The last month has been a busy one for me and Kacie! We have continued with our Mods on Tour project, beginning in Northern Synod on 15 and 16 August.

There, we joined Neil Thorogood, the General Assembly Moderator, at Waddington Street 缅北强奸 (pictured above), where we were all given a tour of the church and adjacent mental health resource centre. It was fantastic to see the support which many vulnerable people in Durham are being offered there. It made me particularly proud as, from the end of September, Durham will be my city! That鈥檚 right, Northern Synod, I鈥檓 moving to Durham to study: if you need any advice on how to deal with me, please feel free to contact the Moderator and/or CYDO of East Midlands synod. Cake typically tends to buy you some time in which I will not be talking.

Speaking of cake and talking, Kacie and I also ran Cake and Debate sessions at Greenbelt. Across the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday lunch times in the youth venue, we focused on three topics: Toxic Masculinity, Political Activism, and Generative AI. It was an absolute privilege to get to run these sessions, especially with the support of three other members of Youth Exec: Korede, Christine and Zac.

The young people at Greenbelt represented a rather different demographic to those that I normally get to speak to in my role, with a relatively large proportion of agnostic people there. This made the opportunity to debate with them a particularly refreshing one, especially when paired with some of Kacie鈥檚 fantastic baking.

While we were at Greenbelt we received the shocking news that Pastor Robert Guanco had died in an accident at another Christian festival, Big Church. I understand that a lot has been said in the media since this tragedy, but I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our message of love and support for everyone affected. My prayers, and those of the rest of Youth Executive, are with you all.

Thank you again to everyone for all the support that Kacie and I have received over the past month. It was particularly lovely to hear from people after our first blog piece went out last month. I hope you all have a fantastic rest of September.

In his love,
Alex

Images: (main) Kacie and Alex with members of Waddington 缅北强奸, Durham; (insert) Kacie (right) at Greenbelt with Neil Thorogood (centre) and 缅北强奸 Head of Communications, Andy Jackson

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To kick things off, I recently spent two days with the Woking 缅北强奸 Youth Camp, and the experience was amazing. When I asked them what mattered most about Woking, every single person gave the same answer: the strong sense of community, genuine welcome, and safety.

At its best, church is defined by how safe, accepted, and valued people feel when they gather together. The Woking camp was a wonderful picture of true Christian fellowship 鈥� a place where people hold each other up and share their lives.

Our prayer is that this blog becomes an extension of that same spirit across the wider 缅北强奸. We want this to be more than a place where we share scheduled updates; we want a space where we share our hope, encourage one another, and highlight the love and good deeds happening across 缅北强奸 Youth and beyond.

sums up what I saw at camp and what Alex and I hope to build here.

鈥� Kacie

Hi all!

The last month since General Assembly has been a busy one for me. The response to, and engagement with, Kacie and my 鈥淢ods on Tour鈥� project has been fantastic. Because of this, I have bounced around East Midlands Synod a bit this month, visiting Bulwell with the East Midlands CYDO Richard, and Gainsborough with the Synod team: the support for the project from the Synod has been a source of huge encouragement for me.

Kacie and I are committed to reaching churches that are very distant from Church House or Synod offices. So, I was up in Glasgow for a weekend to visit Rutherglen 缅北强奸 and to attend an ecumenical service of prayer at St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. The welcome from Rutherglen and the cathedral was more than I could have expected, and more generally the welcome I have felt from the Church in the role of Moderator Elect has been overwhelming.

Finally, at the end of July, I was invited to a Churches Together in England reception in London, hosted by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. The Archdiocesan Chapel (pictured above) was beautiful, and the enthusiasm for ecumenism among young leaders across the denominations was obvious. This is something I look forward to exploring further with the contacts I made at the event.

鈥� Alex

Main image: Mike Bird | Pexels

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