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

Thoughts of a work experience student (2)

Reality Check

I came to do my year 10 work experience at Nottingham YfC because I wanted something different from the norm. I wanted to get something else out of my week, asides from an extended knowledge of how to make coffee and use a photocopier…
And do you know what? I totally got it.
I’ve done almost three days now and I think the thing that has struck me the most is how so many churches and believers can work together, despite their different ways of doing things. I mean, we’re all a family, right? God’s family. And if that means meeting up in a café to talk about our lives, or making breakfast at a community centre, or playing table tennis with a group of teenagers, it’s all for God and through God and with God.
A couple of years ago my parents felt called to move to a new church and we visited a number of churches in Nottingham when making the decision. Recently I have also started going to a youth group at different church from my own. Through this, I have seen how easy it is to get caught up on all those little differences or ‘alternative interpretations’, which churches and youth groups have. I know I can definitely get absorbed in comparing and over-analysing. I spend time wondering where I really belong and which way is the ‘correct’ way of doing things, but this week has been such a reality check for me. It’s not about what youth group I go to or how we do worship at church or what refreshments are served after the service! The fact is: as long as we’ve got the foundations sorted, the little things are simply what make us who we are.
I have loved seeing how different people can just work together because they have one common interest, God. All of us can draw from each other and bless each other, whilst we worship and show his love in tons of different ways, that are as diverse as we all are from eachother. And I shouldn’t be wondering where I belong, because I am one of God’s children and that makes me a member of his family. That is where I belong, in the unity that is God’s family, full of wonderful people who love him just as much as I do!

Ephesians 4:4-6
You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all.

Ephesians 4:15
We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other.

Helena Gloeckner

Is there any point in being defensive?

I love hearing about Church history. Whether that be the early church in the book of Acts or the start of denominations like Methodism and the Salvation Army. Listening to Question Time at the minute and hearing them talking about the amount of people trying to create a revolution in the middle east over the past few months, i remember stories about the abolition of the slave trade or the day of Pentecost and i love the face that the Church has been part of so many revolutions. So what i would like to know is when is the next one? Some would say it if you look at the Church it is a long way off, although some would say we have this sleeping giant just ready to awake. So why isn't it happening? One of the reasons is that we have become defensive about our faith, and defensive about what we believe. In a world that is becoming more secular, and in a country like ours that has become less Christian, instead of using this culture shift as a challenge and a chance to become part of a new revolution, we have become more restrained, by trying to keep our own traditions and our own ways safe. We can see some elements of this still when we see cultures within a lot of churches not being able to connect with the culture outside the doors. Being part of a revolution is not about doing what everyone else does, or even changing because everyone else does. What being part of a revolution means is to stand for what you believe that goes against what is going on around. What it also means is that you don't go into your shell, batten down the hatches and sit it out, but move out and show what you have is of the greater good. Could this be the Church? or shall we just wait until it is all over, but if we continue on the back foot, there maybe none of us left to come out from behind the door.

Richard

are we all singing from the same hymn sheet?

Don't you love people? They constantly surprise me. When you come across someone, there are a few initial questions that you tend to ask them. The first is their name (one of my big problems is that i am thinking of the next question, when they are telling me their name). The next is what do you do? When i tell people what i do, especially Christians, their assumption is that it is really hard for a Christian organisation to get into schools. I then tell them that it is part of response to our faith to serve our local schools as well as build young people up, not only spiritually but emotionally as the whole person they were created to be. The response we get from schools, and their view of Nottingham YfC is that we do a great work with the young people that really need support. If you follower our twitter account you will know that we also do lessons in RE not only on the life of Jesus but on subjects like identity and justice. The schools loved these lessons, being showed in boxes of chocolates (who says our rewards are in Heaven lol) and requests for more lessons. It was quite a surprise then, when after sharing in a church about what we do, you get someone coming up to you saying how it is out of order what we do, and we shouldn't be allowed to do what we do. Where does the opposition come from? from within. Isn't it interesting that as an organisation you can set out with a particular mandate and then over the years life becomes more about staying alive rather than doing what you were created to be. As a Church we were created to make an impact on our communities, Jesus talked about coming to help the sick...the well don't need a doctor. My hope for NYfC, for the Church and for me is that we don't get distracted from the plan, and we certainly don't critisize those who are working with the sick.