66% still to go….

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A month ago, I posted a blog about the fact that we had raised 16% of our target fundraising goal for Tim’s Big Jump in just 1 month. So since we launched the endeavour to raise money for the work we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ, by sponsoring Tim Gough as he undertakes an extreme feat of jumping into the air, connected by a bungee cord to a platform. Tim will travel 400ft in just over 5 seconds and reach the staggering speed of 90 miles per hour!

When everyone heard of this plan; the support was staggering! We raised £824.40 in just 1 month and reached 16% of our target.

Now 1 month later I felt I needed to update everyone on where we were at; and also to yet again say a massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored Tim’s jump so far.

Today (as I write this blog post); the 27th of March, we have raised so far £1,677.00; which amounts to 34% of our target amount of £5,000.

We have 4 months left to raise the remaining 66% towards our target goal. That’s 122 days to raise £3,323!

This might seem like a large amount at first glance; but as the angel Gabriel encouraged Mary; “For nothing will be impossible with God.” – Luke 1:37.

We believe in the mission God has given us here at Llandudno Youth for Christ; to relevantly share the gospel with young people in Llandudno and beyond. To ‘make disciples of all nations‘; and help turn a generation back to God. Tim believes so much in seeing young people come to a saving knowledge of and relationship with Jesus; that he is willing to jump over 400ft from a crane; attached only by an elasticated cord; all to raise awareness and much needed funds for the mission work that we do.

If you believe in what we are doing; and believe that God is calling you to partner with us in seeing many young lives transformed by God’s love; then please consider sponsoring Tim via our ‘Give.net‘ webpage; or the ‘Tim’s Big Jump’ webpage.

You can also encourage friends and family to consider sponsoring Tim’s jump; and if we all work together in this; like Nehemiah and the people in Jerusalem; we will see the job done – Together!

Also please consider faithfully supporting us in prayer. We have a regular prayer meeting on the last Sunday evening of the month; the next one being on Sunday 30th April at 7pm at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre.

Thank you and be blessed!

Have your cake and eat it?

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This Sunday the 26th of March is ‘Mothering Sunday‘, or more popularly known as ‘Mothers Day‘. On this day people around the world send cards and give gifts to their mothers, or people who have acted as mother figures in their lives. It is a great time of honouring our mothers and thanking God for them and their presence in our lives.

Originally however, ‘Mothering Sunday‘ was about people visiting the ‘mother church‘ of their region for a large joint celebration of worshipping God. This was common practice during the sixteenth century, where people would return to their ‘mother church‘, which would be either the main Parish church or Cathedral of the area or region. To do this, one was said to have gone ‘a-mothering‘. In later times, ‘Mothering Sunday‘ was the day upon which domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother church, usually with their own mothers and other family members. Normally opportunities for families of those in domestic service, to spend time together in such a way would be impossible, due to the work demands of their position. So this day was a real blessing to them.

As part of the tradition of celebrating ‘Mothering Sunday‘ people often baked a ‘Simnel Cake‘ to eat on this day midway through Lent as part of the celebration of their time with their families. And for those of us who like myself, have special dietary needs, here is a recipe for a gluten free etc. ‘Simnel Cake‘. This was a treat to be had during the 40 day period of ‘fasting‘ that Lent is traditionally held to be. A Simnel Cake is a light fruit cake with two layers of marzipan, one in the middle and one on top, that is toasted, and eaten during the Easter period. Traditionally it also has 11 or 12 balls of marzipan on the top that represent the 12 disciples minus Judas, or the 12 disciples minus Judas with Jesus.

On this Mothering Sunday we will also be holding our regular Sunday Evening Bible Study – ‘Redfine‘ at 6pm to 8pm. We will also be holding our monthly prayer meeting for all of our supporters to come join us to pray for the work we do in Llandudno and beyond. If you want to come along and support the work that we do, then please join us on Sunday 26th March at 7pm in Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA. We hope you can make it.

Even if you can’t; let us celebrate Mothering Sunday this Sunday by thanking God for our mothers and spending time with our families. Let us also join together with our local church community and thank God for his goodness to us; and perhaps have a bit of cake too.

Be blessed!

Reverb Movie Night and other Springtime fun!

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Eek! Yay! Whoop, whoop!

This Thursday the 23rd of March, we will be having our first ‘Movie Night‘ at Reverb Youth Space. We are soo excited about this. We even had a poll amongst all of the young people that come to our Thursday evening after-school drop-in youth club, to see what film they would like to see. The choice was between ‘Zootropolis‘, ‘Kung Fu Panda 3‘ & ‘The Angry Birds Movie‘. To find out which film won the poll, I guess you’ll just have to come down to Ty Llywelyn this Thursday and see for yourself (only under 18s allowed); 3:15pm to 5:15pm.

We are really looking forward to this Special event, we also have another couple of events coming up as we head into Easter. On Thursday 30th of March we will be holding a ‘4Square‘ Tournament. If you are not sure what that is, check out this. We regularly hold games of ‘4Square‘ as part of our after-school drop-in, but this will be on an epic scale!!!!!!

Then just before the Easter holidays, on Thursday the 6th April, we will be holding one of our infamous ‘Nerf Wars‘. Last Christmas we held a Nerf War between Santa and his elf helpers. It was a monumental amount of fun. This Spring we will be holding a Nerf War between the Disney Princesses and the Pixar Sidekicks, to see who will have a happily ever after! So be prepared for a lot of flying foam darts and fun.

All of these events are being held for high school age pupils; 11 to 18 years old at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA. So, if you are aged between 11 and 18, then why not come down to the ‘Reverb Youth Space‘ at 3:15pm in Ty Llywelyn on Thursdays during term time. Or if you know someone aged between 11 and 18 who you think might be interested, then please let them know.

Reverb redefineD

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This Thursday 16th of March we will be launching a new start time for our popular after-school’s drop-in youth club. Instead of starting at 4pm as we have been since the beginning of September, we will now be starting at 3:15pm and running till 5:15pm.

This change has come about after consultation with the young people that already attend the event. We asked them what we could do to help encourage more young people to attend the Reverb Youth Space; especially their friends. We had a lot of feedback from this, and something that did crop up was the fact that our nearest secondary school to the club, Ysgol John Bright, finishes for the day at 3:10pm and so many pupils head home before coming to Reverb, with some of them opting to stay at home instead of coming back out again.

With the change of time to 3:15pm we hope to be able to make it easier for more young people, especially pupils at Ysgol John Bright, to come to Reverb.

We also had a request from some of the young people at our events, including our Sunday evening Bible Study, for a more in-depth Bible Study, without any games, snacks, music etc. Just a 1 hours slot of time dedicated to getting to grips with God’s word.

This will be taking place as a follow on from Reverb from 5:15-6:15pm for those who are interested in this.

This is all very encouraging for us.

It is great to hear back from the young people and get their input into what we are doing. Equally, it is great to hear that so many of them are wanting to dig even deeper into God’s word and grow in their relationship with Him.

As we hold our first Reverb at the new time of 3:15pm and also hold our first post-Reverb Bible Study, please will you partner with us in praying that God will move in and through everything to touch hearts and change lives.

Also, on a side note, as I am talking about praying with us, don’t forget that our next joint prayer meeting for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ will be on Sunday 26th March at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre. So please save the date and we hope to see you there.

Be blessed!

It’s a jolly Holi Day!

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The Hindu festival of Holi (in Sanskrit: होली ) is currently being celebrated. This festival is known for its vibrant colours; and indeed it is also called the ‘festival of colours’ or the ‘festival of love’. The festival celebrates the end of winter and the start of spring and represents the triumph of good over evil. On this day hindus focus on the day as a time to have fun, celebrate, play, laugh, forget the wrongs of the past, forgive and repair broken relationships. It is also a time for people to give thanks for a good harvest.

The festival lasts for two days, starting on Sunday 12th March this year, and ending on Monday 13th of March.

After all of the fun flinging coloured powder and water at each other, people clean themselves up in the evening and go visit friends and family.

In reading up about Holi and its traditions and the stories associated with it, I couldn’t but help think of the scripture in Ecclesiastes 3, which states that “He [God] has also set eternity in the human heart“. When I look at other faiths from around the globe, and even some films that are being madetoday, I am aware of echoes and hints of the gospel that are being displayed. Hints and touches that show that God’s great story of redemption and love through His Son Jesus is in some way resonating in every human heart, even if they do not fully know or understand it.

Jesus is the one who overcame evil with good on the cross. Jesus is the one who saves us from the fires of judgement. It is through Jesus that we are forgiven and by His presence and power in our lives that we are able to forgive others. Jesus repaired the broken relationship that mankind had with God. And Jesus is God’s love in action. God’s love revealed.

In his book “The lion, witch and the wardrobe“, C.S. Lewis writes “Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” In this allegory, Aslan represents Jesus; and Jesus takes away the death of winter to replace it with the celebration of new life, the celebration of spring.

As regards the festival of colour; what is more colourful than a rainbow?

In the story of Noah we have God promising to not flood the earth again, and for the rainbow to be the sign of God’s faithfulness to us. Also in the book of Revelation, when John sees the throne in heaven he describes the following “And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.” – Revelation 4:3. Jesus, the King of kings is encircled by a rainbow as He sits triumphant on His throne.

In fact, for us as Christians, the great celebration that we are looking forward to is when Christ returns, triumphant and takes us to be with Him. It is at this great harvest at the end of the age where we will be singing our praise and thanks to God for redeeming and delivering us. It will be a time where the past is forgotten. Indeed God Himself will wipe away every tear. It will be a time full of colour, love, forgiveness, restoration. All other celebrations, such as a wedding celebration, are but shadows of what is to come.

So on this day when many people around the world are celebrating Holi; let us celebrate our great Saviour, Redeemer, Lover, Forgiver, Friend and King – Jesus!

It’s all about Him and it will always be about Him!

Be blessed!

 

Safety First!

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This coming Monday 20th of March at Llandudno Youth for Christ we will be holding our next Monthly Meet. This is a great free training night for youth workers, church leaders and parents. We cover a wide variety of youth work related topics, such as the recent session we covered with Andy Hughes (Director of Urban Saints Wales) about how to connect young people with the church.

This was a great evening, with lots of thought provoking discussion and great resourcing for all that attended.

These are great evenings for all that come to them.

Not only do you get great training for free, but we also provide hot tea, herbal tea, coffee & hot chocolate; plus a plethora of snacks, fruit & biscuits. There is also free parking at the event’s venue: Ty Llywelyn Community Centre in Llandudno.

It is well worth coming along to these events, especially this months.

This month we will be holding our annual ‘Safeguarding & Child Protection Made Simple‘ training evening. The event will start at 7pm and be finished by 9pm. It is definitely something you should think about coming to if you work with young people in a youth club, church etc.

It is important to be kept up to date with safeguarding, especially as those who work with young people.

We know how importantly Jesus regarding looking after, honouring and keeping young people safe. “At that time the followers came to Jesus. They said, “Who is the greatest in the holy nation of heaven?” Jesus took a little child and put him among them. He said,“For sure, I tell you, unless you have a change of heart and become like a little child, you will not get into the holy nation of heaven. Whoever is without pride as this little child is the greatest in the holy nation of heaven. Whoever receives a little child because of Me receives Me. But whoever is the reason for one of these little children who believe in Me to fall into sin, it would be better for him to have a large rock put around his neck and to be thrown into the sea….Be sure you do not hate one of these little children. I tell you, they have angels who are always looking into the face of My Father in heaven.” – Matthew 18:1-10

So let us get trained up and resourced to look after and protect the young people we are working with and helping to grow in their faith. Come along to our next Monthly Meet on Monday 20th of March at 7pm; Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA.

We hope to see you there!

Walrus cruise anyone?

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Hi all, just a quick post about a great opportunity coming up this Easter holidays.

The Walrus Cruise; a Christian voluntary organisation which provides sailing holidays for boys and girls from the ages of 13 to 18; is having their Easter Cruise this year between the 8th and 15th of April, and they still have spaces available for this great adventure holiday opportunity.

The Walrus Cruise started in 1924 and today operates on the inland waterways of the Norfolk Broads and the coastal waters of the Western Isles of Scotland. It’s aim is help young people explore, grow and develop in their Christian faith.

The first official cruise took place when Joe & Bill Church took five teenage boys on a single yacht, way back in 1924. At the time that the first cruise took place, each of the local boatmen who earned a living on the water used to wear a distinctive drooping moustache that made him look a bit like a bull walrus., this inspired the name for the cruise.

Despite many changes to the types of yachts used over the years and the technological improvements that have been made to the yachts; the cruises still provide a challenging environment where each person can have great fun and, at the same time, learn more about themselves and their faith.

Many of Jesus’ first disciples were young men and teenagers who worked on the Sea of Galilee and were aware of the rigours and challenges of working on the water. One of them even walked on the water with Jesus.

I love it how God can speak to us so well through the world around us, and personally, having grown up on the island of Anglesey, I have a strong affinity for the water, and love sailing, so I can understand how this adventure holiday can really be a life-changing experience for those that decide to step aboard a Walrus Cruise.

If you want to have an adventure this Easter, deepen your faith, and learn great skills that will be with you for the rest of your life, then why not consider checking out the Walrus Cruise.

 

 

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!