National Conference Here We Come!

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On Monday 6th January a group of workers and volunteers from Llandudno Youth for Christ have travelled to Manchester to take part in the Youth for Christ National Conference.

This is a great annual event where Youth for Christ centres from all over the UK and even some from overseas, come together to pray, worship and grow in their relationship with God. It is always a great time and it really sets us up well for the year ahead.

Here is a short word about the conference:-

“Our conference theme is Transform. As you know we have been on a journey of change over the last few years; at the very heart of change is the desire to be transformed! At Youth for Christ we seek to be significantly transformed

at every level, starting with ourselves, then our ministry
and ultimately a nation of young people. We don’t desire change for change’s sake but the transformation that comes through close proximity to Jesus.

We will be unpacking the richness of Romans 12 and its impact on us as leaders. Each day we will have inspirational Bible teaching, life giving seminars and workshops, and soul-refreshing evenings of ministry. Conference 2020 will be bold and courageous as we seek to explore transformation that starts with us and finishes with young people’s lives being changed by Jesus.

I hope that you leave refreshed, encouraged and energised to see more young people’s lives changed by Jesus.

Blessings,

Neil O’Boyle

National Director”

Please be praying for the team from Llandudno Youth for Christ that have gone to the conference. Pray that they would hear clearly from God and come back envisioned for 2020.

Be blessed!

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!

Resurrection Party!

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Last Sunday night (14th April) we had our last Redefine meeting before the Easter holidays. It was a fun night with a party theme as we looked at and celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus.

We have been working our way through the gospel of Mark this term and at the last Redefine we looked at the death of Jesus on the cross. At our last Reverb we looked at the Triumphal entry and now at our last Redefine we finished off the gospel of Mark by looking at Jesus’ victory over death.

We wanted to create a celebratory and party feel for the night, so we had balloons, party poppers, party food (iced rings, popcorn, mini muffins, crisps & fruit) and some party games; including an extreme version of an Easter Egg Hunt involving Nerf Guns.

Everyone had a great night.

We also had a time of worship celebrating the good news of Jesus’ triumph over sin and death.

We are now on a break over the Easter holidays and will not be meeting back together until Thursday 2nd May for both Recess & Reverb and Sunday 5th May for Redefine.

But we will still be holding our monthly Prayer Gathering on Sunday 28th April @ 7pm in the Ty Llywelyn Community Centre. Please do join us for this and pray for the all the young people that have heard the gospel in the last couple of weeks.

Also please be praying for the young people as Easter is celebrated, that they would think about why we celebrate Easter and realise the importance of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

Have a great Easter and be blessed!

We are…….?

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We’ve all just come back from the Youth for Christ National Conference in Didsbury, Manchester.

A great time was had by all of the team that went, and now that we are back, we are getting stuck into 2019 and all that God has in store for us this year.

The theme of last year’s Conference was ‘Renovation’ – and was all centred around the idea of God renovating us as a ministry and as individuals. For Him to tear down the superficial and rebuild us all to prepare us for what He is doing in Youth for Christ Nationally, Regionally & Individually.

This year the theme was ‘Core’. We went back to looking at the core values of Youth for Christ. What are the essential aspects of everything that we do.

As Youth for Christ UK, we are….

Courageous – We want to step boldly into the future, trusting in God’s direction & provision.

Helpful – We want to help our communities, churches & young people to engage with Jesus.

Relational – We are all about building bridges between people and creating caring communities.

Innovative – We want to be relevant and creative in our communication of the gospel.

Spiritual – Everything we do is so that young lives are transformed by Jesus.

Together – We want to work alongside local churches and communities to see God’s kingdom grow.

All of this together spells CHRIST.

We’re all about Jesus and seeing Him change young people’s lives.

This year will you please partner with us in prayer, with provision and perhaps volunteer at one of our many ministries.

Here’s to 2019 and all that God has in store for us.

Be blessed!

Youth for Christ National Conference here we come!

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Yay! Youth for Christ National Conference here we come. We’re so looking forward to this year’s national conference, and all that God is going to be doing through it. Please be praying for us during this week; praying that we would clearly hear God speak to us on this week away. Pray that we will come back refreshed and strengthened in our faith and raring to go.

Also, please be praying for our director here at Llandudno Youth for Christ, Tim Gough, as he is going to be leading a teaching seminar entitled ‘Where we’ve failed and where we’ve borne fruit in our youth work.’ It will be held on Tuesday 8th January at 11:30am. Pray for this session to be fruitful and encouraging for those who attend it.

Going to National Conference is a great time of being able to look back at 2018 and thanking God for all that He has done in and through the ministry of Llandudno Youth for Christ. It is also an opportunity to look ahead at the blank canvas that is 2019 and seek God’s guidance and wisdom.

At this time of year when so many people are working out their New Year’s resolutions it’s great to come together with the greater Youth for Christ family, and encourage each other with stories of all that God has been doing in the lives of young people all across the United Kingdom and beyond. “He gave his life for us so that we may share in resurrection life in union with him—whether we’re awake or asleep. Because of this, encourage the hearts of your fellow believers and support one another, just as you have already been doing.” – 1 Thess 5:10-11

We thank you for your amazing support and encouragement during 2018 and we look forward to 2019 with expectant hearts. Please do continue to journey with us and encourage and support us faithfully as you have done. We really appreciate your support in prayer, with finances and with volunteers at the different events we hold.

Thank you and be blessed.

Phil Lemon & Onesie-mus…

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We just finished a 3 week long study of the book of Philemon, or ‘Phil Lemon’ as we called him in our Bible study group. This was a great short book to study at our ‘Redefine’ Sunday evening Bible study meeting for young people.

The Bible Project does a nice piece on this short but amazingly tactfully written letter; check it out here.

It has been a great book to start off our Sunday evening Bibles study meeting with, after the summer break. A short book, but so full of richness and with a very clear picture of how the gospel of Jesus changes lives and sets people free.

Onesimus, or Onesie-mus as we jokingly said finds freedom and reconciliation to his master Philemon through Christ.

The young people have really enjoyed getting to grips with this book and learning more about a book of the Bible that isn’t very often read or looked at.

We really do love seeing how the Bible impacts the young people that come to the events we hold.

Would you please continue to pray for the work we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ in seeing young people’s lives changed by Jesus. Pray that God would richly bless this ministry with everything we need to see many more young lives changed.

Before I go, I have another announcement; our director Mr Tim Gough has written a brilliant book. It was officially launched last Saturday and you can check it out here. Please also be praying that the book will be used by God to encourage many youth workers and pastors as they in turn reach out to the young people in their areas.

Have a great week and be blessed.

Afflictions eclipsed by glory.

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For a lot of the young people that attend the many different events we hold at Llandudno Youth for Christ, the next two weeks are going to be one full of exams and revision and potentail stress.

That is on-top of the confusion, anger, fear and disbelief that they might be feeling following the recent attacks in Manchester and London.

We need to be praying for our young people in this time.

Praying that they find God in amongst all that is going on around them.

Praying for His grace, peace and love to reach out to confused and hurting hearts and minds.

Praying for them to find His strength in their weakness.

Praying.

Whilst I was thinking about all of this, I remembered John Mark McMillan’s song ‘How He loves’. This is the full version of the song; not the cut down, cleaned up and sanitised version we might sing together in churches on Sundays.

John Mark McMillan wrote the song as a response to hearing the news that a friend of his had died tragically in a car accident. It was his way of dialoguing with God about this event that filled him with so much anger, confusion and frustration. You can watch a great video here where he explains more about the background to the song.

As John Mark McMillan says “This song isn’t a celebration of weakness and anger. It’s a celebration of a God who would want to hang with us through those things, who would want to be a part of our lives through those things, and, despite who we are, He would want to be a part of us, our community, and our family.”

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16

In Jesus, God entered our world in a very real and physical way. He took on our humanity and became just like one of us. He was and still is our Emmanuel – God with us.

As not only the young people wrestle with their exams and with questions and doubts that will naturally arise in the wake of the past couple of weeks, but also as we all wrestle with questions of justice and mercy, faith and doubt, and other emotions that will be rising up within us; let us never forget that the God we love and serve, loves us so much more than we can ever imagine; and is with us every step of the way.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.’” – Deuteronomy 31:6

I chose afflictions eclipsed by glory as the title of this post; as we see so much affliction around us today, yet, with eyes of faith as we look to God we see so much of His glory; that it eclipses all of the trouble and strife. His love is the answer to our very great needs within us and in the world around us.

Read the full lyrics to John Mark McMillan’s ‘How He loves’ here, and listen to the full song here.

Also, This coming Wednesday 7th June at 7pm we will be holding our annual Showcase. Come and find out what Llandudno Youth For Christ has been up to this year, and what the plans are for next year too. They’ll be times of worship – led by young people – interviews and testimonies, and a Q&A panel of team and young people. There will also be much needed time to pray together as a community of Jesus’ followers.

It would be great to have your support if you’re able to make it!

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Have a great week, and remember that He love us!

History Makers #PRAY365

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“Is it true today that when people pray,
Cloudless skies will break,
Kings and queens will shake?
Yes it’s true and I believe it.
I’m living for you.” – Delirious

This year Youth for Christ are undertaking a focussed, committed year of prayer. Their PRAY365 commitment (read more about it here). As part of this they have assigned different people at head office to adopt a local centre to pray for. In fact British YFC are committed to interceding for Centres/Projects each day at 11am. As a local centre, we know how important and powerful this is.

Pray changes things. As the lyrics to the Delirious? song ‘History Maker‘ above states, prayer can break the storm clouds of oppression and doubt. In chapter 8 of the book of Revelation in the Bible; the apostle John describes a scene in heaven where an angel takes the prayers of Christians and mixes it with fire from the altar before God and hurls it to the earth with devastating effect.

Our prayers do make a difference.

As part of YFC UK’s commitment to prayer, they are holding a ‘YFC Prayer Day on Wednesday 14th June 2017′ – Pete Greig from 24/7 Prayer will be speaking at this, our YFC National Day of Prayer held in the church of St. Martin’s in the Bullring in Birmingham City Centre with sung Worship led by Nick Herbert. This day has been put together after an overwhelming response from YFC Centres and Projects, and all involved are very excited about what God is doing. The event is taking place from 10:30am to 3:30pm, and even if you cannot make it to the event yourself; you can join us all in prayer wherever you are for God to have His way in the UK. To see the lives of young people transformed for eternity by the love of God and the good news of Jesus.

It is so exciting to hear about God stirring the hearts of His people to pray.

“If God be near a church, it must pray. And if he be not there, one of the first tokens of his absence will be a slothfulness in prayer.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” – Corrie ten Boom.

“Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again is praying.” – J.C. Ryle.

Just a few quotes about prayer from some influential Christians to encourage you.

We will also be holding our next prayer meeting at Llandudno Youth for Christ on Sunday 28th May at 7pm in Ty Llywelyn Community Centre. We hope you can make; and please do continue to support all the we are doing at Youth for Christ, both locally and nationally.

Be blessed, and as the song title says, let’s be ‘History Makers!’

Cheering each other on…

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At Youth for Christ; we love to hear of other centres doing well; we love to hear of other areas having an impact upon their community with the good news of Jesus.

This year at the YFC national conference; we really focussed on our unity in Christ. In that vain; I want to share with everyone a good news story from another YFC centre; ‘Spiritualized‘; a YFC centre based in the South Hams of Devon; has had its director ‘Anji Chant’ named in Her Majesties New Years honours list. Please read through the post below that was originally shared on the YFC UK website; and let us thank God for all that He is doing to make an impact upon the lives of young people in the UK.

The Director of Spiritulized (Kingsbridge Youth for Christ) has been named in the New Year Honours list. Anji Chant will accept the award of the British Empire Medal on behalf of the volunteers at the Centre.

SERVICE

This award has been given to Anji for ‘“hands-on” service to the local community. She will visit Buckingham Palace in June to be presented with her award and then attend the garden party.

The Prime Minister’s office have released their reasons for honouring Anji. “She identified a severe lack of support in this rural community and is the driving force and Project Leader behind the charity, Spiritulized and their work in the community”, they said.

MEETING NEEDS

Anji started the Friday Night Project, after noticing that young people were getting into trouble on weekends. A café run by Spiritulized also receives support from local businesses and other charities. It now supports around 900 young people every year. In like manner, the Centre also run a Work Club, that provides employment help for young people.

Over the years, as the work has grown – so has its influence. Through their Bus Project, Spiritulized have been able extend their reach to 10 rural parishes. Anji herself, as Project Leader, ran marathons to raise the funds needed to fully equip the bus with audio/visual technology. Thus making it an engaging experience for young people.

Furthermore, Anji carried the Olympic Torch in 2012 (pictured above).

SHARED HONOURS

“I’m bowled over”, said Anji when she heard about the honour. She will be accepting it on behalf of Spiritulized’s team of amazing volunteers who work to help young people in Kingsbridge’s rural community with the issues they face.

“We have had lots of volunteers on board for years. It’s hats off to the team, whose dedication and ongoing commitment is incredible”, Anji declares. She is also thankful for her family, “who have made many sacrifices to help make it all happen”. To sum up…

“2017 is our 20th year of working with young people in Kingsbridge and the surrounding area, and we look forward to many more exciting milestones to come.” Anji Chant

As Anji said, it is the volunteers that make such a difference to the work we do; here at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we too are so grateful for the bunch of amazing volunteers that God has given us.

In 2017; do you feel like God is asking you to come on-board with what we are doing to share the good news of Jesus relevantly with young people in North Wales?

If so, we’d love to hear from you.

“To boldly go where no-man has gone before…”

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The above quote comes from the opening lines of the original TV series ‘Star Trek’. I chose this title, as on this day in history in 1909, Sir Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, planted the British flag 112 miles from the South Pole, the furthest anyone had ever reached at that time. He boldly went where no-man had gone before.

At the Youth For Christ National Conference we were challenged to be very courageous with our faith in God; being ready to trust Him as He calls us to step out into new endeavours; for us to boldly go , just like where we haven’t gone before. Daring to believe God for even greater things in 2017.

Trusting Him for provision for the vision that He gives us. Trusting Him for new creative ideas and ways to relevantly reach young people with the good news of Jesus.

To be like the Apostle Peter, stepping out of the boat to walk on the water with Jesus (see Matthew 14:22-33); not playing it safe by sticking in the boat; staying with what we know, what we have always done; but being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to lead us into new ways of reaching out with God’s love. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” – 1 Peter 3:15.

The other encouraging challenge from the conference was for us to get back to the basics of our walk with Jesus. To keep the main thing the main thing.

What has He called all Christians everywhere to do?

What has He commissioned all those who follow Him to do?

“ Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:18-20

We are called to share Jesus with those around us, and make disciples; not converts, but people who make a life-long commitment to follow after Jesus. Everything that we do in life and as local expressions of church in our communities should be focussed and clarified by this ‘Great Commission’ and also by Jesus’ ‘Great Commandment’ – “This is my command: love each other.” – John 15:17.

At Llandudno Youth for Christ we are taking this onboard and seeking more than ever before to be open to hearing God’s promptings and looking out for the opportunities to serve our heavenly Father in our communities. Sharing His love and making disciples.

As part of this; at our Sunday evening Bible Study for young people – ‘Redefine‘ (Every Sunday during term time 6-8pm at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre in Llandudno) we have started a 9 week teaching series entitled ‘God is…’ looking at some aspects of the nature and character of God; and how that informs and inspires us as Christians in the way we live and follow Him.

We will also be restarting our school lunch club ‘Recess‘ (in Ysgol John Bright) and our after school drop-in club ‘Reverb‘ (4-6pm every Thursday during term time, again at Ty Llywelyn) this week, after the school Christmas break; both on Thursday 12th January.

Please continue to pray for the work we are doing in Llandudno and beyond in 2017.

Happy New Year!