LICC email encouragements review by Becky Lawrence, Youth and Children’s Worker, St Mark’s MK

 

LICC is the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity, I’ve been subscribed to their twice weekly emails for several years now and I love them to start and end my week.  LICC are a charity committed to supporting and equipping christians to serve God every day on the frontline, in their job, while they study, at school or in ministry.

“We have a dream that every Christian would go out into their bit of God’s world confident that God can work through them, confident that Jesus is good news for the people they meet, good news for the things they do, good news for the organisations they engage in.” – LICC

On their website they describe their mission as this:

“98% of Christians spend 95% of their waking lives ‘on the frontline’ – in shops and schools and shelters, in homes and offices and gyms.  Certainly, the world is changing. And daily life for many of us can be challenging. That’s the case whether we’re fresh into work, thirty years on the job, hauling kids to the school gate, retired and purposeful, or leading a church.

So at LICC we’re committed to:

• Empowering Christians to make a difference for Christ in our Monday to Saturday lives
• Helping church leaders equip their church communities to do it, and
• Fuelling a movement to reach and renew our nation”

The emails are one of the ways LICC equip christians on their frontline and of helping people apply christianity to our lives and culture.  They also offer training, resources and more, check out their website to see if anything else they do would be useful for you in your context.  https://licc.org.uk/about/

On Monday morning they send out a ‘Word for the Week’ and on Friday they end the working week with a ‘Connecting wiith Culture’ email.   I really recommend these not just for youth/kids leaders but for any christian as free encouraging emails, they are a useful prompt to take a moment at the start and end of the week to fill your mind with a spiritual focus.  I’ll unpack the themes of these and some more info and let you know how you can sign up to recieve them too, keep reading!

 

Word for the Week

Every Monday, receive a short reflection on a passage from the Bible, with a frontline focus.  I find these a great way to start my week, they are not too long and they always have practical suggestions of how to apply the Bible verses to your everyday life.  Here’s what LICC say about their Word for the Week:

“Theologians have sometimes compared the Bible to a pair of glasses: we look through Scripture as through a set of lenses to see God, the world around us, and ourselves more clearly.

Our weekly Bible reflections, available via email, help you to apply a passage of Scripture to your everyday ordinary life: at home, in the workplace, or wherever you are. They come in separate series, written by LICC staff or outside experts, and are based on a variety of themes, biblical books, or liturgical seasons.”

You can sign up for the free ‘Word for the Week’ emails here https://licc.org.uk/ourresources/word-for-the-week/

 

 

Connecting with Culture

Every Friday, recieve a blog post by email that reflects on news, trends, innovation, and the arts, looking for what we can learn from, celebrate, and critique in culture and every area of life.  I really like these ones as they are always a creative down to earth take on something relevant to culture including current events, movies, tv, and news with a spiritual heart helping us to apply Biblical understanding to the event, tv show or film in the article.  The posts always find something positive to celebrate in culture or something negative to critique – where perhaps Christianity offers a different way or something more meaningful.  I love the way the different authors draw parallels or differences between worldly culture and christian culture.  Three of my favourite inspiring and encouraging ‘Connecting with Culture’ Posts are these, ‘Purpose Meaning and all that jazz’ which looks at the flm Soul, ‘Inseparably together at the Friends reunion’ which explores the Friends tv show reunion, and ‘No lockdown on the Holy Spirit’ which explores how the Holy Spirit isn’t tamed or locked down despite us being restricted during the pandemic.    LICC describe their Connecting With Culture posts like this:

“But how do we fit into or stand out from culture as Christians? How do we think about what is going on around us, and go about bringing it more into alignment with God’s kingdom? Connecting with Culture wrestles with these questions.

Our interests range wide – we discuss everything from Love Island to popular films, like Dunkirk and the God of History, to the current affairs and some of the big questions of today. Each post offers a simple thought on something relevant that week, written that week. As we reflect and ask questions, we’re looking for what we can learn from, celebrate, and critique in culture. We believe the gospel really is applicable to every single area of life. We hope you’ll find these pieces thought-provoking, informative, and maybe even a little bit life changing.”

You can sign up for the free ‘Connecting with Culture’ weekly emails here https://licc.org.uk/ourresources/connectingwithculture/