Happy 10th Anniversary!

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Hello everybody, I hope you are having a fantastic week. I’ve got some important news that I’m bursting to tell you…

Llandudno Youth for Christ is 10 years old!

We’ve been sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ relevantly with young people in Llandudno and beyond for 10 years!

10 years of seeing young people’s lives changed by Jesus!

That’s absolutely brilliant!!!!

To celebrate this we are having a special Showcase on Wednesday 12th June 7-9pm at Gloddaeth Church in Llandudno. We’re so excited to share with you all that God has been doing in and through the ministry of Llandudno Youth for Christ over the last 10 years.

You are all invited and we’d love to see you there on the night.

Good things happen when God’s people gather together. So let’s gather together on Wednesday 12th June and thank God for all His goodness.

We hope you can make it.

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!

 

Love is…

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This Thursday we are all going to be inundated with red roses, chocolate hearts and romantic cards. Yes it’s valentine’s day.

You might be fed up with this annual celebration of romantic love and see it as simply a commercial endeavour set to line the pockets of businesses. However, as it does focus on the most impart thing in life, ‘love’, it shouldn’t be so quickly dismissed.

Interestingly enough, this last Sunday at ‘Redefine’ we were studying chapter 12 of the gospel of Mark; verses 28 to 34 to be precise. In this passage a religious scholar asks Jesus what the most important commandment is. Jesus’ reply is this “The most important of all the commandments is this: ‘The Lord Yahweh, our God, is one!’ You are to love the Lord Yahweh, your God, with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, with every thought that is within you, and with all your strength. This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is this: ‘You must love your neighbour in the same way you love yourself.’ You will never find a greater commandment than these.” – Mark 12:29-31

Jesus is saying that loving God and loving those around us are the greatest commandment. It’s all about love. After all God is love.

And loving our neighbour just means those around us, even those people who dress differently than us, who think differently to us, who have different beliefs than us. Those people that we don’t always get along with, or want to get along with. As we love them, we are demonstrating our love for God also. For the apostle John in his first epistle writes “Anyone can say, “I love God,” yet have hatred toward another believer. This makes him a phony, because if you don’t love a brother or sister, whom you can see, how can you truly love God, whom you can’t see? For he has given us this command: whoever loves God must also demonstrate love to others” – 1 John 4:20-21.

This is a tough call and a difficult ask. The romantic love of Valentine’s day may be easy, as easy as popping to the shops and buying a card and some flowers, but the powerful and robust, unconditional love of God; the Agape love of God; is much harder to do. Indeed, it is impossible for us to do in our own power and strength. We can only accomplish it by God’s Spirit moving in and through our lives.

So this week as we are reminded of love wherever we go, let us remember that God loves us with an unconditional and reckless love and as we are transformed by that love, let us love those around us with the love He gives us.

Be blessed!

ἐν ἀρχή…(In the beginning…)

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“Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.” – John 1:1-5 (TLB)

January is almost gone and we’ll soon be stepping into February, but now whilst we are still at the beginning of the year, let us look forward to all that is in store for us in 2019 with hope filled hearts and joyous expectation.

Like Paul, let us forget what is behind and press forward to what God has in store for us in the coming days, weeks & months.

Let us remember that the God we serve is one of life & light and a light that the darkness can NEVER extinguish!

There is nothing ahead of you in 2019 that God is not big enough to carry you through.

Perhaps there are new opportunities coming your way? New connections to make or perhaps God is going to resurrect dreams that you long thought were dead and gone.

Perhaps God is asking you to step out in faith and partner with us here at Llandudno Youth for Christ. Either financially by becoming a monthly financial supporter of the work we are doing in seeing young people’s lives turned around by Jesus, or partnering with us in prayer, daily seeking God for the lives of the young people in Llandudno and beyond and joining with us monthly at our prayer gatherings.

Perhaps it is in partnering with us by volunteering at one of our events, such as ‘Reverb‘, our after-school drop-in youth club that is held every Thursday during term time from 3:15-5:15pm. Or perhaps volunteering at our community cafe ‘Reverb Saturday Cafe @ St John’s‘ where we serve people in Llandundo with coffee, cakes & a friendly smile – this is a great ministry that not only blesses the people of Llandudno, but also raises much needed funds for the ministry work that we are doing.

Please prayerfully consider how you can help support the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ in bringing Jesus’ light to the young people of Llandudno and beyond.

Have a great 2019 and shine His light for all to see.

Be blessed!

Come and worship

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Merry Christmas to all our amazing supporters!

May your hearts and homes be filled with the love of Jesus today and everyday.

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!

 

Through it all my eyes are on You.

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As I write this post I know that it is the 5th November and soon in Colwyn Bay, as there was 2 weeks ago in Llandudno, a big fireworks display.

Looking at Fireworks is like Stargazing; both make us lift up our heads and look skyward.

Why is that important, well this morning I woke up with part of a worship song going through my mind on repeat. Not in an annoying way, but in a reassuring and comforting way. The song was ‘It is well‘ by Kristene DiMarco, and the part of the song that I kept on singing both in my head and out loud throughout the day was ‘through it all, through it all, my eyes are on You. Through it all, through it all, it is well.‘

I felt that God was saying that whatever circumstances I go through, I need to keep my eyes on God, just like the Psalmist says “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” – Psalm 121:1-2. I need to keep looking towards God with expectation and hope. I need to lift my eyes upwards. No hanging the head in fear and shame, eyes downcast and furtive, but eyes gazing heavenward in awe and wonder, waiting for God to move.

So my encouragement to you is whatever you are going through to look upwards in faith and expectation to the God who loves you with an everlasting love. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.“- Romans 8:38-39.

Please also be praying for us at Llandudno Youth for Christ and joining with us in expectation for Him to move in the lives of the young people that come to our different events. Join with us in prayer for God to send more people to join us in seeing young people’s lives changed by Jesus. Join us in praying for God to financially provide for all that we are doing to reach out with the gospel in Llandudno and beyond.

Have a great first week of November and be blessed!

Ignite the light and let it shine…

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The title of this post is taken from pop singer Katy Perry’s song ‘Firework‘. It’s a really encouraging song, with a catchy tune. In the lyrics she encourages the listeners by singing “You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine. Just own the night like the Fourth of July; ’cause, baby, you’re a firework, come on, show ’em what you’re worth. Make ’em go, “ah, ah, ah”, as you shoot across the sky.”

It makes me think of Jesus’ encouragement for us to let our 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.

Last night in Llandudno the annual fireworks display was held with hundreds of people flocking to watch it. The whole town was abuzz with excitement and anticipation. Everyone was eagerly looking up at the dark night sky to see the pyrotechnics start and fill the air above them with blazing light and brilliant colour.

In the metaphorical darkness of the world around us, God wants the light of Christ that is in believers’ lives to shine out and fill the world around them with blazing light and brilliant colour. Especially at this time of year when the nights get darker and the air gets colder; let’s blaze like fireworks, illuminating the darkness.

I love how the Message version puts this passage from the gospel of Matthew; “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16.

Let’s be generous with our lives and love those we find around us. Being used by God to open others up to himself so that they can enter into relationship with this generous Father in heaven.

Also, please be praying for the young people that come to the events we hold at Llandudno Youth for Christ. For those that are already followers of Christ to be bold and courageous and let their light shine, and for those that have yet to put their trust in Jesus to be drawn closer to Him.

Have a great start to the winter season.

Let your light shine & be blessed!

Go!

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We are still working our way through the gospel of Mark at ‘Redefine‘ and last night we looked at the 2nd chapter of Mark.

If you’ve not read it before or recently, it is the retelling of Jesus healing a paralysed man. It’s quite a shocking and unorthodox account, because Jesus had gone back home and a large crowd had gathered at the house, so much so that 4 men who were bringing their friend to Jesus to be healed couldn’t get into the house by conventional means, but instead had to tear up the roof to lower their friend down to Jesus.

This act of faith caught Jesus’ attention. Well He could hardly miss it, what with all of the debris and roof fragments showering down as these men created a hold in the ceiling for their friend.

The passage puts it this way – “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” – Mark 2:5

Hang on a second, they wanted Jesus to heal him, not forgive His sins…but for Jesus forgiving the man of his sins was more important that physical healing.

This shocked the religious leaders that were present, after all only God could forgive sins. To them Jesus was blaspheming by making himself equal with God. They couldn’t see who Jesus really is. The Son of God & the Son of Man.

They were blinded to the truth.

I love what Jesus did next;…“‘Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralysed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up, take your mat and walk”? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So he said to the man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’” – Mark 2:8-12.

When Jesus is around, things happen. He is God after all, and He loves us no matter what state we come to Him in.

The paralysed man didn’t have anything to bring to Jesus except himself and even then he needed the help of his friends. Jesus gave him far more than he could ever bring to God. Jesus gave him forgiveness & healing.

It’s the same for us today, all we bring to Jesus is ourselves, with all our sins and frailty and He forgives us and heals us. He doesn’t and hasn’t changed. His heart for us is just like His heart for the paralysed man.

So today come to Him just as you are, even if it looks messy and uncomfortable. He loves you and wants to see you forgiven and whole.

Another point in the gospel account is that the man needed his friends. We too need good friends who will carry us to Jesus in prayer with faith. So today bring a friend to God in prayer and see what he does with your faith on their behalf.

Be blessed!