balti blog

Happy New Year and news

2006-01-25T13:09:00.000-01:00

I know that I haven't added anything to this recently but I thought it was about time. Things are moving and changing at CMS. Blahonline is no longer in operation as the new CMS website will incorporate all. This I believe will take about 6 months, so in the meantime the existing CMS site will cover this. If you haven't checked out Cat's blog, Festnet then do so as she has helpfully listed all the volunteering opportunities with CMS over the spring and into the summer.

Recent updates of note

2005-10-08T09:00:00.000-01:00

Yesterday Sam Leach, who went to Pakistan back in the spring to represent CMS at a Youth conference, had uploaded his pictures onto blahonline. It seems that our thoughts were meant to be directed to that part of the world in the light of the Earthquake that took place in that northern region of Pakistan this morning. I will be monitering stuff on my blog . On a lighter note check out Ruth Martin's blog on blahonline as she has just returned from Uganda.

Pakistani Youth Conference, Peshawar

2005-10-07T12:25:00.000-01:00

Sam Leach has just uploaded his pictures from the Pakistani Youth conference on globalisation back in the Spring on to blahonline. The picture here shows an army display, which opened the conference

Encounter debrief at Beckenham

2005-09-20T13:55:00.000-01:00

Debbie James with Abby Peggs led another inspiring and challenging Encounter weekend. They were joined on Saturday by the CMS team to challenge the group to apply their global experience to life here back in the UK. One thing that we mentioned was another round of balti gatherings for 2005/06 so keep your eyes and ears to the ground as we might be near you. Check out photo's from the weekend on blahonline
Check out my blog to see a how mission is like breaking through a wall.

Getting Involved

2005-09-09T10:02:00.000-01:00

I have just written some new opportunities to get involved at CMS events on blahonline under the volunteering column. Also check out festnet another CMS online blog community for those who volunteered at the summer festivals this year.

greenbelt and beyond

2005-09-05T13:29:00.000-01:00

Greenbelt was great. Was good to see some Encounter peeps there - and big thanks to those of you who were able to help out at the CMS tent. Our theme this summer of 'setting captives free' was powerfully communicated by Hasna, Angelie, and Ruby who acted out what life is like for young women who have been trafficked from Bangladesh to India - tricked into prostitution. See www.cms-uk.org for more information about this.

Lots of people have shown an interest in cross-cultural experience visits at the summer festivals which is great. I'll post some info about 2006 ENCOUNTER visits when locations have been confirmed.

Hope you've all enjoyed the summer and that all goes well for those of you starting back at uni or new jobs this term. Enjoy!

Greenbelt 05

2005-09-01T11:03:00.000-01:00

You can check out some of the highlights from a number of places. To see some CMS pictures click on CMS highlights and to see Big Intent in action see Big Intent at Greenbelt. Here is a picture of our giant puppet costume for Ravanna. He should have 10 heads but I think they all got amalgamated into one instead.

Welcome Mike

2005-08-25T12:20:00.000-01:00

A welcome to Mike North to the balti blog. Mike is the CMS Mission Advisor for youth and children in the north of England. He has also started his own blog so check it out. This weekend we are off to Greenbelt so there will be plenty of pictures to show and stories to show when we get back on all blogs concerned.

Soul Survivor A

2005-08-15T14:28:00.000-01:00

Have just come back from a great week at Soul Survivior with Em Pem from the Balti group aswell as Meg Woolcock CMS, Ruth (Encounter Ukraine) and Becky (CMS VW). Check out our adventures on my Tikhtak blog. I have also just come to realise that uploading pictures on blogger is now really straight forward. All you do is click on the upload picture image and browse your photos.

Encounter Romania opportunity

2005-07-28T13:02:00.000-01:00

This is just a reminder that the closing date for the Praxis Romania visit is soon approaching - end of next week. Information about opportunities for CMS staff to participate in the visit has been issued in previous office notices, but please do see Debbie or Abby if you'd like more details. Although we have had many Praxis enquiries and informed many others too about the visit, the group is not yet sufficiently filled, so please pray that those who have been sent/given information about the visit would seriously consider this opportunity to meet, share with and learn from Christians and CMS' partner projects in Romania. If you know of anyone who might be interested please see Abby for information booklets or direct people to the website.
Debbie James CMS cross-cultural engagement adviser tel: 020 7803 3326 e-mail: debbie.james@cms-uk.org

Blogging from India

2005-07-26T19:53:00.000-01:00

The Indian Encounter group have landed and are coming to terms with city life in Delhi, check out their blog! Also
Kathy Pinsent will be starting her 3 year new adventure in Tamil Nadu south India next week and you can catch up on her thoughts by clicking on her blog account too.

Encounter bloggers

2005-07-20T08:03:00.000-01:00

As the Encounter teams are now filing out to their respective locations keep an eye on blahonline for updates. The North India team are on their way as we speak and will be keeping us up on their news with their own blog. Also watch this space for updates. This is their first entry:

Welcome to our web log. We are hoping this will be updated every few days throughout our trip to North India. If you would like to know roughly what we're going to be getting up to, you can read an article on the Open Heaven website: http://www.openheaven.org/cmsindia2005 team is due to fly at Ten tomorrow night from Heathrow. Last minute preperations are taking place, most team members have been experiencing an amount of those last minute "What have I not remembered?" or "Do you think I need one of those?"

Lettuce

2005-07-14T09:12:00.000-01:00

Colin Darling (CMS) has recently started a blog called Lettuce. Here is a taste of Colin's Lettuce theology:
Go out as lettuce among vegans?
Go out as lettuce among slugs?
Go out as lettuce in the desert?
Go out and don't be the main thing!
Go out and allow yourself to be used?

I wonder what vegetable does it for you?

The Richest Man in the World

2005-06-27T20:03:00.000-01:00

I have added a new sketch to my Youth blog based on Mat: 16v26 "What does it profit a man if he gains the Whole world yet loses his soul" click on this link top take a look and use as you wish.

2005-06-24T05:19:00.000-01:00

Images from India

South Asian Youth Conference, India

2005-06-22T10:28:00.000-01:00

I am now back in the UK and have started the daunting task of looking through all my photos. Wimbledon has started, Big brother is 2 weeks older and to my surprise I am on the premier radio airwaves giving the thought for each day this week (7 30am after the news) My mind is so full of all that we have seen and experienced that I think it will take many months before I can properly sort through it all in my head. Leaving that aside, what am I left with? Well my determination is not to let slip all the friends and contacts I made. I am looking forward to helping Dr Lalita in some small way writing dramas to go with her HIV Aids education material. I want to keep up to date with Paul's work in Delhi as he reaches out to young people from the Manipur community through the Kukies music ministry and also to pray and learn from the work of Kerygma and Jacob Isaac connecting with young people who may not normally ever go into a church. Another thing that I came to realise is that the church in India is still the main vehicle for Christian mission and ministry. On one hand this is a good thing as it hasn't lost contact with the world around, at least to the same degree as the UK church. However on the other hand as Globalisation is radically and speedily changing the youth culture and environment it is a challenge for the church to adapt rather than take it's historical stance of becoming reactionary. CMS in the UK is keen to reconnect with young people as we have neglected them in the past , so we are now forced to look to the edges. In the Indian church the edges are not so visible as it is still revered and respected by most people (a good thing). However the challenge of globalisation will be to learn from the mistakes of the western church in failing to adapt to the shift in youth culture. The edges may not be visible in the Indian church but the edgey mission minded people are and at CMS we need to connect with these people to both learn from and encourage them to help the church take up the challenge of this massive shift in the youth culture. I think this whole thing is best illustrated by the call centres in Bangalore. Young people are being pressured to work Sundays, which means church is pushed aside. They mix with a whole new group of people and if they are free at weekends want to socialise. In one church some 200 young people were on the electoral role but only 15 attend the youth group. On the morning we visited this church the sermon noted the negative affect of these call centres but rather than look for ways to meet the needs of their young people and reach out to them where they are the main message was to get them back into church on Sunday. There lies the challenge of the church. In the next few days I will be uploading pictures to Tikhtak and you can read more about my own experience there. Also click on Jonny's blog to see the trip through his eyes and blahonline for a few more.

India Talkie

2005-06-07T07:43:00.000-01:00

Check out my blog and Jonny's for the latest from our adventures on Encounter south India

Pakistani Youth conference 05

2005-06-02T22:03:00.000-01:00

Church in Peshawar Sam Leach, Lucy Stewart Lee and Kirsty Thorner all former Encoumter participants took part in a Pakistani youth conference in Pakistan at Eater. It was a trip that had an enormous impact on each of them. Catch up on what they got up to by clicking on the CMS website

CMS in Shropshire

2005-05-28T22:00:00.000-01:00

Car Prang We have come back from an eventful CMS week away in Shropshire. We had worship each morning, cell group meetings and sessions from Bob and Mary Hopkins on the churches challenge to connect with the culture around. We also took part in a survey to help in research to set up a Christian community in Telford for 20's and 30's, by taking to the streets. But perhaps two of the most memorable moments was first Chuli Scarfe managing to hit a horse box into a ditch and then the very next day myself ramming Chris Neal (Mission Movement director at a roundabout. Seeing as Chuli and I have the same make and colour car I thought just one picture would do. This one is mine.....

London Balti Gathering

2005-05-17T10:21:00.000-01:00

The dips

2005-05-16T14:45:00.000-01:00

Thankyou to all you guys who came along for making the first London balti a great day. Apart from being able to catch up with one another and even make new friends, it was also good to get some insights on how everybody has reinetrgrated themselves into the UK culture. I was very encouraged to hear Chelser's testimony of "From The Ukraine to Youth work in Salisbury". Inspirational stuff and look forward to a post about it. Please feel free to make a comment by clicking below and once you have been sent an invite, sign up and let us hear about your successes and struggles on the UK mission field. Check out blahonline to see a more lengthy blog, which is the featured one along with the photos of course. Also I have started a discussion thread to get feedback from the day, it is called "Ideas for mission" To see some pics of the day click on Balti pics

Balti Gathering (London)

2005-05-14T06:21:00.000-01:00

Today we will be meeting up with numerous MAD/Encounter participants to look at ways we can encourage one another back in the UK to be MPMs (A movement of people in mission). Before hand Debbie, Chuli and myself will also be meeting with Sam Leach and Lucy Stewart Lee who went out to Pershawar for a Youth conference recently for a debreifing time. Please pray for all happening today and I will post about how things go and pics of course.

Encounter weekend 05

2005-04-25T10:06:00.000-01:00

Thankyou guys for your prayers. We had a very enjoyable weekend looking at crossing cultures and the challenges ahead. The teams are this year going to Guinea, Rwanda, North and South India and France. Check out some pics from the weekend. I bet it feels only like yesterday when you were preparing

Encounter Preparation Weekend

2005-04-20T08:38:00.000-01:00

This summer's Encounter teams are meeting this coming weekend (22 - 24 April) and it would be great if you could remember them in your prayers. Teams will be heading to north India (students from Open Heaven church in Loughborough), south India (Dave is on this team), Guinea, Rwanda, and France. Abby and I are busy getting things ready, and I'm really excited about meeting everyone. Does it bring back memories of a year ago? Will keep you informed of how it all goes.

Balti recipes

2005-04-19T08:18:00.000-01:00

I have found a great web page listing all the best Balti restaurants around the UK and with a load of recipes to have a go at. It's called the "Balti page". The site is brand new so it is still under some construction and I even detected a "Balti Game" to boot. Just for a taster here's a Balti Burger recipe. Why not have a go at one of these and post your results with a picture of course....

Servings: 4
2 lb Ground meat (hamburger, or-other mince)
3 T Vegetable oil
4 Garlic cloves, chopped
8 oz Onion, chopped
1 T Tomato paste
4 T Balti masala paste
1 t Garam masala (optional)
1 T Fresh coriander leaves, -chopped
Stir-fry the minced meat in the wok for 8-12 minutes. Strain off and save the liquid. Set the meat aside. Add the oil to the wok and stir-fry the garlic very quickly: then add onion, reduce heat and stir-fry for 10 minutes, until translucent. Add Balti paste and garam masala (if you're using it). Raise heat again and stir-fry for another few minutes. Then add the mince to the mixture in the wok and continue stir-frying a few minutes more. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for 35-40 minutes. Every now and then, add some of the reserved liquid to help keep the mixture from sticking. When cooked, add coriander leaves to taste. Serve.

Birmingham balti

2005-04-14T18:13:00.000-01:00

Birmingham balti On Saturday 9th April as many people were paying their yearly visit to the bookies for a flutter on the Grand National or watching the preamble to the royal wedding. (Kind of felt like the FA Cup final road to Wembley) Debbie James, Chuli Scarfe and myself travelled to Birmingham for a balti with ex MAD and Encounter partcicpants. In all there were 11 of us, joined also by our Colleague from the Northern team Colin Darling and for some time by David Fletcher from Crowther. We shared our experiences of life at home having had our world view stretched by our mission experiences. The world map was at the centre of our day and we used it for a couple of activities to see that we are all joined by a shared experience of being "Global people". We finished the day by looking at ways to encourage one another and fuel each others mission. We looked at blahonline as a way to do this but also floated the idea of creating a group Balti blog which we could all contribute to and share our experiences with one another on, so here it is. Check out a few pictures in the blah gallery called Birmingham balti, which i have just put on. I will be updating them with with more soon.