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Here is the Winter 2003 e-Bulletin.
| Our lead item this time is a reflection on the prayer activities of NYFC, and a plea for your help - Full Story |
| Once again Paul has shared his thougts from the Director's chair with us, including a report on our recent commissioning service - Full Story |
| The Fridays band report back on the trip to France - Full Story |
| Mark gives an update on developments with Fridays and F2, and there's a story from a Fridays young person - Full Story |
| Rebecca has news of more Christian Union Training - Full Story |
| Tracey has gone, but the club work lives on thanks to some excellent, committed volunteers - Full Story |
| September saw us descend on Letton Hall for Got 2 B Tru, here is a report - Full Story |
| And finally, the 'Virtual Back Page' contains an interesting miscellany of things, from dates to Self-Assessment hints, as well as some prayer pointers - Full Story |
We hope you enjoy our new format e-Bulletin. As ever, we want this to be a useful piece of information for you to stay in touch with what's going on in NYFC, and we would really appreciate your feedback on the new format, good or bad. So please, let us know your thoughts by emailing bulletin@norwichyfc.co.uk
Each bulletin is sent to around 2,000 people like yourself. These 2,000 represent the financial, volunteer and prayer support on which NYFC functions. With the last bulletin we included a small prayer survey card to try to gauge the prayer activity which goes on for our work, as part of our ongoing focus on increasing the prayer level of the organisation. So for 2,000 surveys of our supporters, what response would you expect to receive?
Obviously with something which requires an action (completing the survey and mailing it back) we are aware that people's good intentions may be overridden by everyday life. Still, we were somewhat surprised that of 2,000 supporters, only 10 responses were returned. Hopefully these 10 responses represent a considerably larger 'silent' prayer base, but even so, such a return seems low to us.
Prayer is foundational for any ministry. Apart from God we can do nothing, our best works are as oily rags if they are not directed and blessed by God. Over the last year the staff of NYFC have been taking our responsibility for prayer more seriously, making it a regular part of our team life, and taking time out of normal activities now and again to create time for prayer. Yet we are few, and as much as we need volunteers to help us to reach young people, we need people to pray that God would use all our efforts, that He would help us to be effective ministers of the gospel, that He would bring young people into His Kingdom. Without prayer we can create the most exciting events, craft the most eloquent sermons, run the most professional projects, and develop the most innovative new directions, but it will all be in vain. Prayer is the fuel on which mission runs.
Please help us by committing to prayer. We want to make it easy for you to pray with clarity, so here are some of the ways you can gain information to help you pray:
I was very encouraged by a recent Fridays. We were looking at holding firmly to our faith and as part of that not leading sinful lives. Mark Tuma and a young person spoke powerfully. The young person said she wanted to bring up topics that were often taboo in Church - self harm, pornography,masturbation, eating disorders, the use of alcohol, sex outside of marriage etc. and give the young people an opportunity to agree before God to do differently.
We had some response boxes that young people could write pledges/confessions to God. Someone handed in a razor blade they had been using to cut themselves, another 14 year old confessed to sleeping with her boyfriend, people confessed to internet porn usage, swearing, masturbation, losing their temper and the list went on.
I was glad that Fridays had given young people a place to express they voice
on topics that are often
swept under the carpet. I was provoked too into wondering what life must be
like for those young people who do not have a place to speak, to question
and to work through their struggles in safe and supported place?
It was great to see so many of you at our commissioning service and we appreciated as a team your prayers and support. We met at Acle Methodist church and shared in worship as well has heard a challenging, provocative and encouraging story from a young person we work with.
Rob, our newest worker says,
"I am very excited by the opportunity to work with many denominations all under one umbrella of NYFC. It's great working with churches partnering together in unity to reach young people with the Gospel in a relevant away"
Rob Forder - Fusion worker, Acle churches together and Poringland
Hopefully there'll be more services soon. We currently have 4 vacancies. There are for two Fusion workers, we are re-advertising for a nightclub worker and we are also looking for a new Office Manager. Please pray for our recruitment. Equally, if you are interested in finding out more details, would like an application pack or know someone who might, do get in touch with us or visit the website.
In many respects the long term success of these projects depends on successful recruitment. Fusion is at an exciting stage but we need to be able to demonstrate its on going value by appointing effective workers.
- You can see some of the photo's from the trip here -
In the last bulletin we told you of the band's (then) upcoming trip to France, this issue we are delighted to report we are all safely home having had an excellent weekend in Brittany.
The trip came about through Ang Fox, one of our key volunteers, who has been taking holidays in Brittany for a few years. On one of her visits she met the pastor of a local evangelical church, and a strong bond of friendship has built up since then between the two families. The evangelical church in France is in a somewhat different position to us here in the UK: even the strongest churches may struggle to attract more than 40 members; money is much tighter; events like Festival Manchester are unheard of; the 'Christian Infrastructure' we take for granted does not exist (as an example, NYFC employs 7 staff at the moment, more than the whole of France YFC!); evangelical churches run a high risk of being labelled cults by the community; and the people of France are steeped in cultural Catholicism, rather than meaningful engagement with God.
Ang & husband Trevor have a growing heart for the church in France, and asked the group to go to be a help to the two evangelical churches they know in Lorient and Concarneau. The idea was to inject some encouragement to our isolated brothers and sisters in Christ, and to help them in reaching their community. Over the months the programme for the weekend developed to include a concert in Concarneau's Centre of Arts & Culture (a 500 seat venue!), services at both churches and even a two hour interview on local radio! We were pleased to be able to take Gareth Gabriel and Dominic Ward as well as the rest of the band, these two performed drama's at the concert and services, and were a huge encouragement to us all.
On Friday 24th October at 7 in the morning the journey began, as we began to gather at Ang's house to travel down to Folkestone for the Shuttle. We were blessed with good weather and traffic for the drive to the tunnel, which almost made up for the early (for us!) start. For some of the group this was the first trip through the tunnel, and indeed for some the first trip abroad, so a sense of excitement began to build as we approached the terminal. The half hour ride inside a buried pipeline hardly dulled the edge, and after checking what side of the road to drive on we were off to our overnight stop in Caen (where the heavens opened, and we searched for dinner).
The next morning we set off again for the final 3 hours drive to Concarneau. The first stop was some fantastic apartments we had been given use of for the weekend to leave behind our bags and grab a bit of lunch, then off to the venue for the evenings event for setting up and preparing. The evening event started around 8pm, and despite lower than hoped for numbers was a great evening. The highlight for us was was a group of un-churched French teenagers arrived and started yelling for more music. At this point the band made sure they sang in French so these teenagers knew they were dancing to 'I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my King', 'Jesus, you're the one, you've set this heart on fire', and 'Salvation spring up from the ground, Lord rend the heavens and come down'. We had aimed to finish around 10pm, but ended up doing an extra half an hour! The group of teenagers came up and chatted with some of us (in slightly stilted French-English conversations) afterwards, and even paid up front for CD's there and then.
On Sunday morning the team was split between the churches in Lorient and Concarneau.
At Lorient we led the service, in worship and in preaching. The first challenge if the day was to learn to sing 'Majesty' in French so that the congregation could start with a song they knew. The second challenge was preaching through a translator - no matter how good the person translating is (and he was good), it can be hard to maintain the usual flow and momentum when having to pause every couple of sentences.
Over at Concarneau the group were taking a slot of the service, rather than the entire morning, but their challenging moment was the 'French worship karaoke' moment, wherein congregation members would call out song numbers from their French songbooks, leaving Matt Ward to analyse the words, decide if it was a song he knew in English, and then play unaccompanied without the aid of the music we are used to!
The Church in Concarneau kindly provided lunch for us, then later in the afternoon we held a worship service with testimonies, again through a translator. It was wonderful to see passionate praise transcending national barriers, all the more so as there was a large contingent of Singaporeans (in fact, there were probably people representing every continent in that small room) who have been visiting the area.
Monday morning brought a radio interview on Studio 5 FM, a local radio station run by the Church. Over the course of two hours the presenter, Nabine, interviewed most of the group (once again through translators) and played segments of the Fridays Live CD. The conversation ranged from how people started playing instruments, to the nature of post-modern youth, to the changes we have observed in French young people over the last few years (a confusing question, as we have not spent a lot of time observing French young people!). To hear some snippets from the interviews online, go to our website (www.norwichyfc.co.uk) and explore the Fridays section.
In the afternoon we had a few hours for shopping, for some the highlight of the weekend, Becky in particular bought a fetching pink leather watering can.
Monday evening featured a prayer and worship group with the church from Concarneau. The meeting had a slightly chaotic air about it, as both they and we were unsure who was leading the session. We politely offered the leadership around, and in the end settled for some worship, sharing and prayer. Once again there were a number of Singaporeans present as well as French, American and British.
Our final act on Monday evening was to share communion amongst the team back at our apartments. In many ways it was an impromptu affair, as Ang thrust the Bible and the elements towards me, saying 'You're doing it.'
Despite the surprised aspect, I can honestly say it was one of the most profound communions I have had the privilege of sharing in, and the time of prayer for each other was also deeply moving. Prayer was a key feature of our adventures, from the first night in Caen, to the last morning as we left. That first night as we searched for dinner we happened to bump into John Cherrie, the pastor of the Church in Concarneau. John and members of his family were rushing to Leeds, where his eldest son David had been rushed into hospital with a collapsed lung. This was on top of two other family members of the team who had been hospitalised in the week leading up to the trip (one with a then undiagnosed illness, one for major heart surgery). From the first evening we met to pray as a team morning and night, and we saw the benefit in terms of what happened over the weekend, recoveries of loved ones, and the blessings which persist still.
Looking back after a few weeks breathing space, it can be tempting to ask just how much was achieved over the weekend. After all everything we did was with a high level of competence, but how much of a difference did it make to the Churches or to us?
The Churches have gained contact with a group of young people they had not encountered before in Concarneau; weeks after the visit more people than before are still ringing the radio station asking questions; the churches were encouraged by the breadth of the family of God, and by the possibilities for worship.
As for us: for some it was the first time abroad, the trip brought new experiences to all who went; the importance and vitality of prayer was shown to all of us afresh; and on returning we have found a renewed sense of urgency and desire for God to move powerfully as we worship as living sacrifices.
The trip would not have been possible without some generous support, so we would like to thank Wroxham Road Methodist Church and NCVYS for their donations, and First Self Drive for first class service and a very good deal on vehicle hire.
After 4 Fridays and 3 F2's this year then, how do things look? Well, attendance at Fridays has been consistently higher than last year. This term our lowest attendance has been 88 paying young people, with the highest being 135. I've fielded more calls from interested youth leaders than last year too, indicating that we do seem to be achieving the aim of resourcing Churches.
It seems too that Fridays is achieving at least as much spiritually as before, in fact to me it has felt as if there has been more vibrancy and passion this year. There has also been honesty before God.
What about F2? My initial expectation was that there would perhaps be twenty young people who would be interested enough to turn up to such a low-key event. After all some of the attraction of Fridays is in the scale of the event as much as anything else. I was pleasantly surprised at the first F2 when thirty-seven young people arrived, and even more pleased when over the course of the first three events that number remained constant.
Please do your part by praying for the events - more and more I have been
reminded of the importance of prayer as a foundation for all that we attempt
to do, and of the reality that the level of prayer for events such as Fridays
is far below what I might have assumed.
I would like to establish a prayer group specifically for Fridays and F2,
consisting of people who would be willing to pray for the events through the
week, and as they take place (from the comfort of their own homes would be
fine, I am not expecting people to put up with the volume levels of a Friday
night!). The group would be updated by post or email with the plans and progress
of the events so their prayers could be informed. If you are interested, please
contact me, either through the office, or by email on m.tuma@norwichyfc.co.uk
When I was first asked to write a short piece for the bulletin about how NYFC has affected me, I didn't really know what to write, but after thinking about it I have realised that NYFC has been a huge influence in my life, as a young developing Christian. They have helped and supported me in many ways, most of which go without being recognised or thanked in some way, so here is my chance!
I have been privileged enough to be part of the volunteer team that help out at one of their youth events, called Fridays. Through this they have encouraged me and helped me to strengthen my faith by becoming more involved in Fridays and I have been amazed how they managed to mould this insecure girl into a confident, outgoing person who sometimes does dramas and little bits from the front.
Looking back over these 2 and a bit years I can see a huge change in myself which has partly been down to the caring, committed team at NYFC who have provided solid, Christian teaching and lively worship, which is something that my home church lacks at times.I feel that I have grown to know some of the team quite well and have been touched at the kindness they have shown towards me and challenged by their lives, as people who are living out God's will for their lives. These are the people that I admire and aspire to and so I would like to thank everyone at NYFC for all they do, and especially for all they have done for me.
P - A young person from Fridays
For those who do not know, on the 18th October there was a training day at Norwich Central Baptist church for Christian Unions (CU's). After I gave some info and advice there were resources for the young people to look at, make and do, chocolate to eat, and people to chat to!
Due to everyone's appreciation of the day, I have decided to do one every half term. It will be a bit different than before and be more of a drop-in, so people can come and go when they like.
There will still be the resources to look at and practical things to do. You may want to use the time to plan your CU for the term? It is a great chance for you to meet people from different schools, and nick their ideas!
Dates: 24th Jan, 28th Feb, 1st May, 12th June
Time: 1pm-4pm
Venue: Norwich Central Baptist Church, Goldsmith Street, Norwich.
I was asked why I try and get so involved in helping out school CU's, and my answer was 'because it worked for me!' It is quite hard to live with the pressures of school life. You have to look good enough so people do not call you ugly, but ugly enough so people do not get jealous and hate you. You have to be smart enough so people do not call you thick, but be thick enough so people do not call you a geek. You have to work hard enough in lessons so the teachers do not give you grief, but mess about enough so you are not seen as a teacher's pet. Etc, etc, and if you manage all that you should get through high school without any grief at all!
In the mist of all this the CU was a real lifeline, when I went I felt welcomed. It was a reminder that God loved me whatever, and there was no pressure on me to do or be anything but Bex and it didn't matter what that was! It gave me real hope. This may sound over the top, but it was so true. I ended up going to two different high schools, and both of the CU's were like this, which means it was not just that I had an unusual experience. By the time I had got into year 10 there was quite a supportive Christian network in the school. We did not all hang around together like a herd of sheep! I had my own mates in my year, of which only one was a Christian. If I needed prayer for lessons, people or exams during the day I could find my Christian mates and they would be pray for me. I so needed this, and really want other young people to have this support at school.
If anyone wants any help setting up a CU, or wants to chat to me about ideas
please contact me at the Office or by email.
- Rebecca!
You may remember that NYFC took over co-ordinating Got 2 B Tru following changes within the Anglican Diocese earlier this year. The event had run once before, and so was still in the process of building a reputation and staking a place within the programmes of local youth groups.
The original concept of Got 2 B Tru was to hold an event at the start of the academic year to challenge young people to choose to make the year one which was dedicated to God. The concept remained sound, so we retained it and mixed in a focus on equipping young people for sharing their faith through things like three story evangelism techniques.
Once again the event was run by a team from around the region, not just NYFC: Gaius Phillingham, Ivan & Margaret Kedge from Surrey Chapel, Daniel Beckett & Gareth Gabriel from Sheringham Baptist Church, Andy Jones from Holt Community Church, Sadie Gerrans from New Wine Church (Sheringham/Cromer), Shawn Moye from the Salvation Army, John Ward, Paul Steward and numerous other volunteers we pulled in to meet various needs, from leading worship to running a game show.
One of the challenges of inheriting an event at relatively short notice is to maintain its momentum and profile through the period of change. Initially we had concerns about the support the event would enjoy this year, but conversations with youth leaders from the area convinced us the event should go ahead, and the Diocese agreed to underwrite some of the financial risk of the event. In the end we had 76 young people from around Norfolk with us for 25 hours at Letton Hall. The number is less than last year, so on one hand this is a disappointment, particularly given the positive noises that were made by groups earlier in the year. Looking from a more upbeat perspective though, those 76 enjoyed an event which challenged and changed them, with a great mix of karting fun, good food, worship, seminars, games, and challenging messages.
The event included three main sessions of worship (led by the Fridays Band) and teaching from Roy Crowne (National Director of British YFC). Roy had just returned from a trip to Brazil, having previously been one of the speakers at Festival Manchester, so one might have expected him to be taking it easy instead of joining us here down in Norfolk! However, Roy's first evening talk prompted a response from around half of the young people present, some of whom became Christians in that moment, and some of whom took the opportunity to set a few things straight with Jesus again.
Roy also gave himself fully to some of the less overtly spiritual aspects of the event: it was a rare joy indeed to see his prowess on the karting track - at one point he was given three red flags and nearly ran over a marshall! The young people showed him the proper way of doing things.
Other activities in the event included Tooting Cars - an 'offbeat & hilarious mix of brain teasing questions and random occurences in the form of a game show'; a special showing of Lord of the Rings; giant Connect Four; Space Hopper racing; and the famed Insomniacz Café.
Some quotes from people there: -
"Great kick-up-the-backside teaching with a blend of fun & excitement, the perfect 24 hours!"
"Hi my name is Gareth; you may remember me from Got2b Tru. I was co hosting with Polly. I just want to say thanks to all those people that went along, It was great to see so many people there having a great time worshipping God."
"There was a great response to Roy Crowne's talkie bit; every one seemed to get something from it."
"Let me tell you, Roy Crowne in a kart was disastrous!"
"Everything was great. Insominacz was a great idea (especially with the pool!) the worship sessions were excellent , especially the last one, food was good so mostly brilliant. Oh, apart from FREEZING TO DEATH IN MY TENT!"
"Got 2 B Tru was fantastic, it really encouraged me to talk more with my friends about Jesus, the worship was brilliant too. The cafe was a really good place to hang out in, the whole experience was awesome. Cheers to everyone who made it happen."
"Fantastic, I loved every aspect of it apart from the very very cold sleeping conditions. I only wish it could have gone on until sunday evening. Roy was very down to earth and simple with the point he wanted to get across to us. Thumbs up to Polly and Jess for 'Tooting Cars', not forgetting Matt Gooch/George Doors."
Since Tracey left us we have continued our clubwork through a dedicated team of volunteers who do an amazing job. We are always looking for more, some of our current team share how they got involved below, In the hope that you might want to too!
Evangelism? "I could never do it, I wouldn't know what to say" Pastoral Advisor? "Where would I start?" If someone asked you to get involved with the NYFC nightclub work would these be some of your responses? Mine too, except that in reality it is nothing like what you would expect. Having been someone who always found it incredibly difficult to talk to people about God I was very nervous of doing the nightclub work, but if you enjoy listening to people then this work could be for you. I have found the work challenging, but fun and interesting."
IKON - I love it! I have worked in IKON regularly since I was 18, so for 7 years! I love the chance to meet new people and to try and be a positive influence on their lives.
There are many stories I could tell, good and sad and many interesting situations I have experienced……I would be happy to talk to anyone about them. If you work in any of the clubs you will definitely be rewarded and have a lot of fun…
I am not much of a clubber, nor do I particularly relish making small
talk with people, so it certainly wasn't that I thought the role was
made for me. I thought it was a good thing that was happening because I considered
it to be a practical and relevant way of expressing the principle of
loving all people and putting other people's concerns above our own. I enjoyed it more than I expected to.
If you would like more info contact the office. To do the clubwork you must be over 18.
Evenings Of PrayerHear the latest news & needs and this time get our annual report. Here are the dates for the coming year: 15th Jan, 25th Mar and 10 June from 7:30-8:30 at Holy Trinity Church Hall, Cambridge Street. We will be finishing promptly so if you need to leave you can, if not it's then a great chance to meet some of the team. Thanks to those of you who completed our prayer questionnaire last time, if you haven't yet we'd love you to and if you lost it we can send you a new one! Self Assessment ReturnsNot what you might expect us to be talking about in a NYFC bulletin. This year the Inland Revenue have developed yet another way for tax payers to give to charities. If you complete a Self Assessment form and wish to give any tax repayments to a charity you can do this direct through the Inland Revenue, they will even gift aid it. Norwich Youth for Christ have signed up for the scheme, which starts next tax year and our unique reference number is JAN45CG. If you would like further information about this please contact the office on 01603 620678 or the Inland Revenue website at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk Note for all Treasurer's and AdministratorsDo you use Cash Call and/or Gift 2002? NYFC has recently bought both
these programmes and is starting to use them. I have been on the Data
Developments course and quickly realised these are powerful tools and
not easily grasped in one day. I am thinking about setting up a user
group in Norwich/Norfolk for these programmes and hoping that a group
of us could get together to share our learning and help new users. If
you are interested contact Karen at the office or email Pray For Us!If you are interested in praying for specific requests and/or would like more regular prayer updates please contact the office.
Be assured of our prayers for you, we pray regularly for our volunteers
and supporters as a team. |
Dates5-9 Jan YFC Staff Conference9 Jan Fridays 15 Jan Prayer Evening 16 Jan F2 24 Jan Spark Event 6 Feb Fridays 5 Mar Fridays Contacting UsIf you want to email us our addresses are: office@norwichyfc.co.uk If you prefer the more traditional approach, then our postal address is: Norwich Youth For Christ, 3 Brigg Street, Norwich, NR2 1QN Our telephone number is 01603 620678
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Any Questions?Q. Who are
you people? Q. Why have
you sent me this? Q. This is
a great piece of communication, but why do I get this as well as a paper
copy? Q. I don't
want anymore of these sent to me? Q. Actually
I've changed my mind, I don't want to stop receiving this, in fact I
want all my friends to get it! How do I do this? If you prefer the more traditional approach, then our postal address is: Norwich Youth For Christ, 3 Brigg Street, Norwich, NR2 1QN Our telephone number is 01603 620678 Check out our website – www.norwichyfc.co.uk, including our brand new feature, the forum, your chance to interact with NYFC staff and volunteers. |
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