Changing endings

One of the things that marks the start of the Christmas season for me is the vast array of high quality and big production adverts that are released by large companies, all trying to compete for the biggest chunk of the 16 billion pounds people in the UK will spend on Christmas presents this year. The Coca Cola advert is probably the most famous, and this year the John Lewis advert has impacted lots of people with a great message of how giving is better than receiving.

I know there are many more adverts to come, but there is one that has struck such a chord with me and has reminded me why I do what I do, and why the work of Youth for Christ in the city of Nottingham and beyond is so important. It is an advert for Barnardos:

In youth work, you hear lots of stories. Some stories are funny, inspiring and happy and others are just heartbreaking. The young people that we work with are all on a journey and they all have a different story. Some of the beginnings to their stories have not been good ones. Some people in the lives of those young people think they know what the ending to their story will be. Some people in the lives of those young people have even told them what their ending will be. Some of those endings are not good.

For us at Nottingham Youth for Christ, we believe in a God who specializes in changing the endings to people’s stories. Jesus set people free, healed and restored, turned the world upside down and changed the lives of thousands even millions of people and he is still doing it today.

By listening, loving, caring, creating, laughing, hoping and praying with young people we are here to empower them to change the ending to the story they are living. Sometimes this takes years, sometimes we may never know the ending would have been different without our involvement and sometimes it doesn’t work and the ending is just as heartbreaking as the beginning. But we know we make a difference, we know God is at work in the lives of young people in our city and we are privileged to be a part of it.

Jo Dolby

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

Curry - A rite of passage?

So what events and what things that have happened create the person that you have become? Being a dad i am often considering the things my kids do and places they go to in terms of what type of person i want them to become. That might be experiences that i had and enjoyed or things that i think will be good for them.
At the start of the month it was my birthday (not a significant one, i can wait for another one of them) and Laura had been asking for a while what i would like to do for it. Last year we had friends round for a murder mystery, which are always funny especially with the dodgy accents. This year though i thought, as i had a choice of anything i wanted to do, how many times do us men get a window of time to do that, i thought we would go and give our kids their first experience of a curry house. They did ok, had a little bit of the meat and bit of balti and a bit of korma and lots of nan bread. What they did love though was the experience, they keep talking about it and how they would like to go again. For me it was good that they enjoyed their experience, as it means we can go again, and as their dad that really please me, as curry is important to me.
Isn't that what a rite of passage is as a Christian? being part of something that please God and moves you on in your journey?
As well as curry another passion of mine is mission. Engaging people, especially young people in being part of God's mission here on earth. What upsets me is the lack of passion and drive in a number of Churches in being part of His mission. As a youth Alpha advisor i will also get a number of course leaders saying to me "we didn't have enough time to run all the session so we missed out the 'why and how should i share my faith?" It just isn't seen as an integral part of discipleship. If you keep an eye out on what is happening in the world of Nottingham YfC you will know about our 30 hour missions (eq:missuion) in which we take a group of young people to a random part of the UK and be part of the mission of a YfC centre and local Church. Doing both word and deed in a community neediing to see and hear the love of Jesus. Each one of the last group that came on it really engaged and found it an experience that will shape their life and as a leader they will remember it as mission being part of being a Christian. God loves mission and it also develops our faith. Ok so curry might be a rite of passage as a child of mine but mission is and should be a rite of passage as a child of God.

Richard

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