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Jesus: God’s football player-manager

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Gavin Berry

SU Scotland has a long history of welcoming young people to experience the thrills and spills of a week-long Easter or summer residential activity holiday, commonly known as, and hereafter referred to as “camp”.

I’m sure that many of us will have at one time or another enjoyed the SU Scotland camp experience? The young people who attend our camps come from all walks of life; some with a solid grounding in their knowledge and experience of God and many for whom, sadly, the name of Christ has only been heard as a swear word in their home or at school.

It is the latter group of children, including those who might be described as socially disadvantaged, that SU Scotland is currently prioritising to reach with the Good News of Jesus in new and creative ways.

A language that all young people understand
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Brand new SU Holidays video

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Carren

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Photo Gallery: Pray Any Way 2012

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Carren

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Potatoes, Parachutes and Prayer

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Andy Bathgate


Pray Any Way, now in its second year, allows families to come together for an afternoon focussed on fun prayer. This year’s event, held again on a Sunday afternoon at the Houston House Hotel in West Lothian, drew over 100 people, ranging from a few months to the (well) over 50s!

Pray Any Way has its basis in the idea that children should be encouraged from a very early age to speak to their heavenly Father, and also that families should be encouraged to pray together; older praying for younger but also younger praying for older.

If children are really fellow-disciples with adults then they can pray for us – as well as vice versa. One of the highlights of both years for me personally has been being prayed for by children. This year children who volunteered to pray for adults drew out a word written on a slip of paper from a tub. They took that to an adult and then prayed that word for them. The little boy who came to pray for me had the word ‘friend’ and he prayed that I would know Jesus as a friend. His prayer included the lines: ‘we have friends, even best friends, but Jesus is the top of them all’.

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Posted in Andy's blog, Prayer | 1 Comment

Four key prayer pointers for your local school

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Elizabeth McDowall

“And the child grew and became strong, he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” Luke 2:40

These familiar verses, talking of course about Jesus, are a brilliant way to pray for children and young people as they go to school. When you pray for the pupils at your local school, here are four key topics to be praying for:

1. We want pupils to gain maximum advantage from the education system we have here in Scotland, growing in knowledge and understanding, fulfilling their potential. We also want them to grow physically, protected from sickness and harm.

2. We long for Christian children in particular to be strong at school; not weak, following the crowd, but with an inner strength that sustains them through times of doubt and difficulty.

3. We also want them to be wise, able to discern the difference between truth and lies, making good decisions and right choices.

4. And of course, most of all, we long for the grace of God to be upon them. What does that mean exactly? It means that they might be aware of his goodness, his love, his favour, his blessing. What a prayer!

Seeing that prayer answered is thrilling. Maybe a young person you know is flourishing at school, or growing as a Christian. Praise God! Or perhaps someone comes to mind who isn’t, and needs your prayers.

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Take a tour of the new Alltnacriche Staff Housing

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Carren

We’re still waiting for a few final tasks to be done, but we’re getting there. In the meantime, enjoy the tour from Lizzie and Morven:

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Do you follow the news?

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Emlyn Williams

I’ve just had a quick look at what’s in the world news today. Obviously the Euro crisis is high on the agenda, but look at some of the other BBC headlines:

  • “Deadly mudslide strikes western Colombia”
  • “Nigeria Islamist raid ‘kills 63′”
  • “Kenya: Grenade attack on church in Garissa kills two”
  • “Honduras arrests 176 police in corruption purge”
  • “Ex-general wins Guatemala run-off”
  • “Bangkok flood evacuation widens”
  • “Pakistan bomber kills ex-official”
  • “Egypt bus crash kills Hungarian tourists”

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Young people share highlights from the Go Conferences

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Carren

We asked some of the young people at this year’s Go MAD and Go LIVE Conferences what they enjoyed about the conference, and how it had helped them to grow as a Christian

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Does poverty really exist in the developed world?

Posted on October 28, 2011 by John Nonhebel

In May 2010, I moved back to Scotland with my family having spent the previous twenty years living and working in Mumbai, India’s largest city with a population of around twenty million people. Taking up the Urban Ministries Leader role with SU Scotland after working in what is still referred to as the developing world, I frequently get asked what the similarities and differences are between working in Glasgow and working in India. Apart from the obvious difference in weather, it’s easy to refer to the fact that Mumbai has more than 20 times the population of Glasgow, which means that many more people are affected by poverty and injustice. It’s also easy to discuss how the levels of poverty and abuse that I encountered in India appear more severe than Glasgow – after all, Glasgow is part of the developed world and Britain has a good welfare system which prevents extreme poverty – doesn’t it?!

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Growing servant leaders

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Chris Brett

Growing Servant Leaders

Training up young leaders is an important ministry in the church; as young people begin the transition into adulthood, we must equip them for their role in tomorrow’s generation.

If they are to step up as leaders, they need to be trained and mentored, and they need the opportunity to put what they’ve learnt into practice; to take on challenges and responsibilities in an environment where it’s ok to give it a go, even if it doesn’t always go as planned.

The scariest thing I could think of…

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Posted in Missions, Training, Volunteers | 1 Comment