Let it GROW!

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On May 25th in 1977 ‘Star Wars’ was shown for the first time.  This film which was the creation of a film school graduate and Californian stationary shop owner’s son; George Lucas. The film became, at the time, the highest grossing film; and the film franchise itself became a pop-culture phenomenon that has grown into a creative empire that changed film-making as a whole.

To date 7 films have been made with a total production cost of $438.2 million dollars and a worldwide box office gross takings of $6,394,819,524. Films, TV series, books, comics, magazines, video games, toys, clothing etc. have been made about and around this universe of heroes and villains that came out of the imagination of one aspiring film-maker.

It is amazing how much it has grown from that small beginning.

Also, on the 25th May 1595 Filippo Romolo Neri died. An Italian priest known as the Apostle of Rome, founded the organisation known as the ‘Congregation of the Oratory’.

From a young age he discovered a passion to spend time alone with God in prayer and during one of these times he had a powerful encounter with God that inspired him to work at the hospital of the incurables and speak to others about God; everyone from beggars to bankers. This life spent serving God in prayer and by helping others impacted so many lives in Rome and indeed Italy that the above organisation was started. Quite radical in its time, there are now 70 ‘Oratories‘ around the world based upon the precepts he established.

It’s amazing how much the little that He gave to God has grown.

Jesus spoke about this: “God’s kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it g
rows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it“. Matt 13:31-32.

When we give God our little, He can make it grown into something extraordinary that will bless, comfort, protect & shelter others.

A great visual example God has put in nature are Sequoia Trees. They are the largest tree on the planet, but they grow from very small seeds.

The feeding of the 5,000 is another example of how when we give our little to God he grows it into something incredible and life changing.

At LLYFC we feel the same way about all of support we receive. We trust that the little that everyone gives in time, people, resources, money, prayer etc. is received by God and becomes something far greater and more impactful than we could ever imagine.

We also feel the same way about every young person that comes to the events and meetings we hold. We pray that as they discover God and enter into a relationship with Him, their lives are grown, transformed and changed into something truly incredible and remarkable.

God can do that in your life, He can take the little seed you give Him and grow it into a mighty tree like the Sequoia. (Col2:7)

What are you holding in your hand that God can grow.

Perhaps it’s time to give it to Him and let it grow!

Where in the Wor(l)d is that?…..

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The title is a bit of a pun in response to last Sunday’s ‘Redefine’ Bible study we had a Llandudno Youth for Christ.

We were looking at the Bible. D’uh! Of course, it’s a Bible study…..

No I mean we were looking at how to study the Bible.

We were giving the young people tools for them to be able to dive into the Bible and fish out treasure for themselves.

This is really important to do. At Llandudno Youth for Christ we are wanting to equip the young people that come to our events with all the tools we can give them for them to grow and mature in their relationship with God.

On Sunday night we were looking at the macro and the micro when studying the Bible.  Macro: Looking at how to understand a section, passage or verse of the Bible in its proper context, and also  micro: looking at how to study a single verse and ask important questions like ‘How‘, ‘What‘, ‘Who‘, ‘When‘, ‘Where‘ & ‘Why‘. To, as a friend of mine used to say, ‘suck the marrow out‘ of it.  To get more than just a surface or cursory glance over the Bible, but learn how to draw out as much as possible from reading it.

As a fun lead up to the night’s workshopping and studying we had a picture quiz where the teams had to guess, in the first section, where in the world an aerial shot of a landscape or landmark was taken, and in the second section, what the close up photograph of an image was.

It was lots of fun and set the platform for the evening’s discussion (and hence the slightly witty title).

There’s an oft quoted phrase that’s variously attributed to the likes of Confucius or Lao Tze or other ancient writers and philosophers that says
‘give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.’

By giving the young people the tools to ‘fish‘ for treasure from the Bible, we’re equipping them to feed themselves on the Word of God for a lifetime.

Jesus wanted us to make disciples, not converts (Matt 28:19). He wanted us to make people that would be life-long followers of Himself. The mentality being more like a farmer cultivating a field, or a shepherd tending his sheep than a fighter pilot notching up ‘kills’ (converts) on his fuselage.

That is why we hold evening such as our ‘Redefine’ Bible study nights – we’re all about making disciples of Jesus.

In the last 6 years since Llandudno Youth for Christ first started, we have shared the gospel with hundreds of young people every year. We have also supported other youth groups and youth leaders throughout the North Wales region.

We have regular, annual contact with 65% of the pupils that attend the local High School in Llandudno, Ysgol John Bright. We do this through assemblies, lunch-time clubs, teaching in lessons and our large scale RE conference.

We want to continue to do this great gospel work, but in order to do that we need your support.

Support in prayer (prayer is the engine room of everything we do).

Support in people (we need more volunteers in the various projects we run).

Support in provision (we need the finances to pay for the different projects that we run).

If you feel God is calling you to help with the work we are doing in any way, please contact us.

PS: If you like some of the illustrated Bible pictures in this post, they’re called ‘Bible Art Journaling’ and you can find out more about this at the following links:

http://www.rebekahrjones.com/ & http://kindawonderful.typepad.com/pink_paper_peppermints/2015/03/free-bible-art-journaling-printables-and-tutorials-the-ultimate-list.html

Because you’re worth it!

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The tagline to the L’Oreal beauty products range is ‘because you’re worth it.’

With this motto they are saying to the viewers that they can afford to buy their products because they (the viewer) are worth it.  They deserve to pamper and look after themselves.

It’s all part of a culture we now have of building up people’s self worth, which on a certain level is good, but it got me thinking.

What is the measure by which we estimate our value.  Where do we get our sense of worth?

Is it from our peers? Parents? Teachers? Celebrities?

Who has the say to how much we are worth and the value that is placed upon our lives?

I think that until and unless we get our value from the right source we are going to struggle with issues of self-worth and we are going to be constantly trying to win the approval of those around us.  Our lives will be influenced and impacted by this.

“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.“Psalm 146:3 & 4

I recommend that we look to God to get our sense of worth.
How much value does He place on our life? What does He see as our worth?

“God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.” 1 Corinthians 7:23.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

There is also a story Jesus tells about a man who finds some treasure in a field and sells everything he has to be able to buy the field with the treasure in it. He values it so much that he gives up everything for it. Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is like this.

God definitely thinks you are worth it.

He has paid a high price for you, you are worth so much to Him.

Knowing that He, the Creator of everything loves you and values you will transform and revolutionise everything.

Knowing that not only is your life precious to Him, but indeed ALL life transforms everything.

The person who has just insulted you is of worth to God, just as the taxi driver who almost crashed into you with his reckless driving. People you don’t like and people you don’t understand, they all have value in God’s eyes and we cannot devalue them without devaluing ourselves.

Equally we cannot elevate the value of others above others and discriminate, a
s the apostle Paul says “All of you who have been baptized to show you belong to Christ have become like Christ. God does not see you as a Jew or as a Greek. He does not see you as a servant or as a person free to work. He does not see you as a man or as a woman. You are all one in Christ.” Galatians 3:27-28.

Let’s live lives shaped and impacted by what God thinks about us and not what others say.

Because He thinks you’re worth it.

Waaaagh! Orkz!

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P1040367Recently at Llandudno Youth for Christ at our ‘Redefine’, Sunday evening bible Study,

we had an ‘Ork Night‘.

As we had to keep on reminding people it was an ‘Ork‘ or ‘Orc‘ (depending upon your prefered spelling) night, not an ‘Awk‘ night.  We would be dressing up as members of the mythical creatures from and inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.  It was not a night where we all shared embarassing stores; i.e. #awks.

P1040419The young people really enjoyed the every aspect of the night; from the fun games at the start, including a ‘Nerf Battle’, to eating the gruesomely titled, but tasty food and the main part of the night where we looked at the fall of man and subsequently the whole of creation, and how God set about fixing all that had been broken.

This was the whole reason for the theme; in his novels J.R.R. Tolkien described the creation of Orks in Middle Earth, as them being ‘Elves‘; beings of light, purity, perfection and life, who through deception and betrayal had been corrupted by evil and degraded to such an extent that they became depraved beings of death, corruption and decay. See the video here to hear the explanation.

P1040379The Orks epitomise us, humanity.

Fallen, depraved,decaying, dying, corrupted. See the apostle Paul’s description here.

Thankfully God’s response was not to write off His creation as a failure and leave us in our mess and sin.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17.

We try to deal with our ‘orkishness‘, our sin problem by learning how to look and appear right, from the outside, but there’s no real change, a bit like an Ork in a suit.

God didn’t try to cover up the issue, He stepped in to deal with the heart of the problem.

The cross was God’s response to our ‘orkishness‘ or more accurately our sin problem.

At the cross a divine exchange took place and because Jesus took all of our sin, we can now receive by faith all of his righteousness (2Cor 5:21 ). To use the metaphor of the ‘Ork‘ night, we are transformed by God’s grace from creatures of wrath, death and darkness; into beings of light and life: ‘Elves‘.

Since we have a new nature in Christ, whenever we stumble back into our old ‘orkish‘ ways, they don’t fit us.  We chafe under their load for we are not ‘Orks‘ and therefore cannot live in that way anymore and feel any joy or fulfilment.

We will only feel truly alive, when we live lives that match up with who we truly are now.

As the believers in the church in Antioch became known as, we are Christians: Little Christ’s.

Here to shine the light of Christ into the darkness of this world.

So let’s go and let our light shine.

Pitch Your Tent

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In just over 2 months time, LLYFC will be taking a group of young people down to the Staffordshire Showgrounds in Stafford for Soul Survivor; an annual Christian Summer Camp for Young People.

It’s a great time, and lots of fun.

Every single one of the young people we’ve taken down to Soul Survivor have come away from the week more enthused about God, and wanting to return the following year.

This despite the weather being so inclement last year that we started rewording the chorus of Michael W Smith’s ‘Let it Rain‘, singing instead ‘stop the rain, stop the rain, please send it away down to Devon.’

Sleeping in tents that at times leaked!

But we pitched our tents in that field in the middle of England because we wanted to meet with God and with other believers.  We wanted fellowship with our Creator and each other more than the minor discomfort brought about by the foibles of camping.

We were willing to put behind us the permanence and familiarity of our homes and all that we were used to, in order to meet with God.

Not that we cannot or could not meet with God right where we are, but that it showed an attitude of heart that says ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to meet with Jesus’.

Like the Israelites in the desert we pitch our tents where God’s presence is;  following the cloudy pillar by day and the fiery pillar by night.

“36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out – until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.” Exodus 40:36-38

Thinking about it though, in the same way that we pitched our tents in Soul Survivor, and the Israelites did in the desert, the apostle John at the start of his Gospel says: “14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

The word translated ‘made his dwelling’ in the original Greek is σκηνόω (skēnoō), which means ‘to pitch tent, to tabernacle, to dwell‘.

Jesus came and pitched his tent (his body), on earth because He wanted to be with us. He (our Creator) was looking for fellowship with His creation. It brings to mind the Bible passage: “Come near to God and he will come near to you” James 4:8 (1).

There’s a desire in God’s heart to be with His people, and equally, His people want to be with Him.

So roll on Soul Survivor 2016!

But in the meantime, and indeed at all times let’s pitch our tents where God is leading us.

Could You Sponsor A Tent?

On a practical note. As I mentioned earlier, some of our tents were decidedly leaky, and in-between Soul Survivor 2015 and now, our largest tent has been broken, so we are looking at purchasing some new tents for this coming summer. Ideally a handful, up to 6, smaller 3 man tents would be perfect for Soul Survivor. We want these to be decent quality, so that they will last for many wet and wonderful years to come!

If anyone out there reading this post would love to sponsor a tent or more for our next trip to Soul Survivor, that would be amazing. Please do contact us and let us know.

Thank you.

‘Sola’ Powered!

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Now by the title, despite the picture above, I don’t really mean ‘solar powered’ like the pictured superhero; but rather ‘sola powered’, referring to the five solas of the Protestant Reformation.

‘What are the five solas?’ – I hear you say.

The 5 solas, or solae of the Protestant Reformation are a foundational set of Biblical principles held by theologians and churchmen to be central to the doctrine of salvation as taught by the Western Protestant church. “Sola” is Latin meaning “alone” or “only” and the corresponding 5 ‘solas’ are:

  • Sola Fide, by faith alone.
  • Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone.
  • Solus Christus, through Christ alone.
  • Sola Gratia, by grace alone.
  • Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone.

Although they were often used by Reformers in the 16th century in their writings and speech, such as when Philip Melanchthon wrote in 1554 “sola gratia justificamus et sola fide justificamur“(“only by grace do we justify and only by faith are we justified”), they were never formally compiled or grouped together until the 20th century. A great example of this compiling of the ‘solas’ is in The Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (1996).

Recently at ‘Redefine’, our Sunday evening youth Bible Study, we had a look at the 5 ‘Solas’ as part of an evening themed around the idea of survival and what do we need as essential for survival; a question often posed and answered in demonstration by people such as Bear Grylls.

It was a fun night, and we really wanted to see the young people grapple with what the essentials of the Christian faith are, hence a look at the ‘solas’.

They are a great way of summing up essentials in the Christian faith.

Faith alone (Sola Fide): Justification: being put right with God is received by faith alone, without any need for good works. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura): The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behaviour must be measured. The Bible can and is to be interpreted through itself, with one area of Scripture being useful for interpreting others. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Christ alone (Solus Christus): Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and there is salvation through no other. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father. (Hebrew 10:12-14)

Grace alone (Sola Gratia): Salvation comes to us by divine grace alone, not as the results of anything we have earned or merit.  It is given by “unmerited favour”. This means that salvation is an unearned gift from God for Jesus’ sake.

Glory to God alone (Soli Deo Gloria):  All glory is to be due to God alone, since salvation is God’s gift and work. Our lives as a response of God’s great gift of making us right with himself through the death of His Son Jesus, is to live lives that bring glory to Him (1 Cor 10:31).

That is the 5 solas very briefly summed up, I must say.

The reason I tilted this post ‘sola powered’ and put the picture of ‘Superman’ at the top was because it was catchy, but also to get us thinking of the parallels the metaphor presents.

‘Superman’ gets his great strength and abilities from how his Kryptonian physiology metabolises solar energy – he is quite literally ‘solar powered’.  As Christians, we get our strength, encouragement, gifts, in fact, all we need for life and godliness from or because of Jesus (Phil 4:13, 2 Thess 2:16, Eph 4:7, 2 Pet 1:3). Jesus is God’s great gift to all mankind. Jesus is our source. He is our sole provider; to quote the Parachute Band’s song ‘Amazing‘. We are ‘sola powered’, referring to the 5 ‘solas’ as explained briefly above. Our strength and provision comes from God, and God alone.

We are not like Superman empowered by the sun, but are rather empowered by the Son.

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” Heb 1:3.

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Cor 3:18.

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Col 1:15-20

Let us thank God for sending His Son Jesus.

Let us thank God for giving us His precious Word.

Let us trust in and rely on Christ’s strength in and through our lives.

Let us live lives that bring glory to God alone, responding in faith to His great grace towards and for us.

Word Alive!

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I was looking up an on this day webpage and it stated that on this day (May 6th) in 1536 King Henry VIII ordered that English language Bibles be placed in every church.

Wow!

That was such a revolutionary move at the time.

A radical move, and a departure from what the church at that time was allowing.

And despite the fact that the Great Bible of King Henry VIII wasn’t printed until 1539, it was still a dangerous and revolutionary idea to hold.

King Henry VIII was inspired by the work of William Tyndale who had been working on a translation of the New Testament into English from the original Greek and Aramaic texts. This was such a dangerous thing for the established church of the time that they had Tyndal tried and executed on charges of heresy.

The threat that the established church felt from Tyndale’s Bible can best be summed up by his own avowed reason for creating his translation in the first place. Tyndale wanted to “[cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more scripture] than the clergy of the day.” It was an issue of power.  The church would no-longer be the sole interpreters of scripture, and would no-longer be the sole mediators between the people and God.

Tyndale’s last words as he was dying are quoted in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs as being “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes.”

His prayer was swiftly answered.

Though the printing of this Bible was not totally due to a spiritual awakening by King Henry VIII methinks.

King Henry VIII had requested that the Pope permit him to divorce his wife and marry his mistress. The Pope obviously refused and King Henry responded by marrying his mistress anyway, and thumbing his nose at the Pope by renouncing Roman Catholicism, taking England out from under Rome’s religious control, and declaring himself as the reigning head of State to also be the new head of the Church in England.

This new branch of the Christian Church, became known as the Anglican Church or the Church of England. King Henry acting as its head funded the printing and distribution of the Bible in English.  Doing this was not only due to him wanting to make the Word of God accessible to everyone, but was also a way of defying the Pope in Rome.

Whatever his true intentions, God used the King’s actions for the good of all people in the British Isles.

“The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; He guides it wherever he pleases.” Proverbs 21:1

I loved reading about this, as it reminds me that God is sovereign and is actively at work in history to bring people to himself.  Healing, restoring, delivering, comforting and saving people.

He is a good God who loves to speak to us and reveal more about Himself to us.

The Bible is our great go-to to find out more about this amazing God.

As two slightly cheesy acronyms for the ‘Bible’ go, it is the ‘Brilliant.Instruction.Book.for.Life.Everlasting’ or ‘Brilliant.Instructions.Before.Leaving.Earth.’

I love that we can read the Bible so readily, and easily today.

I love that we have so many resources at our fingertips, and that the Bible, that so many people, like William Tyndale, died to bring to us in a language we can understand, is there for us to get stuck into.

So let’s get stuck into God’s word and see what He has to say.

Check out more resources to help you get into God’s Word below (these are by no-means exhaustive, but they will hopefully help get you started):

https://www.biblegateway.com/

http://request.org.uk/

https://www.yfcresources.co.uk/

https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/

http://www.beibl.net/

https://dailyaudiobible.com/

http://www.biblehub.com/

Tim’s Five Year Anniversary Note

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Five years ago I started at Llandudno Youth For Christ.

These five years have not only been an absolute pleasure and grand adventure – but they also mark the longest I have worked anywhere (which I think bodes well!).

Together – over the past five years – we have spoken to thousands of young people about Jesus. Together, we’ve seen dozens of young people commit and recommit to following Him. Together, we have consistently run weekly projects, annual events and developed a ministry that effectively reaches out into many corners of Llandudno.

This adventure has been worth every moment.

The highlights for me will always be the people. I’ve made lasting friendships and developed an amazing team of front-line youth workers. I’ve been able to speak into the lives of many local young people. I’ve been well looked after, mentored and supported by the entire church community, and I’ve found something of a home in this quiet (but never boring) part of the world.

From London to Llandudno

12715499_10153975531037952_762494985466792296_nMy wife, Katie and I moved here in 2011 from London, after experiencing a somewhat chaotic and very busy city life working for a large South London church. After spending seven years in various parts of the capitol, moving to North Wales was absolutely a culture shock!

In London, the streets start come alive at 7pm, in Llandudno, the streets are quite suddenly empty at 7pm. The serenity, however, was a much welcome reprise from the ongoing hustle and bustle of the city. We quickly got stuck into the local culture and soaked up the incredibly scenery and the outdoor world – hiking in Snowdonia every week.

Then and Now

Llandudno is alive with both spiritually curious and supernaturally aware young people. When I first arrived, I explained in our newsletter that it felt like ‘Aslan was on the move’, and we are now seeing the fruit of that.12400446_10153911789247952_8565866727020926367_n

There was a small cluster of young people spread around several churches, now we have a vibrant weekly community that gathers dozens of young Christians from across the region. There was some polite interest in a weekly lunchtime group at Ysgol John Bright, now we have two weekly meetings, regularly teach and take assemblies, and run several large events at the same school.

What About Reverb?

10535085_752656041493234_5364843689060054505_oReverb Youth Bar has been through many transformations during the past five years. When we first arrived, it was a great coffee-shop centre with a small core of young people who loved it. We made some changes to attract new people, but quickly attracted too many. As great as large numbers can sound, 80+ young people on a Friday night, crammed into a little coffee shop on the high street does not make for good ministry!

We made some successful changes to steady it out – and wonderfully saw through a generation of young people from first connection, to leaving for college. This was a magical time!

Once this season was over we made the much anticipated move to a larger centre with more facilities. This demonstrated better stewardship of our resources and a much greater potential for our future.

So What Next?

This new season is all about making new relationships with young people that we haven’t managed to connect with yet, particular younger age groups. You may have heard of our Reach Campaign? We want to:

•    We want to reach further to connect with every young person at Ysgol John Bright.
•    We want to reach further to ensure that no young Christian feels isolated or alone.
•    We want to reach further to provide a weekly space for any young seeker to hear and respond to Jesus.
•    We want to reach further to develop and train a whole generation of young Welsh leaders.
•    We want to reach further and call every church in this area to pray regularly for the young people in the community around us.

How can you help us do this?

It always comes down to the same three things; we need prayer, people and provisions.

Pray for us! Come to our monthly prayer meetings, stick our pictures up on the fridge and give us to God every day.

Volunteer with us! Everything from front-line youth work, to admin, to serving in the cafe, to helping us fill in grant bids, to being a YFC champion in your local church.

Give to the work we’re doing. If ten people in ten churches gave just £10 a month we would be able to settle into our projects with security and really push forward in the work that we do.

Thank You!

Thank you for sharing this journey with me! Please consider how else you could be involved. We believe this is God’s mission, and – with His help – we will take the good news of Jesus Christ relevantly to every young person in Llandudno.

Tim