The last 48 hours

Salvation Army Group

It was a good day at the conference centre in Norfolk working with the Salvation Army on Saturday.  There were around 14 people plus Dean and Debbie Juster.  Dean is the SA Child Protection Officer, and i work with him and his wife several times a year on educational programmes.


Spending a day looking at how sexual abuse can happen within Christian organisations and churches is neither easy to teach nor to listen to but I find there is such a good attitude within the SA that they cope very well, though no doubt we were all feeling tired by the end of the day.  I took the morning prayers and then had three sessions to teach through the day.  We finished up with some role play which really drove home the various aspects we have been teaching.


I'm very sorry to learn that "Time for Action", the book I co-wrote in 2001 about the care of victims of sexual abuse, is out of print and unlikely to be re-printed.  I know that there is a real need to get many more copies out as it remains the best source of quality relevant information for churches and Christian organisations.  Certainly every trainee minister/ordinand ought to have and read a copy.  So I'm going to do my best to see if there is a way around it.


The journey to Newark that evening was very tiring.  I arrived at 9.30pm and fell into bed at 11.30 - but did not arise until 9.00 this morning!  I needed that!  I took the morning service for London Road Congregational Church, Newark and used a mixture of Christian songs and teaching from scripture using story-telling techniques.  I was well looked after by Val and Phil who put me up and the breakfast I was given should keep me going for two days at least!

Part of the Theddingworth congregation

After a superb cross-country drive home to Market Harborough I discovered that yesterday Doreen had a kitchen fire and we will need to redecorate two rooms and replace some kitchen furniture!  Ouch!!  She thought it was best to wait for me to get home so I did not worry.  So we had a hug and kiss.  I'm just glad she is OK and things were not worse.  She did all the right things on discovering it, which makes me thankful for the training she had in the past.


Then tonight we shared in the harvest service at Theddingworth where Mr Christopher Jones, President of Farm Crisis Network and an old friend was our speaker.  It was a good turn out for a small village.  Tomorrow - off to Winchester University then back home again (by train).