The Olympics: an opportunity for mission

Junior arrived in the UK in February to be part of The Nottingham YfC team. As part of his year he went down to London during the olympics to be part of the mission team in Newham. Here are his thoughts of the whole experience:

The project idea came from the local YFC team and from the National YFC willing to explore the unique Olympics time opportunity to spread the gospel to people from all parts of the world. Love E7 was a ten days evangelistic program in Newham running from the 24^th of July until the 2^nd of August during the Olympics time aiming to bless the community. Just to explain quickly the clever idea of the project’s name, E7 is the post code for place that we’d be join in, so the name Love E7 came from the idea of loving Newham and blessing that community.

I’ve heard about this opportunity from National YFC and I got really interested in serving God and help making a difference in Newham. Because I was at holidays and I hadn’t got anything planned for that time, I thought being part of it would be a great experience and a time to grow up in my faith. So I accepted the invite!

To help in Love E7 we’d got around sixty people, mainly youth, from the local community, from different parts of England and from other countries as well. Including myself, I think the Brazilian group was about 21 people, most of them couldn’t speak English at all! We’d got around 10 people from France and about the same quantity from Holland, but the Dutch people arrived just on Saturday the 28^th. One funny story that happened was that the staff team asked me if I could pick the Brazilians up and the French group using the underground trains. I thought would be easier to pick the Brazilians up from Heathrow than the French from a nearer station because of my issue with English language but I got a bigger issue with the Brazilian baggage. Each one of them was carrying 2 big suitcases and the journey from Heathrow to Forest Gate in Newham was 2 hours long, so it was really difficult! I lost them once on the underground, everybody got in the train and I couldn’t because I was helping to put the baggage in the train, so funny! But it ended up well, everyone got safe to Forest Gate station.

Talking about how we were acting, the staff team allocated all those people into teams of 7-8 people, so we’ve got 8 teams there, each one of them responsible for doing different activities in Newham that were; gardening, painting a bridge, street evangelism, litter picking, youth and kids clubs, sports day, dancing and drama on the streets. During the days, in every morning we were gathering together in one of the churches for a time of worship, prayer and training and then we were starting our activities in the community after lunch time. Thinking specifically about my own team, we were responsible for help running a kids club at one of the churches in Newham, and an Asian Youth Centre.

The experience helping in the kids club for 2-8 aged kids was amazing! The theme was the Olympics and every child was considered as an athlete. Everyone in the team had a responsibility and because I was a leader assistant on my team my responsibility was support the other four Brazilians in my team because of the language issue, doing the warm up at the beginning and giving out points for children who were behaving well or that did something really good during the activities. I was the first aider in our team as well, so I was responsible for safe and security as well. Through the days that we helped there we could enjoy our time doing dancing songs, face painting, bible verse’s games, bouncy castle, drawing, telling bible stories and more. At the end we summed the team’s points and we gave rewards for the winner team. I really enjoyed spending time with the children, I think it’s because I love playing with kids, they always make me laugh and it’s always fun. I would say that our impact in there was really positive, everyone was doing their best to make it good and I’m sure that the kids there could see how we can enjoy the life with God.

At the Asian Youth Centre, the aim was more about advertising than helping with the activities, so we were trying to take people’s attention to what was going on the place. Because the Brazilians on our team were part of a dance group, we thought would be good to use this skills to bring people’s attention. So we basically had the Brazilians dancing outside while the others were trying to talk with people and invite them to come along and enjoy the time in the Centre. It was a really good time, lots of people were stopping to watch the dancing and we had the opportunity to talk with those people and share our faith with them, even knowing that could be difficult because they were mainly Muslims.

If I would like to define what Love E7 was for me, I’d say that the program’s name really made sense, that I loved that community and I loved to be part of this amazing initiative and it definitely influenced my life and relationship with God. I feel more capable to share my faith with other people than I was before and I’m sure that it will influence positively in my youth work in Nottingham. If I have the opportunity to do this again, I wouldn’t think twice, I strongly recommend this kind of activity to anyone who wants to serve God and to spend time being used by Him.

If you would like to know more about the feedback that we’ve got from all the places that we helped with, there’s a video of Love E7 on youtube where you can hear more about it, just type in ‘Love E7’ on youtube and you’ll be able to see God’s action through us in Newham.

Junior Bittencourt

Work experience with Nottingham YfC

My week at Nottingham Youth for Christ has been a very fun week , I have had a great time and I have met a lot of nice people. In my week of being here I have done all sorts from doing lunch time clubs with the year 8 students at Chillwell School , to setting up and helping manage the football cage at Beeston. All of the workers here are very nice people and are very good to talk to. At the start when I picked to be here for work experience I was a bit unsure that I was going to like it, however I have enjoyed it so much and I am very happy I picked Nottingham Youth for Christ. Working here has changed my views of where I would like to work when I leave school because I have had such a great time. In my week of being here there has always been something to do but the main thing is everything I have done I have enjoyed.

I have met some really decent people whilst being here that I really hope that I will get to see again in the future. The most fun part of my week here must be the football cage, we managed to get a lot of different aged young people from Beeston and we had a great time playing football, I met a lot of people my age whilst playing at the football cage and we all had a fun time. Another great experience I had was interviewing  people who had applied to work with Nottingham Youth for Christ, this was fun because it gave me an opportunity to come up with some questions to ask these people but fortunately I had help from two other boys around the same age as me who helped come up with questions and also asked the questions. All together I have had a such a great time whilst being here and I would love to do something like this in the future. So I am very grateful that Nottingham Youth for Christ let me do my work experience here because its definitely gave me a new experience that I have enjoyed a lot. 

Zack Baskill

Year 10 Work Experience

Long Eaton School

Who is control?

In life, it’s a given, everyone at some point is going to struggle with something.  Recently i’ve been looking at how Jesus calmed the storm in Matthew 8:23-27.  In the early church the storm and the waves were often interpreted as being the storms and winds of trials and persecutions and the boat as the church.  Sometimes, life can get pretty stormy; in fact Matthew uses the Greek word for earthquake when describing the wind, so life can even get as bad as a natural disaster!  We know that the storm that Matthew describes was very bad in that the people on the boat were all experienced fishermen and yet the storm is so bad that they cry out to Jesus for help.  “Lord, save us!  We’re going to drown!”  Every so often, each of us feels as though we’re in this position and we want to cry out for help.  What’s interesting is Jesus reply to the disciple’s.  He gets up (from where he’s sleeping) and rebukes the wind and the waves and suddenly, everything becomes completely calm.  Jesus is in total control.  It’s nice to look back to this story for encouragement knowing that Jesus is in total control.  Even more so, those that have decided to follow him can rest in this security.

                I work for NYFC in Chilwell school and I don’t know how often you go into school but young people can be quite intimidating.  But I know that Jesus is standing there with me and is there and in control.  Initially I found my work in Chilwell quite difficult, but with Jesus i have seen how much easier trusting in him can make things.  What’s interesting about the final aspect of the calming of the storm is that the disciples respond to Jesus with amazement.  Why? Not only is this because they have witnessed the power of Jesus, but this is the first time in Matthew that he’s demonstrated control over nature.  In the Old Testament God performs many miracles, the parting of the Red sea for example.  Jesus is showing how much authority he truly has.  He has the authority of God.  In our struggles, we know that Jesus is ultimately in control and when he does something incredible, or works through our lives every day we see his authority and power for ourselves in new and incredible ways.  I look forward to seeing him work further in Chilwell and in NYFC.

Tim Stanyon is on placement with Nottingham YfC

He is currently studying theology at St. John's Nottingham

Inheritance

A few months ago, my Great Uncle sadly passed away from cancer. I didn’t know him well or see him often, so I was very surprised to learn that he had left me some money in his will. The money has enabled me to purchase my own equipment for filmmaking – something I love doing (not as much as my job at NYFC obviously) and something I believe God has given me a talent in. I have been able to buy an amazing camera with everything I need to make professional quality films.

This combined with the fact that I will be moving on from my role with NYFC in the summer, has got me thinking about inheritance. My Uncle left behind something that has enabled me to carry on doing something I love doing. It was a gift that he never saw me receive, something that didn’t benefit him in any way and something he didn’t have to do. Inheritance involves grace and selflessness.

What are we going to leave behind?

I feel bad for young people growing up now in what is essentially a society of bad inheritance, where previous governments and bank bosses have failed to think about the long term consequences of their actions and decisions.  It is now our young people who are paying the price for their mistakes. With budget cuts, massive youth unemployment and the ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor, the inheritance we are building for future generations is not a good one. That challenges me.

In every aspect of our lives we can be challenged about what we are leaving behind us. In our jobs, in raising our children, in our relationships and in the way we steward what has been given to us. We will leave behind something, but whether it is good or bad, remains our choice.

What are you leaving behind?

When Jesus left his disciples, he left the Holy Spirit; ‘When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance’ – Ephesians 1:13-14. The Holy Spirit is part of our inheritance, reminding us of what is to come. What an amazing gift to leave behind! Jesus came to earth, invested in a bunch of young people others had given up on, changed the world, made a way back to God, started the church and gave us the Holy Spirit. Impressive!

For us as Christians leaving an inheritance will rarely be about money. It will be the way we treat people, the things we invest our lives into, the stories we tell our kids, what we spend our time doing. Living a kingdom life leaves an inheritance, planting seeds deep in the hearts of future generations that will one day sprout up into glorious spiritual fruit. So much of youth work is about planting those seeds, trusting that as we plant and water, God causes them to grow into live giving oaks of righteousness, that will impact this generation and the generations to come.

jo@nottinghamyfc.co.uk

Jo is NYfC's key worker in Radcliffe-on-Trent

Choices - what do you prioritize?

Everyday we are faced with choices. Some of those choice we make subconsciously and it is just our regular daily routine. So when was the last time the choice you made was something that really you wanted to do?

I have been looking at the story of Mary and Martha recently and thinking about some of the choices that were made in that story. (Luke 10 v 38-40). The first choice that was made was Martha chose to welcome Jesus in. Martha wanted to spend some time with Jesus. This led me to think about the first time I welcomed Jesus into my life, the choice I made was to let God into my heart. How amazing that we can choose to welcome the creator of the universe into our lives and what is even more amazing, He welcome us into his arms no matter what we say or do.

The second choice in this story is that Martha allows herself to get distracted. This made think about some of the distractions I have in my life, like my phone, facebook, friends, work etc. These thing distract me from spending time with God. Sometimes I don’t always realise that these thing are a distraction but I need to make the choice to put time aside to spend with God. I think  in this story Martha was not necessarily doing anything wrong she just didn’t see what was important at that time and let preparing the meal distract her . When was the last time you spent time with God?

The final choice that I can see is that Mary chose to spend time with God “ There is only one thing to be concerned about and Mary Discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” Mary discovered that spending time with God is important. So what I have taken away from this is perhaps I need to be making the choice to spend more time with God and not get distracted! What will your choice be?

emily is key worker in Inham Nook
and church resource development worker


 emily@nottinghamyfc.co.uk

To be in the world, but not of it

This concept is challenging enough at the best of times! However, recently I’ve been thinking about this specifically in the context of the schools work NYfC does. As a keyworker, I spend a lot of time in lessons and basically play the role of a teaching assistant. A lot of our schools already have great learning support departments, so the challenge for us is to be different.

​Although I’m sure we’d all like to think that our lives naturally shine with Jesus, the reality is that in such a regulated environment, this light is often a little dimmer. So, the question is, how can we be relevantly different? How can I be in the school, but not of it? Well, rather surprisingly, the answer to this question actually came in the form of an offhand comment by a teacher.…

‘You don’t believe in lost causes’

And that’s it. That’s how we’re different. In an environment so heavily tailored towards getting pupils through formal assessments, there is very little scope to work with those pupils who simply lack the inclination to achieve their potential. Of course this is a sweeping statement, and there are many members of staff within schools to whom that doesn’t apply. However, as an external organisation, we have a unique freedom to speak truth into the lives of these young people.

​Jesus taught us about the importance of pursuing the lost. I’ve always thought of that in terms of the spiritually lost. But isn’t it just as important to pursue the academically lost. To pursue those who have simply been written off as a ‘lost cause’. And by showing these young people that they have real potential, and that their futures are just as valuable as everyone else’s, maybe the light of Jesus will shine a little brighter in our schools.

Rebecca is key worker in South Notts.
rebecca@nottinghamyfc.co.uk

How do we see the Church?

We are just completing some research in the schools where we work looking at how young people view the world and how they view Christianity. Once completed we are looking at over 1,500 young peoples views on life and there have been some really interesting comments. As you can imagine with that many there have been some really varied answers, i think my favorite was to the answer to the question ' what are the 3 main influences in your life.' which had 'my testicles' as one of the three. 
One of the questions i was most interested in was 'What do you think of the word Church?' This had both some encouraging replies but also some distant and derogatory comments. This challenged me to think about how i see the Church. Working for a Christian organisation that is often termed as a parachurch organisation some people would put words in my mouth. I once heard someone say parachurch organisations are called that because they are like parasites where it takes rather than gives. This is totally against everything YfC and in particular Nottingham YfC believe. In Revelation it talks about the Church being the Bride of Christ and so if we love the bridegroom we must also build up, encourage and love His bride. When someone last asked you about Church, what did you say? Did you winge about something that you didn't like? Did you dismiss the question and move onto another subject or did you tell them how beautiful and amazing it is. 
How do we see the Church? Let's build the Bride of Christ up as honour Him.

Richard Dawson