Our God is a big God


I was sat amongst some friends this week and we listened to song called 'You are' by Bradford Church . We spent a few minutes thinking about the song and we were asked what the one thing was that stuck out to us . When listening to this song the words that stuck out to me was ‘You are’. In the song it talks about all the things that God is...

“You are the strength for the those in need , You are the defender of the weak Your everything we need, You are our God”

It can be so easy in our everyday lives to forget how big God is ! , We can forget that God is interested in the small things in our lives as well as the big. God is all the things above and so much more . I was challenged to try to include God in all parts of my life not just the big things.

Do we truly understand where God is or do we put Him in a box and see Him where we want Him to be. It is easy to see that God is there when we worship or when we sometimes pray, but do we see God when people are hurting or struggling? Let us show others that actually we see God in the smallest things like a baby smile or a hug to someone in need. Where will you acknowledge God this week and where are you going to take Him over the next few days?

Emily Swinburne / Richard Dawson

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

eq:mission to Burton

So we have just got back from our latest eq:mission where we ended up in Burton-upon-Trent. Here is a completed set of video diaries from the weekend so you get a glimpse of what we got up to. A full review will be up soon.

You can find out more about our 30 hour missions @ www.nottinghamyfc.co.uk/eq and download a booking form for our next one.

which do we prefer dark or light?

Even the less observant of people like myself will have notices it's getting darker at night and even when the clocks change on Saturday it doesn't really make that much difference. I have been playing around in my head what it means to be light in the darkness and what that means as a Christian because let's face it it is not just the days are getting darker. We look at a lot of tv and films and see a darker side to them even on the disney channel, there is darkness amongst the economy with lack of money and lack of jobs and then there is spirituality. Despite the fact that it is mainly a dressing up event Halloween this year is set to be the 3rd biggest festival after Christmas and Easter above valentines day with a £300 million boost for businesses, suggesting that even though some would see it as a bit of fun people will get and are getting more interested in the darker side of spirituality. So what does this mean for me if i want to bring light into the darkness? Where do i start? I love the idea that some guys put on facebook about instead of doing trick or treat dress up as a superhero and bless your neighbours this weekend (search 'pick a treat'), doing something that doesn't bring fear into peoples lives but puts a smile on their face. All Hollows eve was originally a day to celebrate the saints and all that was good. I remember hearing someone say once that there is only darkness where there isn't light - that light will always break through darkness. Even in our own lives if we struggle with something the best thing to do is to pray and ask Jesus 'the light of the world' to help break that darkness in us. How are you going to bring life to your friends, families and community this winter? What should we do to help show people Jesus is the light of the world and has so much more to offer than hopelessness, fear and darkness? Answers on a postcard or just below ;-) let's help each other.

Richard

so you want to volunteer with Nottingham YfC?

Nathaniel has come onto the NYfC team for a few weeks. here are some of his initial thoughts.

The short of why I came to volunteer for Nottingham YFC was to fill some time before I went to university in America. The long of it is I felt a need to use the gifts that God gave me for His work, so when I heard of Nottingham YFC from friends and family, I jumped at the opportunity. At the same time as applying for a volunteer slot, however, I was also searching around for a part-time job. So when offered the choice of full-time volunteering or only doing a couple days a week, I struggled to make a decision. On one hand, I knew I needed the money for university and for general living before I left. On the other I knew God was calling me to do this. Ashamed to say, I reluctantly said I’d do full-time volunteering for NYFC. However, I knew I serve an amazing God who can provide and will provide if you place your hope and life into His hands. So in a sense, I chose the more exciting path.

I’ve only had 1 day so far with NYFC and I’m so glad I chose full-time. This team is so engulfed in the grace and love of God and have such a passion for sharing that with the youth all across Nottingham. They are all such strong prayer warriors and have fine-tuned their hearts and minds to the Word and Will of our Heavenly Father. I am so excited to see what God is able to do through us as a team and through me as an individual. I can only pray to develop such a strong and acute sense of God’s Word and leadership in my life as I have seen in the team already.

We have lots of different types of opportunities for volunteers within the NYfC team. If you would like to volunteer a couple of hour a week then please get in touch with our office.

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

India 11: second week videos

So Sunday arrived so off we all went to Church...

On Monday we carried on with our outreach meeting with an added dedication

The rest of the week carried on as it had started with us waiting...

Our final day was more about travelling and shopping, and because the shopping got a little stressful (well for the boys anyway) we stopped filming lol so our last bit of raw footage comes from the early morning arrival at the train station.

Hope you have enjoyed our little journey, if you haven't already check out our video diaries from our time in India. It would be great if you could follow us on twitter or on facebook as then we can share with about lives that we impact in our own city of Nottingham. It has been beautiful. Good night. You can also check out extended videos on our you tube channel.