Update on events

It's been some time since I offered my readers an update on activities I've been involved in. Here's a brief overview of events since the beginning of the New Year . I'm sorry my posts have not been so frequent on this blog over the past couple of months!

New Year's Dinner
Every New Year, members of the Asociación de Educadores Evangélicos de Madrid (Madrid Christian Educators' Association) get together for a meal. This year it took place on 3rd January. Here are a couple of photos of the event.

Photos: (1) Here I am (2nd left) with some of the other participants at the meal, (2) Cilla (right) with a friend

Castelldefels (Barcelona)
From 9th to 19th January, I was a resident teacher at IBSTE (Instituto Bíblico y Seminario de Teología de España), at Castelldefels, near Barcelona, where I teach a course on Children's Ministry. Taking advantage of my stay there, on Saturday 13th January, the Institute organized an introductory seminar on Godly Play for local children's workers and Sunday school teachers. Eleven people attended the seminar from churches in Barcelona, Girona and Lerida.

Godly Play is an imaginative approach to engaging in Bible stories with children or older people. Since 2004, I have been promoting this method with Scripture Union in Spain. So far, a number of churches in Madrid and Barcelona are already using Godly Play regularly and many other Christian educators have expressed interest in the method.

Photos: (1) Examining Godly Play materials, (2) Students at IBSTE - creative group activity during the course in Children's Ministry

Parables in Bilbao
On 3rd February, I was in Barakaldo, near Bilbao, leading a Godly Play workshop based on Jesus' parables. Eleven children's workers and teachers took part in the practical workshop, which involved learning and practising Godly Play stories, and making their own resource materials.

Here are a few photographs of the workshop.



Barcelona (again!)
I flew to Barcelona for Unión Bíblica (Scripture Union Spain) committee meetings, which took place on 9th & 10th February... my 60th birthday!!!

Residential training weekend near Madrid
From 16th to 18th February, I took part in a training event for children's and youth workers, as well as the leaders of parenting courses. The venue was a Catholic retreat centre at Los Negrales, near Madrid. The weekend was organized by the Asociación de Educadores Evangélicos de Madrid.

The training for children's workers is based on a course I put together for Unión Bíblica (Scripture Union Spain) many years ago, and which continues to run through a cycle of three residential weekends. Seven participants from Madrid and Granada attended the first of these events this year.

The weekend covered subjects such as 'Jesus of Nazareth's teaching methods', 'Child theology', 'Communication', 'All-age worship and learning activities', 'Using drama in teaching' and 'Planning special events'.

Training in informal education - near León
Last weekend (23rd-25th February), I was in a small rural town called Toral de los Guzmanes, near the cathedral city of León, as one of the trainers on a course of informal education for future leaders in children's clubs, camps, etc., run by the Escuela Evangélica de Tiempo Libre Eduardo Turrall. Most of the 26 participants on the course were young people from towns and villages in the area, who were themselves not Christians or churchgoers. The course had been recommended to them by their own local town administrations! My own input to the weekend covered the areas of 'Analysis of the environment (needs assessment, etc.)' and 'Group dynamics'.