Yo yo yo guys!! We would like to invite you to our baptism service this Sunday. The service officially starts at 10:30 (am) but we would advise you to get there for 10 past in order to claim your parking spot. We hope you can make it and that you enjoy watching us get dunked!!

There will also be a banging buffet after…

We’d love to see you all there to support the girls as they take the next step on their journey of faith. If you’ve been considering baptism yourself, come along and find out what happens as you watch Jodie, Etive, Becci & Tiria get baptised. If you’d like to find out what all the fuss is about with baptism & what it means, check out this earlier post.

Why not leave a message for the girls in the comments below…

Discipleship is your own responsibility – no-one else’s. Of course, you can’t do it alone, but that doesn’t pass the responsibility on to anyone else. If you have chosen to follow Jesus & surrendered your life to Him, it’s your responsibility to ensure you keep on track: studying the Bible, praying, being in fellowship with other Christians, putting your faith into practice, serving others – and reflecting, learning & growing along the way.

‘keep building on the foundation of your faith, as the Holy Spirit helps you to pray’ – Jude 1:20

There are two key points in this verse. The first thing to realise is that a foundation is useless unless you build on it – we are encouraged to ‘keep building'; secondly that we don’t embark on the journey of faith alone, we are accompanied by & supported by the Holy Spirit.

Having considered that ‘being a disciple’ is an ongoing process & journey we recognised that we all have a next step. Now matter where are on our journey or how long we’ve been on it. So we challenged everyone to write down on a post-it note what their next step is.

We each started that statement with ‘I will…’ then wrote down our next step, and resolved to do it. But a post-it can get lost, screwed up, or rained on. So we encouraged everyone to stick their post-it on the wall and have their photo taken with it (their ‘next step selfie’). We have kept those photos and will be emailing them to the participants to remind them of what they resolved to do a month ago, to check in and see how they’re doing, and to ask what we can do to help, or how we can pray for them. We’ll be sending those emails this week… Below you’ll find a list of what was written:

• I will get baptised [baptisms this Sunday!]
• I will become more serious about being baptised [another baptism this Sunday!]
• I will believe… [now a believer!]
• I will pray more
• I will find a church and reconnect with God
• I will leave my comfort zone more
• I will pray more and act on signs
• I will be active in my Christian faith
• I will stand up and speak in a church service
• I will explore what groups of God can do in the community
• I will find a way to help in my community
• I will study/read my Bible more
• I will connect with the church more and serve others
• I will speak out to God & about Him
• I will pray more and join a Bible study group
• I will read more Christian books and talk to my friends about them
• I will stay committed to God & become more involved with my church
• I will gain the confidence to do things that are currently not possible
• I will trust
• I will be a better person and help with what needs to be done
• I will dedicate myself more to God and pray more
• I will pray more and put God in my thoughts when I make decisions
• I will shout that you are my God
• I will pray and thank Jesus & God more regularly
• I will do my best to become a better person
• I will make more time to pray & spend less time doing less important things
• I will attend more youth groups & events
• I will find more time for God
• I will resist calls to change my personality & clothes – I am who I am
• I will be brave

That’s exactly the opposite of what it means to live as a Christian. Jesus’ disciples did anything but blend in. Everything He had taught them is contrary to that: ‘you must be salt and light in the world’, ‘you should be light in the darkness’, ‘let your light shine before men’, ‘you should be like yeast in the dough’, and so on. Jesus had taught them to be counter-cultural – not to simply fit in to the culture around them, but to challenge it, to stand against it. For them to declare ‘Jesus is Lord’ was risky – it put them in direct opposition to the Roman Emperor, who used that title for himself, and forced others to as well.

‘don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit in without even thinking’ – Romans 12:2

Emmet and Wyldstyle were so clearly different from the situation they were entering. If you are a Christian, the same should be true of you as you return to school. You shouldn’t simply fit in and behave the same as everyone else. Nor should you deny who you are or what you believe. You are called to be different – to stand out, and stand up for what you believe.

My prayer is that you would be Marmite Christians. People will either love you or hate you – but it doesn’t change who you are or what you believe.

Since you returned from Camp I’m sure you’ll have heard about the appalling situation in Iraq. The Islamic State has been pursuing Christians across the country, and forcing them to renounce Jesus Christ (to deny He is Lord of their lives) and convert to Islam, or face death. Thousands have stood their ground in the face of the most horrific threats & consequences – and they’ve paid with their lives.

You may face some opposition at School/College/University, and you may face some ridicule. But my prayer is that you will stand your ground, hold on to what you believe and be bold in expressing it – stand out from the crowd for the best possible reason. It may not be easy at times, but you aren’t on your own.

Jesus said, ‘this is how people will know that you are my disciple, by the love that you have for one another’ – John 13:35

Due to school term dates, in MK & Cornwall, Camp 2015 will be taking place a week later than usual, starting on Tuesday 28th July and running to Thursday 6th August. We have decided that the fee will remain the same as this year – an absolute bargain at £160.

Please get these dates into your family diaries and ensure that any other plans are made around these. See you there!! [don’t forget to add yourself to the official Facebook event too – cos we know that if it’s not of Facebook it’s not happening ;o) ]

Staff & Assistant Staff

The Advance Party will be leaving on Friday 24th July (early) and the Rearguard will return on Saturday 8th August. Important: we need you to commit to at least Advance Party or Rearguard (preferably both) – please take that into account when booking your annual leave.

I wonder what your adventure would be. I’d love to climb a mountain. I’m sure the effort it would take would be enormous, and I’d feel the aches & pains for months after. But I imagine that the views would be outstanding, and the experiences along the way (highs & lows) would stay with me forever. But I think the best part would be retelling the stories after. Retelling the stories can keep the adventure alive for you. But if told well they can bring the adventure alive for others and can enable them to experience something of the joys & challenges for themselves.

At Camp we heard that Lucy Brown was heading off on an adventure – on a mission to build school rooms in Uganda. She survived, and she’s back with lots of stories to tell and photos to show. You can find out more about her adventure online (see how many MK Camp polo shirts you can spot!). We heard from Claire about how God has called her to serve for three months in Nigeria, working as a Teaching Assistant at a school for people with special needs. We also heard from Roger about his adventures on mission to Sri Lanka, Serbia & Peru, and how he wished he’d done it sooner. Incredible adventures…

But you don’t need to board a plane to start an adventure. As I write this I’m finding out about everyone’s AS/A Level news. For everyone, whether they got their required grades or not, a new adventure awaits.

You don’t even need to leave your city to have an adventure. Last year 100+ young people went on a shorter adventure right here in Milton Keynes by signing up for Hope MK. They gave up their October half term for a week long mission right where they live. Everyone stepped out in faith, beyond their comfort zones, to serve & bless people they didn’t know. All to show God’s love for people. And for the last year we’ve had the privilege of telling people the stories from that adventure. And we can’t wait to do it again this October.

Registration is now open – and the early bird rate ends this Sunday!

Are you looking for an adventure right on your door step? Sign up today and see what God has in store for us this year, and what stories you will be talking about for the next year…

Three little words that can be so empowering if we just allowed ourselves to believe them. At MK Summer Camp ’14 we talked a lot about identity and being the real us and we found it easy to identify negatives about ourselves, but more encouragingly we wrote down a good few positives. We looked at the weight we give to the negatives and thought about how we could give our positives the power rather than so readily believing the negatives people give us.

I have a challenge for you. Believe you are beautiful.

Our social groups and the media constantly bombard us with the way we should look, what to wear, what to look like, we’re constantly told we are too fat, too thin, too pale, too tanned, too tall, too small….. Stop it!

There was a recent movement on Social media sites that asked women to go ‘bare faced’ in support of a cancer charity, to raise awareness. In honesty the amount of women who looked perfectly beautiful without any make up on was great, what wasn’t so great was the fact they couldn’t see they were beautiful. It made me question, why do people feel the need to cover up before they leave the house? When did it become bare faced cheek to walk out of the house without make up on.

I’m not a big wearer of make up so I guess you could call me out and say ‘easier said than done Claire, you don’t understand.’ But a few weeks ago I went into the body shop with a friend and got a mini make over. The lady was lovely but sitting ‘bare faced’ in that chair I felt completely inadequate. Everyone around me had make up on and looked beautiful and there I was sat in a chair make up being troweled on my face to accentuate my features. Not five minutes earlier I hadn’t cared what my face looked like and within minutes I felt self conscious and ugly. Then as she put make up on me and told me how amazing my new look was I bought into the pitch. I believed it so much that I left with a bag full of goodies. The following week I got up a smidge earlier everyday to put on my face and get to work, a week ago I hadn’t cared and within a week I didn’t want to leave the house with a bare face. Self image had gotten under my skin.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with wearing make up, I just think if you’ve got to the point where you can’t leave the house without it then you’ve forgotten how naturally beautiful you are.

Today’s challenge: I want to challenge you to brave your beauty. Go bare faced, not for charity, but to embrace that you are made in the image if God, you are beautiful. Believe it.

So if you won’t be with us in Lincoln, be sure to ‘like’ our Facebook page. And if you will be away with us in Lincoln, make sure that your friends & family ‘like’ the FB page so they can see if you appear (and can post comments too). You can check out the ‘live’ photos from previous years on the ‘Photos’ page…

Most of the Camp Staff will be leaving for Lincoln on 20th July in order to make sure everything is set-up and ready for when the Campers arrive on Wednesday 23rd. But if you have a question in the mean time, call the number on the letter your parents were given.

See you there!

Shortly you’ll receive the following essential items:

Camp Booklet: this provides everything you need to know about your stay at Camp, including whose table you’ll be on, which tent you’re in and which day is your duty day. Please read through this booklet with your parents as it will put their mind at ease about what we get up to at Camp and how it all works. «download» [2.2mb]

Camp Polo Shirt: this is part of the Uniform, and must be worn on the coach trip to and from Camp, and to Church on Sunday. The rest of the Uniform consists of black/navy shorts (or skirts for girls). We don’t wear our Uniform at any other time during Camp otherwise it gets grubby and smelly!

Letter to Parents: the letter for your parents contains all the important information they need about Camp including how you’ll be getting there, what time to drop you off and where, what time to expect you home, and the address and emergency contact details for whilst we’re away. «download» [450k]

Consent Form: it is absolutely vital that your completed & signed consent form has been returned to your Company Officer/Staff Member/Leader. This ensures that the First Aid Team can review and organise the forms before we go. If you fail to return your Consent Form on time you will not be able to join us at Camp. Once you’ve returned your Consent Form, if you come into contact with any infectious disease you must let us know. «download» [350k]

Please note that the dates on the Consent Form include the Advance Party and Rearguard dates (setting up and taking down the Camp) – don’t worry, you’re still only going for 10 days.

[ID Cards will be handed out on arrival at Camp]

We’ve tried to include all the information you need, but if you still have questions feel free to get in touch.

Don’t forget, if you aren’t currently on the MK Camp Email List you can join by simply sending an email to mkcamp-subscribe@googlegroups.com and we’ll ensure you’re kept informed of updates to this site and any other important information regarding Camp. Alternatively, why not ‘like’ our Facebook page or ‘follow’ us on Twitter!

This year’s theme is The Lego Movie!

We’re intending to play it on the coach on the way to Lincoln so everyone is familiar with the story. Our evening devotions will link back to the film most nights, and it is traditional for the Camp Banquet to follow the same theme; fancy dress for the banquet is optional, but there could be some ‘awesome’ outfits this year!

Make sure you bring your favourite Lego minifigure to Camp this year – doesn’t need to be movie related.

• First time campers/staff:
  • we are delighted to have lots of brand new Campers and Staff joining us this year, but it can be quite daunting coming to Camp for the first time
  • please pray that they would feel welcome and settle into Camp life quickly and painlessly
• Staffing:
  • this year we have some young staff members taking on key roles for the first time
  • pray that they’ll be well supported & will enjoy & grow into their responsibilities
  • we have a large team of Assistant Staff again this year
  • pray that the ‘apprenticeship scheme’ will work as well as in recent years
• Chaplaincy Activities:
  • give thanks to God for all He did last year and will continue to do!
  • please pray that the Lord would prepare people’s hearts prior to Camp
  • the key themes for this year have been on the hearts of the Chaplaincy team for months
  • pray that the sessions will be engaging & the pastoral care times will be fruitful too
  • pray that everyone will be willing to fully engage
  • we have a great music & worship team again this year
  • pray that the musicians who lead our worship would be filled with the Spirit!
• Safety:
  • everything we do at Camp, from travelling, to putting up the flag pole, from go-karting, to quad-biking, and even walking to Church, contains an element of risk. Of course, we do everything we can to reduce the risks to a manageable level, but it can’t all be eliminated
  • Please pray for the safety of every element of Camp life.
• Protection:
  • it is often the case that seemingly simple issues arise at Camp which distract us from what we’re trying to achieve, and sap our energy
  • pray that we’d keep our eyes on Jesus & rely on the Spirit’s strength

We will also post any specific requests which come to light during Camp too.