It’s time for a knees down!

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You haven’t mis-read the title of this blog post. It’s not time for a knees up to use the well known phrase, but rather a knees down.

This coming Sunday 19th May we will be have a night of prayer for and with the young people that come to the events that we hold.

We are asking that all of our supporters come along and join us this night as we pray for the work that God is doing in the lives of young people in Llandudno and beyond.

We will be meeting at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre at 6pm and the event will run till 8pm.

“Every believer was faithfully devoted to following the teachings of the apostles. Their hearts were mutually linked to one another, sharing communion and coming together regularly for prayer.” – Acts 2:42

Prayer makes a difference.

“That’s why I plead with you, because of our union with our Lord Jesus Christ, to be partners with me in your prayers to God. My dear brothers and sisters in the faith, with the love we share in the Holy Spirit, fight alongside me in prayer.” – Romans 15:30

Please come and make a difference to the lives of young people in our communities.

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!

Easter here we come!

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Well the schools will be breaking up for Easter this week. I’m sure the young people are relishing the 2 week holiday ahead of them and thinking of all the fun that they can have whilst not at school.

Visiting friends, or maybe going away with family somewhere and of course eating lots of chocolate eggs.

After all it is Easter and eggs are what many people think of when it comes to Easter. However as Christians Easter is about far more than Easter Eggs.

Easter is a remembrance and a celebration of the death, burial & resurrection of Jesus.

At all of the different events we run, Recess (our lunch time Christian Union meetings in Ysgol John Bright in Llandudno and Ysgol Aberconwy in Conwy), Reverb (our after-school drop-in youth club) & Redefine (our Sunday evening discipleship Bible Study group), we have been looking at the different events of Holy Week – From the Triumphal Entry to the Resurrection (which we will be looking at during this coming Sunday’s Redefine); helping the young people grasp exactly what it means that Christ died in our place to deal with sin.

This, like Christmas is a great time to share about the good news of Jesus relevantly with the young people that come to the different events that we hold.

Please can you be praying for the young people of Llandudno and beyond this Easter, that they would grasp how deeply loved they are by God. “For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life.” – John 3:16

Pray that God would keep them safe during the holidays and that they would enjoy their time off school.

Thank you for all of your support for what we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ. We’re all about seeing young lives changed by Jesus and we love that by your faithful support, in prayer, financially and by volunteering, you are co-labourers with us in this grate work.

Thank you and just as for the young people, we wish you a truly blessed Easter.

PS: We’re back on with all of our different events from Thursday 2nd May 2019.

Be blessed!

 

A whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on!

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No I’m not doing a blog post about Elvis or his music, but am instead referring to the new event being run by Llandudno Youth for Christ in Colwyn Bay – ‘Shuffle & Shake‘.

For this post I interviewed the man heading up the new event; ‘Shuffle & Shake‘, Mr Korey Finch. Below are parts of that interview:

Q1: Korey can you give us a short introduction about yourself?

Korey: I’m from Texas originally and I met this amazing girl from Manchester named Miriam back in 2007 and decided I wanted to marry her, and as a result God put on my heart the desire to be a youth worker in the UK, so here we are now 10 years later. Married and living in Colwyn Bay, doing youth work.

Q2: How long have you lived in Wales?

Korey: I’ve been living here since 2013, so we’re coming up on 6 years now.

Q3: Can you give us a passage of the Bible that has really impacted you?

Korey: I really appreciate the passage, I think it is in Corinthians where it says “my strength is made perfect in your weakness”(2 Cor 12:9). It just helps me see that even though there are things that aren’t perfect in your life, God is still able to perfectly use us.

Q4: What do you do whilst working for or at Youth for Christ?

Korey: Mostly play board games actually…just kidding. There is a lot of office work that I need to do, planning for different events; planning for regular weekly meetings. Sunday I help with Redefine in Llandudno. Monday I’m at ‘Shuffle & Shake’ in Colwyn Bay. Wednesday I’m in the office preparing. Thursday I’m in Ysgol Aberconwy helping with the Recess Christian Union, and then helping with the Reverb after-school drop-in club in Llandudno. Saturday I mostly spend time with the family, but there is the odd day where I might have a Nerf Battle kind of thing like we did this last week, and so, yeah it’s just a balance of events and admin/management.

Q5: Brilliant. So, you just mentioned that you like board games. What is your favourite board game and why?

Korey: I’ll give you two because they’re both totally different. The first is ‘Scythe’, a gigantic, huge game. It weighs a ton, it’s amazing and I love it because I just feel like I’m immersed in the theme: a very diesel punk alternate reality, post world war 2 and there are robots and I like robots, so yeah. That’s fun. I also really like a simple game called ‘Sushi Go’; which is a little card game, about the size of ‘Uno’, but it’s so totally different than anything I’ve ever played and it’s actually inspired me to try to make my own board game..

Q6: You mentioned Redefine, Reverb and Recess, which I’m sure our readers have already heard about, but there was a new one amongst them, ‘Shuffle & Shake’. Can you explain a bit more about it?

Korey: Yeah, the idea is that it’s basically like a youth board game café. It’s open one night of the week for a couple of hours and it’s specifically for young people to have a place where they can connect around a table, and that’s kind of the idea behind that word ‘shuffle’. Not only are we literally shuffling cards etc., but that people’s lives will be mixed and shuffled together. And in that mix they’ll be introduced to Christ. Also part of the name ‘Shuffle & Shake’ is the second part ‘shake’. And that’s just simply ‘we have milkshakes’. So, ‘Shuffle & Shake’ it’s like a board game café for young people.

Q7: In what way can our readers help support the work that you do at ‘Shuffle & Shake’?

Korey: If any adults were interested in helping out or passing along the word about the event, that’d be great. We want to be a help to the community in Colwyn Bay; a bright spot so to speak in Colwyn Bay, and so just letting people know where we are and what’s going on would help. Also if people are able to support financially, by giving to Llandudno Youth for Christ. So, giving to Llandudno Youth for Christ, encouraging people to come to ‘Shuffle & Shake’, thinking of adults that might be able to volunteer and help out, all those are great ways to help support us.

‘Shuffle & Shake‘ is held at Prince’s Drive Baptist Church in Colwyn Bay, typically on the 1st & 3rd Monday of the month during school term time, running from 7:30pm to 9pm. Please do consider supporting this new event that’s seeking to reach young people relevantly with the good news of Jesus Christ.

The next 2 ‘Shuffle & Shake‘ meetings will be on Monday April 8th & Monday April 29th.

Be Blessed!

Nerf Said!

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We all had a fantastic time on this past Saturday 30th March. Here at Llandudno Youth for Christ we held a mega epic Nerf Battle for young people at Gloddaeth Church.

We are so grateful to Gloddaeth Church and its pastor Rev. Neil Kirkham for allowing us to hold this great social event in their building. It’s brilliant to know that we are so well supported and championed by the amazing churches in our area.

The Nerf Battle was heaps of fun, with lots of young people from Llandudno and further afield coming together to take part in this exciting event.

It was a night that I’m sure the young people who attended will not soon forget. Not only did we have many different games of Nerf, from a ‘capture the flag’ game to ‘last person standing’. We also had snacks and refreshments half way through for everyone to be able to re-energise themselves.

Whilst everyone was eating and resting, our director Tim Gough gave a short 5 minute talk about how, in the same way that his favourite Nerf Gun had been carefully worked on and lovingly modified to make it even more efficient at firing foam darts, and for that reason it was his favourite. We have all been carefully and lovingly put together, created by a God who loves us and wants us to get to know Him.

The young people listened attentively to this encouraging and hope filled message, which for some was their first experience of hearing how much God loved them.

It’s really brilliant being able to hold such events that have a great impact upon the lives of so many young people.

And we wouldn’t be able to do events such as these without the help and support of churches and individuals in our area and beyond.

We need people to volunteer to help run the events and work that we do.

We need people to be faithfully praying for the events and work that we do.

We need people to faithfully support us financially for the events and work that we do.

Please do continue to support us, and let others know about the amazing work we do to see young people reached with the love of God.

We want to be able to continue to impact young people’s lives with the good news of Jesus, and cannot do this without your help and support. Thank you and be blessed!

 

Urgent! – New Volunteers Needed!!

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This is a call to all of our wonderful supporters.

We are in need of new volunteers at our Reverb Saturday Cafe. We have had key members of our team step down for various reasons and need people to step up to the plate and fill the following positions:-

  1. Pancake Cook: Cooking pancakes and stove items including sausages, bacon, mushrooms and onions. A pancake mix is used and there is generally less time pressure than for the cook doing toasties. The key skill is being organised and keeping supplies of the hot items going as neededon the day. Rota would be roughly once every 6 weeks, perhaps a little more in the summer holidays.
  2. Dishwasher: Loading the dishwasher with dirty crockery/cutlery and removing after the 2 minute cycle is complete. Some washing of pans in the sink also needed. No great skill required, you just need to keep an eye on which items are most needed (such as teapots) and some strength is required as the trays can be quite heavy when full of crockery. Rota would be roughly once a month or as much as you can manage.
  3. Kitchen Organiser: Keeping tabs on all the orders and making sure that the food and drink is made in the right order as quickly as possible. Key skills are being highly organised and calm under pressure. Rota would be roughly once every 6 weeks.
  4. Cakes: Baking three cakes of your choice. Popular ones are sponges and just about anything that has chocolate in it but a bit of variety is good occasionally too. Rota would be roughly once every 6 weeks, perhaps a little more in the summer holidays (could be less if you would prefer.)
Reverb Saturday Cafe sessions are fortnightly on the
2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month, starting at 10:00 and ending at roughly 15:00 or so. Half sessions of roughly 2.5 hours for roles 1-3 can usually be arranged if the person isn’t confident they could manage the whole time. As usual, a free lunch is provided, and there is sometimes cake to take home at the end of the session.
Please prayerfully consider what position you could fill. Or if it is none of the above, but you still want to volunteer, we also have waiting on positions.
You can contact us on 07517 429 763 or email: llandudnoyfc@gmail.com.
Be blessed!

E-Nerf fun for everyone!

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At Llandudno Youth for Christ, we are excited to announce that we have some brilliant social events coming up in the near future. Indeed 2 of them are in the very near future.

On this coming Saturday 23rd February we will be having a ‘Girls’ Night’ social event and a ‘Lads’Night’ social event. These will be two great community building events.

The Girls will be spending time together eating ice-cream and watching a movie at Gloddaeth Church from 6-9pm. At the same time the Lads will be meeting at TyLlywelyn Community Centre for an evening of eating pies, playing games & taking part in bouts of inflatable boxing.

Then in just over a Month’s time we will be all meeting for an epic ‘Nerf’ battle, again in Gloddaeth Church on Saturday 30th March, 6-8pm. This will be a fun time for everyone.

So, if you are aged 11-18yrs of age, or you know someone who is, and you think you might enjoy these events, please do come along/let them know.

Also, please be praying for these events. Praying that everyone will have a good time and a real sense of community and fun will be built amongst all who attend.

Thank you, 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!

Love Came Down at Christmas

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Well we had the first of our Christmas themed Redefine’s last Sunday evening and next week we will be having our second and last Christmas themed evening before the Christmas break.

We will also be having our last Reverb after-school drop-in on Thursday 20th December.

Please be praying for us all at Llandudno Youth for Christ. Pray that at this time of the year, we will reach out to and impact the lives of young people in our area with the good news of Jesus, our Emmanuel – God with us.

This time of year hearts can be so much more open to receiving the truth of God’s love for us. So it’s an important time to be praying for the work that we do.

Our director Tim Gough has been holding assemblies in the local secondary school – Ysgol John Bright, every morning this week. Please pray that the talks that he gave have really hit home and that in 2019 he would have more opportunities to speak in schools in the area.

Thank you for supporting us at Llandudno Youth for Christ, financially, with your time and most of all with your prayers.

So keep on praying for us. Pray for all of our volunteers and staff over the Christmas period, that God would keep them safe & well, and that we’d be ready and refreshed for another term of outreach in January.

Have a truly blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

 

Who do YOU say I am?

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We had another great evening at Sunday night’s ‘Redefine’.

After playing some fun team games which involved smarties, balloons & plastic cups, we broke up into our small groups for our Bible study time. Tonight we were looking at Mark 8:27-30. A fairly short passage of scripture, but one chock full of importance.

Jesus asks the disciples who the people around them that they have been ministering to think that He is? Then Jesus gets more personal and asks the disciples directly who they think that He is. “Then Jesus and his disciples walked to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way, he posed this question to his disciples: “Who do the people say that I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptizer, others say Elijah the prophet, and still others say you must be one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter spoke up, saying, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!” Then he warned them not to breathe a word of this to anyone.“

Interestingly Jesus has just healed a blind man before this in the town of Bethsaida. It’s on their journey from Bethsaida to Caesarea Philippi that He poses this question to them. The only disciple to have full revelation of who Jesus is, was Simon Peter. He was the only one not blind to who Jesus is. Simon Peter’s name in Aramaic is ‘Shimon‘ which means ‘he who hears’. Simon was the one who heard from God the Father the truth of who Jesus was. That reveals to us an important point. We need revelation from God of who Jesus truly is, otherwise we can be left floundering like the disciples, saying that He is a prophet, wise teacher or good man, but not the promised anointed one; the Son of God.

Another fascinating point is that at Caesarea Philippi there was a cave dedicated to the pagan god Pan that had a deep pool in it that was so deep it couldn’t be measured that was called the gate of hell (hades) and also it was the source of the principal spring of water that fed the river Jordan (see here).

Jesus the Messiah is more powerful than any pagan god and he is more powerful than death itself. ‘On this mountain he (God) will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death for ever.’ – Isaiah 25:7-8  We know that by His death & resurrection Jesus would deliver us not only from sin, but also the power of death.

Back to Jesus’ question – ‘Who do you say I am?’ It’s important to ask yourself that question. Who do you say Jesus is?

Again, it was a great evening and a lot was discussed and learned from the passage. Please be praying for the young people that come to Redefine. Pray that just like Simon Peter, they would have a revelation from God the Father of who Jesus truly is.

Be blessed!