Commissioning

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A week ago at Youth for Christ headquarters in Halesowen, a service was held to commission new workers and volunteers in the Youth for Christ family. Here at Llandudno Youth for Christ we had 2 of our young people commissioned.

This was an amazing thing to see. Both of the young ladies that were commissioned have been members (as young people) of the various events we have held at Llandudno Youth for Christ and have grown up attending ‘Redefine’, our Sunday evening Bible Study and discipleship group for young people, and ‘Reverb’ our after school youth drop-in .

It’s truly humbling and encouraging to see them wanting to give back to the work of Youth for Christ, after having been so blessed by it themselves.

One of the young ladies is going to be working in the media department at Youth for Christ head office, whilst the other is going to be taking up an internship with Llandudno Youth for Christ.

Please do be praying, not just for them, but all of the young people doing their gap year with Youth for Christ. Pray that they would have a year of growing closer to God and serving young people in projects around the whole of the UK.

It’s so great to know that the work that we have been doing at Llandudno Youth for Christ has produced so much good fruit. These two young ladies are not the only former members that have gone on to serve God in amazing ways.

We pray that in the next 10 years (remember 2019 is our 10 year anniversary), we will see even more fruit in the lives of young people from the different projects that we run.

Please do consider partnering with us financially, in prayer or by volunteering at one of the many projects we run.

Be blessed!

From Worship to Wacky Races!

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Well things are in full swing at Llandudno Youth for Christ.

We are more than half way through our ‘We Believe‘ teaching series and have covered the following topics ‘Found People Find People‘, ‘Saved People Serve People‘ & ‘Everyone is a Worship Leader‘. We have two topics left to cover in the next 3 weeks (we’ll be having one of our amazing social events in-between the last 2 topics): ‘Growing People Change‘ (This Sunday 29th September) and ‘You can’t do life alone‘ (On Sunday 13th October).

These are great topics that help the young people at ‘Redefine‘ think about how they put ‘legs’ onto their faith: What a relationship with Jesus looks like practically as we learn to love and serve one another. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” – Gal 6:2

The young people and leaders have been really enjoying these evenings and really getting to grips with what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

We’ve also been having some great sessions with our Thursday afternoon after-school drop-in sessions. ‘Reverb’ has been so much fun, especially the Thursday that’s just passed. We held an epic Radio Controlled, or RC Car Racing event. It was loads of fun watching the small toy sports cars careen around our custom built (using hosepipe and gaffer/duck tape) racing course. There were lots of crashes and people driving backwards around the course, it was hilarious.

It was also a great team and community building night for all involved, which was especially good as we looked t the idea of community in our short group talk time.

We are loving what God is doing in and through the work we do a Llandudno Youth for Christ, and how He is reaching out in love to the young people that come along to the events we hold.

Please do keep praying for us and the work that is going on, that more young people would come along and that God would continue to touch hearts and transform lives.

Also, if you think that perhaps volunteering at one of our events is something you’d like to do, please don’t hesitate to contact us at llandudnoyfc@gmail.com or on 07517 429 763 (The Office is open Monday, Wednesday & Friday 9am to 12pm).

Thanks and Be Blessed!

 

You Redefine me…

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Last Sunday night we held our first Redefine meeting after our summer break. It was great to see some new faces as well as the regular attendees that we last saw before the summer holidays.

As we have done at our Sunday evening Bible Study and Discipleship group a couple of years previously, we are going through our ‘We Believe‘ series, where we look at some of the things that Redefine is defined by: ‘Found People Find People‘, ‘Saved People Serve People‘, ‘Everyone is a Worship Leader‘, ‘Growing People Change‘, and ‘You can’t do life alone.’

Last Sunday we explore ‘Found People Find People‘.

Tim posed a question, when he says the word ‘found‘ what associated word comes to mind? We have may varied responses, including ‘Chicken‘?!?! However the majority responses were ‘lost‘ and ‘missing‘. We to a major extent looked at the negative or opposite of found, rather than the greatness of found and what it might mean to be found by God.

We then looked at the gospel of Matthew where Jesus talks about us loving God with all our heart, all our soul & all our mind and loving our neighbours as ourselves. What did that mean to us today? In what ways can we demonstrate love for God and love for our fellow man?

The young people came up with some great responses, such as ‘worshipping God‘, ‘Doing what God tells us to do‘, and ‘Loving other people‘.

It was a great and challenging time, where we had opportunity to reflect upon how great God’s love for us is.

We finished off the night by writing the names of people that we wanted to be found by God( even ourselves if we were feeling a little lost in life’s journey) on post it notes that we stuck on a wooden cross as an act of prayer and offering the people up to God.

All in all it was a brilliant night and a great start to the ‘We Believe‘ series at Redefine.

Please do continue to pray for the events we hold, such as Redefine and Reverb and if you know of any young people that you think would benefit from attending them, please do encourage them to come along.

Be blessed!

Every Season

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It is finally here – autumn. We say goodbye to Summer and all the fun events that we have held and look forward to the recommencement of our regular programmes. ‘Reverb‘, ‘Recess‘, ‘Redefine‘ and ‘Shuffle & Shake‘ will all be starting back up in the next two weeks.

We are so excited about this, looking forward to seeing all that God is going to do in and through the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ.

We have had lots of fun during the summer, with ‘God, Games & Goats‘ and ‘Refresh‘, but it’ll be nice to get back into the rhythm of our regular events.

Please do be praying for us as we plan and prepare for the next few months. Pray that we would be clearly led by God as we get ready for the next 4 months.

It’s great knowing that in every season we are in at Llandudno Youth for Christ, there are people faithfully supporting us in prayer, with finances and by giving their time to volunteer at the different events/projects we hold.

It’s even greater knowing that the God who made the seasons is with us whatever the season of life we are going through. As it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 3: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” God is with every step of the way and it is He who makes all things beautiful in their time.

Whatever season you are going through it is comforting that the God who said that He will never leave or forsake us, is with us. Holding us as we walk through this life.

Have a great autumn, and I pray that you are surprised by God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Be blessed!

Refresh 2019

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Well the Summer is almost over. Pretty soon school will start and we will be back into running our usual projects here at Llandudno Youth for Christ. ‘Redefine‘, our Sunday evening Bible Study group will meet back on Sunday 8th September. Before that on Thursday 5th September we will be holding ‘Recess‘, our two lunch-time Christian Unions in Ysgol John Bright and Ysgol Aberconwy and ‘Reverb‘ our after school Youth drop-in club will be will also be running on the same day.

Please be praying for us and the work that we do, especially as we go into a new school term.

Thank you for praying for us and all of the summer events we have been holding. They have gone extremely well and we really appreciate the prayers that you prayed for us.

We’ve had great night of ‘God, Games & Goats’ at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre on Sunday evenings during the Summer, and more recently we held our amazing and fun filled ‘Refresh’ mini conference in the grounds of St David’s College (hence the title of this blog post). It was a brilliant and well attended event.

We had lost of fun playing games, watching a movie, having a barbecue, making smores over a campfire, worshipping God and gathering together to study the Bible.

We looked at the life of the Apostle Peter and times when he failed and made mistakes. The first passage we looked at was Peter walking upon the water of the sea of Galilee with Jesus. Here he sank and had to call out to Jesus to save him. We learned that despite his fearfulness and failure to perfectly walk upon the waters Peter still walked out to Jesus. He did something that the other disciples didn’t. We learnt from this passage that Peter had the curiosity to ask: “‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water’.” – Matthew 14:28; the courage to act: “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus.” – Matthew 14:29 and finally a voice to call: “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” – Matthew 14:30.

We were encouraged by Peter’s example to have the curiosity to ask – to ask questions about faith, to ask questions of God. To have the courage to act on our faith and what God tells us and to have a voice to call – to call upon God not only when we need His help but to make prayer an essential and intrinsic part of our every day.

We then looked at the Transfiguration of Jesus and Peter’s clumsy response to that and finally Peter’s denial of Jesus around the campfire whilst Jesus was on trial.

All in all it was a great mini conference and the young people went home with great memories and a lot to think about.

We have 1 final God, Games & Goats this coming Sunday, which will round off our Summer events. Please be praying for us and the young people that come to this final event.

Thanks and be blessed!

“Fight the good fight with all thy might…”

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Last Sunday night we held our infamous “Robot Wars” night at God, Games & Goats. It was spectacular fun!

We hold a Robot War night 1 to 2 times a year. What one of these nights entails is putting the young people into teams that are then tasked with the design and construction of ‘Robots’ to fight against each other in an arena. The materials they have to use are cardboard, polystyrene, packing tape, strings, a set of wheels each and sharpie pens for decorating the finished robots.

This is great fun and it’s really interesting watching the creativity and team dynamics of all the young people.

Once the ‘Robots’ have been constructed they are named by their team and awarded points for the aesthetic appeal.

The second challenge of the night is for the ‘Robots’ to undertake a timed race around the Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, with the fastest gaining the most points.

The final challenge of the evening is what everyone had been waiting for. This was the Robot Wars themselves. Here the Robots undergo a series of rounds against each other and points are awarded for control, aggression & destruction: so how well the Robot is controlled by its creators, how aggressively they play the round and how much destruction is meted out to the other player. We also have 2 house Robots to add to the mix to increase the fun and destruction.

Last night was great fun, and the bots got seriously smashed up. The young people had a thoroughly good time and it was a great team building exercise.

Along with the theme of fighting and wars, it reminded me that there are times in the Christian life, where we have to contend for the faith, to fight the good fight as the hymns goes. “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” – 1 Tim 6:12 and “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” – 2 Tim 4:7-8 This is good news. Despite the obstacles we often have to overcome as Christians, despite the fights we have to fight, we are more than conquerors and are overcomers. That is good news.

Plus we are never alone in our fights, God is always with us. He is a warrior and fights for us.

We have more fun events for the rest of the Summer, a game of life size Cluedo in less than 7 days time, and this Friday we will be holding our annual ‘Mini-Conference’ – ‘Refresh’. Please be praying for all that we have going on during the summer. Pray that the young people have fun and most of all that they encounter God in a real and transformative way.

Be blessed!

I’ve started so I’ll finish…

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The infamous words from Magnus Magnusson and nowadays John Humphrys can be regularly heard during the running of the television programme ‘Mastermind’, which has been airing since 1972. The quiz master says this when he’s started to ask a question and been interrupted by the buzzer signalling the end of the round. Despite the buzzer’s protestations, the quiz master is in charge and he has the final say on when the round is over.

This is brilliant and makes for good television, but it popped into my head today and reminded me of 2 of my favourite pieces of Scripture: “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:4-6 and “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11.

When God sets about creating something, the work He does is good and He always finishes what He starts, just look at the Creation story to see that. He is a trustworthy and faithful Creator.

You can take that to the bank as they say.

Also circumstances and situations that happen to us do not have the final word in our lives. God does.

God doesn’t leave project unfinished or half-done. He completes what He starts. One day He will complete everything and bring everything to its completion in Christ.

Llandudno Youth for Christ is 10 years old this year. God began a good work in the lives of young people in Llandudno and beyond when Llandudno Youth for Christ was first set up. We are so grateful to God for all the many ways that we have seen Him start works of new life in many young people’s lives and we are looking forward to more than another 10 years still to come, to serve God in this area, being ambassadors for Christ and imploring people to be reconciled to God, as the apostle Paul puts it.

God is faithful and we trust and rely on Him to continue the good work He began in this ministry.

Part of the way He encourages us, is by stirring people’s hearts to support the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ, either by volunteering at one of our many projects, praying faithfully for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ at our Monthly Prayer Gatherings, or giving financially to ensure that the work keeps on going. Keeps on impacting young lives for Jesus.

We pray that as you read this Blog Post that you will be encouraged that the work that God began in your life, He will faithfully complete and also that you’ll consider supporting the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ.

Be Blessed!

Read all a-bleat it! Baaaaa…..

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Well all of the young people that went away to Soul Survivor a few weeks ago are now back, safe and sound despite it being a very long return journey due to the mini-bus breaking down on them.

Now they are all ready & fired up for all of our amazing summer events; ‘God, Games & Goats‘ which runs on every Sunday evening during the month of August (plus 1 night in September) and the Refresh mini-conference towards the end of August (Friday 23rd August).

We have some really fun events in store during August. Last Sunday night we had a movie night with mountains of ice-cream!

This coming Sunday we are having our annual ‘Robot Wars‘ night. It is such a fun event. The young people get into teams and build a formidable robot out of cardboard and other craft materials. They then have to face off against each other in the arena to see which bot is the mightiest of them all.

The following week we have a ‘Human Cluedo‘ night, where the young people have to guess whodunnit!………….

And on the last Sunday night of the Summer holidays we are going to have an epic ‘Ultimate Loo Roll‘ Night.

Please do be praying for the young people that attend the events. Pray that they would come to realise how much God loves them and for some of them that this Summer would be the time when they say Yes to His invitation to follow Him.

Thank you for all of your support, we couldn’t do this without our faithful supporters.

Here’s to a great summer, and be blessed!

 

Soul Survivor here we come!

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In 12 days time Llandudno Youth for Christ will be taking a group of young people to Soul Survivor for the very last time. This has nothing to do with Llandudno Youth for Christ stopping attending a Summer Christian camp, but rather the sad fact that this is going to be the last Soul Survivor ever.

We have so many great memories from our many years of attending the Soul Survivor Conference. Lots of young people have come with us over the years and been impacted by God and His love for them in ways that have transformed them for life.

This year we have great expectations for God to move in the lives of the young people that we will be taking along with. Please do be praying for us during this time – Saturday 3rd August till Thursday 8th August. Pray for safety on the outbound and return journey. Pray for good interaction and fellowship between the young people and leaders that are going. Pray that everyone would hear from God and come back changed by having met with Jesus. Pray for fun, good food and good weather.

We also want to say thank you to everyone who has over the past several years volunteered and helped out with out Summer Soul Survivor trips. Know that your labour for God was not in vain and that you were used to make a difference for the Kingdom of God in the lives of many young people.

Thank you.

We will put up a blog post after the young people come back from Soul Survivor with news about what went on during this great event. But in the meantime, please do be supporting us in prayer.

Be blessed!

Ain’t no mountain high enough…

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Last week two of the young people who regularly attend our Sunday evening Bible Study group did a sponsored walk up the Glyders in the Snowdonia mountain range. This was all in aid of raising money for one of the young people who, come September, will be heading off to Youth for Christ‘s national office for a year’s internship. They will be working in the media department of Youth for Christ.

We are so pleased to see a young person that has been a faithful and regular member of the Llandudno Youth for Christ family going on to serve God and continue to grow in their relationship with Him.

I’ve not only mentioned mountains in the title because of the sponsored walk up the Glyders, but because last night at Redefine we continued our Bible Study on our identity, this time looking at what God thinks about us and how our identity is all wrapped up in His opinion of us.

We looked at Psalm 139 – “I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvellously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord! You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place, carefully, skillfully shaping me from nothing to something. You saw who you created me to be before I became me! Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book.” and saw how God painstakingly made us, knit us together in our mother’s womb.

We also looked at the epistle to the Ephesians where the Apostle Paul writes “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Eph 2:10. Another translation says that we are God’s masterpiece. We discussed how God to time and care in making us. There was a lot of love involved in how He put us together.

On the back of this study we then wrote in permanent marker pens the words that we would use to describe who we are in God onto a T-shirt. It was a fun and profound exercise and the young people got really stuck in, putting down words such as ‘amazing‘, ‘loved‘, ‘worthwhile‘, ‘forgiven‘ and ‘chosen‘ amongst others.

The song lyric excerpt used in the title to this blog post is from a song by Marvin Gaye and it is a love song between and man and a woman where he is saying that many different obstacles, such as mountains and rivers will not keep him away from her. But in God’s love, we have something even more secure and powerful and there is nothing that can separate us from the love of the God who carefully created us. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Rom 8:38-39.

I hope this encourages you.

Be Blessed!