Youth for Christ have gone online!

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What are we doing?

If there’s one thing Youth for Christ are known for all over the world, it’s innovation. With the lockdown in full effect over the past month, Youth for Christ in Llandudno didn’t put on the breaks, instead we just changed lanes. We moved all of our physical projects into a digital space. So what does this look like?

Reverb Live

Every Thursday evening at 7pm, Tim livestreams a video to two different platforms (Facebook and Instagram). In the video Tim gives a fun illustration, maybe a game or a challenge, and ends with a short gospel message. Young people (mostly from Reverb and Recess) can comment and interact in real time with the message. After the live show, the video goes into an Instagram ‘Story’ for 24 hours, so those who missed it can still catch up, and the video is then saved to YouTube and Facebook.

Shuffle and Shake Live

On Friday evening Korey takes over. For a while he did the same thing above, so live-streamed a video onto Instagram featuring how to make a game at home, followed by a reflection. He then found a better way! Korey now plays a digital game with a group on Friday evenings for 45 minutes. He has more time to build those relationships and still ends with a good gospel thought. Fab!

Redefine Meetup

Every Sunday evening we gather team and young people on a digital conferencing platform called Zoom. We all have chance to share our news, play some online games, have Bible studies in small groups (breakout rooms), hear a short talk, and end with a time of prayer and worship. We meet together, sing together, talk together, and pray together – it’s the next best thing to actually meeting. This has been going really well! Last night twenty-three of us had a ‘Star Wars night’ – with costumes, and galactic-themed backgrounds at the ready – looking at who the Holy Spirit is.

YouTube Channel

To keep the fun going and message front and centre, we launched a new YouTube channel called RE:TV. This allows us a way of connecting with young people on the biggest internet platform that they engage with. So far we’ve posted a ‘vlog’ every week – sharing a fun challenge, a silly hook, and a gospel thought. Check out the latest one below! We’ve also put up some thoughts, and we live streamed a full-on ‘grill a Christian’ too. It’s been great!

 

Q&A with Tim

How did we do this so quickly?

We’ve actually been wanting to setup a proper ‘online wing’ for our projects for a while now. It’s been bubbling away in our planning meetings for a few years to be honest. This gave us the perfect chance to make it work. We had already been connecting very basically with these online platforms, so we just turned up the volume.

Isn’t there some safeguarding issues?

Absolutely! So the first thing we did was took professional advice and worked out a standard of rules and set of expectations. We’re able to kick people off who don’t meet these expectations, not let anyone in who looks like a risk, and limit exactly what can be done in those spaces. Because we started this with that step, we’ve had no issues like this at all, and everything is running smoothly.

Did this cost money?

Alas, yes. The online world is so over-saturated with content that we wanted to make sure we stood out, but also make sure that we had none of the common issues with picture and sound. We invested in some lights, a good microphone, some online games, and a pro Zoom account. If we’re honest, we’re still not there yet. We really need a much better camera and some serious computer storage. I’m sure you’ll agree though, the money has been well spent as we are still connecting with young people several times a week!

How much effort does this take?

In lots of ways it takes the same amount of effort as our usual projects. We still have to set things up, write messages, and plan activities. In other ways there is a little more. We’re still learning the technology and we’re making things to be saved on video. This comes with a little more pressure. It’s well worth it though, and gets a little easier each time.

Will you keep doing this after lockdown?

I imagine we’ll keep doing some of this. We might meet on Zoom less frequently, and not live stream as often, however the YouTube channel and live games give us opportunities that we don’t get anywhere else. We’ll try and keep at least some of that going. The YouTube channel will also be much better when we’ve got a few leaders in one room at one time.

How can we help?

Please pray! Pray for energy, for good content, for safety, and for good interactions. Also, please consider giving to specifically support this work. We’re purchasing a new tripod and very large hard drive this week, but still really need to think about replacing our camera.

Thanks so much for connecting with us on here. Stay safe everyone and see you soon!

 

Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

Christian Barbecue Anyone?

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Last Easter Saturday we held a live event via our YouTube channel ‘RE:TV’. It was a Q & A session that we titled ‘Grill a Christian’.

Please see the whole event below:-

We hope you enjoyed this video. Please check out our YouTube channel for more content here.

Be blessed!

The way of wisdom

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Last Sunday night at ‘Redefine‘ we started a new theme that we will be looking at over the next several weeks. We started looking at the book of Proverbs. We are doing this because we want to input wisdom into the hearts & minds of the young people that attend our Sunday evening Bible Study.

We started at the beginning and looked at Proverbs chapter one verses one to seven. “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
for receiving instruction in prudent behaviour,
doing what is right and just and fair;
for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young –
let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance –
for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Proverbs 1:1-7

We discussed what the difference was between knowledge and wisdom. How nowledge was just the accumulation of information, but wisdom was the right use and aplication of the knoweldge. The following example was cited ‘Knowledge’ is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, ‘wisdom’ is not putting it into a fruit salad.

We looked at how the Bible, the Word of God gives us wisdom and how important it is to daily spend time reading God’s word. For it gives us knowledge and discretion , discernment, and guidance. Ultimately it points us to wisdom incarnate; Jesus. He is the wisdom of God in the flesh.

It was a really good evening and we look forward to the next couple of weeks as we dive into the book of proverbs.

Please be praying for us as we study the book of Proverbs. Pray that the young people would receive wisdom from God that will support and grow them throughout their lives.

Be blessed!

Passing the baton…

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Quick interview with Ben Nuss – our outgoing chair person, and Paul Hadley, our returning chair.

We will miss Ben massively, but are so grateful to have Paul back.

Take it to the Lord in prayer

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Last Sunday night at ‘Redefine‘ we looked at the topic of prayer. This was as part of the follow up course we are doing from the brilliant Higher tour North Wales. It was an excellent night.

We’d set the room we were using up like an indoor campfire; with fairy lights in the place of an actual fire; and had comfy pillows and bean bags set in a circle around the fairy lights ‘campfire‘.

After a fun start playing some group games, we watched the Higher tour video about prayer and had a great teaching time looking at prayer.

It was really great seeing the young people discuss and think about prayer; how they can talk with God whenever and wherever knowing that He listens to them. “You will answer me, God; I know you always will,
like you always do as you listen with love to my every prayer.” – Psalm 17:6

It was also great that at the same time the young people were learning about prayer, we were holding our monthly ‘Prayer Gathering‘ in another room. This was well attended and we shared about the Higher Tour and some of the needs that we are facing at Llandudno Youth for Christ. We also sang some songs of worship to God and prayed for the young people in our area.

We are so grateful for the amazing group of people that regularly come to our prayer gatherings and support us in prayer. Thank you for lifting us and our needs up to God in prayer.

Talking of needs, one of the areas where we have a need is that of volunteers at some of our projects and also at our Saturday Cafe that runs on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. We need people to help out in the kitchen with the cooking and also with other areas of the Reverb Saturday Cafe, such as waiting on and making drinks. We also are looking for more volunteers for ‘Recess‘ our Thursday Christian Union meetings in Ysgol John Bright and Ysgol Aberconwy and our new project, ‘Shuffle & Shake‘ on Friday nights in Colwyn Bay.

If you feel that you want to help us in one of these areas, then please do not hesitate to email us on llandudnoyfc@gmail.com or telephone the office on 07517 429 763 (office opening hours are 9am to 5pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and 9am to 12pm on Fridays)

Thank you and keep on praying.

 

Call on me!

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At Llandudno Youth for Christ, we are always on the look out for more people to join us in this amazing work of sharing the gospel relevantly to young people in Llandudno and beyond.

It is a fantastic privilege to be able to be part of something wonderful that God is doing through LLYFC in North Wales. And we have so many different ways in which people can help.

We have our ‘Reverb Saturday Cafe‘ that runs on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. This is a brilliant social endeavour that not only provides a wonderful haven for people in Llandudno to rest and have a delicious meal and refreshing drink, but also raises much needed funds for the work that we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ. We are always on the look-out for people to work with us here, whether it is waiting-on, serving at the till, cooking in the kitchen or helping with the washing up, more people to help are always welcomed and sought after.

Then we have the various different youth-work projects that we run. ‘Reverb‘ our Thursday after school youth drop in that runs from 3:15-5:15pm, ‘Redefine‘ our Sunday night Bible Study group that is held from 6-8pm, ‘Recess‘ our two Lunch-time Christian Unions in Ysgol Aberconwy and Ysgol John Bright and our latest project ‘Shuffle & Shake‘ held on Friday evenings in Colwyn Bay. In all of these projects we’d love to have more volunteers to work with the young people and be living, breathing examples of God’s love.

If you feel that you’d like to help and volunteer in any of the projects mentioned above, then please don’t hesitate to contact us on 07517 429 763 or via email – llandudnoyfc@gmail.com

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2

Tim’s Big Trek

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Hey – Tim here – can you spread the word?

This autumn 2020, I’m doing the craziest thing I’ve ever done (other than marry an American) – I’m climbing 17,600ft up to Everest Base Camp in Nepal to raise money, not only for Llandudno Youth for Christ, but for a brand – new – centre in Wales!

Below is the video announcement I made in December 2019 about this exciting fund-raiser.

If you want to donate to support ‘Tim’s Big Trek’ click here.

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!

This I believe…

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We had another great night on Sunday at Redefine. We are continuing to look at Jesus and who He is. What we know and believe about Him is so important. So it’s great to be able to get to grips with what we believe about Jesus. To be passing on the faith to future generations.

This is something we are passionate about at Llandudno Youth for Christ.

We do not simply want to introduce young people to Jesus, but we want to help them grow and become established in their faith. To be discipled well and see them walk with God. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”– Matthew 28:19-20

This is something we have been passionate about for the past 10 years at Llandudno Youth for Christ, and it is something we will be passionate about for the next 10 years and beyond.

2019 is the year of our 10th Anniversary, and throughout the year we will be having different celebrations to mark the occasion. We’ve already had a brilliantly attended Prayer Gathering last month, and this week, on Wednesday 12th June we will be holding our 10th Anniversary Showcase at Gloddaeth Church, from 7-9pm.

This will be a great night to hear about all that God is doing in and through the ministry of Llandudno Youth for Christ. We’d love to see you there.

Be blessed!