford Rotary Club. At the moment it could be anything between 10-13 although I am still recruiting! So if you want to get involved please let me know. The distance is 15 or 30 miles. We are raising funds for the leukaemia research and the Feast. But because I dislike sponsorship I am taking the pain out of sponsorship and limiting people to £1 only. The challenge is to see how many people will support us with their £1 rather than how much money can we raise. Please join the £1 challenge!

1000

2010-06-15T15:15:00.000+01:00

Yes we have reached the milestone of 1000 different people who have been to the Feast. It was probably a man called Patrick. We estimate that over the last 8 years we have served 18500 meals. It is a great achievement. Here's to the next 1000 people!

Life in Catford 3

2010-06-13T15:00:00.000+01:00

As a friend, who had lived in some of the major cities of the world, said Catford has the most police and ambulance sirens. Day and night the emergency services are working flat out. Yesterday this was what I saw on the way into work the morning traffic was stopped as a man was stretched away from what looked like being knocked down by a bus. Obviously the slighest hold up means that whole traffic system is messed up. Obviously accompanied by numerous sirens in the area.

I love my bike, it is the only way to really get about in South east London!

On the way home the centre of Catford is a scene of the police arresting a number of men outside the costcutter, which is a very common place for being arrested. So the lesson is if you are committing crime don't do it outside the costcutter! By the time I had travelled home (5-10 minutes) there was another police incident, where a car had been stopped.

Life in Catford ... it's noisy!

Go and learn

2010-06-11T14:52:00.004+01:00

I am looking forward to preaching at Downham on Sunday morning - 10.30 start if you are interested in coming. I am speaking on Go and learn what is means to show Mercy - Matthew 9:9-13. It will be an opportunity to retell the story of the project, which always excites me but also an opportunity to consider the enormous Kingdom potential that we have in South East London. Caring for the neediest is a sure fire way to get to God's heart and keep the church on the front foot for reaching a broken and lost society.

What makes the Feast so special?

2010-05-19T14:13:00.002+01:00

How to explain the Feast - it is best said by those who come each week.

George likes “Ruth’s cooking, the room, the tablecloths and the fact that is not too rushed – when he is here he gets time to sit and relax.”

Ken said “Wonderful – If it weren’t for the church I would be dead!”

Peter said “the Feast makes you feel full up physically and spiritually.”

Rodney said “1st Class, warm welcome, hospitality, good friendship. Virtually trouble free. Mixed community. The Good news is spoken here.”

Feast running total

2010-04-23T15:15:00.003+01:00

The Feast total now stands at 995 so we are very close to the 1000th person now. Probably in 2 weeks time.

Numbers at the Feast

2010-04-01T09:34:00.002+01:00

Last night was a smaller Feast but there were 6 new people. This means that we have now reached 990 people who have been to the Feast since it started. So in the next few weeks we will reach the 1000.

Life in Catford 2 - Praying Man

2010-03-26T15:29:00.004Z

Recently I walked out of the Housing Benefit office in Catford to hear the shouts of a man standing by the bus stops. I have never seen him before. He was shouting at people walking by, at the cars and especially a little old lady waiting patiently for her bus. As you may expect the language was unpleasant and often sexual in it's content. As I have come to expect no one does anything! People pass on by as if this is normal everyday behaviour - Fear results in silence.
I decide that I will talk to him. I am always friendly and confident when I talk to people like this. He immediately backs away and shouts very loudly,"you're a praying man, why do you pray to God" - at this point I'm thinking why does mental instability and openess to the spirit go so close -
[14 years ago on a train a man was running up and down the train throwing all the rubbish out of the windows and he was shouting loudly of course. When I spoke to him and introduce myself he replied, "you're not going to convert me"]
Somehow this abusive man in Catford was acting 'prophetically', that was until he called me and everyone else "a terrorist". At that point he walks across the road and began shouting at a new bunch of 'pray-ers and terrorists'

Milestone

2010-03-18T09:27:00.002Z

At the Feast I keep a record of 'new people' and have been recording this since the Feast started in January 2002. The list of different people who have been has now reached 983, so in about 4 or 5 weeks we will reach 1000. I am planning a press release and we have started collecting comments about the Feast, which I will publish on the blog over the next few weeks.

Visit to the Bridge Project in Birmingham

2010-03-17T09:23:00.004Z

Yesterday I went back to my 'home' city Birmingham and visited the wonderful Bridge Project. This is a 15 bed unit that has an excellent drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme. I was particularly interested in how it worked because it is only staffed Monday to Friday 8-5. Responsibility is given to the residents for locking up, responding to problems that happen out of the staff time. Random drug and alcohol testing happens 24/7 though. Please see their website for much more. I found that the Bridge is an excellently run project that is fuelled by faith. If we manage to get to opening a rehab I would definitely operate it on a non 24 hour staff basis.

Life in Catford 1

2010-03-10T09:15:00.003Z

As I cycled to Lewisham yesterday, I realised that I miss being around the streets of Catford. I used to go out every week but recently I have been out far less. I just get to see people that I see nowhere else! Yesterday, for example, after passing a fight between 3 men (there was already a group of people shouting at them so this time I carried on cycling) I met a guy who I haven't seen in over a year, sadly he was yellow, his head and his eyes. (almost Simpson cartoon coloured - when I told my children they laughed that the Simpson's are alcoholics!) Seeing this guy was a sad sight but I was so pleased to see him again. My guess is that there is little hope for his life but I do know that he knows Jesus and therefore he has hope eternal!

Why we have houses for the homeless!

2010-02-24T14:10:00.002Z

Yesterday I was reminded of how important it is that we have houses for homeless people. We took in a new resident who was in such need of a safe place to stay and it was a delight that we were able to offer this person a room and support. Obviously I can't give many details but it reminded me of the importance of the housing project. It make a difference for people who are homeless or rough sleeping.

JRP Training

2010-02-23T16:22:00.002Z

This Sunday we have an important meeting. There is a meal (rumour has it that it is a Roast) followed by a talk outlining the history of the project, where we are currently and also where we are going in the future. I would love everyone who has been involved past and present to be there as well as those who would like to be involved. I am hoping it will be fun and inspiring. You need to tell Teresa that you would like a place. - (Dave Barlow says write plaice and then NO chips)
Hope to see you on Sunday at 1.30pm at King's Church.

Hampers for those on benefits

2010-02-03T10:56:00.002Z

I know of a number of churches who at Christmas provide hampers for those on benefits. I find it such a great idea. The newfrontiers church in Hillingdon have got involved with Jesus House as they did just this. I came across a fascinating clip from the politics show on Matt Hosier blog (a superb blog by the way!) which is entitled Crazy World. Have a look!

Everything Conference

2010-02-03T10:52:00.002Z

You may have noticed that I have not been advertising the caring for the poor conference this year - that is because it is not happening and has left me to concentrate on other things.
A conference that is running this year is Everything and it is really worth having a look at the fab website for all the information.

Feast Statistics

2010-01-22T11:01:00.005Z

Here are the latest statistics for the Feast. This follows a really busy evening on Wednesday.

Total number of people who have been to the Feast since it started in January 2002 - 961

Total who have been to King's for a Sunday service - 139 (14.46%)

Total number who have stayed in the housing project - 59.

So we are closing in on the 1000th different person to attend the Feast. Obviously it is about individuals and we are blessed with individuals - this week 'Jeff the Ref' proved that everyone is uniquely made!

London Leaders

2010-01-15T16:24:00.002Z

I spoke at the gathering of Leaders from the newfrontiers churches in London about the call of scripture to care for the poor. Caring for the poor is far more than a short lived campaign we must build churches with visionary leadership and communities that have caring for poor in it's DNA. Churches that are prepared for the issues facing our societies.

I suggested 5 ways that leaders can respond.
1. Ask God to give you a heart for the poor. When was the last time you stopped and had a cup of tea with someone who is obviously in need?
2.Visit places where the poor are being cared for. Get inspired!
3. Get your hands dirty - make cups of tea at a local drop in.
4. Preach about it - preferable after the first 3 points.
5. Be ambitious, there are so many opportunities in this city. Light a beacon and people will find you.

If we are going to change our nation it must include the poor and working class. This means we must pay the cost, reach out and communicate the gospel of Christ in a way that ALL people can understand.