Where are we taking them?

I have a passion. Not just for Doctor Who, not just for Nottingham Forest but for seeing young people impacted by the love of an amazing God. The question that i keep asking myself is 'What does that look like?'

Being a dad of a couple of amazing children, i often look at them and wonder what they are going to look like when they are older. Not just in looks, but in what job they may do, the kind of people they will hang out with, what their hobbies and interests they may have and what kind of families they may have (well Joel that is, obviously Amy is not even allowed a boyfriend until she is 30). Obviously I have no idea of what is going to happen to them, and in someways I am glad, as i am sure i would want to control it more than I should. What I do know is the world will be a different place. I know that because it is different now than it was when i was growing up. I remember having a ZX81 computer system and that was top range with its 16k ram pack you could add onto the back.

I also know that the way faith looks like nois different to when i was growing up. It is now more about how you live your life everyday rather than just turning up to Church every Sunday morning. That is hard to get my head round, that actually what faith looks like to me is different to what it looks like to those lovely older ladies who were in Church every Sunday making me feel welcome and loving me. Neither of us are wrong, it is just different, and will continue to change.

Vincent Donovan in his book, Christianity Rediscovered, says this:

"...do not take people back to where they were or do not try to call them back to where you are, as beautiful as that place may seem. You must have the courage to take them to a place neither you or them have been."

Faith can be and is an amazing thing. Are we willing to walk with others to somewhere we haven't been? Am i willing to take young people on a journey where I am trusting God for a new fresh destination? Or am i the one in control wanting to feel secure and 100% certain that the way God works in my life is the way He works in others?

Richard Dawson

Verses for 2011

Acts 16: 6-10

'6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. ' New International Version.

Ten years can seem a long time. Ten years ago George Bush succeeded Bill Clinton as President of the US. The UK foot and mouth crisis began. The atrocities of September 11th happened. Does it seem a long time ago or only yesterday?
I remember all those things, I don't as easily remember life without Kids and what that felt like. I do remember though coming back to Nottingham, with Laura, to re-launch Nottingham YfC back in 2001. The one thing i remember vividly was waking up on 1st September, at my in-laws because we didn't have a house, and thinking 'right, what shall i do? where shall i start?'
These past ten years seem to have gone quite quickly, and what i know is that NYfC wouldn't have been able to impact as many young people as we have without people praying for us and God leading the way. For the most part we seem to have been able to make a difference and it has felt like we are where God has wanted us to be. there have been times where we have probably got it a bit wrong, but part of knowing where God wants you to be is to try different things, if you don't knock the door will never be answered.
There have been times where we seem to have stayed in the same place for a long time, done the same things for longer than was thought, and that can sometimes feel frustrating and restricting.
If you look at Youth for Christ centres across the country, as i write there are 66/67 local YfC centres, they are predominantly based in towns and villages, and i understand why. You can get your head round an area with a certain number of schools and a certain number of Churches, whereas a city is a different kettle of fish. There are more opportunities, more possibilities, more young people to connect with and more risks to be taken. i remember one trustees meeting a number of years ago where we discussed whether we should become Nottingham West YfC as that was where we were putting our mission focus, and had been for the majority of the years we had been working. The vision had not slipped though, it was still to 'take good news relevantly to every young person in Nottingham.'
Ten years on having honoured that vision, we seem to have more opportunities than ever before, renewed favour amongst Churches, Schools and young people alike, but this brings with it fresh challenges.
Paul, in this passage, wanted to enter Bithynia, which would have taken him back into Asia minor, and back towards the middle east. Instead, because of his listening to the Spirit, they went to Macedonia, and so began Christianity's impact on Europe. What an impact that decision had. God was already working in Macedonia, but by listening to His Spirit Paul was able to bring his own dynamic to the mix which helped bring the Roman empire into a Christian thinking.
At the start of 2011, we have some great opportunities to move into new areas across Nottingham, and also in the areas we already work. We want to connect with more young people this year than ever before, we want to try doors, without being to precious about what happens if we have got it wrong, but most of all we want to listen to God through His Spirit and ask where is He wanting us to partner with Him to help impact this generation. Please stand with us in seeing God do amazing things through NYfC in 2011

the term that was...

This past term has been a real learning curve for me. With there being so many changes in team and trustees there has been many times where i have felt out of control and perhaps out of my depth, but as we have realised this term that is when God takes over and lets rip. So here are a few times where we have seen God work in this past term. I make no apologies for the list style we have put them in, or to be honest the lack of capital letters here and there, what i want us to see is how amazing God has been in the last term. I hope you are as encouraged at this glimpse as i am.

new opportunities to speak with one of the deputy head teachers

the opportunities with all the year 7 young people at Hadden Park school

being able to speak into young peoples lives at a place to be me +

having someone from the Church in Bilborough on as a trustee and a volunteer

the trust most staff have in anything to do with YfC

seeing God in my uni work

welcomed into a church family

within meeting someone twice they opened up about someone mis-treating them

The new work that has come about in Arnold starting January

The 'feel good' factor of NYfC amongst Churches

seeing God work through a new team, and the quality of the new team

The growth of 'big questions' at Chilwell school

Finance coming in for work up until easter at A Place to be Me

16 year old unchurched young people discussing baptism, faith and spirituality

the desire of the team to bring their faith into youthwork

the success of cafe faith

eq:mission to Bath with the girls from Trent Vineyard, God used and worked in us all

3 new trustees and 4 new financial supporters

seeing a young persons face when we told him we believe he could achieve something

eq:uip low on numbers but the young people there were awesome and encouraged us all

girls allowed- when talking about beauty God was there showing every girl that they are beautiful

When the question 'Do you believe in God?' he is there to help me answer it

When one girl in one of our sessions talks openly about what she believes and her journey with God.

A conversation we had with a 14 year old about why he goes to church and what he believes

At a place to be me we ran a singing and dancing competition, God was there encouraging them

When talking to a teacher about his experiance of youth work, God was there

Young people who don't feel valued elsewhere are shown love to by NYfC

teaching an 11 year old to play pool

young people who reject God with their mouths but keep coming along to sessions and talking about Him and building relationships with Christian youth workers

A team put together by God, someone changed placement, someone who changed uni, someone who got placed, someone who was at the right church at the right time and someone who thought they could never work for YfC.

At The Base, remembering a young person and her work ment so much to her as she was told thet we wouldn't think about her and what she did.

A group of young people actively chatting about Jesus in a very raw but real way.

Please do comment and put where you have seen God in the last few months.

Richard

new team blog (3) Miss Charli Wood

Hi I’m Charli, I am a first year student with Midlands Centre for Youth Ministry (MCYM) at St Johns College, studying youth work, community work and practical theology. It’s a massive challenge sometimes, but it also means that I am on placement with Nottingham YFC, and I am absolutely loving it!

Having only just come out of being a young person in my own Church youth group, the jump from young person to youth worker has been pretty scary over the past few months, but I work with some incredible young people who are making the experience worthwhile. I am currently placed at Hadden Park High school in Bilborough, mainly working with year seven. With this age group, I take part in running a lunch club, offering support during class time and assisting in running after school clubs. One of the clubs we run that has impacted me the most is our girls only club- ‘Girls Allowed’. We have looked at topics such as beauty and self-image, and it is so touching to hear the views of young girls on these kinds of subjects. We also tend to share our own Christian views on the topics we explore, which is something that is new to some of the girls, yet they seem comfortable with sharing what they think. To be alongside these girls as they grow is a privilege, and I learn so much from them!

How many people do you think know .....

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know Already

How about the Christmas story?
The real meaning of Christmas becoming buried under mountains of wrapping paper is no longer a big shock. And the TV specials being the focus of our attention rather than a dirty manger in a pile of straw is hardly breaking news either. But we know it’s there.
Even if we love God we can get a bit distracted in the Christmas hype, focusing on the mandatory Tesco shop instead of the nativity service. Finding the biggest turkey can make us forget the tins for the homeless dinner and the search for the new Nintendo can seem more urgent than re-reading Matthew 2. But what if you didn’t even know the Christmas story to forget it?
This week, chatting to some young people about Christmas, they were asked,
“So what happened at Christmas?”
“Erm, didn’t Jesus die?”
I honestly thought they were having a laugh. How could the BIRTH OF GOD pass them by? But it has. We could pass the blame book about, pointing the finger at politically correct school productions featuring reindeer instead of camels. We could turn to our churches and ask what’s gone wrong. And not forgetting the best scapegoat of all, we could blame the media for commercialising the whole affair. But the blame game never has a winner.
My Grandad was doing his Christmas shopping last year in the town centre. Even though he’s been married to my Grandma for forty odd years, buying her gifts remains a yearly struggle. Needing a rest, he stopped off at Marks and Spencer for a coffee and had to sit next to an old dear, there being no other seats available. They got chatting and he said,
“All this shopping and spending. People have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas.”
“And do you know the real meaning of Christmas dear?”
“Yes. Yes I do.”
“Well praise the Lord!”
Turns out this lady knew the real meaning of Christmas. But what if she hadn’t? What if she’d had said, “What is the real meaning that everyone’s forgotten?” What would you say? Well it all started 2000 years ago in a place called Bethlehem?
This December the world will be worshipping a whole host of gods, but the humble, loving carpenter from Nazareth will remain a stranger to many.

Becci Raine

*note the picture used was the only picture of the Christmas story on the first 5 pages of google images. hmm

eq:mission November

We kicked off our 2nd eq:mission 7am on 13th November. Once again only the YfC team knew where they were going as we started to drive out of Nottingham onto the M1, M42 and M5. We eventually ended up going through Bristol and ending up in Bath. We were being hosted by Bath YfC and St Michael's Twerton who were opening their rec house.

In the end 8 of us came from Nottingham to help St. Michael's connect with a local community close to the Church.

After lunch we went up onto the estate and started knocking on doors offering to do a free car wash. There was plenty of variety in the responses we received from no response to be invited in by the guy of the house before being kicked out by the woman of the house. Although saying that the conversation we had with the guy we had after this incident revealed we had given him a nudge in thinking about God and faith. At one point we had some children helping us wash the cars which was great and got offered cups of tea and coffee. While some of the team continued to wash cars and invite people to the opening of the rec house that evening, a few of us went down to the high street to offer free prayer and giving people chance to ask why we are a Christian. Although not a huge take up we had a great conversation with a girl from the local university who chatted to the group about how she was feeling lonely, and said she would maybe try out the church in the next few weeks.

After a nice McDonald's dinner we set up the rec house for the evening. There was a nail bar, DJ, recording studio with instruments, pizza, drinks and other food. there was a really good turn up and we were able to chat to a number of children, young people and families that we had met previously in the day, as well as some new faces that we invited in off the streets. There was a couple of young people who used to go to church as children but had stopped coming along since they started secondary school, but were interested in coming back along, along with a lad who was already planning to start getting involved in some music stuff on the drums and being involved in the St. Michael's community.

After a good nights sleep we then joined the St Michael's congregation for morning worship and then ran the youth group and helped with the children's work. For the youth group some of the group facilitated a discussion on what how we could bring Jesus into our schools and colleges.

We then finished with lunch before heading back to Nottingham.

Over the weekend Richard Wilson (the leader of St. Michael's) really encouraged the team by telling us that without them coming over none of what happened would have happened. It was an awesome time in which each one of the team saw not only how Jesus worked through them but also how mission can develop each of our faith journeys.

A big thanks to Melissa, Luke and Tristan from Bath YfC for their organisation and hospitality, and to Richard, his family and all at St. Michael's for letting us serve them.

For more pics see our facebook page www.facebook.com/nottinghamyfc

new team blog (2) Ant Stevens

Currently I am studying at The Midlands Centre for Youth Ministry (CYM) on the youth and community work with applied theology. I drive a motor bike and am originally from Birmingham. I have previously worked with YfC in Nuneaton where i was a full time volunteer for a couple of years. Within NYfC I work at Hadden Park school leading various lunch and after school clubs. One thing i am really excited about within the work i do with NYfC is empowering and equipping young people and other young adults for living a life of active faith, through sessions like eq:uip. I am also really challenged about how we need to disciple all kinds of young people within the drop in sessions I run. I recently went away for a couple of nights with the school and their year 7's. This was a great opportunity and i was able to start building some quality relationships with them. Please pray that these will continue to grow over my time here.