Gratitude is a Great Attitude.

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What are you thankful for? Why are you thankful? To whom are you thankful?

This coming Thursday 21st September is ‘World Gratitude Day‘.

Gratitude is defined as the state of being grateful. Which itself is defined as ‘feeling or showing an appreciation for something done or received‘. It is from the Latin word ‘Gratus‘ which means to ‘welcome, greet or praise‘ and has the same root as the word ‘gratia‘ from which we get the word ‘grace‘.

All of this to me, links together to show that true gratitude comes from a place where we feel and show appreciation to God for the life He has given us and for all that He has done for us. Everything that we have from God is a gift of His grace towards us.

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:15-17

This last Sunday 17th September, continuing with our ‘We believe’ series at ‘Redefine‘, we looked at ‘Everyone is a worship leader‘.

Too often we think of a worship leader as the person who stands at the front of a Church service and leads the singing. They’re skilled and gifted at what they do, but God has called all of us to worship. Indeed, as we realise all that God has done for us and all that we have received from Him as a result of Jesus’ death & resurrection, we will naturally be filled with gratitude that overflows into worship & praise (2 Corinthians 4 & 1 Peter 1).

This is not just making music or singing songs to God to thank Him, but also in the way we live our lives. How we treat others. How generous we are with our finances, our time, our lives.

When we realise how much God has given us and how everything we have comes from Him, then it really puts everything else into its proper perspective. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:1-4 (Indeed read the whole of Colossians 3)

So in light of all of this, what are you thankful for? Why are you thankful? Who are you thankful to? and also How can you demonstrate your thankfulness?

One way you could demonstrate your gratitude to God is share with others the difference Jesus has made in your life.

You could also think about volunteering with us here at Llandudno Youth for Christ?

However you express your gratitude to God, have a great week full of a great attitude of gratitude and be blessed!

All in the serve

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Last night we had another excellent ‘Redefine‘ meeting. We continued to look at our ‘We Believe‘ series and spoke about how as Christians we are called to serve God and serve others.

‘Saved people, serve people‘ was the title.

Now when I say serve, I don’t necessarily mean playing tennis, unless of course by ‘serving’ someone in a game of tennis you are indeed ‘serving’ them….Like they need some help practicing their game for an upcoming tournament.

The title of this blog post is taken from a Michael W Smith song ‘All in the serve‘. I chose it as it links nicely into the Bible passage we looked at to see what God says about serving. We read from Mark 10:35-45. Here we see James & John being very presumptuous and audacious in asking Jesus for places of honour, power & privilege in the Kingdom of God. It is as if they were not listening earlier on when Jesus spoke about the children that they had tried to stop from coming to see Him: “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Children did not have much status, rights or power in 1st Century Palestine. They were dependant on others for food, protection, shelter, etc. They were humble and in a place to receive, not demand.

It is as if James & John had completely missed the point that Jesus was trying to make. So He makes it a lot more emphatic for them: “Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’“- Mark 10:42-45.

Jesus had and has every right to demand service. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and yet he takes the lowest place to serve us all. We, the underserving ones are served by the one who deserves all glory, honour & praise. Jesus so lovingly demonstrated this by washing His disciples feet at the last supper; even His betrayer ‘Judas’ has his feet washed by Jesus.

Then Jesus demonstrates His love for all of us on the cross. He dies and gives His life as a ransom for many. Serving us to the end.

So, we, His followers cannot think that we can follow Jesus and be called His disciples if we do not serve. There is no exemption for us. We are to walk in our Master’s footsteps and serve others. Not out of a mentality where we do it to earn brownie points with God, but out of a heart of love. A heart full of Jesus’ love for us, which will spur us on to love Him in return and also love those around us.

One way for us to demonstrate that love is by serving others. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2. Jesus’ law was to love one another – “‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” – John 13:34.

In what ways can you serve those around you this week?

How can you show Jesus’ love?

Helping put the bin out? Washing the dishes? Giving some food to the local food-bank? Giving up your seat to someone else on the bus or train?

Have a great week and look out for ‘Acts of everyday kindness‘ where you can show Jesus’ love to those who so desperately need it.

Be blessed!

Back with a vengance!

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Not that we are back to strike with a vengance against all evil doers, as Superman & Batman would, but ‘Redefine‘ is back!!!!

We had our first Sunday night Bible study of the new term last Monday night! Whoop!

It was fantastic to say the least, with a great turnout of familiar faces and a lot of new young people turned up too.

We’ve spent a lot of time during the summer praying, preparing and thinking about this new term, and are really expectant of what God is going to do this term through the work of LLYFC.

We have worked hard at creating a great space for the young people to meet in. We now have a great ‘cafe‘ feel for the room we meet in with Parasols, string lights, an illuminated stage area, notice board, welcome area with a hot chocolate bar.

We love the new decor, and the young people did too.

We had a fun game to start of the evening with a modern variation of British bulldog, only this time I was playing a zombie pirate with 2 foam cutlasses that if they touched you, you became one of my zombie pirate crew, until there was only 1 survivor who won the game. It was a great laugh and burned off more calories for me than expected.

Our teaching theme was ‘Found People Find People‘ – this is part of the “We Believe” teaching series we ran last year at this time. At the start of a new term it’s good to go back to the foundations and look at what we as Christians believe. To get back to basics. It’s also important given that we have so many new young people coming to ‘Redefine‘, that we layout for everyone the essentials of the Christian faith in a relevant way.

Our director Mr Tim Gough spoke excellently and really laid out the importance for us as Christians to share our faith with others.

We also had a great time of worship together, very ably led by Simon Platt. This was Simon’s last night with us before he heads down to London to study at the London School of Theology. We have been so blessed to see Simon grow and develop from a teenager who started to come to Redefine many years ago when we were still based in Madoc Street to become a invaluable volunteer leader with us. We are so grateful to God for all of the support and faithfulness Simon has shown and know that he will be such a blessing in London. We will miss him.

This coming Sunday we will be looking at ‘Saved People Serve People‘ and tackling the who area of servanthood and what that means. “Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” – Mark 10:42-45

Speaking of serving and helping out, if there is anyone reading this blog post who feels that they want to help us out at Llandudno Youth for Christ, whether that be serving on our team for our youth work events or volunteering at our Saturday Cafe on Saturdays at St John’s Church in Llandudno, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Be blessed!@

 

A Helping Hand!

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Hi all,

I hope you all enjoyed your Bank Holiday Monday!

Here at Llandudno Youth for Christ we have just had our ‘Refresh‘ mini Conference. It was a truly fantastic day.

We had great weather, great food (I’m slightly biased as I was the cook for the day), fantastic games, great teaching from the book of Philemon, really good campfire worship and time to relax with friends and make some new friends too.

We played Ultimate Frisbee, had a treasure hunt for mini-pictures of Nicholas Cage’s head hidden around the conference grounds, watched ‘Evan Almighty‘, played Parachute games & toasted some giant marshmallows around the aforementioned campfire.

I really hope that everyone who came had as much fun as myself and the rest of our amazing volunteers did.

Everyone was brilliant too. Our great volunteers were there from early in the morning till late at night, helping us set-up and pack away. They took part in all of the games, Bible studies and worship times. They truly were brilliant and really engaged well with the young people.

Some of our volunteers could only make part of the day, with one helping out with 1 part of the day, squeezing it in-between two shifts at work. Another stayed with us until they had to go to another youth group where they were helping out in another part of Wales.

We are so blessed to have some amazing volunteers on our team. Helping us reach out to the young people of Llandudno and beyond relevantly with the good news of Jesus.

We will definitely be needing them in the months ahead as we get ready for next week and the relaunch of all of our amazing events and projects as we head into a new academic year.

We will be relaunching ‘Redefine‘, ‘Reverb‘, ‘Recess‘, ‘After-hours‘ and ‘Spark‘ amongst others. We are very excited to see what God is going to do in and through the ministry of Llandudno Youth for Christ; but as you can see from the news above about the fantastic ‘Refresh‘ mini-conference; we can only hold such great events for the young people with the help of our amazing volunteers; some of whom we will be losing due to them moving away to go to University or due to other changes in their lives etc.

So we are asking for more amazing volunteers to lend us a ‘helping hand‘ with the work that we are doing. The apostle Paul had many people that helped him greatly in sharing the good news of Jesus. He even mentions in the book of Philemon how much ‘help’ Onesimus had been to him. In other epistles written by him, Paul mentions different people who have helped him; in his work of spreading the good news of Jesus, such as Onesiphorus, Epaphras, Luke & Mark.

If like the apostle Paul and the great men & women that worked with him to share the love of Jesus to those around than; you want to see lives transformed by the gospel; then perhaps it’s time to do something and volunteer with us a Llandudno Youth for Christ.

We’d appreciate your helping hands.

Be blessed!

Times of refreshing!

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Hi all, just wanted to let everyone know that this coming Wednesday 30th August we will be holding the last of our summer events!!! – Yikes where has time flown?!?!?!

Yes, this Wednesday 30th August we will be holding our annual ‘Refresh‘ mini conference.

It’s a great event that we hold every year during the summer at St David’s College in Llandudno. We have games, nature walks, BBQs & Bible talks. It always is a great time for all involved. We want to especially thank all of the staff at St David’s for allowing us the use of their amazing grounds and facilities for this mini-conference. Thank you!

This year we will be looking at the 3rd shortest book in the bible, ‘Philemon‘! Beaten to first spot for brevity by the Apostle John’s 2nd and 3rd Epistles. However as many of our young people know by now; brevity of a passage or even a book that is being studied does not mean that we will not get lots of life-changing revelation from studying it carefully and in context.

At LLYFC we pride ourselves on helping all of the young people that come to our events to be able to read and study the Bible by themselves for all it’s worth. For them to really know how to get to grips with God’s Word and be able to hear God speak to them personally through His eternal Word.

The Refresh Conference is another opportunity for us all to gather round God’s Word and grow in faith and be filled with the wisdom of God.

We will also have plenty of time hanging out and engaging in fun activities like ‘ultimate frisbee‘, ‘9 square‘ and singing around a campfire in the evening.

Also, let us not forget the food that we will be having whilst on the 1 day conference. We will be having a lip smacking barbecue; and as we are looking at ‘Philemon’ we will be having ‘Philly Cheesesteaks‘ as part of the barbecue.

We are really looking forward to the conference and pray that God would shape hearts and transform lives through it.

Please do continue to pray for the work of LLYFC, especially as we soon leave the summer behind and head towards the autumn and a new school year.

Be blessed!

Have a go..a Ninja-go..

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This coming Sunday night on August 27th at 6pm we will be hosting our final ‘God, Games & Goats‘ event of the summer. It will be a totally epic night of extreme awesomeness!

Not to be missed!

We will be hosting our very own ‘Ninja Warrior‘ night.

So come along to Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA; and join in the fun.

Ninja Warrior is a televised obstacle course competition that pits the competitors’ strength, dexterity & agility against the various obstacles that they must face. To see a obstacle course being tackled; check out this video of Canadian actor Stephen Amell (who plays the superhero Green Arrow on TV) as he competes during a special charity event.

At this Sunday’s ‘G,G,G’ we will be having our very own course for the young people to face up against and tackle. With prizes to boot!

We love hosting these kinds of events for the young people in Llandudno and beyond. It’s a great opportunity for them to meet up with friends, relax and have fun in a safe environment.

We are also, so very grateful to all of our supporters who faithfully uphold us in prayer; give their time to support the work that we do; and contribute financially to ensure that we can hold such great activities every week for the young people to come to.

Such as this coming Sunday’s obstacle course mega competition!

So thank you!

Talking of obstacles to overcome; in the Bible we are encouraged that with God’s help we can overcome any obstacle that comes our way. In Psalm 18 David composed a song praising God for his faithfulness in delivering God out of the hands of his enemies. He acknowledged that it was God that gave him the strength & ability to overcome the obstacles in front of him. You can also find this Psalm in 2 Samuel 22.

However we are also encouraged to not put obstacles in people’s way that hinders them from coming to God (See Romans 16 and 1 Corinthians 9 in context); especially young people: “People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” – Mark 10:13-15

We want to continue to allow young people the opportunity to meet with Jesus in a real and relevant way; and we continue to ask that you partner up with us and God in this endeavour. Continue to pray for us. Continue to support us. Continue to give your time to such a worthwhile ministry.

Thank you & be blessed!

Saturday night at the Movies..er..I mean Sunday!

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This coming Sunday night’s ‘God, Games & Goats’ is going to be a ‘Movie Night’ yay!!!!!!

Come along to Ty Llywelyn Community Centre at 6pm this Sunday 20th August to see a free film with some free popcorn!

It’s going to be an epic movie night watching a 1990s classic; ‘Cool Runnings‘. It is based upon a true story of an underdog team of bobsledders from Jamaica (see here). A bit like our very own Eddie the Eagle Edwards who competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics.

We all love watching a movie about underdogs. People who through tenacity and determination overcome all kids of obstacles to achieve their goals. Watching their triumphs gives us hope. It makes us think that we can accomplish our dreams. That we can do it too.

So come along this Sunday and have some fun watching a feel good movie that will give you some laughs and lots of encouragement.

We hope you can make it!

Also don’t forget that our last ‘God, Games & Goats’ night is going to be on Sunday 27th Augsut where we will be holding a truly epic ‘Ninja Warrior’ night. Truly not to be missed!

Be blessed!

 

We will Nerf-er forget the fun we had last Sunday night!

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Hi all, as promised here is the update on last night’s ‘Nerf War’.

It was a fantastic event and was attended by young people from all over North Wales.

There was a lot of fun had.

we started the evening with an impromptu game of ‘Ultimate Frisbee‘ in the football/basketball court outside the Ty Llywelyn Community Centre.

Then we headed into the warzone and made a pit stop at the refreshments & supplies station to fill up on fruit, chocolate & fruit juice. All in order to fortify ourselves for the battle ahead.

Once we were fully refreshed, we headed into the armoury, where the LLYFC centre director Mr Tim Gough took us through the correct usage of the various assorted Nerf guns that were on offer. He then went through all of the safety rules for the Nerf War. As soon as we were divided into our teams of Geese & Goats we selected our weapons for the conflict that was to come.

We then headed towards our respective bases and waited for the music to start which would signal the start of the first battle.

Before we knew it some 1990s disco music started pumping out of the sound system and we were all guns blazing.

I took several hits for my team; but at the end of the first round, the Goats were the winners (yay go us!…not at all biased honestly). This trend continued throughout the night, with the Goats winning every single game that we played. We even won the last man standing round, with a ‘Goat’ team member being the last to be shot by a Nerf dart.

It was a brilliant night that was accompanied by a retro 90’s disco soundtrack that for me brought back memories of my days in University.

We had a lot of new faces as well as many of our regular attendees at Redefine & Reverb events. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and did a brilliant job of helping to tidy up after themselves.

Our next ‘Box Fort‘ night with a ‘Nerf War‘ will be in November as part of our next ‘Spark‘ event; but keep your eyes peeled on our blog here and our Facebook page for further details.

Be blessed!

This is war! – Nerf War!

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This Sunday the 13th of August we are holding one of our amazing ‘Nerf War’ nights. This Sunday the theme is ‘Geese v Goats‘.

This is due to the fact that LLYFC’s mascot is ‘Noa’ as small furry toy goat. She gets taken home by young people and volunteers alike and they get to do a photo diary of Noa’s week with them. We chose a goat due to the fact that in Llandudno on the Great Orme we have a herd of wild goats living there. We chose Geese for their opponents because Geese are well known for not having the best of temperaments.

So this fun farmyard themed battle is going to be exciting and not to be missed. on top of the Nerf War we are also going to be having it surrounded by a 1990’s themed disco. Retro to the max!

Come along wearing your grunge flannel shirt, Kappa tracksuit, wide leg jeans etc. to show off some of the crazy fashions of the decade!

It’ll be a great event and one to bring a friend along to; Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA. 6pm to 8pm.

We hope you can make it.

PS: We will do an aftermath blog post to let you know whether the Geese of the Goats emerged as the victors of the evening’s warfare!

Be blessed!

The Big Bounce Back!

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On the 29th of July, our intrepid centre director, Mr Tim Gough finally launched himself into empty space, attached to a 400ft high crane by a bungee cord – all with the aim of raising funds for our amazing charity LLYFC.

He was originally intended to take his leap of faith on Friday 28th of July, but due to high winds that had to be cancelled. His wife and mum & dad had travelled down with him to Chepstow in South Wales to support him as he jumped, but obviously due to the jump being cancelled they had to return up north without Tim as he spent the night praying that the weather would improve and he could finally jump.

His prayers were answered and on the Saturday morning Tim leaped all 400ft and reached a speed of up to 90mph as he hurtled earthward. Praise God he survived and has lived to tell the tale.

As of today we have raised over £3,000 towards sponsoring Tim’s Big Jump. This is great. We are still receiving in monies that have been pledged, so we may well still attain our goal of £5,000 raised. There is still time to support Tim for having done such an insane feat of daring. You can donate here.

We want to thank everyone who has donated to Tim’s Big Jump so far; thank you. We also want to thank the UK Bungee Club for holding this amazingly high bungee jump.

Thank you to all of the local churches that have supported Tim also as he took this leap.

Also a big thank you to everyone who was praying for Tim as he did his Big Jump. We are so grateful for your faithfulness in praying and also grateful to God for answering those prayers.

“Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].” – 1 Corinthians 13:7 (In the Amplified Bible)

This verse came too mind when thinking about Tim’s jump; because it took no-small measure of resilience for Tim to go through with the jump; especially after it was cancelled due to high winds. He also needed to have a resilient bungee; one that wasn’t frayed at the edges, but one that would support his weight and bounce back. One that would endure.

The bungee ‘bore‘ his weight, Tim ‘believed’ he could do the jump and ‘hoped‘ that it would go well and he ‘endured‘ the slow escalation of the crane as it extended up to 400ft in the air.

Why did he do all of this?

The short answer, to raise the needed funds for the work that we do at LLYFC.

However that is just the short answer; the full answer is that he jumped because Tim believes in the message that we have to share; as the apostle Paul said “Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad. That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God… If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.” – 2 Corinthians 5:10-14 

Tim believes in Jesus and the good news that He brings; and it is the love of God that moves Tim to leap from over 400ft headlong towards the earth; all to ultimately see more and more young people connecting with God and being transformed by His love.

Have a great week and be blessed!