“Ad novum alumni, ambulare cum Deo et frui in via.”

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The title of this post is in Latin and says ‘To new students, walk with God and enjoy the journey’. As you read on, you will understand why I chose this title.

“Sollicite cura te ipsum probabilem exhibere Deo operarium inconfusibilem recte tractantem verbum veritatis.” – II Timotheum II:XV. (Vulgate)

“Bydd ddyfal i’th osod dy hun yn brofedig gan Dduw, yn weithiwr di-fefl, yn iawn gyfrannu gair y gwirionedd.” – 2 Timotheus 2:15 (Beibl William Morgan)

“Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth.” – 2 Timothy 2:15 (Amplified Bible)

Last night at the final ‘God, Games & Goats” night of the summer we had a party themed night, with silly games such as ‘pass the parcel’ & musical chairs. There were party snacks and cakes and everyone had a great time.

It was though, sadly, the last night for some of the young people and volunteer leaders, who in the next 2 weeks will be heading off to Universities and Bible Colleges around the globe. Some will be as close as Bangor University, and others as far afield as Austria.

We prayed for those who are leaving to start a new adventure with God in new surroundings.

It is often hard to do this.  Hard to go somewhere new, and leave what is familiar behind; but we can take great courage from the Bible as it reminds us that the God who created the Universe, who holds everything together by the power of His word. Our God has promised that He will be with us even when we walk into new and unfamiliar territory.  He will never leave us or forsake us and in Jesus, He has revealed Himself as ‘Emmanuel’, the God who is with us.

So as our young people go to University and set foot for the first time in their new accommodation, our God is there with them.

As they walk down the halls of their new campuses, Jesus is right there alongside them; like the lion Aslan in the book ‘The horse and his boy‘ (read the excerpt here). “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20b

This time at University is a great opportunity for them to grow in knowlege and understanding. An opportunity for them to grow in their faith and relationship with God. An opportunity to make new friends and broaden their horizons.

Let us pray for them.

Pray God’s protection and strengthening of them in this time.

Pray they will find a church family near University that will support them in this part of their journey as much as their church family that is sending them will.

A great resource for our amazing soon-to-be students is UCCF (the University and College Christian Fellowship), they have a fantastic website crammed full of more information and resources, well worth a visit. They also have created some short but insightful videos about life as a Christian on campus, such as the one below.

uccf2And they can help our students find Christian Unions at their University which will in turn help them find great churches in their area.

So once again, please pray for our young people who are heading to University.

Also, as we are equally, losing some of our amazing volunteers who are heading to University and Bible College respectively, we are looking for people to fill their shoes and help us with the work we do, so if you have a passion for Jesus, and want to help us impact the lives of young people in our area with the good news about Him, then please do not hesitate to contact us (scroll to the bottom of the page)

 

Who is the greatest?

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said:‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Matthew 18:1-5

The opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held last night at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio De Janeiro. It was a wonderful spectacle with dance, stunts, music and the lighting of the Olympic flame.

During the Paralympics, just as with the Olympics, each sports-person is competing to win the gold, to see who is the ‘greatest’ at their respective sport. It is a wonderful and thrilling time for all of us spectators as we watch these titans clash.

We love watching competition it seems.  Like all of the cooking, sewing and talent shows on the television; such as ‘the great british bake-off’ or ‘the X-factor’. We are watching to see who will win, who will succeed, who is the ‘greatest’.

This can also spill over into our lives, where we look at those around us as we compare ourselves with them. What kind of car do they drive, where do they live, what is their job, what is their family like?

Compare, compare, compare.

We are so competitive.

We want to be the greatest.

It makes us feel good about ourselves, but it comes from the wrong source.

Jesus’ disciples were asking the same question and as always, Jesus took their question as an opportunity to declare the kingdom of God. Turning all of their wrong ideas on their head to reveal the heart of God.

Jesus took the smallest, youngest, most inexperienced and unqualified person to show who was the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

A child.

A little child is dependant on their parents for love, protection, provision, support. A little child is teachable, open to learn and discover. A little child is full of wonder at the world around them. A little child is humble.

Jesus was challenging the disciples to drop their own success, self-effort and self-righteousness. In God’s kingdom we rely totally on our heavenly Father. Dependant on Him, like little children.

Our comparisons and competitions drop to the floor when we see how loved we are and that our worth comes from what God thinks about us, not how ‘great’ we are.

From that place of receiving God’s love comes a freedom to love and accept others in turn.

“And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Matthew 18:5

“The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

When we do this, we see the Kingdom of God at work.

If you want to get involved in some work that is all about building the Kingdom of God, we at Llandudno Youth for Christ are always looking for volunteers to support what we do.

Whether it is at our Saturday Cafe, our Reverb – Youth Space after-school drop-in club, or Redefine, our Sunday evening youth Bible Study, or being a champion in your congregation promoting the work we do, we would love to hear from you and find out how you can get involved.

Contact us on tel: 07517 429 763. email: llandudnoyfc@gmail.com.

Kicking-Off Soon!

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Next week Llandudno Youth for Christ have the launch, or ‘kick-off‘ of the events we will be holding in the 2016-2017 academic year.

Reverb. youth space banner

On Thursday 15th September our ‘Reverb. Youth Space‘ will start. We are really looking forward to this.

Our first ‘Recess‘: school lunch-time meeting at Ysgol John Bright will also be held on Thursday 15th of September.

Then on Sunday the 18th of September; ‘Redefine‘, our Sunday evening Bible study group for young people will be the first of what is going to be a great autumn term.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Genesis 1:1-2.

I love that, ‘in the beginning God‘. Right at the beginning of everything was and is and always will be God. Or as it is put in the letter to the church in Colossae “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 4:15-17. Jesus holds it all together and he is ‘before all things’.

As we start this new season and this new time of reaching out to many young people in Llandudno and beyond, will you join with us in praying that God would be with us, blessing us right at the ‘beginning‘ of all that we are wanting to do. Praying with us and for us that as we take the gospel relevantly to these young people, Jesus would hold everything and everyone together.

That Jesus would be right at the centre of all that we do, and that we would always begin everything we do with God.

Also, don’t forget that we will be holding our next group prayer meeting for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ at the end of the month: Sunday 25th of September at 7pm in Ty Llywelyn Community Centre.

We hope you can join us, but even if you can’t we really appreciate your prayers.

Thank you & keep on praying.

Do what you love and love what you do!

/0 Comments/in , /by

‘See I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills –  to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.’ – Exodus 31:2-5

What are you good at? What do you love doing?

The two men mentioned above were gifted by God with the creative skills to build all of the items needed for the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

They were also called by God to serve Him in a unique way.

Why am I talking about these two guys who were both gifted and called by God for a special purpose that no-one else could fulfil?

Well, this September 15th we will be launching our new after-school’s drop-in event ‘Reverb Youth Space’. Held at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA.

As part of the event, we will have a ‘Quiet room‘ with books, board games, puzzles, colouring books & crafts for people to quietly get stuck into; there will be a ‘Music Zone‘ with guitars and other instruments for people to play and jam with; a ‘Movie Room‘ where people can watch a film and chill out; and finally a ‘Geek Zone‘ where there will be ‘retro gaming’ stations, a comic book reading corner, sci-fi & superhero top trumps, anime, cosplay and other geeky goodness.

For each of these ‘zones‘ we are looking for more volunteers to help out with the work.

A-ha!

Yes, as with Bezalel and Ohaliab, we are looking for people who are passionate about serving God and who want to see young people engaging with Him in a safe and fun environment.

We want people gifted and called by God, like the two craftsmen above.

If you love to see young people engaging with God, then like the title above says ‘do what you love’.

Contact us here at LLYFC and let us know you would like to help out.

Tel: 07517 429 763 (Office Telephone: Mondays & Thursday 9am – 5pm)

Email: llandudnoyfc@gmail.com

we want you pointing finger LLYFC

Robot Wars!

/1 Comment/in , /by

We had a brilliant night at ‘God, Games and Goats’ yesterday by running our own ‘Robot Wars’ event. Four teams, lots of cardboard, a make shift arena and copious amounts of carnage!

This is one of the amazing things about our new venue; the ability to take on bigger, and more space-demanding projects – and this one was a belter. Everyone who came got stuck in and thoroughly enjoyed themselves – especially Tim. Check out the video!

It really struck us again, though, that this sort of thing only works with a small group because we are so short of team members right now. We are looking forward to bringing fantastic events like these into our Thursday afternoon group – but at the moment, we just don’t have the numbers on team.

Unfortunately, we’ve just lost a couple of solid regular team members for September because of genuine health and travel reasons – they will be massively missed. Finding volunteers is always a struggle, but right now we’re teetering on the edge of not being able to open after the summer.

That said, we believe that God wants our Thursday group to open! He has provided all kinds of things for it, including the funds for our new team logo and t-shirts. So we believe that God is going to provide us some team! Are you part of that answered prayer?

We’re looking for several more people to join our team this September for Thursday afternoons at Reverb in term time. This is a once, twice or three times a month, 3.45-6.15pm commitment, including setup and packaway, depending on your availability. All we ask is for you to love Jesus and love young people – we will train, support and equip you to do the rest.

There is a volunteer process, including a ‘try it out’ session, a form to help us get to know you, a simple chat with Tim, a DBS (police check) and a provisional few months to find your feet. This is always organic and very simple to complete – and you’ll get a free t-shirt!

If you’re interested – or would just like to find our more, then contact the office on llandudnoyfc@gmail.com, or you can send us a message on our facebook page. If you want to get straight into the process, you can download the volunteer form here.

Think and pray – we’d love to have you!

13731808_1082297738529061_4900773706661616615_o

Rest and be thankful.

/1 Comment/in /by

1 God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
    God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.’

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46

On the trip around the coast road of the Great Orme, you will find a small cafe called the ‘Rest and be Thankful‘. With the August bank holiday week-end soon upon us, and a time where often people get very busy trying to relax, I thought it would be good to reflect upon the above Psalm that encourages us to ‘rest’ and ‘be thankful’.

So this coming ‘Bank Holiday‘ week-end, I encourage you to take some time to ‘be still and know’ that He is God.

 Relieve yourself of all of your stresses and pressures and….

‘Rest and be thankful.’

This is definitely a great piece of advice for all of the amazing and fantastic volunteers that help out in all of the different projects that Llandudno Youth for Christ run.

They have all had a very busy year, and indeed a busy summer and they themselves need to set aside some time to ‘rest’ and ‘be thankful’.

In-fact, with the new academic season upon us in September, following the bank holiday week-end, we will be in need of more volunteers to fill gaps, as some of our volunteers are soon to be moving on to different endeavours, and some need a well earned rest.

If you have a passion for seeing young people impacted by our amazing God, and feel that you could spare one evening a week, then please contact us on 07517 429 763 or llandudnoyfc@gmail.com

We would greatly appreciate your help.

Direct Appeal: Help Keep Our Equipment Safe!

/4 Comments/in , , /by

Can you help us at Llandudno Youth for Christ?

Here at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we have been looking for more storage for our equipment. Due to changes in the place where we have kept our equipment in the past year we have had to find alternative storage. We have found this, at ‘Bathers Self Storage‘ on builder’s street in Llandudno.

We are now using a brand new 10ft outdoor storage container: Clean & dry – for £110 p/m (their most inexpensive option).

Could you help us make this currently ‘temporary’ storage solution, a permanent storage solution?

It will cost us £1,320 per year and £110 per month.

Would you be willing to sponsor us? – For either the whole year, or a month at a time?

The storage is so close to Ty Llywelyn Community Centre where we hold most of the different projects we do, and also to Ysgol John Bright, where we hold regular lunch-time meetings, making it easier for us to pick up the necessary pieces of equipment for different events.

It will also help prevent any equipment becoming damaged or waterlogged etc. especially as we have things such as sound equipment, brand new tents (wonderfully sponsored by some amazingly generous individuals), costumes for dramas, sports equipment, etc stored there.

If you feel like you would like to partner with us in this, please don’t hesitate to email the office on llandudnoyfc@gmail.com or phone us on 07517 429 763 (you can leave a message if no-one is in the office when you call)

All Wright now….

/0 Comments/in /by

The Wright Brother flew right through the smokescreen of impossibility. – Charles Kettering.

The above is a quote about Orville Wright and his brother Wilbur, pioneers of aviation, who are generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world’s first successful airplane; the flight taking place in December 1903.

Orville was born on 19th August 1871. The son of a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ; Orville grew up in Richmond, Indiana & Dayton, Ohio.

After one of their father’s many trips speaking at churches around the USA, he brought back a toy helicopter for them to play with, and both Orville & his brother Wilbur recognised and acknowledged that playing with this toy influenced their work in aviation.

Their father’s small act of love for his sons had a great impact upon the whole world. When Orville Wright passed away in 1948 the turbojet engine for airplanes had been invented.

The Wrights opened up the skies to the whole human race.

Today missionary organisations make much use of airplanes to impact the world with the good news of Jesus. Organisations such as ‘Missionary Aviation Fellowship‘ or MAF for short, IAMA or the International Association of Missionary Aviation, and ‘Wings of Faith‘, to name a few.

It makes me think of how the rise of the Greek & Roman empires paved the way for the ease of the spread of the gospel. At the time of the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ most of the then known world communicated in Greek (as the main language of trade) and travelled along Roman built roads.

 God truly is wise and sovereign, and His great heart of love desires for “all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30b-31. For “from one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. “For in him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:26-28.

It is amazing how God can take such small things, like the gift giving by the Wright brothers’ father, and change the world. After all He did feed over 5,000 people from just five loaves of barley bread and two fish.

What small act of kindness and love do you have in your hand that God can use to change the world?

Wet wipes anyone?…..

/0 Comments/in , /by

This coming Wednesday 17th August, Llandudno Youth for Christ are holding our annual ‘Refresh’ conference.  This is a 1 day fun-filled event that we hold at St David’s College in Llandudno.

Like its name, the day is aimed at giving the young people a time and place to let off some steam with fun activities, such as Ultimate Frisbee, a Wide Game, Acoustic Music around a Campfire, 9 Square and some Storytelling. A time for them to relax and refresh themselves before the new academic term starts in September.

We have held this conference at St David’s for the past several years. St Davids is a school that was founded with the aim of offering an education system that impacts upon the whole-person, not just stimulating the intellect. The school was founded by John Mayor in 1965 on Christian principles and outdoor education.

We love having this conference in such a fabulous setting and are extremely grateful for all of the staff at St David’s for all of the help they give us.
The conference will run from 12 – 4pm this coming Wednesday.

I posted the above picture for the conference, not because we have a ‘colour run’ as part of the conference, but just for the play on words of a wet wipe being refreshing upon your face, and that the people in the picture look like they could do with a wet wipe to clean their faces with.

In the Bible, I found some references to ‘refresh’; “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” Jeremiah 31:25. “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” Psalm 23:2 “By all this we are encouraged. In addition to our own encourageent, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.” 2 Corinthians 7:13

We see from these verses that God refreshes us, and that also in the context of Christian community we can refresh each other and encourage each other in our walk with God.

We hope and pray that the young people that do attend will indeed be ‘Refreshed’.

Will you pray for the day, that God would bless everything with His presence and that many young lives would be impacted by the love of God.

If you are a young person who would like to come, or you know a young person who would like to come, please download the permission slip and bring it along to the event completed.

Thank you.

Refresh-Form-2016

 

It only takes a ‘Spark’ to get a fire going.

/2 Comments/in /by

Spark North Wales LogoThe above title is taken from the lyrics to a 1969 worship song by Kurt Kaiser called ‘Pass it on‘.

It only takes a spark to get a fire going
And soon all those around can warm up to its glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love
Once you’ve experienced it
You spread your love to everyone
You want to pass it on

At the end of August, Saturday 27th of August, we will be holding our 4th ‘Spark’ event, back in the venue it all started in, Ty Llywelyn Community Centre. This will be our 3rd event here, with our first ever ‘Spark’ event taking place 12 months ago.

Boy has time flown.

Since then we have had a ‘Spark’ Christmas special and taken our ‘Spark’ event on tour to Holyhead.

Now we have come full circle and are going to be holding our Summer ‘Spark’ event once more at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre in Llandudno.

It’s going to be held on Saturday 27th August, 6-8pm.

The theme this year is ‘Is it possible to be a Christian and not be a jerk‘ – looking at how we treat those around us.  Do we demonstrate and walk in the love of God, or do we bash people with our religious views and act like jerks?

As with all ‘Spark’ events, the aim and motivation of the event is for young people who are followers of Jesus to be encouraged and strengthened in their faith, for them to ‘fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you‘ (2 Timothy 1:6).

To ‘Spark’ the tinder and set a fire of faith and passion for God in their hearts.

At each event we have held, many young people from churches in North Wales, from Holyhead to Prestatyn have come together and had great times of fun, food and fellowship. Times of worshipping together and getting to grips with God’s word in a real and relevant way.

We’ve seen God move in so many lives and bring so much, hope, strength and encouragement; and we look forward to seeing Him do it again at the end of the month.

If you are a young Christian in North Wales, we would love for you to come along to ‘Spark’ and have a great time being encouraged and supported in your faith.

If you are a youth worker, parent or pastor of young Christians in North Wales, we would love for this event to be a great resource for you in encouraging the young people in your church, chapel, community.

You can find out more on our Facebook page.FB-FindUsonFacebook-online-1024

And finally, here are two music videos about being on fire for God and shining brightly.

SHINE!