We’d ‘heart’ for you to be part of the team!

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Here at Llandudno Youth for Christ we have a fantastic bunch of volunteers that support all of the work that we do with young people in Llandudno and beyond.

Some of them work in our projects that directly impact the young people, such as ‘Reverb Youth Space‘ our Thursdays after-school drop-in, ‘Recess‘ our Thursday’s lunchtime schools club & ‘Redefine‘ our Sunday evening youth Bible Study; others work in our ‘Reverb Saturday Cafe @ St John’s‘ on Mostyn Street, where they lovingly make sweet and savoury crepes, pour teas & coffees, serve customers and wash-up amongst other tasks.

The Saturday cafe volunteering helps serve the wider Llandudno community with a safe haven to sit, relax & chat amidst the hustle and bustle of a busy Saturday on Llandudno’s high street. This is not so-much of a direct face to face working with young people aspect of the work we do, but it does help people learn more about the work of LLYFC; it blesses the local community, it helps to raise much needed funds for the work of LLYFC and it also gives many of our young people opportunities to serve others and grow in confidence as they help out.

We also have others that commit to pray regularly for the work that we do; meeting on the 4th Sunday of each month at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre to pray for everything that we do.

We have church leaders, teachers, parents and other youth workers that continue to support all of the work we do and are extremely grateful for all of their support.

If, in any way, shape or form you have helped, or do continue to help the work of LLYFC in reaching out to young people in Llandudno and beyond with the good news of Jesus, then we would love to say to you: ‘THANK YOU‘. Keep on doing what you are doing.

Also, if you have never before thought about volunteering with us, then please do prayerfully consider this. As we head into summer and then in September to a brand new school year; we are always looking for more volunteers. More people to help us reach more young people with the love of God.

If you feel that God is directing you to help us out, whether directly or indirectly, we’d ‘heart‘ (love) to hear from you, and we’d ‘heart‘ (love) for you to join us in seeing more young people reached with the gospel.

Please do contact us by phone: 07517429763, email: llandudnoyfc@gmail.com, or letter: Llandudno Youth for Christ, c/o Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA.

Be blessed!

Waiting for the summer…

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Hi all, some of you might recognise the lyric & title to a less well known Delirious? song. I thought it linked well into the fact that in less than 12 days time the schools will close for the summer!

Until then, there are so many young people simply ‘waiting for the summer’.

At Llandudno Youth for Christ, we also have a whole host of fun events that are going to be held during the summer school break.

Just one week after schools close our very own director, Mr Tim Gough, will be finally taking the plunge with Tim’s Big Jump! We are so excited for him in doing this! He will be jumping over 400ft from the highest bungee jump in the UK and is aiming to raise £5,000 for the work of LLYFC. Please support him, especially as we draw closer to the jump day of the 28th of July.

In August we have some more fun days to look forward to.

On Tuesday 1st of August we will be holding our overnight youth event at Gloddaeth Church: ‘The Lock-In‘; this is a fun evening for all the young people, with games, a movie, Bible studies and times of prayer and worship together.

Then on Thursday 3rd August we will be holding a picnic and water fight on the green outside the Lighthouse Church on the West Shore of Llandudno.

Finally we a capping off the summer with our great mini-conference ‘Refresh‘ at St. David’s College in Llandudno.

We are looking forward to hosting these great events for the young people in Llandudno and beyond.

Please be praying for all of these events. Praying for the volunteers and young people involved. Praying that God would change lives at each event.

Also, please consider sponsoring Tim as he jumps over 400ft on the 28th July.

Be blessed!

5,4,3,2,1..Thunder-Tim is go!!!!!

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In just over 3 weeks, our very own centre director Mr Tim Gough will be jumping over 400ft out of a crane attached to a bungee cord and will travel at speeds up to 90mph as he rushes headlong towards the ground. The whole jump will take only 5 seconds to complete from launch to the full extension of the bungee cord.

So, 400ft, 90mph, 5seconds!

Wow!

Why is he doing such an insane thing? Listen to him explain it here.

He is doing it all to raise money for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ and all the great work we do at sharing the good news of Jesus relevantly with the young people in North Wales.

So on the 28th of July Tim will be taking the big plunge.

Tim is planning by this endeavour to raise over £5,000 for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ. So far we have raised over £2,000; so we have 3 weeks to raise over half the amount, but I believe we can do it.

Let your friends and family know about this insane but worthwhile feat that Tim is doing. Get them to sponsor him.

If you or someone you know has been blessed by the work of LLYFC. If you’ve been to a ‘Spark‘ event, come to ‘Recess‘, ‘Reverb‘ or ‘Redefine‘. If you’ve attended one of our ‘Monthly Meet‘ training evenings, or enjoy our ‘Reverb Saturday Cafe @ St John’s‘ then please do sponsor Tim and encourage your friends to do so too.

I’m sure if everyone that has ever been impacted by the work that we do in and around Llandudno and beyond gave just £1 to this, then we would easily raise the remainder of the money and reach our goal of £5,000.

Please share this and let’s support Tim as he takes a big leap for a big ministry that serves a big God.

Be blessed!

 

I am loved more than I can ever know!

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This blog’s title is a personalisation of the lyrics to the song ‘Light‘ by the band Sleeping At Last. In the chorus of the song it says ‘you are more loved than you can ever know’.

Which is so true.

I don’t think we can ever fully understand or appreciate how much God loves us. How much we are loved.

“Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” – Jeremiah 31:3.

“This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” – 1 John 4:10

“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!” – 1 John 3:1

At last night’s ‘Redefine‘ we looked at the Father heart of God; how He loves us so much.

I used to struggle with the thought that God loved me, unconditionally. I thought that His love for me was conditional. That it depended upon my performance.

Over the past several years God has taken me on a journey to reveal just how much He loves me. How He is a good Father, and not the fractured and imperfect image of a father that we see in the world around us, but the perfect Father that we are looking for.

Becoming a dad myself has really helped me grasp more fully how much He truly does love us.

I love my children, because of who they are, my children, not because of what they do. The moment I first saw them my heart filled with so much love. More than I thought possible. This little bundle of arms & legs, totally dependant on me and my wife.

My love is imperfect and flawed.

How much more does God who is the perfect Father love us!?

“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” – Romans 5:6-8.

It was so great to have the opportunity to share this life changing truth, that God really does love us, with so many young people: For them to hear this truth at such a young age.

‘Redefine‘ is a great ministry that seeks to help disciple young people and see them grow and develop in their faith. To find and discover a true and deeply rooted relationship with Jesus and grow in that relationship.

We seek to put the tools in their hands that will help them throughout their lives. Help them to read the Bible for all it’s worth. To live a life full of prayer and praise. To learn to serve and support each other. To reach out to those around them with the love of God that they have discovered to be so true.

Please continue to pray for the young people that come to ‘Redefine‘. Also pray that God would add to their number and that we would see many more young people be reached with the life changing gospel of Jesus.

Be blessed and know that you are loved!

We want you!

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Not the great British Bake-Off, but this Summer we are looking for some enthusiastic and fun-loving volunteers to help us out with our Reverb Saturday Cafe @ St John’s.

We are always looking for more wonderful volunteers at this great endeavour that creates a safe and friendly environment on a Saturday for shoppers to rest and relax and chat over a nice cup of tea or coffee and nibble a cake. For those wanting something more substantial, we do freshly cooked filled french crepes & yummy toasted sandwiches.

It’s a really busy and fun day for all involved; and it is great to be part of something that brings joy to so many.

However, this Summer, especially on Saturday 29th of July & Saturday 12th of August, we are, due to people being away or unavailable, a little short staffed on those days. So if you know how to make a toasted sandwich, or are an ace with a tea bag and a cake slice, or you feel that you can take & deliver orders with vim and vigour; then we would love to hear from you.

And don’t be fearful that you don’t have what it takes; after all, in the wonderful words of wisdom from ‘Ratatouille’; “Anyone can cook“. So if that’s you, drop us a line and put on your apron.

“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” – Romans 12:6-8

If you have been gifted with the gift of serving; then this is a great opportunity for you.

Contact us by email: llandudnoyfc@gmail.com or ring the LLYFC office on: 07517 429763 (Mondays & Thursday 9am to 5pm and Fridays 9am to 1pm)

Be blessed!

Testing one, two, three

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Last week at Llandudno Youth for Christ; we held our last ‘Monthly Meet‘ training evening before the Summer holidays. It was as usual highly informative, interactive, engaging & fun. Plus there was a plethora of free snacks & drinks (both hot & cold) to meet everyone’s needs.

The subject of the night was ‘10 tips for giving better talks to teens‘. We looked at public speaking in depth; with practical exercises to help us understand how better to use our voices and also how to nail the content & delivery of a talk to grab and hold the attention of your listeners well.

Here are the 10 top tips (as a PDF) – Monthly Meet Vocal handout 2017

Have a read through the PDF and start putting in place the advice given; and I’m sure you’ll see your confidence in public speaking grow in leaps and bounds.

It was as always a great evening and well worth attending. We will be restarting our ‘Monthly Meet‘ training evenings in September. If you are interesting in coming along to our next monthly meet, or know of someone who would benefit from not only the training given, but also from networking with other youth workers in the North Wales region, then do please contact us at Llandudno Youth for Christ, and we can get you and/or them on our mailing list to let you know when the next ‘Monthly Meet‘ is going to take place.

We are really passionate about equipping everyone with tools that will help them more effectively disciple and nurture young people in their walk with God; so please do join us in September; also, for those of you that do come along to our ‘Monthly Meet‘, what other topics or areas of training would you like to discuss/look at?

Be blessed!

 

Mirror, mirror on the wall….

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We all know how to complete the quote in the title of this post; “Who is the fairest of them all?”

In today’s world, just as much as in the time the original tale of ‘Snow White’ was written, in 19th century Germany, people are looking for love and affirmation. However, unfortunately they often go looking in all the wrong places.

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.” – Isaiah 55:1-3

This search for love is a deep seated desire and need in our hearts; and is indeed a good thing. God placed this in us, for we are made in His image, and He is love. For love to truly be love it needs an object for its affection. We need God’s love.

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” – Augustine of Hippo.

It is written into our spiritual DNA. We only find peace, purpose and our home when we abide in God’s love.

“I find rest in God; only he can save me.” – Psalm 62:1

However, we as I said, go looking in all the wrong places. Which is like looking into cracked mirrors. Distorted images that look like the truth, but are in-fact misleading.

We are told that if we wear this clothing, drive this type of car, hang out with this group of people etc. we will be popular and loved. We are pushed and pulled in so many different directions.

None of which help us find our true worth and value; and when we do look in our cracked mirrors, all we see is a distorted image that doesn’t help our self-esteem.

However, when we turn to God and listen to His voice; we see more clearly.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” – James 1:22-24

He calls us beloved. He gives us worth and He restores us.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” – Jeremiah 31:3

We have value, because He places value on us; not because of what we have or haven’t done, but because He made us and loves us.

Last night at ‘Redefine‘ we looked at self worth and self-esteem; and spent time encouraging each other by speaking good things about each other, in the same way that God continues to speak life and love over us.

We also held our monthly prayer meeting; and we are so grateful for so many people continuing to uphold Llandudno Youth for Christ in prayer.

May you have a great week and listen to what God says about you, not asking the ‘mirror‘ of the world what it thinks about you; but looking intently into the ‘mirror‘ of God’s Word (the bible) to hear what God says about you.

Be blessed!

 

“So I say thank you for the music…”

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The above title is an excerpt from the lyrics to an Abba song. It is so true to be thankful for the gift of music.

Last Sunday evening at our Bible study for young people group; ‘Redefine‘ we discussed and looked at the power and influence of music in our lives and what God has to say about music.

Whether you like classical, baroque, bluegrass, jazz, funk, folk, heavy metal or soul doesn’t really matter all that much. It is just a matter of taste and preference. What is amazing is the power that music has to bring health, wellbeing and healing into our lives.

After doing some research I found over 10 ways in which music benefits us.

Music can –

1 – Help Improve the quality of sleep we get. Listening to classical music has been shown to effectively treat insomnia in college students.

2 – Help ease pain in the body. Music can meaningfully reduce the perceived intensity of pain, especially in palliative medicine, geriatric care, or intensive care.

3 – Help increase our endurance and performance when exercising. By listening to our favourite motivating song or album, we can exercise harder and for longer.

4 – Helps with the body’s recovery after exercise.

5 – Help enhance blood vessel function. Scientists have found that listening to music made participants in the study feel happier and resulted in increased blood flow in their blood vessels.

6 – Help to reduce stress. Research has found that listening to music can relieve stress by triggering biochemical stress reducers.

7 – Relieve symptoms of depression. Listening to uplifting and calming music can help elevate people’s moods and alleviate the symptoms of depression (just ask King Saul)

8 – Help reduce anxiety as much as a massage does. Researcher have found that music’s effect on anxiety levels is similar to the effect of getting a massage.

9 – Help Improve the brain’s cognitive performance. Background music may enhance performance on cognitive tasks. One older study found that listening to music allowed test takers to complete more questions in the time allotted, and get more answers right.

10 – Help relax patients before surgery and ease their stress after surgery. A scientific study found that listening to music helped put waiting for heart surgery at ease. Another bit of research revealed that post-heart surgery patients that were duly bed-ridden were helped to remain calm and rest after the trauma of such invasive surgery by listening to music.

11 – Help ease recovery in stroke patients. Researchers in Finland concluded that when stroke patients listened to music for two hours a day, their verbal memory and attention improved and they had a more positive mood compared to patients who didn’t listen to music or who listened to audio books.

12 – Help people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s. ‘A recent study shows that dementia and Alzheimer’s patients can recall memories and emotions, and have enhanced mental performance after singing classic hits and show tunes from movies and musicals.’ (For more on the how music helps with this see http://www.alzheimers.net/2014-07-21/why-music-boosts-brain-activity-in-dementia-patients/)

These are all benefits gained from simply listening to music. When we play an instrument, there are even more benefits to be gained; as explained in a short TED talk video written by Anita Collins.

In the Bible, we find that there was music at the beginning of creation (Job 38), and in-fact there is a whole book of songs right in the middle of the Bible (the book of Psalms). Also, there is continuous music going on around the throne of God (Revelation 5). God has given us a great gift in music.

It brings life and health and healing. It helps us thinks and feel more clearly. Best of all, we can use it to express our love and praise of God: We can us it to worship Him.

So I say thank you (God) for the music; and thank you to our great Redefine volunteers for looking at and studying God’s great gift of music.

This week, think about your favourite worship song, why you like it, how God speaks to you through it. Read through the Bible and look for how God uses music to speak to us.

Have a great week and be blessed!

 

 

Hope you had a great Father’s Day!

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A happy belated Father’s day to everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed the glorious sunshine and had a great time with friends and family.

It is such a privilege being a father, and it also has such immense responsibility. In his letter to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul writes “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” – Ephesians 6:4. Moses, when instructing the people of Israel to continue following God and His decrees, also says they are to “Teach them (God’s decrees) to your children and to their children after them.” – Deut 4:9.

We have a great responsibility to not only teach our children about God and what it means to have a relationship with Him; but we are also to model a life of faith for them in our day to day lives. This is an impossible task in our own strength; but as we let the Holy Spirit change us and transform us and empower us to do God’s will in every area of our lives, we can do it (Phil 4:13).

Also, let us not forget that we are not alone in our fatherhood. We have a great company of other fathers in our church communities around us that we can get alongside to give and receive strength & encouragement. We also have a great Father in heaven that loves us with an everlasting love and is the very expression of love. As we look to Him we are transformed by His love to better express the Father’s heart to our children and grandchildren.

This is such an important task and message.

Everyone needs to know the love of God the Father. To feel safe, accepted, and unconditionally loved.

The only true place to find that is with and from God.

Even if you are not a father, you can model the Father’s heart to those around you, especially in helping to encourage & mentor the younger generation.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” – 1 John 3:1 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.” – 1 John 5:1

A great resource that I have found to share the Father heart of God is the website – http://www.fathersloveletter.com/

Check it out and be encouraged. I have also been blessed by Max Lucado’s Wemmick Story books. Especially ‘You are Special‘ and ‘You are mine’.

So to all the amazing Fathers out there; I want to say thank you to you. Keep on loving and keep on demonstrating and living out the Father heart of God to your family and community.

Be blessed!

 

Here comes the sun….

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Well, in just over 5 weeks time the schools will have shut for the summer holidays! Wow, it seems like the year is flying by, but there is still so much to look forward to.

We’ve had a great year so far at Llandudno Youth for Christ.

We started the year off with a bang as a large number of our volunteers joined our centre director at the Youth for Christ UK annual conference in Manchester. It was a great event, where we got to meet up with other crazy & wonderful Youth for Christ workers and volunteers. We were all encouraged and challenged to believe God for more in 2017; and to really dig in deeper in prayer for the year ahead. To create a culture of prayer within Youth for Christ and to see many young people changed by the power of the gospel of Jesus.

Then we had a great spring term in the schools; continuing to deepen our links with Ysgol John Bright. Numbers have grown steadily at our Thursday lunch-time meeting ‘Recess‘, especially after our centre director Mr Mr Tim Gough held a series of assemblies in the school.

This also had a positive affect on the number of young people coming to our after school-drop in club ‘Reverb Youth Space‘, also held on Thursday afternoons at 3:15pm in Ty Llywelyn Community Centre in Llandudno. Here the young people come to relax and have fun with friends. They can sit in our quiet creative room and do arts & crafts; or they can play board games, pool, table football or retro video games in our games zone, then finally we have a more energetic space where we play table tennis or 4 square. We also hold a monthly ‘movie event’ at the ‘Reverb Youth Space‘, which is a great event for our young people to invite friends to.

‘Redefine‘ has continued to grow and consolidate, with a number of our young people stepping up to become young helpers who help the rest of the volunteer team with running the Sunday evening Bible study.

Speaking of Bible studies we also have a new event called ‘Afterhours‘ that is run after our ‘Reverb Youth Space‘ drop-in. This is a meeting where those that wish to can dig in deeper into the Bible and it is going really well after only a couple of months.

There is so much more to say that I’d run out of time to talk about what we have ahead of us. Needless to say God has been blessing us amazingly and abundantly so far this year, with great volunteers, great prayer support and great financial support.

We will continue to look to Him to meet our needs as we head in to July & August.

Especially as we head towards ‘Tim’s Big Jump‘.

Our centre director is going to be doing a massive bungee jump on the 27th July in Chepstow to raise funds for the work of LLYFC. We are looking at raising £5,000 towards all that we do to reach young people with the gospel. You can hear about it from Tim himself here. Please consider supporting us and sponsoring Tim; also, let your firends, family & churches know about this and encourage them to support this amazing feat.

Also, as we move into the summer we will be holding a host of different events for the young people in the area. Do continue to pray for us and the work that we are doing. Please also consider attending our next prayer meeting for the work of LLYFC; Sunday 25th June at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, LL30 1LA, 7pm start.

Have a great week and thank you for your support.

 

Be Blessed!