Baby You’re a Firework

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Well on the 30th of November there was a magnificent Fireworks display in Llandudno that certainly wowed everyone. We too, here at Llandudno Youth for Christ are going to be having our very own mini fireworks display on the 3rd of November.

It’s great at this time of year when the nights are lengthening and the temperatures are dropping to fill the dark sky with light, colour and noise. Also, what fireworks display would be complete without Toffee Apples and Sausage butties? We’re going to be having both at our Fireworks night. Sunday 3rd November 6-8pm at the Lighthouse Church in the West Shore of Llandudno.

Please do be praying for us as we hold this event for the young people who attend Redefine (our Sunday evening Bible Study). Pray that everyone stays safe and has an enjoyable time.

In writing this article, the title is taken from a song by pop singer Katy Perry called ‘Firework‘. In the lyrics she encourages the listeners that feel lost and alienated, to let their light shine, like a firework shooting across the sky. For the listeners to the song to know that they have worth and are valued.

Just like in the lyrics of the song, at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we want the young people that attend our events to know how much worth they have in God’s eyes and for them to let their light shine. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16

Please pray they will be blessed and encouraged.

Be blessed!

Pioneering Youth Ministry

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This last Saturday morning at the Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Llandudno Youth for Christ held the first of our ‘Explore Pioneering Youth Ministry‘ training days.

It was a brilliant event led by our director Mr Tim Gough. Tim is a youth work author and has a first class MA in Pioneering Ministry and Church Planting; so he knows what he’s talking about.

Not only did the attendees receive some first class training, they were also treated to a sumptuous and lavish continental breakfast. We certainly do not do things by half here at Llandudno Youth for Christ.

In total we are going to have 3 training days. The first on October 19th looked at the subject of ‘Starting from scratch – the heartbeat of Pioneering‘. Boldly going where no-one has gone before. Reaching into communities where young people are growing up with no concept whatsoever of the Christian faith.

All who attended this training said how much they enjoyed it and got so much out of the training materials.

The next 2 training sessions are on November 16th and December 14th. In November we will be looking at ‘Managing behaviour and building community – Pioneering as a group‘ and in December, ‘Pioneering for permanence – Establishing a group that will last.’

The great thing about these training sessions is that they can be taken as a whole 3 part training course, or looked at individually. so whether you are able to attend all 3 or you can only attend 1 out of the 3, then you’ll go away having received some top class training that will be of invaluable help to you as you reach out to young people in you area with the good news of Jesus Christ.

At Llandudno Youth for Christ we love being able to resource and train others to reach more young people with the love of God, and wouldn’t be able to put on such training days without the help and support of those in the local community and beyond that faithfully uphold us in prayer and faithfully donate finances to the charitable work that we are doing.

Thank you and do come along to one or both of the next training days that we will be holding.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” – Hebrew 10:23-25

Be blessed!

We’re in this together.

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“And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” – Hebrew 10:24-25

Last Sunday night we held the last of our ‘We Believe‘ teaching series. This week we were looking at “You can’t do life alone“. It was a great evening that was really well attended.

We had lots of fun playing games and worshipping together. We were doing lots of activities together, which was great considering we were looking at how God puts us together as believers, to support and encourage each other. To care for and love each other. “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35.

We looked at how we were never intended to do life alone. In fact we are created in the image of a God that is not alone, but is a trinity. We were created out of love and for love. We were made for community, with each other and with God.

It was really great seeing how the young people really got into the Bible study time and how they are growing together as a community of young believers, demonstrating the love that Jesus commanded us to live in and show.

With the end of our ‘We believe‘ series, we are going to be moving on to looking at worship, before preparing for Christmas.

I am so excited by what I am seeing God doing at ‘Redefine’ our Sunday evening discipleship Bible Study group. It is great seeing young people growing in and discovering a relationship with God.

Please do continue to support us in prayer, with finances and by volunteering at our various events. We cannot do this ministry without your much needed support. Thank you for being such amazing supporters.

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!

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!