Songwriter helps kids handle growing up- CFN newsletter 86

CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK NEWSLETTER 86

> Songs for kids' tough issues - meet the Scottish minstrel writing songs that hit the mark for today's schoolkids
> News:
> TV actress helps out on Youth Mission CD
> Travel industry urged to be more socially responsible
> Local council backs Christian art for Christmas
> Sites:
> Help and comfort for grieving parents
> Holy steps - Springs Dance Company
> Marriage MOT: Temptation: don't toy with it!
> Events:
> Tinsel and Truth: the Viz-a-Viz Christmas tour
> You've got to laugh: Thanks for the cue, Mum!
> Members' Zone latest

Dear All

Check out some key issues in this week's CFN update

• the Scots songwriter using music to help youngsters growing up in a confusing world
• how can we reach beyond the generation gap?
• who will speak up for marriage?
• are toymakers selling a macho image to your boys this Christmas?
• the website that could help open up your neighbours to Jesus
• Methodism takes on today's 'alcohol culture'
• PLUS the latest family news, events, useful software for your church, humour, marriage tips and more. And next update, don't miss our great Christmas giveaway, when we'll have books, CDs and more up for grabs

Christian Family Network is here to direct you to the best in parenting, marriage and family resources; to link you up with other Christian families up and down the UK; and to help you make the most of life as a follower of Christ - at home, at work, at school and college, at play and online. Your feedback, positive and negative, enables us to develop CFN in the way that is most useful for you - so please tell us if we're off the rails or on the button!

And don't forget - if we can pass on material (sample copies of Families Together, leaflets) which will help you tell your friends and your church about CFN, just mail Lyn Bedford at marketing@christianmedia.org.uk and she'll be glad to help you out.

Take care

Russ Bravo
Christian Family Network
info@cfnetwork.co.uk
http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk

IN PERSON

Scotland's minstrel

• ANTOINETTE GALBRAITH meets a Christian musician specialising in using music to help children deal with difficult issues
  

Stephen Fischbacher is Britain’s only official church minstrel. Based in Edinburgh for the past six years, he has been travelling to schools from Lincoln to Aberdeen with his guitar, singing to groups of children in primary schools.

His music is unusual. Through his lyrics, Stephen tackles such issues as the pain caused by divorce, loneliness, death and bullying.

The issue of bullying is especially important to him and, along with self-esteem and friendship, is the subject of his latest CD Build Up, which was launched in Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall in September. "Bullying is such a massive issue in schools. Most schools have a lot of written work on bullying but there is little that is musical. I think it is easier for children to feel their emotions through music."

Rather than instructing children "not to bully each other, which won’t work," Stephen, 41, tends to go for a positive approach, often working within a school’s own anti-bullying policy. "My songs are aimed at the bullies and the bullied. They are aimed at the person who is having a hard time and those who are giving the hard time.

"The idea is that you can build people up or you can tear them down. The approach is: aren’t we all great? I try to give children the resources to deal with everyday worries."

A former youth worker at St Paul’s and St George’s Church in Edinburgh, Stephen began composing his own music when he "became disillusioned with singing everybody else’s songs".

It was a difficult period, he remembers, a period of intense frustration, when he felt his creativity had deserted him and would never return. "It was like being in a desert, I thought something was wrong, and was frustrated because I didn’t know what to do next."

He started "doing a bit of music" for his children, Beth (12) and Brodie (10). He also did tapes for his nieces and nephews in Canada. As their babies grew into toddlers, Stephen and his wife Linda became aware that much of the music produced in church was not targeted towards children. For this reason the couple had found "it was a hard experience trying to keep children happy in church, even at St Paul’s and St George’s where the atmosphere is informal."

Read how Stephen's ministry changed as his family faced the trauma of serious illness, and his ongoing work today. Go to the rest of this article in our Resources section at http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/resources.asp

> THIS WEEK'S NEWS

> Grange Hill to Gospel - TV star helps raise funds for youth mission

A rising star of stage and screen has teamed up with a group of North East children to record a CD as part of a £1 million fundraising campaign for Christian charity – the Youth Mission Team (YMT).

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story

> Travel industry urged to be more socially responsible

Travel trade association ABTA has joined forces with Tearfund and the Tour Operators Initiative (TOI) to urge the travel industry to be more socially responsible.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/resources.asp for the full story

> Local council backs Christian art for Christmas

Christmas came early in Maidstone this week with the unveiling on Tuesday of a Christian art installation commissioned by the Family Trust in conjunction with the local borough council.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story

> MARRIAGE MOT

> Check out our archived marriage tips in the Members' Zone, plus stacks more marriage resources at http://www.2-in-2-1.co.uk .

Temptation

We often know when we're being tempted - a little voice says: "That's risky." or "That would really hurt my wife/husband if they knew". But we push that little voice of our conscience down or argue with it: "She need never know." "I'm entitled to a bit of happiness." "He doesn't really care."

But is it really worth it? Do we really set such a low value on our marriage that we are going to allow temptation or weakness to destroy it? In some ways I think that the opposite of temptation is hope - hope that our relationship can grow stronger, hope that it can be a real source of security and happiness.

If we live our lives transparently doing nothing that we know would hurt our loved one, then temptation won't get a hold of us. Next time you're tempted to let your spouse down, ask yourself - is it really what I want, is it really worth it?

And if you enjoy a bit of spice in your life and want to live dangerously may I recommend bungie jumping or parachute jumping …
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> EVENTS

Greg and Nan Wright, whose only son, Steve, died at the age of 13, reach out to others in grief situations with resources to offer Christian comfort. Find daily devotions; web links; and the writings of Elisabeth Elliot, John MacDuff, C H Spurgeon and others, including personal notes of the Wrights and others in a similar journey in grief. Find encouragement, comfort, hope and a treasury of Christian truths in times of suffering. http://www.agapeindia.com/steve/thosewho.htm

Interested in dance in worship, or contemporary dance from a Christian perspective? Then visit the site for Springs Dance Company, the leading practitioners over the past two decades: http://www.afterthefire.co.uk/friends/springs/index2.htm

Head for our Sites home page in the Resources section where you'll find:

• the latest on Parentalk
  
• the lowdown on Maidstone-based schools team Family Trust, and
  
• the US vicars putting together a book of sermons based on U2 lyrics ...
  

> YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH ...

A little boy forgot his lines in a Sunday School presentation. His mother, sitting in the front row to prompt him, gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it didn't help. Her son's memory was blank.

Finally she leaned forward and whispered the cue: "I am the light of the world."

The child beamed and with great feeling and a loud, clear voice said: "My mother is the light of the world."

> CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK THIS WEEK
(MEMBERS' ZONE) - http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/default.asp

> Advice

> Marriage MOT - Tempation: don't toy with it

> Resources

> the Scots songwriter using music to help youngsters growing up in a confusing world

> how can we reach beyond the generation gap? Matt Bird and Steve Spriggs reflect

> who will speak up for marriage? CARE's Paul Woolley asks the question

> Tony Watkins wonders: are toymakers selling a macho image to your boys this Christmas?

> PLUS the website that could help open up your neighbours to Jesus

> AND Families Together - what's coming up in our Autumn/Winter issue

> News

> TV actress helps out on Youth Mission CD
> Travel industry urged to be more socially responsible
> Local council backs Christian art for Christmas

> Top sites this week

> Comfort and help for grieving parents
> Springs Dance Company - UK's leading dance ministry
> Parentalk: new features on parental advice site
> Family Trust - dynamic schools team in Kent
> U2 ... in a sermon? US clergy and band fans seek material for a book

> Events: More of what's on near you

> Webwatch Index: more than 500 sites at your fingertips
> Site Search Engine: the easy way to trawl our 500-page plus archives

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