Duncan Forbes has released another video about discipleship and using the Urban Catechism. Duncan defines discipleship: Discipleship is God’s image bearers spreading God’s rule broadly and deeply as they hear and speak God’s truth and become more like God’s image, Christ. Enjoy the video.
Harmony and Unity
Why do teenagers argue? Power A lack of power in their own lives makes it important for a teenager to grab it in social interaction. It can lead to a teen being part of a group only if things happen as they want them to happen. If it doesn’t happen as they want then leads […]
Bamboo Electric Bike
500watt and 13ah battery. This build was fun and is almost all new parts. But the bit I liked the best is that it is our first bamboo bike build. I think the frame is beautiful and will be good fun riding it off-road. Bamboo has a Higher Specific Compressive Strength (capacity to carry loads) […]
Trike Steering
The steering on the above trike has a major problem. If you look at the handlebars and then follow the line of steering down, it is set around 12″ behind the wheels and 18″ behind the centre line of both wheels. This causes the bike to tip on full lock and if braking is applied […]
CreationFest 2022
29 July – 1 August 2022Royal Cornwall Events Centre, Wadebridge Celebrating the good news of the God who loves us. CreationFest 2022 Gather in the joy of community for four days of music, talks, art, skate, and boundless adventure as we spend time with Jesus and discover what it means to live a beautifully wild […]
Pictures Changing Perspective
The main goal of the Pictures Changing Perspectives project is to contribute to the personal development of 28 young peopleaged 17-30 and 4 team leaders without age restrictions from 4 European countries: France, Poland, Portugal, and the UnitedKingdom. Youth exchanges allow participants to gain new knowledge and skills that they will use in their future […]
Real Growth: A new way to assess church growth
How can you measure church growth? Based on doctoral research on the Image of God and Council Estate discipleship, Duncan Forbes gives a new paradigm for viewing growth in our churches. This is session 1 of the Reaching The Unreached 2017 conference. For more info on RTU and reaching Council Estates, please go to http://urbanministries.org.uk/rtu.html […]
Jack and the Beanstalk
Once upon a time, there lived a widow woman and her son, Jack, on their small farm in the country. Every day, Jack would help his mother with the chores – chopping the wood, weeding the garden and milking the cow. But despite all their hard work, Jack and his mother were very poor with […]
Why does he call himself Father
One of the names God has chosen for himself is Father. Why would he do that, when so many fathers abuse and cause problems for their children and their wives. And I understand. As a father myself I make mistakes. I say the wrong thing or don’t do the right things. I wish I could […]
Inspirational Questions for Young People
Where do fly’s go when it rains? What happened to the first 6 ups? Why is your index finger the same size as your nostrils? Why is the word dictionary in the dictionary? Why is it that night falls but day breaks? Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin? […]
Using Query Loop
Thanks for your amazing help.
Relationship First
Programmes are tools we use to help draw people to God. But tools will never lead people to Christ. People lead people to Christ. People become Christians because of relationships. So what do we do to help people become disciples of Jesus. Make friends Tell friends about Jesus (might need a tool for this bit). […]
Why we should all say Grace
God in our waking, God in our speaking,God in our cooking, God in our eating,God in our playing, God in our digesting,God in our working, God in our Resting. When many are hungry, may we eat with humble hearts;When many are lonely, may we share with joyful hearts. A commonly found prayer: source Unknown I […]
Rebel or Radical
Are you…. Rebel refuse allegiance to and oppose by force to resist or defy an authority to feel or express strong unwillingness or repugnance Radical arising from or going to a root or source departing markedly from the usual or customary, extreme or drastic relating to or advocating fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, […]
In a bid for change
In a bid for change, we have to take off our coats, be prepared to lose our comfort and security, our jobs and positions of prestige … a struggle without casualties is no struggle. Steve Biko
Five Loaves – A Story
The little boy woke that morning and looked out on a bright and beautiful day. He jumped up and saw his mum at work in the kitchen. She looked around and saw him and smiled, what a beautiful boy she thought. “Good morning,” she said. “I hope I didn’t wake you. Father and the other […]
Don’t Miss Out
On his return, Jesus was welcomed by a crowd. They were all there expecting him. A man came up, Jairus by name. He was president of the meeting place. He fell at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come to his home because his twelve-year-old daughter, his only child, was dying. Jesus went with him, […]
Some Big and Confusing Words
Substitution – Imputation – Justification – Reconciliation – Salvation Substitution The doctrine that Christ suffered by proxy for the sinner, and that his sufferings have the power to make amends. Imputation That Jesus undertook to answer the demands of justice for our sins. Justification This is declaring a person to be just or righteous. It […]
Motivation
Motivation serves as a guiding force for all human behaviour. It is the desire to act in service of a goal and it is what causes you to act. It is also used to describe why a person does something. Extrinsic Motivation These are the motivations that arise from outside of you. e.g. Money, social […]
Discipleship
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… Love your neighbour as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22 v 37-40 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and […]
May Yellowy Rays
May yellowy rays brighten your waysAnd illuminate you like the sun,Take each of God’s daysAs you walk through the maze,And he promises each will be fun. Sheona Gledhill
Sympathy or Empathy
Sympathy is… feeling for someone. Seeing they are suffering Empathy is… about experiencing those feelings for yourself. “Walking in their shoes”.
Post Capitalism
Have we moved on from capitalism? I decided to explore the various elements of capitalism, to see whether we benefit from it at all. We are a low income family, living in social housing and paying bills month by month with no savings. The walls could crash around us at anytime! Socialism + Capitalism combined […]
Flowers that might appear in 2022
Calendula Calendula is easy to grow and will tolerate most soil types, but likes a full to partially sunny position. It will tolerate some frost and self seeds readily. Calendula is a good plant to have around in the veg garden as it keeps out harmful bugs and attracts beneficial ones. It is especially effective […]
Flower Arranging
Look at what appeared on our table this morning. I love my wife and I love my God. God for designing such beauty from nothing and Anna for presenting it so we can enjoy God’s beauty. Thank you.
Plants, Insects, Your Garden
In your garden you can spray pesticide or you can attract good bugs. These good bugs are the friend against the enemy, the pests that are destroying your garden plants. However, they don’t only live on aphids and green fly, they also need other food. So in order to attract these insects you need to […]
Turning a £5 bike into a dream bike
A while ago I bought a couple of bikes for £10. The one I wanted was with a bit of work ready to ride (replaced an inner tube and oiled and greased the bike). This one was given to Mia and she has been using it over the summer. In the winter this one will […]
Living Off-Grid
We have a fantastic and amazing opportunity to purchase some land and live off-grid. Living off-grid and building a place of retreat, of quiet has been a dream for a long time and we are close to realising this dream. But if you are considering this be aware that it is not all glowing and […]
Building a stool
So I was around my friend Chris house the other day and I was doing some work and using his stool and it was very useful, so time for me to have one. I utilised a foot stool and lengthened it, let the pictures tell the story.
Adding Flowers
Added some flowers to the bench and caught a Bee enjoying our real flowers.
Painting and Finishing
I am painting the benches this afternoon and getting to a point of finishing them. The courtyard area in our orchard is more or less complete. I have some finishing touches to make on the seat and I have started painting the flowers on one of the benches. And here are the photos. The ‘love […]
Rewiring the shed
Ok so I need to move the batteries to a different spot in the shed, they were getting in the way. Therefore, it is a wonderful opportunity to rewire the shed and install lights etc. My friend Chris who is amazing with all this sort of stuff has done me a wonderful diagram so I […]
Enjoying painting in the sun
I am finishing of our courtyard area and have been painting the final coats needed for the benches there. I have also started the third coat on the flower bench. This bench has already had two coats of the green and now gets its first coat of burgundy. I will give it a second coat […]
Painting the courtyard benches
Last week I built a second bench for our ‘courtyard’ area and it has now produced a really nice seating area. There is always room for improvement and we will keep spending time looking and seeing what we can do. However, today Mia and I started painting this area. First coat done and we are […]
Marvel Films
Well it is time for us and the children to watch our way through the 23 Marvel Films. As we watch them I will get the family to do 3 things: Give the film a rating Guess where Stan Lee comes in each film Give a line on what we thought of the film. This […]
Hugelkultur: the ultimate raised garden beds
Hugelkultur is a German word meaning hill culture or hill mound. It is the ultimate raised bed. It means you can grow a typical garden without irrigation or fertilisation. It is quite simply buried wood, that you cover in manure and then compost and then mulch. It means it uses up rotting wood, twigs and […]
I love my garden
Out in the garden today and shouting for joy. What a blessing it is. Flowers blooming, flowers dying (but thankful for the smiles they have given) and flowers ready to bloom. Alongside this handfuls of blueberries, some ripe and some getting ready to give us its goodness. Yes, I love my garden.
Allium Ursinum – Ramson or Wild Garlic
Also known as wild garlic, this plant carpets the ground in areas of woodland across the UK giving off a distinctive odour of garlic. It has long, pointed leaves which have a garlic scent. The flowers are white in colour. The bulb of the plant can be used to create tonics to relieve rheumatic problems […]
Aylesbury Ducks
You don’t have a slug problem, you have a duck deficiency Bill Mollison I’m told that ducks work well in gardens and certainly aid in a permaculture setting. Basically they love eating snails and slugs. They can nibble on young plants but are generally not as destructive as chickens! We don’t have the space in […]
Herbs I Love for a Permaculture Garden
FennelFennel is a gorgeous, strong-scented plant with lacy foliage. It is often paired with basil in an edible landscape. The flower of fennel is umbel-shaped, like yarrow, and the beneficial insects and pollinators love it. Fennel attracts ladybugs, hoverflies, parasitic wasps, and lacewings. ChamomileNot only are the dainty chamomile flowers cute as a button, they […]
No Dig Gardening
I have just noticed that people are starting to dig their gardens over. Digging in compost and turning the ground over. Why? Save your time and effort by adopting a new policy when it comes to preparing your gardening. No dig gardening takes a look at how nature does gardening and applies the principles. I […]
What to do with two old chairs
Ok, I really don’t know what I am doing but I am having a go! Two old chairs sat uselessly ready for the dump. I grabbed them and added them to the todo list. But with immediate inspiration I thought I know what I am going to do. I joined the chairs together with a […]
Plant Idea for Hugel Beds
Plant bulbs anytime Egyptian Onion / Tree Onion (Alliumcepa Proliferum group) Plant out young plants in Winter Babington’s Leek / Perennial Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var. babingtonii) Wild Angelica / Wood Angelica (Angelica sylvestris) Yellow Aspodel / King’s Spear (Asphodeline lutea) Sea Beet (Beta Vulgaris subsp. maritima) Turkish Rocket (Bunias orientalis) Pig Nut (Bunium bulbocastanum) Legumes […]
What to do with an old chair
I have had this chair ‘sitting’ around for a long time and I didn’t have a clue what to do with it. I had an idea but it meant cutting the chair in half which caused me to pause for a bit and then I thought why not, just go for it and so I […]
A Couple of Bicycles
I have recently collected two ‘junk’ bikes, although what is junk to someone is treasure to another. Over the last 9 months I have been learning about electrifying bicycles. I added a 1000 watt motor to bike and built a sidecar for it, then promptly sold it. Then I had an old Raleigh and I […]
Blueberries
Eat Better…… Feel Better Low in Calories, high in nutrients Antioxidant Help with cancer and ageing Lower blood pressure Prevent heart disease Maintain brain function and improve memory And they taste nice…. And we have a garden full of them. At our last count we had around 20 bushes and each giving us several punnets […]
An Allium for every Garden
Alliums, aka ornamental onions, are some of the most beautiful flowering bulbs for the spring and summer garden. Onions, leeks, garlic, shallots, and chives – I’ve never met an Allium I didn’t like. Their lovely purple blossoms nod in the warm breeze on a summer day, standing out amongst all the leafy garden plants. Alliums work well as a […]
Sparrows
One of my favourite birds and also one of the commonest. However, in recent years their urban population has fallen dramatically. Social birds that tend to nest in colonies they are happy to mix partners. They love being around people and don’t tend to stray far from them. They don’t migrate just move to the […]
What to do with some old 3 x 2 posts
When I rebuilt my shed I ended up with lots of old 3 x 2 inch posts of varying lengths. So I had some fun and built a chair. It is very heavy though! I tried to fill in the screw holes with a mixture of glue and saw dust but it didn’t look good […]
Juneberry or Snowy Mespilus Hedge
June Berry (also known as Snowy Mespilus) makes a gorgeous addition to a mixed hedge. Plant Juneberry amongst an assortment of native hedge plants. The bush blooms in March and April with star shaped white flowers. Its new leaves are coppery pink and silky, maturing into green, then taking on tones of rich red and […]