Don't retreat, reload

Don't panic - I haven't become a card-carrying member of the Tea Party, the Sarah Palin Fan Club (I hope there isn't one) or the NRA. This afternoon I arrived in Swanwick, Derbyshire for the bi-annual Arrow Reloaded conference, four days of teaching, worship, reflection, socialising, networking, blah, blah, blah and etc.

Actually, I'm really looking forward to it. I took part in the Arrow leadership programme about four years ago and haven't quite been the same since. The programme aims to equip those involved in Christian leadership to "be led more by Jesus, to lead more like Jesus, to lead more to Jesus" (and, yes, that was off the top of my head and I didn't have to scrabble around in my delegate pack to find the vision statement).

I'm aware that I find myself in a slightly interesting position coming into the conference. All through Arrow itself I was employed as a fulltime church-based youth worker, so figuring out how what I was learning applied to my work context wasn't particularly difficult (although working it out in practice very definitely was...). On the first Arrow Reloaded, back in January 2009 I was coming to the end of my time in London and preparing to head off to a new youth work role in Leicestershire, so while I knew the specifics of my circumstances were changing, the wider context of working with young people within a church and a community would stay pretty much the same.

However.

It's now January 2011 and life looks very different for me at the moment. Although I still work in a Christian context, it's for a mission agency (ironically the one which runs Arrow!). And not only am I not employed as a youth worker, I actually have no leadership role within a local church community.

I suspect that the way in which I engage with that set of circumstances will play a fairly major role in how much or how little I get out of these four days. For a start, I'm aware that there are pastoral options available to me here that could enable me to work through some of the challenging events of the last couple of years - if I have the courage to draw meaningfully on those opportunities, I think I might leave here far better equipped to face all that the next few weeks and months may hold than I am as I arrive.

I also want to make the most of the people around me - the key note speaker (who, going by tonight's introductory session, is likely to be phenomenal), those I went through Arrow with but who I don't get to see much, and old and significant friends.

And I'm looking forward to time out - although with a programme this packed, that might turn out to be a vain hope!