Valentines Weekend Review

We stayed in my favourite venue, Dunford house. It's great to be in such
a warm and cosy venue that is full to the brim with so much history. The
food, as always, was great and the staff so helpful too.

We had a great bunch of people with lots of first timers. The group soon
relaxed and enjoyed the venue and activities together.

So what did we get up to?
We had a wander around Midhurst, an afternoon country side ramble, an
historical tour of Arundel and then a wonderful valentines meal followed
by some "Jane Austen" style dancing, our barn dance and some riotious
party games.

Our competitive team game certainly brought out peoples creativeness.
Each team were armed with newspapers, scissors and sticky tape. Their
mission to make their chosen "model" into cupid! As you can imagine
there were angel wings, a fetching Roman style skirt, wrist and ankle
wings, arrows, bows and even a halo on stick!

Sunday was a lot more leisurely with worship, a stroll through the
woodland snowdrops, a cuppa and a chat over the Sunday papers. Just what
we needed!

Ultimately a successful event with a lot of fun.

So, a big thanks to Dunfords staff and particularly to Arnold for
working like a trojan. He takes great care in preparing our encouraging
"Thoughts for the day" and is a mean barn dance caller too!

Thanks too for all who came. It was great to so many new faces. You were
a great bunch and a pleasure to be with. We trust we will see you all
soon at another event before too long.

Many thanks Sue and the Network Christians Team.

I'm not crazy.... I'm just not you! Myers Briggs Weekend Report

I confess I got this title from a well known Myers Briggs Book. It just sums up the confusion and misunderstandings we all experience at some time or another, at work, at church, with friends and family.

It seems to me that we humans are such a diverse, complex bunch of individuals that anything that is able to bring understanding and tolerance should get a big thumbs up.

So, with this in mind, I travelled to the Myers Briggs Personality Indicator course ready to listen and open to new ideas.

I discovered that the theory behind MBPI is not a bunch of dry and dusty academic ideas but a perceptive framework well rooted in life and human experience. Everything we were told had an application to our lives and this is why the course kept all our attention through out the whole weekend.

We listened, asked our tutor, Tony, questions and regularly broke into small groups to chat through how the theory shed light on our thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

There was a growing understanding of why we find our selves in conflict, why certain situations and people test our patience and what situations we flourish and struggle in. We even looked at how our personality type influences how we experience and express our faith.

Ultimately, we were able to laugh at our selves and feel altogether more accepting of people who were different to us.

So did the course meet my expectations? Well, a big resounding yes. It was thought provoking, enlightening and affirming. So a pretty good experience all round!

Susan Ashman

Network Christians