Behold I make all things new!

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“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.” – Revelation 21:4-6

As we say goodbye to 2020, with all its ups & downs, we can look with confidence to 2021, for we worship and serve a God who makes all things new. Amen.

We’ve had to learn new ways of meeting with young people during 2020, all due to the lockdown enforced by the global Covid-19 pandemic. We’ve had quizzes, Bible Studies and movie nights all online via a computer or smartphone. We’ve held a ‘Camp-not-Camp’ where both the leaders and young people engaged with this event from their own respective gardens and back yards, having fun remotely.

We’ve created a new YouTube channel called RE:TV and filled it with fun thought provoking content. We’ve continued our brilliant board games cafe; ‘Shuffle & Shake‘, but all online. We’ve started up two new projects this year also, a study group for getting deeper into the Bible called ‘More‘ and a creative writing workshopping event called ‘Show up & write‘.

So despite everything we have had a great 2020, filled with lots of opportunities to share the Good news relevantly to the young people of Llandudno and beyond. In fact we’ve spoken to over 5000 young people this year.

Knowing all that God has done in and through the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ despite the restrictions caused by Covid-19, we are looking forward to a 2021 where we will see more of God’s wonders and especially see His redeeming hand making all things new.

So let’s look forward to 2021 with faith in a faithful God, hope that He will come through for us and love, knowing that we are loved and treasured.

Have a great end to 2020 and lets see what 2021 brings.

Be blessed!

Born to die

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“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:20-21

From all of us here at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year.

I love Christmas, it is a time of great joy and celebration. A time of awe and reverence. The Creator of the entire cosmos, the one for, in and through whom everything was made and the who sustains everything by the power of His word stooped down and became incarnate as a baby. A weak baby, born inconspicuously in Bethlehem without any earthly pomp and circumstance (excepting of course the wondrous angelic fanfare that the shepherds saw).

God is simply astounding in the lengths He has gone to, to save and redeem mankind.

For this baby Jesus was born for a purpose, to save His people from their sins. The way He would do this was by dying on the cross, taking the worst we could throw at our Creator, our utter rejection of Him, and forgiving it and redeeming it to such an extent that the cross is no-longer viewed as a torture device, but for those of us that call Jesus Lord, it is a symbol of redeeming love and radical forgiveness.

This baby was born to die as one of us, for all of us.

So this Christmas let us worship Jesus who was born, lived, died, rose again, ascended and is coming back again.

Please also continue to pray for the young people in our area, that they would find the hope and life that can only be found in Jesus.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Light has dawned that ever shall blaze!

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“Those who walked in darkness
have seen a radiant light shining upon them.
They once lived in the shadows of death,
but now a glorious light has dawned!” – Isaiah 9:2

I’m writing this post on Monday 21st December 2020: The darkest and shortest day of the year. As of tomorrow the days will be getting lighter and brighter heading all the way up to midsummer when we have the longest day.

Thinking about this made me think of the above scripture taken from the prophet Isaiah. In context it is talking about the coming of the Messiah, the Christ into the world to save and deliver His people. I love the imagery of light and dark that it uses.

I love the fact that the God that we serves is not scared of the darkness in our world and in our lives, but He willingly takes on a human nature to enter our darkness and bring us Himself, which is the Light of the world. Jesus is our light in the darkness. Hallelujah!

His light is greater than any darkness that we bring to the table. “In him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:4-5. I love how the Passion Translation puts it: “Life came into being because of him (Jesus), for his life is light for all humanity. And this Living Expression is the Light that bursts through gloom — the Light that darkness could not diminish!” His light bursts through gloom, nothing can stop Jesus’ inescapable light. Darkness is nothing when His light shines in our hearts and lives.

During these dark days of December, when we are going through yet another lockdown, it’s heartening to remember that Jesus came to bring us light and life and love in abundance. And his light and life and love are eternal and cannot be diminished or overcome.

So this Christmas as we celebrate the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, let’s be encouraged and with the wise men and shepherds worship together the King of all kings.

Please do be praying for the young people in our area, that they too would, this Christmas, discover Jesus as their light and life.

Be blessed and see you in 2021.

Treasuring all the good things of God!

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“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” – Luke 2:15-20

We held the last of our Redefine Sunday evening Bible study groups last night. It was so much fun. Everyone had been given a fancy dress challenge for the night: they had to come dressed up as a Christmas ‘thing’ and not a Christmas character. Not an easy challenge but the young people rose to the occasion. We had two Christmas trees, one of which had dyed her hair green and put baubles and fairy lights in her hair for effect; a Christmas Pudding; A Christmas Garland; A Christmas present; and Advent Calendar; A Blanket of snow; the Star of Bethlehem; A Yorkshire Santa and a Christmas carrot! As you can tell at Llandudno Youth for Christ we don’t do things by half measures, we fully commit to all our endeavours.

We had a very festive evening.

We played a game using remote controlled cars, where 1 car was the police car and it had to chase down 4 other car with criminals in it and whoever had the fastest time in catching all of the run away thieves won. This was really great fun, with many times the cars narrowly missing each other or getting stuck on the course and thereby eliminating themselves.

We gave out Christmas cards and gifts to all of the young people and we also had a sparsely decorated Christmas Tree upon which various prizes were festooned and everyone had an opportunity to select a prize ranging from a Christmas Gherkin Bauble to a Festival Mug.

We finished the night with a short talk about Jesus being the light of the world. This has been our theme during the lead up to Christmas, focussing on how Jesus is the light of the world for us and how we as God’s image bearers and followers of Jesus are also called to be light in the darkness of the world.

I wrote the title to this blog post for my prayer is that nights such as last Sunday will be things that the young people will treasure up in their hearts and will remember all the fun and friendship that they had, and also the truths that they have been told, namely how great Jesus is and that by following Him in their lives they will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

Please do be praying for the young people over the Christmas period. Pray that they would be able to celebrate Christmas with thankful hearts knowing all that God has accomplished for them by sending His Son into the world to be our Saviour.

Thank you for your support and have a blessed Christmas yourselves remembering all the good times of 2020 and looking forward to a better 2021!

Glory to God in the highest!

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“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” – Luke 2:8-15

This coming Sunday will be Llandudno Youth for Christ’s last Redefine Bible Study group meeting of 2020. It is going to be a Christmas themed meeting, with a fancy dress. Everyone is to dress up as a Christmas thing, not a Christmas character; so no Santas or shepherd, no angels or Marys, but rather Christmas Trees & Presents and things like A snowman or a Christmas pudding. I wonder how inventive and creative everyone will be with their costumes.

It is sure to be a fun evening.

Please do be praying for us that not only will we have a lot of fun, but that the message of good news that the angels brought to the shepherds many Christmases ago will impact the hearts of the young people today. That they would head towards the Christmas celebrations with expectant hearts, exited by the truth of Jesus’ coming into the world to save and redeem.

Have a blessed and prosperous Christmas from all of us here at Llandudno Youth for Christ.

Be blessed!

Light of the world

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“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”– John 8:12

Last Sunday night at Redefine we had a great evening with a paper aeroplane obstacle course and lots of other fun activities. We also continued looking at our theme leading up to Christmas that Jesus is the Light of the world.

We looked at the verse above taken from St John’s Gospel. The talk was centred around the idea that we do not stand stationary in our walk with Jesus. We follow Him as He is the light of the world, just like the Israelites during their days in the desert followed the pillar of fire (representing God’s presence) at night and the pillar of cloud by day, all in order to enter the promised land.

God was leading them someplace good and although the discipline needed to follow was not always easy it was worth it. The same goes for us in our following of Jesus as His disciples. Sometimes we want to stay put because it seems easier than trusting Jesus and following Him into the unknown, but following is always worth it for He is always leading us to better pastures. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” – Psalm 23:1-3

Thank you to all our faithful prayer supporters, please do keep on with the good work of upholding us in prayer.

Finally at this time of the year when it is getting darker, remember that Jesus, the Light of the world has come and He lights up our lives and the path ahead of us. Keep on following and you’ll be amazed at where the Good Shepherd leads you.

Be blessed!

Emmanuel our God is with us.

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“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).” – Matthew 1:22-23

At this time of the year we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus. With a year like we have just had with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is so good to be able to redshift our focus onto the God who came to live amongst us as one of us – Jesus our Emmanuel.

Isn’t that so encouraging.

We serve and love and trust in a God who is not distant, but as it puts it in the Message translation of the Bible “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” – John 1:14

God moved into our neighbourhood to be with us. To dispel all the darkness in our hearts and lives and show us who He truly is.

Wow!

He wants to be with us. He loves us and is with us, always.

Even during the darkest days of this year God has been with us. Upholding us and guiding us and above all loving us.

This is good news. Such good news! And good news is all that Llandudno Youth for Christ is all about. This year we’ve spoken to many young people both face to face and online through Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Zoom. We’ve used our resources well to see young people’s lives changed by Jesus, and we will continue to do so throughout December and the Advent season and well into the new year and beyond.

Please do continue to support us in the good work we are doing to share the good news of our Emmanuel – Jesus. Please be praying for us – praying that we’d have plenty of opportunities to share the gospel and disciple young people. Praying that we’d make the most of those opportunities. Praying that we’d continue to get guidance from our ever present God and Saviour.

Continue to support us financially. We can’t do this work without the faithful financial support of our amazing supporters. We love and appreciate you. Continue to support us by volunteering your gifts, abilities and time to the various projects that we run.

Thank you.

And please do remember again that Jesus is with you always wherever you go and whatever you are going through.

Be blessed!

Show up & write!

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Last Thursday 26th of November at 7pm Llandudno Youth for Christ held its first ‘Show up & write’ evening. This is a new project that is being run by our centre director, Tim Gough’s wife Kate Gough.

On Sunday evening we caught up with Kate at our Redefine Bible Study group and asked her about this new project.

So Kate, what’s your vision for the Llandudno Youth for Christ “Show up and write” writing group?

We want to give a safe space to people who are interested in writing. Give them some structured time for writing in a community of togetherness. There are some exercises involved, but it’s all to encourage them.

How was the first session with the group?

It was really good. We got some good feedback on it. The girls who were there enjoyed it a lot and we did some good introductory things and also discussed how to get down to it and write. They wrote pretty much throughout. I even got some writing done which was kinda cool.

How can our supporters support you?

Definitely pray and if they know of any amazing writing exercises they could send them into Llandudno Youth for Christ via our email – llandudnoyfc@gmail.com.

Here at Llandudno Youth for Christ we are so very excited about this new group that we are running. We are all about seeing young people’s lives changed by Jesus, and by doing creative exercises we are demonstrating that we belong to a Creator (Jesus). As it says in John 1:3 “God created everything through him (Jesus), and nothing was created except through him.”

Please do be praying for this brilliant new endeavour. Pray that the young people will grow in their creativity and be encouraged. Pray that more young people will be added to the group, and pray that this work will go from strength to strength.

Have a great week and be blessed!

Redefining Youth Work!

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With all the changes that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to our lives, here at Llandudno Youth for Christ we’ve had to adapt and learn new ways of reaching out to the young people in our area with the message of Jesus.

One of the ways in which we adapted was moving our Redefine, Sunday evening Bible Study discipleship group online. Via the wonders of technology and throughout lockdown we were able to regularly meet with the young people of Llandudno and beyond and share with them the good news of Jesus.

It’s been a different and interesting time getting used to the new format, but it has worked really well for us.

Now that lockdown is over we have returned to our face to face meetings at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, albeit with social distancing rules abided by and followed.

The young people enjoyed their time online, but they were definitely pleased to be meeting together finally after so many months apart.

Last Sunday was our second week back together and everyone had a great time.

Thank you for continuing to support us as we went through lockdown and please do continue to support us in prayer, with finances and with volunteers. We really couldn’t do this without your help.

Have a great week and we’re looking forward to another great Redefine this coming Sunday.

Everest Base Camp – Today was the day…

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Today was the day I was to step onto a plane to Kathmandu in Nepal to begin the 80mile Trek to Everest Base Camp at 17,600ft.

Alas, instead I’m at home typing this.

This trip – from the top of the highest mountain in the Wales, Mt. Snowdon (3560ft), to the bottom of the highest mountain in the World – was to mark ten years of Youth for Christ in Llandudno and to launch a brand-new Youth for Christ Centre.

The great news, trip aside, is we have seen ten – now eleven years – of Youth for Christ in Wales, and we are going to launch a second centre in North Wales to see more young people meet with Jesus. Much more on this coming soon!

To be honest though, as a mountain enthusiast, I am a bit gutted. I was very much looking forward to the challenge and the chance to bring you all along with me as a way of marking this great adventure we’ve had together.

However, with the times being what they are, we want to be, first and foremost, responsible and take the greatest possible care of our neighbours. With that in mind, this is clearly not the time to go.

That said, the trip is not ‘cancelled’, it will be rescheduled instead, so do watch this space and remember thst you can continue to give at www.give.net/TimsBigTrek

I put this short video out last week to talk about it – have a watch. In the meantime, keep safe, keep praying, and keep hopeful!

All the best,

Tim