Category Archives: yfc

a great YFC sport opportunity

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A message from Barry, our sports manager:

We are still looking for team members for next year. Do you know anybody who would be interested in using their passion and skills in sport to serve God evangelistically.

There is still time to sign up for a September start, but we are also looking for people to sign up for a January start and play a big part in our mission activities as a part of Hope 08.

If you or anybody you know are interested in finding out more then pleas check out our website for more details or just email me direct to ask any questions. Please do put me in touch with anyone who may be considering it.

We are really looking for;
Nomad team members
Kick football team members
Fly basketball team members
Skaters

surpassed expectations

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Today surpassed expectations.

Spending so much time with Tom in the car, introducing him to YFC friends and seeing him apply himself to a variety of tasks has been a pleasure. There was a great mix of dedication to task with lots of fun and a mass of grace and love showed between people at YFC Head Office. Tom loved the day and when he got home did not stop talking about various people that he met – he’s buzzing after spending nerly 6 hours painting, moving desks etc.!

It was great to be part of and I am really glad that Tom has been able to experience the privilege it is to work with the people I do in YFC.
That was great – and now it’s holiday time!

Special and proud!

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I’m looking forward to today.
But, I have a confession – I am posting this early and changing the date and time!
In fact by 7.00am tomorrow I will have been driving with Tom in the car for 90 minutes.
Today I am travelling to Head Office in Halesowen to do a bit of decorating and maintenance before we hand back the basement to the church that has kindly allowed YFC to base ourselves there for the last 10 years.
Today I am proud dad as Tom wants to travel with me. I reminded him that I leave at 5.30 to beat the traffic, and that it will be hard work painting and preparing walls etc. but he is still keen to be there.
So I am looking forward to joining friends at head office – but more looking forward to 6 hours of conversation with Tom in the car – that’s special!

A Blessing

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The retreat was an excellent time and I have come away with a strong sense that it has been a real privilege to get to know a great group of people from within YFC that I did not know very much about.

I really feel that I have been both learned and been blessed by the experience – so thank you!

a YFC advert

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Hi!


Last week I was chatting with a guy in my youth group about his plans for the coming year. After deciding to take a year out he soon became quite overwhelmed by the number of opportunities that were available – stay at home and work for the church, go traveling, join yfcone, get a job, do a mixture……….

I wonder if there are young people that you’re in contact with who are in a similar situation!

Over the last 25 years Youth for Christ have given hundreds of people the opportunity to take a year out to be involved in cutting edge youth ministry. This year yfcone have a number of options available for young people who have a real desire to serve God in Britain and beyond. Whether its general youth work, football, basketball, theatre, prison ministry, golf, dance, skate & boarding, music, film, further training, 3, 6 & 11 month options etc, etc. There could be a place for the young people you work with.

We are currently recruiting for yfcone and would love to hear from any young people you could recommend to us. Our next interview day is July 12th so if you know anyone who is considering applying, please let them know about this date.

Our new website is now up and running. There you’ll find lot’s of info about what we offer and people can also apply online.


If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

DAMIAN WHARTON

yfcone Senior Manager

My supporters and grace

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I have spent today, as have all national YFC, working on my personal support. In the main for me this has meant writing a prayer letter and designing a thank you for each of them.

As a national member of staff I agree to find people to give a monthly amount to YFC to cover 50% of my salary. I have 40 amazing people ‘out there’ who support me in this way ranging from £10 to £185 per month. Each of those people give sacrificially so that YFC can increase the mission we do.

It just amazes me how generous people are. Some of my supporters I do not know very well, or have only met once while others are family members and people I have known for years. Some come from the blog community – so if you’d like to join my team of supporters please get in touch as I do still have vacancies for people who want to invest in mission to young people.

Today, I have written my letter based around grace.

A little bit of interesting research – my concordance tells me that in the Old Testament grace is mentioned 8 times. In the New Testament, grace is mentioned 121 times – I think that is a clear indication of the difference that Jesus makes.

If the OT is all about complying with the law, then the NT is about our freedom because Jesus has fulfilled the law. I just long to get this message across to those of us that still feel we have to reach a certain standard, or act a certain way, or believe in a certain way to be acceptable to Jesus.

Yes – there are some basic things to believe, such as Jesus being God incarnate, Jesus resurrecting from the dead and so on – but so many get hung up other other things which seem quite secondary: drinking/not drinking, sorts of music, sexuality. Romans 6:14 tells us that grace is the key.

I wish I could get out there and live like I believed that!

Anyway – don’t forget, if you wish to join my personal support team, please drop me a line.

e

a colurful day

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We had a great Full Team Meeting today in Rugby with Fuzz Kitto, who is a great guy with a mass of youth work and emerging church experience. Today Fuzz was helping us to look and think about change. As many of you know, YFC will be moving into a new building in a couple of months and we are using this opportunity to ask what our culture is, and how we can improve as we move into a new era. The temptation is to stay as we are and just move who we are from the basement into our building – but we would be missing an opportunity as we enter into a time of massive change!

Fuzz said some things today that I enjoyed hearing, was challenged by, or caused me to think. He outlined how Bruggemann talks bout change occurring. We move from a stage called orientation (where we are happy) to disorientation (which can be uncomfortable) and end up reoriented (changed) as a result. This reorientation becomes the new orientation and the whole process continues.

This was a helpful conceptual model as I have noticed over the years the cycles in youth work with things ‘coming back’ now that Sarah and I did some 20 years ago when we started in this wonderful world of youth ministry.

I also liked Fuzz’s comments about people being disillusioned. This may sound simplistic but I felt there was a good amount of truth in this short sentence. Those that become disillusioned are those that live under an illusion of God. If we have unrealistic expectations of God, or think God promises what he doesn’t (e.g. to protect us from ‘stuff’) then our illusions of God crash around us, resulting in disillusionment.

His final comment I have been thinking for a while and to illustrate this Fuzz used the Bravia bouncing ball advert. This is an example of the Brueggemann cycle. We have moved from a position of where everything was black and white (orientation) to a position where there were grey issues (disorientation) and we are now in a very colourful era where it is clear that some things are just not right or wrong, but they are different.

Before you come back at me some things are also right and wrong, just as black and white are colours, but many things which we stumble and argue or could just be colourful. I have enjoyed the embracing and inclusive outlook of today.

M25 circle

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I nearly drove the whole circle of the M25 today and only got stuck once for less than 10 minutes.
I drove up one side to Aylesbury, and back round the other from Wycombe.
I caught up with Dave at Aylesbury YFC and then with Paul at Wycombe YFC.
I heard of exciting things happening and of the frustrations of ministry.
It wass exciting to hear of God’s transforming mission.
Tomorrow its off to Rugby to meet with the rest of the national YFC staff to catch up with each other and gain a bit of training.

a monastic week?

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It’s going to be an interesting rest of the week.

I’m going to Nympsfield early in the morning to take part in leading some of the retreat for our senior directors and local staff. Nympsfield is a great place and the nuns are great at looking after us. If you are ever looking for a good quiet contemplative and catholic retreat centre then the Marist Nuns at Nympsfield come recommended.

We will be encouraging our workers to slow down and take a more contemplative and quiet approach to rediscover God in places. It’s going to be an interesting time and I’m particularly looking forward to facilitating a discussion around what we do when things go wrong. This will be interesting as its an area which few tend to want to talk about. I’ve also put together a prayer walk with stations, a kind of linear ‘walk out and back’ labyrinth for one afternoon and am interested to see how that will work.

I return on Friday but will immediately leave again after changing bags and join with SEITE colleagues at Aylesford which is run by Carmelite Friars. This is our sex and sexuality weekend – so again an interesting topic!

There will, as a result, be an enforced fast of blogging from now on!

creative pain

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It’s been a mixed day. Last night, on returning from a governors meeting at school, I managed to weirdly ‘tweek’ my back as I got out of the car. I was not twisting weirdly, nor was I carrying anything. The result today has been a mixture of pain which has caused me to cancel my drive to Cambridge tomorrow – as getting into the car is ok, but out takes a little while!

The pain has enabled an interesting creative streak. I have been planning parts of our senior workers retreat which we are holding in a couple of weeks – the inability to sit in one position for too long has meant I have had to move around – and the moving seems to have aided my thinking.

I have planned session on contemplation and what that is all about as well as a contemplative walk for one of the afternoons where I plan to use places on the walk as stations to pray, worship and think on God.

I am also wanting to plan a session on looking at when things go wrong in ministry. I have some ideas, such as they go wrong when we allow the ministry to meet our needs (the need to be needed etc), or when our relationships are under pressure, or when we blow it and can’t say sorry. I wonder if any readers have any ideas for this session – would be helpful!