God is…faithful

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After our half-term break at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we are rearing to get back into all of our various events. On Thursday 2nd of March, one day after we celebrated St David’s Day, we will be holding our first Reverb Youth Space after school drop-in at 4pm. Then this coming Sunday night at 6pm we will be holding our Sunday evening Bible study; ‘Redefine‘ where we will be getting back into our ‘God is..‘ series.

This coming Sunday’s topic is one that we have all been looking forward to doing. ‘God is a promise keeping God‘.

We will be looking at how God is faithful and keeps His promises.

We will be looking at covenant, and specifically the new covenant that Jesus made for us. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying,“Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” – Matthew 26:26-28

Jesus is God’s faithfulness revealed in all its fullness. God promised to deliver and save His people so many times in the past; and in Jesus we have our great deliverance revealed and fulfilled.

God has truly saved and delivered His people in and through Jesus.

As this great song by the worship group ‘Housefires‘ sings, all of God’s promises are ‘Yes and Amen‘. Yes and Amen in Jesus and in Him alone.

As we continue to work with young people in this area, sharing God’s love and faithfulness. Sharing the good news of Jesus, please continue to support us in prayer, with your time and with finances. Please pray that this coming Sunday the young people will really grasp the truth that God is faithful. God is trustworthy. In a world of shifting sands and shaking institutions, shaking ground. a world of turbulence and uncertainty, may they know the One who is the only solid rock. The only firm and steady ground. Jesus.

Be blessed!

 

 

 

16% and counting!

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Yay! A massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored our centre director Tim Gough thus far on his journey to doing an insanely high bungee jump to raise funds for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ!

We have raised as of 12pm on Monday 27th of February a total of £824.40!!!!! Wow!

That is all on the short space of 3 weeks since Tim set-up our give.net webpage that people can make donations for the jump to.

3 weeks along and we already have reached 16% of our target amount!

Give yourselves a well earned pat on the back.

Thank you!

We have 5 months to go before Tim launches himself into the air, connected by a bungee cord to a platform. He will travel 400ft in just over 5 seconds and reach the staggering speed of 90 miles per hour!

Yes, on Friday 28th of July Tim will be taking the plunge!

So we have 150 days left to raise the remaining 84%….

Let’s get our friends and family involved in supporting this crazy, but worthwhile fundraising endeavour!

Interestingly when I was researching a little bit about the number 16, it turns out that in the ‘Periodic Table’ in group 16 are the ‘Chalcogen’ group of elements, also known as the ‘Oxygen family‘. In this group are polonium, tellurium, selenium, sulfur & oxygen. As we all know, Oxygen is essential for life, with human tissue containing 16% oxygen.

This amazing fundraising is an important part of the work we do at LLYFC, and just as we are grateful everyday for God’s gift of oxygen in our lungs, we are grateful to all of our amazing supporters who uphold us in prayer, with their time and with much needed finance; such as the £824.40 raised thus far for Tim’s Big Jump!

Small beginnings are not to be despised; and we will be in awe of what God does through Tim’s act of daring. Indeed, let’s aim high and believe God for an abundant above and beyond result to this sponsorship event!

“After that, the Word of God came to me: “Zerubbabel started rebuilding this Temple and he will complete it. That will be your confirmation that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me to you. Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They’ll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place!” – Zechariah 4:8-10

“ I pray that you will know the love of Christ. His love goes beyond anything we can understand. I pray that you will be filled with God Himself. God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us. May we see His shining-greatness in the church. May all people in all time honour Christ Jesus. Let it be so.” – Ephesians 3:19-21

Be blessed!

What a ‘Tee-Riffic’ idea!

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No, I assure you, I have not mis-spelled the word ‘terrific‘. It is just one of my infamous ‘puns’. I’m linking the title of this post to the fact that here at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we have just launched a truly ‘Tee-Riffic‘ idea. We now have a great resource for people to be able to buy T-Shirts with thought provoking messages on them, or with the logos for some of the events we run, such as ‘Redefine‘ our Sunday evening Bible Study, and ‘Reverb‘ our Thursday evening after-school drop-in. You can check it out here.

Each T-Shirt is sourced from fairtrade factories and made lovingly by hand with only organic materials.

When you buy a T-Shirt, you will be helping to support the work that we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ, and also, when you wear the T-Shirt you will be a living walking billboard, letting people know about what we do too.

Like the Apostle Paul says when defending his ministry to the critics, the people who have benefitted from the work he did are the best credentials he has for what God has been doing through his life’s work: “Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.” – 2 Corinthians 3:1-3.

We hope you like this ‘Tee-Riffic‘ idea, and that you will support it by purchasing a T-Shirt and wearing it, or maybe get one as a gift for a friend.

Another ‘Tee-Riffic‘ idea that our centre director Tim Gough has had is to do a sponsored bungee jump from the highest bungee jumping off point in the UK – and he doesn’t like heights or flying!!! You can sponsor this ‘Tee-Riffic‘ act of bravery here.

Finally, we have another ‘Tee-Riffic‘ resource for raising funds for the work we do at LLYFC. It is our Reverb Saturday Cafe @ St John’s Methodist Church on Mostyn Street in Llandudno. This is a great way for us to raise both funds and awareness of the work we do. It is also a great place for people in our community to meet up over a nice slice of yummy cake and a hot cup of tea or coffee. It is a really popular venue for people to meet up at. However, due to its popularity, we are needing some more volunteers to help us out with this.  So if you want to do something ‘Tee-Riffic‘ this year, perhaps you would consider joining the Reverb Saturday Cafe Team.

We think that would be a truly ‘Tee-Riffic‘ thing to do.

“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favour: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” – Philippians 2:1-4

Be Blessed!

“What is love?”

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I’m sure some people after reading the title of this blog post are singing out loud or at least in their heads the tune of the 1993 song ‘What is love?’ by Haddaway. But it is not the song that prompted this blog post, rather, it is because last night at ‘Redefine‘, our Sunday evening young person’s Bible study, we held a joint meeting with pupils of St David’s College in one of their halls.

The topic of the night, given that this Tuesday is Valentine’s day: February 14th, was ‘What is love?’

With so many songs written about love, like the Haddaway one, it must be something important to us, to humanity; but what is it? Why do we spend so much time, money and effort on this thing called love?

Our centre director Tim Gough gave a great short talk about what love is from a Christian perspective, after giving the young people time to discuss amongst themselves what they thought love was.

Some of the answers were, love for animals, love for food, love for family; but we still had no clarity on what love is.

So, we turned to the Bible, specifically John 3:16. Tim spoke of how God is the creator and originator of love. If we want to know what love is, and what it is all about, then we need to go to its inventor, its creator to find out what it really is.

As 1 John 4:8 says, ‘God is love‘. So everything that love truly is, God is; and “This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.” – 1 John 4:9-10.

So this Valentine’s day with all of its roses, fluffy hearts and trinkets, remember what love truly is. God sending His only Son Jesus to die in our place on a cross. Let us say a big thank you to Him for His great love for us. If you want a love song for Valentine’s day; check out Matt Redman’s ‘This is how we know.” There is also an explanation of the background to the song here.

We hope you have a great Valentine’s day; and even if you do not receive a single card through the mail; don’t forget that the Creator of the Universe loves you.

Be Blessed!

Tim’s Big Jump (Update!)

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400FT, 90MPH, 5SECONDS

Those are figures that our centre director at Llandudno Youth for Christ has given for his upcoming charity bungee jump.

Tim will be jumping 400ft towards the ground, travelling at 90mph and it will take just over 5 seconds for him to do this!

Insane?!

No, just passionate about what we are doing here at Llandudno Youth for Christ to see young lives impacted and changed by the good news of Jesus.

Like the amazing men and women mentioned in the book of Hebrews; Tim is fiercely believes in the God He serves, and wants to see more and more people come into relationship with Him. He is taking a massive step of faith with this. Check out the video on our sponsorship page: http://www.llandudnoyfc.com/timsbigjump/ and if you too, like Tim want to see many more young people’s lives changed forever with God’s love, then please donate and support Tim’s Big Jump.

Take a leap of faith today!

Angels Unawares!?

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Back in July of 2016; we posted the following blog post: http://www.llandudnoyfc.com/2016/07/20/angels-needed-for-heavens-kitchen-reverb-stjohns-cafe/ to advertise our need for more volunteers at the Reverb @ St John’s Saturday Cafe that we run at St John’s Methodist Church on Mostyn Street in Llandudno.

The response was great and we had new volunteers join this team of fun loving people who really enjoy serving their community with great food & drink.

Once again we find ourselves in need of some more volunteers for this great venture that not only brings joy to so many people, but also provides much needed financial funds for the work that Llandudno Youth for Christ does in reaching into the community and the schools in our area with the good news; seeing lives impacted and changed for the better.

I chose the title ‘Angel unawares’ from the scripture in the book of Hebrews “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” – Hebrews 13:2 (KJV). This is due to its encouragement for us to be hospitable to others; as the Apostle Peter says; “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” – 1 Peter 4:9 (NIV).

Hospitality and being hospitable to others is a great way to demonstrate God’s love to those around us; “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him;
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth;
and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.” – Isaiah 58:6-8.

At the Reverb @ St John’s Cafe we create a safe place for people to meet; to chat, to relax, to unwind and to be served with grace and love.

We would love it, if you feel that you can step into the gap and be a much needed and highly valued member of the Saturday Cafe team, if you would drop us a line and let us know.

Come aboard and let’s serve our community through the Cafe; and who knows, you might even serve ‘angels unawares‘.

Be blessed!

Bungeeeeeeeeeeee!

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“Dear world. Have just booked the UK’s largest bungee jump (400ft) to raise money for I am also scared of heights. Details soon!” – Tim Gough

This was the Twitter post that Llandudno Youth for Christ’s centre director, Mr Tim Gough posted on 1st Feb 2017. He is going to be doing an ‘extreme’ feat, as mentioned in our previous blog post, to raise money for the work we do here at LLYFC.

This got me thinking about the whole aspect of taking a leap of faith, because that is what Tim will be doing on the….(details coming soon on the date and venue of Tim’s jump..we will keep you posted)…

When Tim does his bungee jump he will be ‘literally’ taking a leap of faith.

He will be trusting the bungee cord and harness that are attached to him; trusting that they have been properly put on and are in good working condition. Trusting that they will not break and fail and send him plummeting to the ground below. There is a lot of trust going on in Tim’s heart.

He will be demonstrating his faith when he takes the leap. As we posted on our twitter feed on Jan 16th, “We don’t believe something by merely saying we believe it… We believe something when we act as if it were true.” – Dallas Willard.

This is the crux of having faith in God. It’s not our words, but our actions that demonstrate to everyone around us where our faith lies. When we live out of a faith relationship with God, this will be visible to everyone around us.

We take steps of faith everyday. When we drive a car, or switch on a light, or sit in a chair; we are trusting the object we are using to work and do what we are expecting. Sometimes this is easy to do, because any negative consequences are small. However, if we are taking a flight in an aeroplane, or like Tim, doing a bungee jump, we need the object of our faith to not fail us.

Sometimes, though, we put more faith in something unreliable, rather than a faithful and reliable God. Alistair Begg says “How many times must we relearn the lesson that God is the only unfailing One.” I think we must relearn it because of our brokenness and the brokenness of the world around us.

Sometimes our hearts have been so hurt in the past, it takes time and an ongoing relationship with our Creator, for us to grow in faith and relearn that God is the only unfailing one.

This growth in faith comes as we spend time with God in prayer, in His word, and with the community of others who are growing in their relationship with Him.

The more we come to rely and trust in God, the more those around us will see that demonstrated in the way we live.

Just like Tim, we will be willing to take leaps of faith in response to our relationship and trust in God, and those acts of faith will have a much bigger impact on the world around us.

When Tim does take the plunge, will you be willing to take a leap of faith with us?

Will you be willing to sponsor Tim’s jump and support the work that LLYFC does in reaching young people with the good news of Jesus?

We pray that you will.

 

Extreme Days!

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” – Charles Dickens, a Tale of Two Cities.

I chose this quote for Charles Dicken’s ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ to open this blog post, because it seems like we are living in such a time today, where it seems to be the best of times and the worst of times.

There is so much upheaval and change happening around the globe that some people are in shock and dismay at what is going on; others are celebrating what seems to be the unsettling of the status quo.

These are indeed ‘extreme days‘. However, it is not as if the world has not gone through upheavals and changes that have shook people to their foundations. The whole of the Bible recounts times of great change and upheaval. Times where there are wars, changes in government, exiles, people fleeing persecution, people returning to their homelands, prejudices, intolerance, all manner of changes, cataclysmic events, the list goes on.

The constant through all of these events is God. He is our source of refuge. He is our source of strength. He is unchangeable and unwavering. He alone is trustworthy.

He alone is our Rock (Psalm 18).

As we trust in Him in these extreme days, we will not be shaken (Hebrews 12); but we can rest assured in His goodness and love. We know that there is a time for everything under heaven and that He makes all things beautiful in his time (Ecclesiastes 3).

Let us in these days, look to God. Lift our gaze above all the clamouring noise of the world around us, as see the One from whom our salvation comes (Psalm 121). Let us pray to Him for the nations and those in leadership. Let us pray that they would rule with wisdom and righteousness. But also, let us ask God how we can bring His love to the world around.

How can we manifest His kingdom in the world around us?

How can we bring God’s wisdom, light and hope to the world and lead them from unbelief and doubt into faith in the only true God and Saviour, Jesus Christ?

It starts with us on our knees before God almighty, asking for His help and strength.

2017, is also going to be an year of ‘extreme days‘ for the director of Llandudno Youth for Christ. This year he is going to be doing some extreme snowboarding, climbing a mammoth amount of mountain peaks, going rally driving and also performing an ‘extreme‘ feat to raise funds for the work of LLYFC (more details regarding this will be forthcoming in future blog posts – keep your eyes and ears peeled)

This is not the first time people have done something ‘extreme‘ to raise funds for the work we do at reaching young people with the good news of Jesus; in past years we have had a lady shave her hair off to raise money for what we do. Rev. Neil Kirkham, pastor at Gloddaeth United church in Llandudno swam a length of the Conwy river to raise funds for what we do.

It’s amazing to see what an amazing God can do through people who will step out in faith.

Let’s pray for the work that we are doing here, and when Tim does perform his ‘extreme‘ feat to raise funds for the work of LLYFC, let’s be ‘extremely‘ generous givers to support him.

Be blessed!

Theobibliophiles Rule!

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This is a bit of a follow up from our last Blog post. The title of the post is meant to get people thinking ‘what does that mean?’, ‘what are they talking about?’ Let’s break it down…

Theo – God or of God.

Bibiliophile – lover of books.

So the title is saying that people who love God’s books (The Bible) rule. They’re ok. It’s an encouragement for people to get into the Word of God, just like the Bereans in the book of Acts chapter 17 (read it here).

At our ‘Monthly Meet‘ we had a great time looking at some up to date research on youth work ‘small groups’ from ‘Youthscape’ – “A  national youth work organisation working for the good of young people of all faiths and none”. Check out their findings here.

Then we looked at John 2:1-12 and spent time in groups underlining, highlighting, circling and writing on the handouts to really try and get to grips with the passage we were studying. It was great!

My handout with its myriad of scrawls is just here ->

It was great to read, study and discuss the Bible, with no other agenda than to let the Bible speak for itself. Not have a Bible Study with leading questions and tailored results, but rather be open to letting God speak to us as a group and as individuals from the passage we are studying. It’s something I would really encourage everyone to get into. Let’s be Theobibliophiles in 2017 and beyond!

I also love our ‘Monthly Meet‘ training nights. They are an invaluable resource for youth workers in the North Wales area, and I really get a lot out of all of the training that is done at these events.

Our theme for next month is looking at how to get kids involved in church more. Looking at how to help them engage with church life in their community; and we have a fantastic speaker for this; Andy Hughes, the director of Urban Saints in Wales. He has a wealth of experience in youth work and this is a not to be missed night. Do come along; Monday 20th February, 7pm @ Ty Llywelyn Community Centre.

If you want to come to our ‘Monthly Meet‘ and be kept informed about when the next free training evening is being held, then subscribe to our mailing list on our Blog post homepage (top right hand corner of the screen) or email us in the office asking to be added to the ‘Monthly Meet‘ mail-out. Also, please let anyone you know that you think would benefit from this great resource know about it.

Finally, in-order to continue to hold such great training evenings for free, we need on-going financial support from our local community and beyond.

We love it when someone generously gives finance to support the work that we do at LLYFC, and especially if it is a monthly direct debit or standing order; as it assures us of regular income for the various ministry work we are doing; like the ‘Monthly Meet‘ training events.

Thank you to all of our regular givers, we really appreciate all of your support for what we are doing to impact generations with the good news of Jesus. If you want to support us financially, you can do this by filling out a support form and sending it to our office; or via our ‘Give.net‘ online donations page.

LLYFC Financial Support Form 2016

Thank you!

 

 

God has spoken!

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“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” – Hebrews 1:1-2

A really big thank-you to everyone who came to our monthly prayer meeting for the work we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ. Last Sunday night (22nd Jan) was really great, and it was so encouraging to see so much support from so many different churches in the area.

Thank you!

Interestingly, last Sunday night, we also looked at ‘Prayer’ at our youth Bible Study. I love it when God orchestrates things so beautifully.

This coming Sunday within our ‘God is…’ series; we will be looking at ‘God is a speaker’, looking at the Bible.

Hence the title of this blog post.

God has spoken to us in His word.

Also, just as with last Sunday, God has again orchestrated things beautifully.

This Monday 23rd Jan, we held our ‘Monthly Meet‘ training night. We hold our monthly training evenings normally on the 3rd Monday of the month, from 7-9pm. It’s a great training night for youth workers, church ministers, parents, teachers to come along to; to be trained and resourced with how to better share the gospel with young people and help them grow in a relationship with God.

There is always tea, coffee and snacks to be had, and good fellowship and networking opportunities too.

The theme was a ‘Bible Study’ Masterclass: how to help young people study the Bible in such a way that they do not need copious amounts of text books, study guide and commentaries; simply the time and availability to read the Bible and hear what God is saying to them.

it was a great evening; and I personally loved it. So good getting into the Bible and seeing new things.

Hearing from God is always good. It is always life changing; and often we keep asking God to speak to us, when He already has through His word; the Bible.

This year, let’s be great listeners to God – let’s get into His word.

We have plenty of great resources at our disposal to help us do this. Christian bookstores such as Kingdom Krafts in Llandudno. Who I really must thank for donating a great resource to the work we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ: they gave us numerous copies of the ‘Action Bible’s’ book of Genesis.
A great resource to help get young people reading their Bibles. So thank you

The Bible Society is another great place to go for inspiration to encourage people to read the Bible. If you are a Welsh speaker there’s the Beibl.net.

And for those that are younger or young at heart, there’s the ‘What’s in the Bible‘ DVD’s and the funny but  Fabulous Bentley Brothers.

However you do it, let’s get to grips with God’s word in 2017!