2012 verses of the year : Matthew 25:14 - 30

Each year we pray into what God is saying to us for the next 12 months. If you have followed us over the past few years you will know that last year we had Paul's vision of the Macedonian man running through our ministry. Paul wanted to go one way and doors kept closing but God drew him to Europe and that way was free. In the past 12 months we have seen huge growth in our ministry and we are thankful to God for that as it has been down to Him that we have been on the move. An early picture that one of our trustees had in our first year back in Nottingham was that of Nottingham being lit up in 5 or 6 different areas by the influence and the work of Nottingham YfC, with the ministry being light in the darkness. Let me just say this wasn't to suggest no one else or no other organization was providing light, this was just a picture of what God possibly wanted NYfC to look like.

Ten and a half years on and we see God's light shining through NYfC in 6 different areas of the city and influencing many more. Arnold, Beeston, Bilborough, Inham Nook, Radcliffe and South Notts are our key areas where the light is shining but our influence through support, mentoring and empowering the local church to impact a generation is growing more and more.

Often we see growth as a numerical thing and that is not always wrong. Gavin Calver, our national director has a vision to see a million young people reached each month through YfC, that is exciting and we would love to see that. In fact if you looked at the amount of young people we come into contact across Nottingham then we have the potential to see over 6,000 young people each month, that is amazing and i can't help but be humbled by what God has given us.

This year our passage for Nottingham YfC is Matthew 25: 14 -30 the parable of the talents.

God has given us an amazing opportunity but sometimes we don't take that opportunity or even take it for granted. Do we take what God has given us and protect and defend it because we are scared of losing it or do we take what He has brought into our lives and grow it. Our work with young people is very relational and i love the fact that we see the same young people week in week out bringing Hope and potential in their lives. Sometimes though in relational youth work it becomes more about turning up, getting through the evening making sure they behave. What we aim to do through the work and what I hope and pray will be a key word in Nottingham YfC is TRANSFORMATION. We want to take what God has given us, the young people he has brought our way and transform their lives with the love of God. If we can do that then 2012 onwards is going to be a great time to be part of the Kingdom of God and in particular Nottingham Youth for Christ. Please pray for us as this is what will really bring these words to fruition.

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

The Best and Worst of ourselves

I don't mean to brag but i have just had the holiday of a lifetime. No it wasn't at a doctor who convention, although that would be amazing. After always thinking it was out of my league, a dream became reality and my family and I were stood in front of the Disney palace in Florida looking in awe. Ok I will stop bragging now.
The slight blip on the whole experience was our journey home. Just as we were a few hours away from landing, someone unfortunately took ill, so we turned round and landed at a little airport in a town in Canada called Gander. Unsurprisingly people were a bit frustrated and with most people having a lack of sleep tensions were higher than normal. I don't know what you are like when you are tired, but i struggle to cope with normality. I think there were around 550 others on that plane who had the same issue with tiredness. All this meant the atmosphere in the airport, getting off the plane meant there was a lot of pushing and shoving with people just in it for themselves, as long as they were ok, it didn't matter about how other people were feeling or what was the right thing to do. I managed to just sit back and watch rather than getting agitated and was amazed at how people swung from being nice human beings to everyman for themselves. Even after a couple of hours sleep at a hotel while waiting for food you saw some people pushing themselves to the front.
Then as we were sat in the airport the tide started to turn, there was a sense of community, a sense of everyone in it together, Not that i was there but it was what my grandparents used to talk about when they talked about the war. Community, you know what when people come together to serve each other rather than fight each other, when we put others first rather than ourselves first, there is something beautiful, some would even say you can sense the love of God.
I am sure when the stories of the early disciples in Acts get together they didn't always feel like it and the reality was probably they struggled in community as a lot of people do. Yet we look at what the power of community can bring: acceptance, love, joy and security. Is it no wonder that God loves it.

Richard Dawson