Hello everyone, hope you had a great Christmas. Just wanted  to let you know that Defined will be launching a new website early this year complete with blog page you can contribute to. Very excited. However, I need some photos to go online. So if you have any excellent photographs of anything Defined related, please get them to Dan Harris pronto - THANK YOU!!

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Hello everyone - Christmas is well and truly on the way. Here are the details for the Christmas meal.

Excited!

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Hi everyone, if you intend to come down to the Children's Hospital on Thursday (4pm) and sing for Children in Need, here are all the details and the lyrics to all the songs you need:

Christmas_Carols_for_Children_in_Need_2011.pdf Download this file

Hope you'll all be singing your hearts out in preparation!

God Bless!

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If you don't know what the Love Sheffield mince pie giveaway is, we basically hit the streets of Sheffield armed with pies and give them out for free (no throwing allowed unfortunately). All in the name of God's great love for everyone.

Nick Haigh has got his mitts on 8000 mince pies for us to give away, thats approximately 2.5 million calories! Big challenge this time!

THE PLAN

03 DEC - Defined will be giving out pies in the Broomhill area led by Peter M, Bliss W, Brogan H and Rachel H. Please join their teams. Meet in the St Thomas Crookes worship area at 10am (finish at 12pm).

10 DEC - Unprecedented giveaway involving several churches working together in the City Centre. Be a part of this groundbreaking mission! Meet outside St Thomas Crookes at 9.30am and we'll head down into town together (home for 12.30pm).

See the video below:

Love Sheffield at Christmas from St Thomas Crookes on Vimeo.

Brilliant.

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So Glory Revolution is on December 2nd, all the details are below. Dan Harris and Lucy Smith have tickets which are only £2 in advance - bargain! All mates are welcome - there will be some great artists and a decent message. Make sure you grab some tickets on Friday!

We will be hitting the O2 Academy instead of normal Defined. If you want to head down with us we'll meet at church for 6.15pm and head down from there. That is a plan.

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Join us as we gather on the yard for the November tradition here at Defined, the annual Fireworks Party!

Here are the details:

Friday 4th November, 7:30 pm on the yard, £3 entry (includes tasty hot soup!)

We we would love see you and your mates there, it's going to be amazing!!!

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We live in a world where everything is about 'me'. 'What's on my mind?' is a question we're asked every minute of the day, thanks to the wonders of Facebook. How can I be successful in life? Am I going to do well in school? Do my friends actually like me? Am I significant?

These aren't bad questions to ask, but when our lives are dominated with thinking about ourselves, we can forget that we're made for something bigger.

Look at Jesus- you might have heard (or even read) the story of when he washed his friends' feet. You can read it in the Bible, in the book of John chapter 13. It was a grimy, rank job that people wouldn't usually choose to do, in fact, traditionally a servant would have done it in the time that Jesus was around.

So why did he do it? He didn't do this because his mates' feet stank (although they probably did), but because he was teaching them something about the nature of God. God - servant. God - getting his hands dirty. God - knowing our needs and meeting them with love and kindness. And that is the heart of the matter- we believe in a God who so loved us that he chose to serve us, love us, even die for us, so we might freely live.

And how do we live free? As people who serve others and love others, not out of guilt or debt but because that's the best way to be! When we focus too intensely on ourselves we become consumed with it, and we miss the bigger picture.

This autumn we're going to do two different activities to practice living free.

For the 11-14s in Defined, we're going to be doing Slum Survivor on Oct 22nd-23rd- building a place to live for a weekend out of cardboard and wood, and raising money for people who spend their whole lives in these conditions across the world. You might have heard of it before (we've done it over the last 2 years) and it would be great if you could get involved! More details coming up soon- in the meantime check out the Slum Survivor website for an overview...

The second thing we're doing is a brand new venture, called Plug In, for 14+ at Defined. Here, we're teaming up with Eden in Fir Vale to get stuck into their community outreach work round there. We're going to hit the streets doing loads of challenging, practical things over in Fir Valeon Oct 22nd. Sign up to the Facebook page for more info, and we'll be handing out flyers over the next few weeks.

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Well- look no further! This Saturday we're taking part in Love Sheffield, a St Toms initiative where we do giveaways, litterpicks and and other amazing things to bless the people of this fine city.

On Sat 17th Sept we'll be joining the rest of the church family in welcoming the freshers of Sheffield Uni and Sheffield Hallam with giveaways and litterpicks across the city!

You can get involved really easily by meeting at St Toms at 2pm on Saturday, where we'll get put in teams and go out together.

If you want to be involved in leading a team in the future, let us know and we'll sort this out!

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1) school begins again

2) DEFINED BEGINS AGAIN! 

(Can you tell which one we're more excited about..?)

Yes, the Defined Youth Church class of 2011-12 begins tonight for all those who are y.10 or upwards. From 7-9pm in the church hall, we'll be playing some games, catching up with stories from the summer, and giving our awesome new leader, Mr Dan Harris, a bit of a grilling!

If you're y.7-9, you lucky lucky people, there are going to be some amazing fortnightly activities like bowling, ice skating and cinema trips, all kicking off at the start of October. More details to follow- keep checking facebook or get in touch with Dan via the church office, on 0114 267 1090.

Feel free to invite your friends, and get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns.

We are really looking forward to hanging out with you all and spending time getting to know God and each other better this year!

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You might be feeling a bit low after Soul Survivor ending.

You might be feeling a bit depressed about the riots.

You might be feeling bored of sitting at home and eating crisps by yourself all day every day.

FEAR NOT! Defined is here to help! Every Thursday for the rest of the summer we're meeting at church and heading to the Bole Hills to play games, chill out and catch up together. You can even bring your crisps. And your friends!

Today we're meeting at 2pm at church and then heading off together. If it's raining, come anyway, we'll play games in the upper hall instead or watch a film.

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Below is some info about the week itself- you'll be getting a letter within the next few days confirming all these details, so please do read it carefully and keep your parents informed!

Pick up/drop off times

29th July- arrive at church at 1pm. PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF TIME- this is later than we originally said! 

3rd August- we'll be arriving back at church around midday- please arrange to be picked up then.

Remember to vote for the t-shirt at...

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/definedyouth

Click the document belwo to get the kit list... 

Letter_Youth_and_Kit_List_2011_-_final.docx Download this file

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Yes! The people have spoken! Pirates rule the seas (and Crookes)!

The end of the year can only be celebrated one way, and that is with the Defined Pirate Party! So invite your mates, wear your best pirate outfit, bring some snacks, and join us for a once-in-a-lifetime event!

7-9pm, at St Thomas Crookes, all ages (11-18) welcome!

SEE YOU THERE!

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So, most people know this but for those of you who live in a cupboard...

After four years leading Defined Youth Church, Louise, Johannes & I are leaving St Thomas' this summer! 

We will be moving to work at St Paul's Shadwell in East London, where I will be training to be a vicar.

Dan Harris, who has been on staff as Chidlren's worker for a number of years, will be taking over as Defined Youth Church Leader and I'm sure he'll do an excellent job.

We've both loved being a part of St Thomas and seeing Defined grow into what it is today. It's been amazing! 

We love you guys and we'll miss you!

THANKS FOR MAKING DEFINED WHAT IT IS!

Our last few events will be....

15 JULY 2011 - The Summer Gathering

22 JULY 2011 - SUMMER PARTY!

...and, of course, SOUL SURVIVOR!

Rich

PS you'll be able to keep in touch with us on facebook and via our family blog www.thevbgs.wordpress.com!

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We've had the Winter Gathering, all the way back in February, and we had the Easter Gathering, all the way back in... well, Easter. And now, to conclude the summer term, we've got the Defined Summer Gathering happening this Friday!

The plan for the evening is to be family together; we call ourselves Defined Youth Church because we are a church, and the Bible makes it clear that being church together means being God's family together. So come along to the Upper Hall from 7-9pm on Friday 15th July for an all-age gathering with worship, testimonies and the last ever talk by the famous and fabulous Rich and Louise Grant!

It will also be Richie Well's last evening as a Defined leader :-( but he's coming on Soul Survivor :-) so we haven't seen the last of him yet!

Next week is the Defined Summer Party- theme TBC once we've counted up all the votes. Watch this space for details...

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Topics will include..

What does it mean that God's my father?

What do Christians think about relationships?

and...

What about the future?!

We hope to see you there from 7-9pm tonight for the last Thursday Defined of the year, your last chance to buy cheap tickets for Glory Revolution, and an amazing opportunity to meet some inspiring Christians!

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p191.mov Watch on Posterous

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The challenge for this week is "Pick up some litter" so the city really will be shinnier with all those clean streets!

Although if you want a little extra challenge: anybody coming on the beach trip on Thursday could buy Bill and ice-cream...

What ways have you shown kindness already? Or what ways have you been SHOWN kindness?

Share your story > inspire others > be inspired  @  www.makeyourcityshine.com

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After nearly two months break, Ask Anything returns on Thursday 26th May with fresh 'hot topics' and a whole load of new post it notes to be filled with questions. Topics will include...

How do I handle my parents? What about free will? and... What about healing?

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