so you want to volunteer with Nottingham YfC?

Nathaniel has come onto the NYfC team for a few weeks. here are some of his initial thoughts.

The short of why I came to volunteer for Nottingham YFC was to fill some time before I went to university in America. The long of it is I felt a need to use the gifts that God gave me for His work, so when I heard of Nottingham YFC from friends and family, I jumped at the opportunity. At the same time as applying for a volunteer slot, however, I was also searching around for a part-time job. So when offered the choice of full-time volunteering or only doing a couple days a week, I struggled to make a decision. On one hand, I knew I needed the money for university and for general living before I left. On the other I knew God was calling me to do this. Ashamed to say, I reluctantly said I’d do full-time volunteering for NYFC. However, I knew I serve an amazing God who can provide and will provide if you place your hope and life into His hands. So in a sense, I chose the more exciting path.

I’ve only had 1 day so far with NYFC and I’m so glad I chose full-time. This team is so engulfed in the grace and love of God and have such a passion for sharing that with the youth all across Nottingham. They are all such strong prayer warriors and have fine-tuned their hearts and minds to the Word and Will of our Heavenly Father. I am so excited to see what God is able to do through us as a team and through me as an individual. I can only pray to develop such a strong and acute sense of God’s Word and leadership in my life as I have seen in the team already.

We have lots of different types of opportunities for volunteers within the NYfC team. If you would like to volunteer a couple of hour a week then please get in touch with our office.

More change?

Well, after 3 - 4 weeks i still don't think i have got over the trip to India, which was amazing. Pretty much it was back into the swing of things here at NYfC. The great news is that we have grown as a staff team, which is really exciting and you will hear more about the new team in the coming weeks on here and in our newsletter which is due out in next few weeks. I am never surprised by what God has in store for us at NYfC, each year i know there will be change in the team as we have year outs join us (although this year that isn't the case), and we do also have on team Centre of youth ministry placements and so every so often they move on. Although i am not surprised it is still important we listen to God and not just go through the motions. To know where God wants us is of vital importance, as it is His mission, not ours, we are the co-pilots not the other way round. With this in mind it is really exciting that we are starting in 2 new areas across Nottingham. After getting Arnold up and running last Christmas we have now started working in Radcliffe-on-Trent and also alongside churches based in villages around the south Notts area surrounding Harry Carlton school.

After ten years of working across Nottingham, I can honestly say no 2 years have been the same and that is exciting although hard work. Chatting to a church leader recently we were talking about a particular denomination starting off as a movement and as it grew older it became more established and set in it's ways. We can all be like that if there is no movement or change in our lives or churches, because when there is nothing in the mix, to shake things up it does nothing but stay still.

I am really glad God is not letting us stay still but creates movement in the life of NYfC. Only then we will stay a movement and continue to see amazing things happen in the lives of young people across Nottingham, i hope you will join us on the journey.

Richard Dawson

India 11: second week videos

So Sunday arrived so off we all went to Church...

On Monday we carried on with our outreach meeting with an added dedication

The rest of the week carried on as it had started with us waiting...

Our final day was more about travelling and shopping, and because the shopping got a little stressful (well for the boys anyway) we stopped filming lol so our last bit of raw footage comes from the early morning arrival at the train station.

Hope you have enjoyed our little journey, if you haven't already check out our video diaries from our time in India. It would be great if you could follow us on twitter or on facebook as then we can share with about lives that we impact in our own city of Nottingham. It has been beautiful. Good night. You can also check out extended videos on our you tube channel.

India 11: An overview of week 1

Here are a number of clips looking back on the first week of our mission trip to India. You will find all sorts of things from our travel escapades to action songs to some of the amazing people we have met. The first set of clips are based on the first few days in the sub-continent.

On the Friday we went to an English speaking school where Sudheer's 2 children go. Some of the young people put on an amazing show for us which put our action song to shame lol.

On the Saturday we sponsored a medical camp and then visited a day care centre for children sponsored by Chilwell Road Methodist Church.