Archive for year: 2026

As we head into a new term at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we’re still looking for someone to join our team as a part-time Staff Worker.

This is a small, flexible role of 8–12 hours a week, combining hands-on youth work with some administration and communications. It could suit someone looking for a few hours alongside other work or study, or someone wanting to gain more experience in Christian youth work.

The role is paid at the Real Living Wage, includes a pension contribution, and is designed to be developmental, with mentoring and training provided as part of the role.

Most importantly, we’re looking for someone with a heart for young people who wants to play a part in our mission to see young people’s lives changed by Jesus.

Could it be you?

You don’t need to have everything figured out before getting in touch. The exact number of hours is negotiable, and we can be flexible about the start date for the right person.

So if the role sounds interesting but you’re wondering whether it could work around your existing commitments, we’d be very happy to have an informal conversation.

Equally, if it’s not for you but someone immediately comes to mind, we’d love you to send the opportunity their way.

You can find full details about the role, including how to apply, at:

www.llandudnoyfc.com/jointheteam

We’d love to hear from you.

Over the last few years, we’ve been amazed by the opportunities God has opened up for Llandudno Youth for Christ.

From regular schools work and detached sessions, to Redefine, camps, events and everything in between, we’ve been privileged to build relationships with hundreds of young people across our town. Alongside that, our communication with supporters, churches and volunteers has continued to grow.

The challenge is that there’s now more work than one full-time member of staff can realistically do… and after Tim’s health scare last year, this has become even more important.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’re recruiting a part-time Staff Worker to join the team from September.

This new role is designed to strengthen what we’re already doing. Around half the time will involve helping behind the scenes with administration and communications, while the other half will involve supporting our youth work in schools, projects and events. Just as importantly, we want this to be a role where someone can grow, receiving mentoring, training and experience in different aspects of Christian youth ministry.

We’re looking for someone who loves Jesus, has a heart for young people, enjoys working as part of a team, and wants to play a part in seeing young people’s lives changed by Him.

The position is for 8–12 hours per week and is paid at the Real Living Wage, with a pension contribution, ongoing training, mentoring and opportunities for development.

Please do pray with us as we seek the right person for this next step in the life of the charity. We believe this could make a significant difference to the ministry over the coming years, and we’re excited to see who God might bring.

Have a look at the job posting by clicking here!

If you know someone who you think would be a great fit, we’d really appreciate you sharing this opportunity with them.

It’s been a while since the last post on here. I did think about trying to quietly carry on as if no one would notice, but that didn’t feel quite right. So… sorry! It’s not that things have gone quiet. It’s been the opposite, busy busy busy!

Some of our time recently has been spent around church visits, and that’s worked both ways. We’ve been out to churches, but we’ve also had people come to us. One home group came down to the Garage to see what things actually look like on a normal weeknight. Those kinds of visits tend to be less polished than a Sunday slot, but you get to see the mess and have a go at being a young person again!

We also ran our ‘Parenting the Digital Age’ training. We weren’t sure how it would land, but it filled up well and people stayed afterwards to talk, which is usually a pretty good indicator. Most of the conversations were quite specific; phones in bedrooms, group chats going wrong, that sort of thing, rather than abstract worries about “technology”. It felt grounded. We’re really pleased with how it went.

At St. David’s College, we had the chance to do a special session with the Christian Union called ‘Why I’m “still” a Christian’. The title probably gives away the tone. We looked at some of the things that are often assumed to undermine faith (science, suffering, unanswered questions) and tried to take them seriously rather than brushing past them. It wasn’t about winning an argument, but being honest about why faith has stayed, or even deepened, in the middle of those tensions.

Detached work at Ysgol John Bright has been steadily growing. We’ve recently had a new team member join us there, which has made a noticeable difference. More conversations, more continuity, and a bit more energy!

Back at the Garage, Redefine has been going well too. We’ve had a few new faces over this last stretch, which always changes the dynamic slightly. We’ve been working through a series on responding to stress, using stories from the Gospels alongside Psalms and bits of Wisdom Literature. And as always, there have been important moments where something seems to connect.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been working with two Heads of Year at Ysgol Aberconwy to plan rewards days for entire year groups this term. It’s the kind of thing that involves a lot of emails and spreadsheets before anything actually happens, but it’s starting to take shape now.

And on top of that, we’ve been planning our own summer events too. It’s still early enough that they exist mostly as lists and half-formed ideas, but it does look like it could be a good few month.

So that’s where we’ve been. Not absent, just occupied! We’ll try not to leave it so long before the next update—but given how things tend to go, no promises!

I’ve now been back full-time for two weeks, and what a couple of weeks it’s been

It’s hard to overstate just how energising it has been to step back into the work. Busy? Definitely. Full-on? Without question. But more than anything, it’s been refreshing, a reminder of why this work matters and the many different ways we get to show up for young people, families, and our wider community.

A lot has happened in a short space of time.

I’ve been back out doing detached youth work in schools, reconnecting with students in their own environments and continuing those vital informal conversations that open the door to deeper support. There’s something uniquely important about simply being present where young people are. Although this also took an extra three hours this week just building a bunch of table football sets!

We also ran a Redefine session focused on stress, exploring it through a biblical lens. These conversations continue to be so valuable as young people navigate increasing pressures in their lives. Creating a space where faith and real-life struggles meet feels more important than ever.

Alongside this, we’ve been building our online presence through the AskRedefine TikTok channel. We’ve created a few moer short videos aimed at engaging young people where they already are and offering accessible responses to the questions they’re asking.

Partnerships have also been a key focus. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with leaders from three local schools, as well as the local youth services team, to explore delivering identity-focused sessions in schools. A particular area of interest is developing targeted interventions for young boys who are struggling with questions around masculinity, identity, and aggression. These are complex challenges, but ones we believe we can engage with meaningfully and constructively.

There’s been important time spent with a trustee this week working on a particularly exciting development. We’re doing the early shaping of a new Church Champions initiative, something we’re really looking forward to sharing more about in the coming months.

It’s also been great to reconnect with supporters over coffee, exploring how we can deepen those relationships and help more people feel connected to the work happening on the ground.

And as if that wasn’t enough, planning is underway for a new training day aimed at supporting parents and other adults raising children in an increasingly ‘online’ world. This feels like a crucial area, and we’re excited about what this could become.

So, yea… it’s been a full couple of weeks, but more than that, it’s been exciting, encouraging, and a privilege to be back in the mix of it all.

Thank you to everyone who supports, prays, encourages, and partners with us. There’s a lot ahead.

Let me tell you about some of the content from the last three Redefine sessions…

A few weeks ago, we leaned into the Valentine’s Day vibe – but we didn’t just do a quick, “God loves you!” Instead, we explored the question: what is love? Is it an action, a feeling, something you intend, or something you receive? We looked at the Greek words used in the New Testament for love, noticed how Jesus switches from agape to philia when speaking to Peter at the end of John’s Gospel, and examined 1 Corinthians 13 to see how love is described. We also looked at which of these words the Bible uses to describes Jesus’ sacrificial love on the cross.

The session after this we looked at the story of Absalom and David, thinking about Justice and examining what the complicated story does to our understanding of some Psalms written around those events.

Last night we looked the story of Joseph and really dug into the meaning behind Gen. 50:20, ‘you meant it for evil, God meant it for good’, while thinking about the difference between controlling what other people do, and controlling how we respond to what people do.

Now, all this might sound pretty complicated, right? And here’s the kicker, not everyone at Redefine has a church background or would call themselves a Christian. So why dive into complex Bible study with them?

Because that’s the DNA of Redefine.

Helping young people love the Bible

For the last 15 years, we’ve made it a priority to open the Bible with young people. Not just to tell them what to believe, but to give them the tools to read it for themselves. Our Bibles are (just barely) held together with tape, we encourage everyone to bring their own, and we buy one for anyone who doesn’t have one. We print off sections of Scripture, give pens, and walk them through the steps of proper Bible study together.

So why isn’t this too much for young people, especially those who have never read the Bible? There are three reasons:

– The material is powerful! Luke 24 tells the story of Jesus explaining how all the Scriptures points back to himself after the Resurrection. The disciples then say, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he opened the Scriptures to us?” There’s nothing wrong with the material, the challenge for us as youth workers is to know it well enough to teach it relevantly to young people.

– We explore, we don’t dictate. We’re not trying to “get to a conclusion.” We want young people to engage with the text, share their insights, and think for themselves. Giving them agency over their learning is incredibly transformative when it comes to God’s word. It makes them need to trust their relationship with Him more than their relationship with us.

– We always start with the same question: “What did you notice?” No matter their background or prior knowledge, this simple question allows everyone to join in and contribute. It’s this question that takes up a lot of our time together!

I love this approach! And I’ve done it in classrooms and groups where no one had ever even touched a Bible. We don’t rely on pre-written materials. We just open the Bible, have some discussion, and dig into thoughtful questions, always looking for how the passage points to Jesus, and what it means for our lives today.

Why do we do it this way?

First, because God’s Word is powerful. Our job is to help young people grapple with it at their level, not to filter it through our own interpretations or opinions.

Second, because we might be wrong! In fact, by virtue of being human, we probably are at least some of the time, whatever our study or good intentions. By digging into the source material together, instead of gatekeeping behind the illusion of ‘we always know best’, young people can test what we say against Scripture for themselves.

And finally, because these skills last a lifetime! When young people leave Redefine, move to university, or start work, our number one aim is that they’ll have the tools to maintain their own relationship with God, choose healthy churches, and take responsibility for their own faith.

Over the past year or so, we’ve worked through Mark’s Gospel, the miracles of Jesus in John, a good chunk of Philippians, sections of Wisdom Literature, and more recently justice issues through the minor prophets.

This is central to how we believe youth work should be done. Let the Bible speak, give young people the tools to understand it, then step back. In 1 Samuel 3, Eli does exactly this. He recognises God is speaking to Samuel, shows him how to respond, and then gets out of the way.

Redefine isn’t just a youth group. It’s a place where young people can meet God for themselves, wrestle with big ideas, and grow in ways that will last far beyond the evening session.