Happy 10th Anniversary!

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Hello everybody, I hope you are having a fantastic week. I’ve got some important news that I’m bursting to tell you…

Llandudno Youth for Christ is 10 years old!

We’ve been sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ relevantly with young people in Llandudno and beyond for 10 years!

10 years of seeing young people’s lives changed by Jesus!

That’s absolutely brilliant!!!!

To celebrate this we are having a special Showcase on Wednesday 12th June 7-9pm at Gloddaeth Church in Llandudno. We’re so excited to share with you all that God has been doing in and through the ministry of Llandudno Youth for Christ over the last 10 years.

You are all invited and we’d love to see you there on the night.

Good things happen when God’s people gather together. So let’s gather together on Wednesday 12th June and thank God for all His goodness.

We hope you can make it.

Be Blessed!

Why I like Volunteering for Llandudno Youth for Christ

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The following blog post is written by one of our amazing volunteers, telling us what she loves about volunteering at Llandudno Youth for Christ.

“I am that most idiosyncratic of things: a Youth for Christ volunteer! No two sessions are the same, but after each one there are so many reasons to praise God. I volunteer with Llandudno Youth for Christ as part of my student placement: I’m training to become a youth and children’s chaplain. My placement has been at the Redefine community, Llandudno Youth for Christ’s Sunday night discipleship group for young Christians.

Each week is as fresh as the last. I could be doing quirky taskmaster style challenges, setting up a prayer station using M&Ms, donning a Darth Vader mask for a ‘traditional’ nativity or catapulting ammunition in a live action ‘Angry Birds’ setup. I could be giving my testimony to a room full of teenagers or using Harry Potter as an illustration in a Bible study. One night could be spent hiding from the insistent nerf bullets of a horde of hyper teenagers, or in eating unicorn ice cream whilst watching The Greatest Showman. Yep…. each week is as insane (I mean fresh) as the last.

And isn’t that true of our lives with Jesus? If we sell our lives out for Him, He will guarantee that we are always challenged: always moving forward; always nudged gently (or not so gently) outside of our comfort zones. Llandudno Youth for Christ provides an opportunity for me to get alongside young people as we encourage them in this crazy life of discipleship.

An especially beautiful experience for me at Youth for Christ has been the chance to do creative prayer stations as part of Redefine. To watch as young people – deeply stressed about exams – get to push their exam timetables and prayer requests into our chicken wired prayer wall, knowing that we WILL be praying for them, is a special experience. A huge privilege about this, and my future role as a chaplain, is knowing that we get to be an outlet for young people to share their deepest fears in a way that society all too often can’t, or won’t, allow.

Even Redefine planning meetings are fun! They are also designed to make you several stone heavier. At a recent breakfast meeting, after eggy crumpets and crispy bacon, I wondered how I managed to get so lucky – this is considered ‘work’ for me!

Above all, I like volunteering with Llandudno Youth for Christ because its love for young people shines out of every activity, programme and leader. I’m inspired each Sunday to be a little bit quirkier, a little bit braver and a lot more faithful to God’s calling.”-Esther Joanne Andrews

Feeling encouraged and inspired by Esther’s words? Perhaps you’d like to volunteer at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we’d love to hear from you.

Be blessed!

Night of Prayer

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Last Sunday evening we held an amazing ‘Night of Prayer’ for all of the work that we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ. It was really well attended and we are so very grateful for all of those who came and supported us.

Throughout the evening we had testimonies from young people about the difference that Youth for Christ has made in their lives by introducing them to Jesus.

We also heard from the new Chair of Trustees Mr Ben Nuss about why he so values the work we do. We also heard from one of the team at Llandudno Youth for Christ about the one to one mentoring work that we do as a charity.

Interspersed throughout the night were different opportunities to pray together about topics that affect young people, from mental health issues to the pressure of social media to exams.

Prayer is so important.

Prayer changes things.

Prayer makes a difference.

So once again a massive thank you to all of our supporters.

Here below is a short video with some of the talks from the night.

Also, this is a perfect opportunity to remind you that we have our regular monthly Prayer Gathering this Sunday 26th May, 7-8pm at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre. We hope you can make it.

Be blessed!

I wonder do you know Him?…

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Just this last Sunday night we started a new series at our Redefine Bible Study group for young people. We are looking at the person of Jesus as revealed in the Bible and as the spring board for the talks we give, we have been playing the famous ‘My King’ monologue by Dr S.M. Lockridge.

It really is an amazing and inspiring talk about just how amazing Jesus is. Throughout Dr S.M. Lockridge’s monologue he intersperses the descriptions of Jesus with the question ‘I wonder do you know Him?’

It’s a good and valid question that should inspire us not to berate ourselves for not knowing Jesus well enough, but instead to get to know Him better, after all as Jesus tells us in the gospel of John, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3

It’s all about relationship. It’s about knowing God.

Everything we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ is to declare the truth about Jesus, demonstrate His love for the young people in the way we act towards them, encourage them to make a decision to enter into a relationship with Jesus for themselves and help disciple them in their Christian walk with God.

That’s why I am so excited about this new teaching series that we have just started: Jesus is the central focus of it all and helping the young people develop and discover a relationship with Him is key to all of it.

Now we wouldn’t be able to run great Bible study nights if it weren’t for the faithfulness of our amazing supporters. We really appreciate all the time people give to volunteering at LLYFC. If you want to volunteer in any capacity, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 07517 429 763 (Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays 9am to 12pm) or via email at llandudnyfc@gmail.com.

We are grateful for every financial gift donated to the work that we are doing, especially for those that give regularly on a monthly basis. Thank you.

And finally we are grateful for those who uphold us in prayer.

Speaking of prayer, this coming Sunday 19th May we will be holding the first of a series of special Prayer Gatherings to celebrate out 10th anniversary as a charity in Llandudno. It will be a great night of spending time with other supporters and young people at LLYFC. There will be prayer, worship, testimonies and real coffee. It runs from 6-8pm.

Please do come along and support us.

Be blessed!

Resurrection Party!

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Last Sunday night (14th April) we had our last Redefine meeting before the Easter holidays. It was a fun night with a party theme as we looked at and celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus.

We have been working our way through the gospel of Mark this term and at the last Redefine we looked at the death of Jesus on the cross. At our last Reverb we looked at the Triumphal entry and now at our last Redefine we finished off the gospel of Mark by looking at Jesus’ victory over death.

We wanted to create a celebratory and party feel for the night, so we had balloons, party poppers, party food (iced rings, popcorn, mini muffins, crisps & fruit) and some party games; including an extreme version of an Easter Egg Hunt involving Nerf Guns.

Everyone had a great night.

We also had a time of worship celebrating the good news of Jesus’ triumph over sin and death.

We are now on a break over the Easter holidays and will not be meeting back together until Thursday 2nd May for both Recess & Reverb and Sunday 5th May for Redefine.

But we will still be holding our monthly Prayer Gathering on Sunday 28th April @ 7pm in the Ty Llywelyn Community Centre. Please do join us for this and pray for the all the young people that have heard the gospel in the last couple of weeks.

Also please be praying for the young people as Easter is celebrated, that they would think about why we celebrate Easter and realise the importance of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

Have a great Easter and be blessed!

A whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on!

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No I’m not doing a blog post about Elvis or his music, but am instead referring to the new event being run by Llandudno Youth for Christ in Colwyn Bay – ‘Shuffle & Shake‘.

For this post I interviewed the man heading up the new event; ‘Shuffle & Shake‘, Mr Korey Finch. Below are parts of that interview:

Q1: Korey can you give us a short introduction about yourself?

Korey: I’m from Texas originally and I met this amazing girl from Manchester named Miriam back in 2007 and decided I wanted to marry her, and as a result God put on my heart the desire to be a youth worker in the UK, so here we are now 10 years later. Married and living in Colwyn Bay, doing youth work.

Q2: How long have you lived in Wales?

Korey: I’ve been living here since 2013, so we’re coming up on 6 years now.

Q3: Can you give us a passage of the Bible that has really impacted you?

Korey: I really appreciate the passage, I think it is in Corinthians where it says “my strength is made perfect in your weakness”(2 Cor 12:9). It just helps me see that even though there are things that aren’t perfect in your life, God is still able to perfectly use us.

Q4: What do you do whilst working for or at Youth for Christ?

Korey: Mostly play board games actually…just kidding. There is a lot of office work that I need to do, planning for different events; planning for regular weekly meetings. Sunday I help with Redefine in Llandudno. Monday I’m at ‘Shuffle & Shake’ in Colwyn Bay. Wednesday I’m in the office preparing. Thursday I’m in Ysgol Aberconwy helping with the Recess Christian Union, and then helping with the Reverb after-school drop-in club in Llandudno. Saturday I mostly spend time with the family, but there is the odd day where I might have a Nerf Battle kind of thing like we did this last week, and so, yeah it’s just a balance of events and admin/management.

Q5: Brilliant. So, you just mentioned that you like board games. What is your favourite board game and why?

Korey: I’ll give you two because they’re both totally different. The first is ‘Scythe’, a gigantic, huge game. It weighs a ton, it’s amazing and I love it because I just feel like I’m immersed in the theme: a very diesel punk alternate reality, post world war 2 and there are robots and I like robots, so yeah. That’s fun. I also really like a simple game called ‘Sushi Go’; which is a little card game, about the size of ‘Uno’, but it’s so totally different than anything I’ve ever played and it’s actually inspired me to try to make my own board game..

Q6: You mentioned Redefine, Reverb and Recess, which I’m sure our readers have already heard about, but there was a new one amongst them, ‘Shuffle & Shake’. Can you explain a bit more about it?

Korey: Yeah, the idea is that it’s basically like a youth board game café. It’s open one night of the week for a couple of hours and it’s specifically for young people to have a place where they can connect around a table, and that’s kind of the idea behind that word ‘shuffle’. Not only are we literally shuffling cards etc., but that people’s lives will be mixed and shuffled together. And in that mix they’ll be introduced to Christ. Also part of the name ‘Shuffle & Shake’ is the second part ‘shake’. And that’s just simply ‘we have milkshakes’. So, ‘Shuffle & Shake’ it’s like a board game café for young people.

Q7: In what way can our readers help support the work that you do at ‘Shuffle & Shake’?

Korey: If any adults were interested in helping out or passing along the word about the event, that’d be great. We want to be a help to the community in Colwyn Bay; a bright spot so to speak in Colwyn Bay, and so just letting people know where we are and what’s going on would help. Also if people are able to support financially, by giving to Llandudno Youth for Christ. So, giving to Llandudno Youth for Christ, encouraging people to come to ‘Shuffle & Shake’, thinking of adults that might be able to volunteer and help out, all those are great ways to help support us.

‘Shuffle & Shake‘ is held at Prince’s Drive Baptist Church in Colwyn Bay, typically on the 1st & 3rd Monday of the month during school term time, running from 7:30pm to 9pm. Please do consider supporting this new event that’s seeking to reach young people relevantly with the good news of Jesus Christ.

The next 2 ‘Shuffle & Shake‘ meetings will be on Monday April 8th & Monday April 29th.

Be Blessed!

Urgent! – New Volunteers Needed!!

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This is a call to all of our wonderful supporters.

We are in need of new volunteers at our Reverb Saturday Cafe. We have had key members of our team step down for various reasons and need people to step up to the plate and fill the following positions:-

  1. Pancake Cook: Cooking pancakes and stove items including sausages, bacon, mushrooms and onions. A pancake mix is used and there is generally less time pressure than for the cook doing toasties. The key skill is being organised and keeping supplies of the hot items going as neededon the day. Rota would be roughly once every 6 weeks, perhaps a little more in the summer holidays.
  2. Dishwasher: Loading the dishwasher with dirty crockery/cutlery and removing after the 2 minute cycle is complete. Some washing of pans in the sink also needed. No great skill required, you just need to keep an eye on which items are most needed (such as teapots) and some strength is required as the trays can be quite heavy when full of crockery. Rota would be roughly once a month or as much as you can manage.
  3. Kitchen Organiser: Keeping tabs on all the orders and making sure that the food and drink is made in the right order as quickly as possible. Key skills are being highly organised and calm under pressure. Rota would be roughly once every 6 weeks.
  4. Cakes: Baking three cakes of your choice. Popular ones are sponges and just about anything that has chocolate in it but a bit of variety is good occasionally too. Rota would be roughly once every 6 weeks, perhaps a little more in the summer holidays (could be less if you would prefer.)
Reverb Saturday Cafe sessions are fortnightly on the
2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month, starting at 10:00 and ending at roughly 15:00 or so. Half sessions of roughly 2.5 hours for roles 1-3 can usually be arranged if the person isn’t confident they could manage the whole time. As usual, a free lunch is provided, and there is sometimes cake to take home at the end of the session.
Please prayerfully consider what position you could fill. Or if it is none of the above, but you still want to volunteer, we also have waiting on positions.
You can contact us on 07517 429 763 or email: llandudnoyfc@gmail.com.
Be blessed!

We are…….?

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We’ve all just come back from the Youth for Christ National Conference in Didsbury, Manchester.

A great time was had by all of the team that went, and now that we are back, we are getting stuck into 2019 and all that God has in store for us this year.

The theme of last year’s Conference was ‘Renovation’ – and was all centred around the idea of God renovating us as a ministry and as individuals. For Him to tear down the superficial and rebuild us all to prepare us for what He is doing in Youth for Christ Nationally, Regionally & Individually.

This year the theme was ‘Core’. We went back to looking at the core values of Youth for Christ. What are the essential aspects of everything that we do.

As Youth for Christ UK, we are….

Courageous – We want to step boldly into the future, trusting in God’s direction & provision.

Helpful – We want to help our communities, churches & young people to engage with Jesus.

Relational – We are all about building bridges between people and creating caring communities.

Innovative – We want to be relevant and creative in our communication of the gospel.

Spiritual – Everything we do is so that young lives are transformed by Jesus.

Together – We want to work alongside local churches and communities to see God’s kingdom grow.

All of this together spells CHRIST.

We’re all about Jesus and seeing Him change young people’s lives.

This year will you please partner with us in prayer, with provision and perhaps volunteer at one of our many ministries.

Here’s to 2019 and all that God has in store for us.

Be blessed!

Youth for Christ National Conference here we come!

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Yay! Youth for Christ National Conference here we come. We’re so looking forward to this year’s national conference, and all that God is going to be doing through it. Please be praying for us during this week; praying that we would clearly hear God speak to us on this week away. Pray that we will come back refreshed and strengthened in our faith and raring to go.

Also, please be praying for our director here at Llandudno Youth for Christ, Tim Gough, as he is going to be leading a teaching seminar entitled ‘Where we’ve failed and where we’ve borne fruit in our youth work.’ It will be held on Tuesday 8th January at 11:30am. Pray for this session to be fruitful and encouraging for those who attend it.

Going to National Conference is a great time of being able to look back at 2018 and thanking God for all that He has done in and through the ministry of Llandudno Youth for Christ. It is also an opportunity to look ahead at the blank canvas that is 2019 and seek God’s guidance and wisdom.

At this time of year when so many people are working out their New Year’s resolutions it’s great to come together with the greater Youth for Christ family, and encourage each other with stories of all that God has been doing in the lives of young people all across the United Kingdom and beyond. “He gave his life for us so that we may share in resurrection life in union with him—whether we’re awake or asleep. Because of this, encourage the hearts of your fellow believers and support one another, just as you have already been doing.” – 1 Thess 5:10-11

We thank you for your amazing support and encouragement during 2018 and we look forward to 2019 with expectant hearts. Please do continue to journey with us and encourage and support us faithfully as you have done. We really appreciate your support in prayer, with finances and with volunteers at the different events we hold.

Thank you and be blessed.

Angry Birds! Rargh!

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Last Sunday night at Redefine we had a brilliant, fun evening playing a live action version of the popular computer game/app ‘Angry Birds‘. The first game in this popular video game franchise was launched in 2009, and since then it has spawned multiple other versions (26 in total), including the popular ‘Angry Birds Star Wars’. There has also been a film, and another is set for release in 2019.

In the game of Angry Birds, the player launches the ‘angry bird‘ from a catapult at a fortress made of stones and wood, that hides assorted green piggies that have stolen the birds’ eggs. The birds have to knock all of the piggies to the ground to win.

In line with the style of game play, we had boxes, cones & platforms upon which we placed green balloons with piggy faces drawn on them. The boxes were arranged by a competing team, to try and make it as difficult as possible for the team that was to launch the birds, to knock the piggies to the ground. The ‘bird’ team then launched red, blue or yellow footballs at the structures, trying to know the piggies from their perches. Each piggy that hit the ground earned the ‘Angry Bird‘ team 1000 points, with a bonus of 5000 if you managed to eliminate all 8 of the piggies.

Everyone involved had a blast. It was so much fun, and everyone really got into the spirit of the game, working together in 3 different teams to see who would be crowned the ‘Angry Bird‘ champion.

Our director Mr Tim Gough, then gave an uplifting and encouraging talk about Jesus & Peter walking on the water. Saying that when Peter faltered in his faith, Jesus was right there to save Peter and pick him up. Jesus is the same for us, when we are sinking in doubt, mired in fear and worry. Jesus doesn’t leave us, he doesn’t let us drown. No he reaches his hand out and saves us. Jesus never changes.

His faithfulness to Peter extends to us too today.

So even when like the piggies fortress, we find our life in tatters and all broken apart, Jesus is right there with hand extended to us in love. Ready to pick us up and get us walking with Him again.

It’s great being able to host these fun events that speak into the lives of the young people.

Please do continue to support us financially, in prayer and in a voluntary capacity, when and where you can. Let’s continue to see young people’s lives transformed by Jesus.

Be blessed!