30hr eq:mission July '10

Thought it might be quite nice for those of you that are interested to let you know in a bit more detail how our first 30hr eq:mission went. Photos will get posted later so look forward to that.

So it all started on Saturday morning when 20 of us met at the NYfC office at 8am. The group were made up of young people from across the city, and although no one came on their own (one group of 6, two of 3 and two of two - some with leaders some without) they knew no one apart from those they came with. None of the young people knew where they were going, and probably didn't even know when we got there. After an extended bus journey (no one knows why although the driver did look a bit spaced), we arrived at Hebron Evangelical Church on the Wirral at 11.30. The second half of the journey the young people split up and sat with someone they didn't know, so they could introduce each other when we got there.
Once all our things were off the bus we had an induction from Martin Dickson, Director of Wirral YfC, who was hosting us for the weekend.

After lunch we really got into it. We split into 3 groups initially: one group on sports activities, one group on gardening, tidying and one group on flier drop and prayer. Here is a Little about how each got on.
Sports group: These guys took a football out and some other sports equipment onto the local park, just to try and get some kind of game started. To start with they just started to kick a ball around themselves but within 15minutes around 20 lads turned up and so a big game of football went on, for about 3 hours.
Gardening group: This group went along to the same park as the sports group, but with the remit from the park manager that if they found anything they think they could tidy up then that would be a great help. After an initial scout round the park we found 2 places that were really untidy and where nettles and other weeds were restricting trees and plants but also making the place look untidy. So the group split into 2 and spent the next few hours really making a difference to the look of the park. While one group were working a group of lads on community service came past doing a litter pick, and one of our group managed to have a really good chat about why they were doing it and why we had come up to the Wirral to make a difference.
Street group: The final group were walking up and down the main shopping street of Wallasey, handing out fliers about the church but also about a drop in youth club we were running that night. Pretty soon they had ran out of leaflets and wondered what to do next. So they went and bought a mini white board and just wrote on it 'Free Prayer'. Initially there was some scepticism but within a few minutes they had people coming up to them. One woman asking for them to pray for her husband, another group of young people asking to be prayed for school and family issues, one group stayed and chatted for well over an hour. They then wiped the board and on it wrote 'ask me why i am a Christian'. Again, some really good conversations came and they were able to chat to some more people in the middle of the town centre.

After some cheeky pasta and pizza we set up for the drop in youth club in the church itself. Not knowing how many young people we would get, we decided to have a team go back onto the park and offer to pray for people and ask God for any word He might have for them.
Youth club: With not knowing what to expect it was really good to have around 15 young people aged 14 - 17 come along and just hang out with us playing table tennis, games consoles etc. We had also taken our vinyl decks so we had some good conversations over those about Church and what is important in their lives. Some of them really opened up. It was also really good cause the Church had a relationship with a few of them and in fact some of them were responsible for a previous youth club closing down because of vandalism, and they went up to Martin and apologised for the things they had done in the past. The young people were blown away when he told them that we had come from Nottingham just to do something for them. They all got given a 4points leaflet as they left and relationships have been restored and seeds have been sown.
Park team: a group went back onto the park and although there were some good conversations, this was really hard for some of the team, as there were drunken lads on the park and a real sense of oppression. Saying that they had a really good conversation with a couple of French girls who said they were atheists but let us pray for them, and a couple of girls who one of which really wanted to open up about something but was too scared in front of her friends, so we just prayed for them both.

After all this we split into 3 different groups and planned the next mornings service. One group led the adult Church for the first part of the service, one ran the children's session and the final group ran the youth session. .

After the preparation a late night trip to the beach was the order of the day (or should i say night).

The next morning we joined the prayer meeting before the service and then went into what we had prepared. All three groups did really well and the church were not only encouraged but challenged as well (their words) at how accepting their community is to prayer and Christian witness. One thing that got us all was the generosity and welcoming nature. Whether we were in the church or out in the community there was a real friendliness about the place.

Lunch was generously donated and then it was off back to Nottingham, to get some well earned sleep.

The team were amazing and i just want to mention : Jordan, Bethan, Luke, Abbi, Rachael, Rebekah, Josie, Owen, Angus, Georgi, Helena, Rosie, Leanne, Hannah, Luke, Sarah, Joshua, Kristy, Lukas as they all did Jesus proud.

Looking forward to the next eq:mission in November. Want to know more details contact us

Will put some pics out when we get them downloaded. Hope you are as inspired and proud as i was over the weekend.

Fort Rocky 2010 photos

Nottingham YfC took a group of young people to Fort Rocky @ the pioneer centre in July 2010. Here is a bit of what happened. More pics on our facebook page.

crux media photos

June 2010 was when crux media arrived in Nottingham to work with young people looking at their stories, their influences and what their dreams are. Here are some photos of the week

How do you manage change?

I am a big believer in being relevant. I am also a big believer if something stays the same for too long without looking at whether it is working, it can become stale. I like adapting, i like moving things around, i like looking at things from a different perspective - when it's on my terms. Funny that isn't it? When we are in control we can cope with things so much easier. This summer is a really interesting time with Nottingham Youth for Christ, as for the first time in about 6 years, our whole team changes- apart from me. This would normally excite me, empower me and enthuse me, because normally there would be an element of it being my decision and my choice. But this time it is totally out of my hands, and i still have no idea what my team will look like from September.
If someone came up to me and said do you put your trust in God, I will normally say ' oh yes, of course, his life is in my hands.' This would probably be an answer at a point in my life when everything is going well, and things are going as i want them too. We say somethings so easily, and probably believe them until the words we say are challenged by circumstances.
Apart from the issue of us running some great events and regular programmes for young people and us needing to staff those (check out www.nottinghamyfc.co.uk/support thanks for the cheeky plug), but we have also had a great team this year that have impacted young peoples lives with the very real love of God. I want to be annoyed that we have no continuity, i want to be cross at God for circumstances that are no ones fault, but I can't because i have to believe that actually things will work so much better when i let God lead the way instead of me thinking i know the best. Although i do wish He would tell me a bit sooner.
So i have decided that change is good, but not just for the sake of change, but because actually something much better is around the corner.
What's the best way to manage change? Let the one who created you take charge.

Guest blog: Emily Swinburne

Emily Swinburne is on staff at Nottingham YfC. She oversees the work in Chilwell and Beeston. She is currently taking time out from her ministry with young people to have her first child.




Its been strange few weeks for me as I have been working up to go on maternity leave, it slightly scares me knowing I’m going to be a mummy any day soon.

So as I have been working these last few weeks I have been thinking and reflecting on the past few years that I have been working for Nottingham YFC and how God has challenged me and used me. How God has taken me to places that have taken me out my comfort zone. I recently have been reading about Moses and when God called him to go back to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. I was really challenged when I was reading this story especially when Moses protested to God because he didn’t think he was good enough to go to Pharaoh. " But Moses protested to God, "Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt" Exodus 2 v 11. This made me think about how many times in the past few years God has asked me to do something and how I have protested to God saying I’m not good enough send someone else. This led me to think about how many opportunities I’ve missed because I have not Trusted God even though he promised several times to be with me and that was his response to Moses. v12 God answered " I will be with you".

I also know there have been times that I have stepped out for God and took that risk and stepped out of my comfort zone. When I have stepped out of that comfort zone how amazing it’s been. God chose Moses at that time to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and Moses did do what God ask him to do and Moses saw amazing things happen. God chose me and has a plan and purpose for my life which involves taking risks I suppose the question I need to ask myself is am I prepared to take those opportunities? Are you prepared?.