We love our Bibles… that’s why they’re falling apart!

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This is our box of Bibles. They’re not all that old, only a few years, but they have been well used, as you can probably see! Most have been repaired, and several still have pages falling out.

Someone once told me that when they get to heaven they’d rather show Jesus a Bible that’s falling apart, than one which is pristine. The first one has obviously been read. I love that idea, so even though we mostly work with young people that have no connection to Christianity or churches whatsoever, we still get our Bibles out at every opportunity we can.

At the end of Luke’s gospel, in Chapter 24, we read about Jesus appearing to two disciples and sharing with them everything the scriptures said about himself (v.27). At the end of that story these two followers said:

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (v.34).

I love that! So we at Youth for Christ believe that there’s nothing wrong with the material. We don’t need to hide it until young people are ‘ready’ for it later. We’re charged to know it deeply, so we can teach it clearly, and bring young people’s hearts to life with it. Then God’s word will burn within them. We think that God’s word is living and active and every time we read it, something is made in us. So why wouldn’t we use it with young people – whether or not they’ve ever picked one up before?

The trick, however, is doing it well!

The more you know God’s voice, the more you can recognise it and help others to understand it. That’s what Eli did in 1 Sam. 3 right? He helped little Samuel hear God’s voice, recognise it for what it was, helped him respond to it – and then he got out of the way!

We don’t whack young people around the head with the Bible, we don’t hammer away with mega-dense theological language, and we don’t expect them to behave like if they already know anything about it – but we do teach it. We love to open our Bible’s with young people – and we read it with them. We ask lots of questions, we talk, we share, we discuss, and we facilitate a conversation between them and God using the Bible. Our job after-all is to encourage young people to grow their own relationship with God – we can’t have that relationship for them.

I’ve not heard a young person complain yet!

So sure, we love the games, the stories, the silly talks, the nerf battles, and the lock-ins. But we’re never, ever, going to be shy about sharing God’s word with them.

That’s why our Bibles are falling apart!

We’re recruiting new volunteer team members at the moment. If you love God, love young people, and display a teachable spirit with a good sense of fun, then you could fit right in. If you would like an obligation-free chat, please do email us at llandudnoyfc@gmail.com.

Thank you!

BIG NEWS: We are on the move!

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Check out the video:

So, what’s the story?

 

Yup. You read that right! We’re on the move. Over the last thirteen years we have had two centres of operation. The first was the amazing Reverb Youth Bar on Madoc St. It was an absolutely stellar venue! State of the art, bespoke, cosy, fun, and we built some amazing memories there and did some truly wonderful gospel ministry.

Since 2015 we’ve been using Ty Llywelyn Community Centre. This was also brilliant! Huge spaces, lots of opportunities for new types of projects, and really easy to get to from Ysgol John Bright.

Both of these venues were amazing, but both had their drawbacks too. Reverb was awesome, but it was on a difficult street for late night youth work (so many conversations with upset neighbours!), and it was just too small. Ty Llywelyn fixed both of these problems, but because it wasn’t ‘our’ space, we couldn’t customise it to our work. This meant it took far too long to set up for and pack away everything we did.

Imagine then – what if we could have a building in the middle of town, close to all the action, big enough for a variety of projects, and ‘ours enough’ to deck out exactly the way we want. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

So, with great trust and openness from Gloddaeth Church and the Presbyterian Church of Wales, we’re excited to announce that are going to move into the building adjacent to theirs known as ‘The Garage’.

This is a two-story building which we are planning to turn into a fully functional, high-quality Youth Centre – something completely unique in North Wales. It has a large downstairs room with a kitchen and toilets, and two smaller rooms upstairs for an office and small group space.

Not only is this an ideal building and great location, but it puts us closer to the Christian community in town. Our projects have always felt a little distant from churches, so being able to be so close is a huge boon for us! We want to dial up our work across churches. We want to make a big deal of this in the years to come and work more clos with the local church scene. Your pastors have already heard from us this year, and soon you’ll be getting a pamphlet on how Youth for Christ could serve you better.

So, what are we going to do with this new space? Well, quite a lot. We will be repainting, refurbishing, and refurnishing. Bringing in some quality technology and facilities and trying to create a space that truly serves communities of young people. I say communities, because rather than just running big drop-in sessions, instead we are going to try and focus on deeper relationships with smaller and more intentional groups of young people. I think that’s going to have a much longer lasting impact!

We’re excited about this – but also a little scared. We want to be good stewards of all that God has given us, so we don’t want to have bitten off more than we can chew. However we believe God has clearly laid this path out before us, so we’re going to walk it.

We really need you’re help for this! We need you to pray, but we also need practical help. There is a lot of moving, painting, tiling, trips to the tip, more painting, wiring, cleaning, and more painting to do! Could you help us?

Finally, this is a long-term project so we’re looking for long term support. I want to ask you quite boldly, could you give a little to us each month? We’ve had some truly incredible one-off financial gifts which are going to help us do the work on the building, but what we need now is regular support. We need to know what money is coming in each month so we can plan our projects with wisdom and security. We really need to raise another £500 per month. That’s 50 people giving £10 each month – or a cup of coffee a week. Please consider, could you be one of these supporters?