South London Christmas Party for young people.

Musical Chairs...

The group photo

Pastor Christmas

.... and his merry elf helper

Some people don’t find Sunday service inspiring. So they stop going. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t want some spiritual inspiration every now and again.

So out pops Refresh – a project started by me and Steven.

Are we a service? Are we a small group? Even we still aren’t too sure about the answer to that. All we know is that we try to think outside of the box.

What do we do? We’ve tried different ways of inspiring people, from meditation/reflections/prayer to watching short videos (like the one below) and then discussing to testimonies to simply having a round-table discussion about faith-related topics (favorite Unificationist tradition, anyone?). We also try to make things interesting with stuff like outings and end-of-the-month dinners.

Where and when is it? Refresh is every Sunday at 6:30pm. (Don’t worry, we almost never run over 1 hour for the main spiritual guidance.) And in recent developments, Refresh has developed into a roaming service. Can’t make it? We can come to you now!

Be sure to check our Facebook page to see where the next event is. If you become a fan, you can get updates straight into your Facebook News Feed every time you login.

We hope to see you sometime!

Panel Q+A

Last week on Friday the 20th November, I had the chance to attend my first ever AGM meeting of the FFWPU. I had been urged to go by a number of people and finally decided I would see what it was all about. I was pleased to see a packed ballroom, headed by a ‘Question Time’ style set up at the front of the room. Simon Cooper informed us that last year’s attempt to hold the AGM at Annual Gathering didn’t work out so well so this year it was held here in London in the evening to fit to people’s schedule. And the result was evident.

Simon Roselli the finance director in full explanation mode

The meeting opened with Simon Cooper giving an explanation of its purpose; to improve communication between the membership and the trustees, allowing more input into their activity and feedback to be given. Previously the activity of the trustees was not as available to the general membership, but this is to be changed.

Simon Cooper giving his opening report

Simon Rosselli followed with a financial report and a discussion of how he plans to save money, slowly reduce our debts, and start to work on restoring buildings, most importantly Lancaster Gate.
The final section of the meeting was a Question and Answer session with a panel of representatives. This generated a lot of energy and discussion, and I believe was helpful in accomplishing the goal of allowing more communication between the membership and leadership.
When discussing the meeting with members after the general feedback I gained the impression that this was successful and more interesting than our previous, ‘more dry’ meetings!
For more details about this report refer to the minutes coming soon, and the AGM report which can be downloaded here (pdf).

It won't be like this...

It will be a bit more like this.

We want to welcome you to the Annual General Meeting of the UK FFWPU!

Reports from Lancaster Gate headquarters will be sent out in advance of the AGM. With transparency in mind and the goal of supporting effective communication we are also planning to hold a question-time session with a panel of key leaders and figures within the British movement.

With all that is taking place locally and internationally in our Movement this presents a unique opportunity for you to address a panel with your questions about the movement and its general direction. The make-up of the panel will reflect the various aspects of our movement… this is your chance to grill them on the issues that you care about!

We will also be voting in a new board of trustees, and there will be buffet style refreshments and a chance for socialising.

Look out for more details soon…

Matthew Huish and Niall Robertson will be helping with the preparations and further promotion.

30th October
By Lisa Hayashi

North London one day HARP workshop

In the half term North London HARP Reamonn Batemann organised a day of ‘heartwash’ where HARP kids could have a get together in Lancaster gate with a turnout of around 15 people from the North London and West London congregation. I thought it was a good opportunity from fresh HARP members to the elder second generation to interact. The schedule consisted of ice breakers from uncle mike’s (Mike Stout) legendary games and a comic video about relationship in marriage. We had a delicious meal made by Michael Franklin (and vegetable chopping from Erena Shaw) to give us enough energy for the day. We had a short talk by Matthew Huish who talked about important need-to know facts about purity, the main theme for Second generation this year, with valuable points in which levels we could relate to where I am sure everyone found motivating. In the afternoon we had another session of sports in Hyde park, both mentally and physically challenging (this time only a few scratches and bruises harhar).

In the evening we had another beautiful meal from Michael Franklin and we ended the day with a film, ‘Lady in the water’ by M Night Shyamalan- better known for The sixth sense. To be totally honest, I didn’t understand the film at all but it was no doubt interesting to see Shyamalan drowning in a bog of his own creative juices.

Overall the day was pretty awesome and it was good to be in the company of these barely credible people. The only down side was the attendance so hopefully if another opportunity comes along, people take it!

Credit to Reamonn B, Michael F, Erena S, Jonathan B, Mathhew H and Uncle mike for the day!

Recently we had Jack Corley with us in our Lancaster Gate HQ working with us and supporting our work for a week. As our new regional coordinator for the island nations in Europe he got a chance to see how we are living here in the UK. As someone who has worked literally all over the world and in a variety of missions he has a wealth of experience to offer.

He was able to help with the blessing preparation seminars, attended our finance committee meeting, and spoke at the Friends Meeting House event that the UPF held.

He even came to our Mind Body United football training, and helped field the ball when our shots got a bit wild.

At the new Saturday Service in Lancaster Gate, we introduced a new concept: the 3 minute interview. The idea is to interview a different person each time: 3 questions in 3 minutes, and find out something about the person you didn’t know that is enlightening and interesting. Robert Haines was our first interviewer, and Jack Corley was the first interviewee, and they both did a sterling job. It was a good chance for everyone to get to know something about who is Jack Corley.

Personally, I was very grateful to be able to spend time working together with Jack, and as you can see from the video he has a very good temperament.On behalf of all of us: thank you for visiting the UK, and we look look forward to seeing you soon.

As this is my first blog since being signed up to familyfireplace.org at the media workshop, I wanted to post some old news from some of north london HARP’s recent past events.

Fundraising – Sunday 8th February 

On Sunday 8th February we decided not to have a normal service, but instead decided to manufacture and sell some handmade cards.

We started with a short internal message from our youth pastor William Haines. After which Naomi Sato taught everyone, and supplied the materials in order to make some handmade cards. It took us an hour to produce 100 cards.

After spending an hour out on the streets, we managed to raise £69.56 after expenses. Even though some participants weren’t so inspired by the idea of fundraising, on returning everyone was bright faced and pleased with their success.

HARP Youth Club – Saturday 14th February

This saturday saw the beginning of a new section to North London’s Youth Club. As there was an obvious fall in numbers of HARP members at the regular fortnightly youth club I decided to create a monthly youth club just for HARP members 12 years and over. The event was a success judging by the number of participants and positive comments.

Information about North London Youth Club including its programme, latest news and Pictures can be found at http://www.youth-united.co.uk/

Half Term Workshop – Sunday 15th-Monday 16th

Since we had a week off school I thought it would be a good idea to have mini workshop of sorts.

We based the workshop on the idea/moto of Living For Others. The first day consisted firstly of the challenge to buy all the supplies/food that they would need to for the two days on a budget. After this we had a trip to Kew Gardens, the idea of this was to have a bit of bonding time together and somehow prepare for the challenges of the next day.