Catching up after a busy stretch

It’s been a while since the last post on here. I did think about trying to quietly carry on as if no one would notice, but that didn’t feel quite right. So… sorry! It’s not that things have gone quiet. It’s been the opposite, busy busy busy!

Some of our time recently has been spent around church visits, and that’s worked both ways. We’ve been out to churches, but we’ve also had people come to us. One home group came down to the Garage to see what things actually look like on a normal weeknight. Those kinds of visits tend to be less polished than a Sunday slot, but you get to see the mess and have a go at being a young person again!

We also ran our ‘Parenting the Digital Age’ training. We weren’t sure how it would land, but it filled up well and people stayed afterwards to talk, which is usually a pretty good indicator. Most of the conversations were quite specific; phones in bedrooms, group chats going wrong, that sort of thing, rather than abstract worries about “technology”. It felt grounded. We’re really pleased with how it went.

At St. David’s College, we had the chance to do a special session with the Christian Union called ‘Why I’m “still” a Christian’. The title probably gives away the tone. We looked at some of the things that are often assumed to undermine faith (science, suffering, unanswered questions) and tried to take them seriously rather than brushing past them. It wasn’t about winning an argument, but being honest about why faith has stayed, or even deepened, in the middle of those tensions.

Detached work at Ysgol John Bright has been steadily growing. We’ve recently had a new team member join us there, which has made a noticeable difference. More conversations, more continuity, and a bit more energy!

Back at the Garage, Redefine has been going well too. We’ve had a few new faces over this last stretch, which always changes the dynamic slightly. We’ve been working through a series on responding to stress, using stories from the Gospels alongside Psalms and bits of Wisdom Literature. And as always, there have been important moments where something seems to connect.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been working with two Heads of Year at Ysgol Aberconwy to plan rewards days for entire year groups this term. It’s the kind of thing that involves a lot of emails and spreadsheets before anything actually happens, but it’s starting to take shape now.

And on top of that, we’ve been planning our own summer events too. It’s still early enough that they exist mostly as lists and half-formed ideas, but it does look like it could be a good few month.

So that’s where we’ve been. Not absent, just occupied! We’ll try not to leave it so long before the next update—but given how things tend to go, no promises!