In It Together

Croydon

13/05

We were privileged to be a part of a family fun day down at Crystal Palace’s ground, Selhurst Park, with glorious weather and 3000 people to entertain. As well as NOMAD with the cage there was also a whole range of sports and other activities taking place throughout the day. The event was run well and was a real blessing to the whole community. Many proud parents were film their children as they engaged with the vast range of fun activities there for them. The event was free and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. It was fantastic to see all the churches in the area uniting together to create such a successful event.

Igniting Hope

Cardiff

29/04 – 07/05

Cardiff proved to be one of our busiest, if not the busiest, mission the team have had to tackle all year. Monday to Friday began working in Llanishen high school which 1700 pupils attended. Most of these days we were taking at least three lessons if not four or five. On top of this the team worked solid throughout break and lunchtime. It was demanding of us but the team coped really well and had many opportunities to share about what we were doing and why we were here. The majority of the lessons covered the topics of self-belief (which is “believing you can do anything accept fly!”) and respect. It was good to see all the students engaging with the topics and taking something away from each lesson. Many of the pupils had more than one lesson with us during the course of the week, so that gave us an opportunity to teach them on other topics such as team work. Again, the weather (with the exception of Tuesday!) remained dry which was another blessing. Being in the school, or ysgol (Welsh for school), all week again meant that good relationships were established and we were able to gain keen interest for the weekends big event Ignite Hope. It kicked off on Friday night at Sophia Gardens, just opposite the City Temple Church which we had attended the previous weekend for their evening service. The project ran all day from Saturday through to Monday (as it was a bank holiday) and it was action packed and very busy. Each day was split into two and in the mornings the team would also divide up as Phil and Ben went out to an area called Tremorfa to help run a soccer school where twenty young people were eager to improve their skills. Erik and Sammy on the other hand took the cage down Llangranoc Road which was where a charity shop being run by the church was opening. Unfortunately, due to issues with the neighbours the cage could not stay there but a football match was organised and played on a green nearby none the less which the youth got stuck into and really enjoyed. In the evenings we would regroup and work the cage at Sophia Gardens and it was good to see a few familiar faces from the school we had worked in all week. During the evening there was a talk and always an opportunity to surrender yourself to Christ. Approximately 80 people came forward that weekend as well as another 20 or so rededicating their lives to the Lord. Over the course of eight days the team worked with and engaged with roughly 450 young people. With all the other projects happening as part of Ignite hope as well, many more young people were reached. On the final Monday there was a monsoon over the city but despite this, the week concluded having been one of the most successful missions this year.

To Wales!!

Swansea

23/04 – 29/04

We started work in Mumbles, Swansea on the Monday by setting up the cage in one of the local secondary schools. We continued to work in the school each week, opening up the cage every lunch time to the pupils. It was really great to see everyone so keen and interested to have a go. Even the girls came over and, although we couldn’t get them in the cage, watched the boys as they tricked their way past each other. We had some really good conversations with some of the students, some of who were already Christians and we met them at church on the Sunday. God really did bless us with the weather we had over the week. Every lunchtime we worked stayed dry, which was a miracle seeing as we were in Wales. However, on each day, as soon as the team began to pack down the cage, it started raining. Due to rain we were not able to bring the cage into the school on the Friday but that did not take anything away from the great four lunchtimes we had spent with that school and its pupils. On top of the schools work the team also contributed to helping a local drop in session at the Red Cafe which was very convenient seeing as that was where we were based all week. It was a fantastic opportunity to share our faith with the youth as well as build relationships, play games (such as Fifa 2012 on the Xbox) and even run a sports quiz for them, which was interactive and they all seemed to enjoy. Throughout the whole of the week the team were able to engage with 170 young people and we pray that the seeds planted in these young hearts will fall on good soil and flourish.

Norfolk to Faringdon.

The first of another 2 weeks of mission started off in North Breckland, Norfolk. We worked in three schools - one primary school and two secondary schools. We also did a cage event on the Saturday which despite a low attendance and rain stopping play led to some great conversations with the young people and their parents.  In total we engaged with 300 young people and it was great to be able to support the work of North Breckland YFC.

Our second week was working with Faringdon churches together. We worked in Faringdon community college the whole week doing assemblies, lessons, break-times and lunchtimes.  The goal of the week was scored by a sixth former dressed as Tinky Winky for sports relief (#tinkywinkytekkers). In addition we set-up on Monday and Tuesday evenings at Rock Solid and a youth group. On the Saturday we organised a cage football tournament at the local youth centre.  Throughout the week we had spent time with 1100 young people playing cage football, soaking up the sun and sharing our faith. In the lessons we shared what it meant for us as Christians to live life to full and to believe in ourselves and on Saturday Sammy shared a moving testimony with 52 young people.

We hope and pray for the continued work of North Breckland YFC and Faringdon chuches together as they continue the relationships and engagement with the young people we met.

From One week to Another....

We had an awesome time working locally with Zion Christian Centre on 24th February, and their youth group of around 100 or so young people.

After that we had a retreat just down the road from the Office, this was a time of seeking God and contemplating our future beyond YFC One. This was also the first time for us to meet our newest member Ben Green.

We had worship in the morning followed by a talk from Anne Calver which I have to say was amazing she used the story of Joseph to illustrate the theme of each day which was Past, Present and Future, and how Joseph overcame these things and God used him.

Then during the day we had some activities and time to chill, then in the evenings we had more worship which was led by fellow YFC One volunteers, the evening talk was done by the YFC One staff.

We are looking forward to our next 2 missions with Ben in North Breckland and Faringdon.

Sammy B

From Nomad to Snowmad

So after a week in Crawley came to an end the widespread snow hit the UK but was not going to stop the Nomad team from sharing the Gospel with young people.

As a team we serve God and young people and 2 weeks ago we even served members of the public on the A23 while digging and pushing them out of the snow!

Last week we worked with Croydon YFC and young people in London. We also spent time with young people in Chislehurst.

We ran a tournament on the weekend outside a baptist church, where we had a few young people attend which was cool (freezing -9!!).

On the Friday we had a big youth event that we were asked to be a part of called Warehouse, which was in the New Life Christian Centre in Croydon. The line up included local talent from the church who sung and danced, also we had christian rapper 'Husky' who preformed. We had a cage football tournament with the young people where the final took place after Husky had performed. These 2 weeks were character building for us as a team, impacting the lives of 100s young people.

Onwards and Upwards......

We are coming to the end of our time in Crawley and heading towards our time in Croydon, as this time draws to a close we have been reflecting on things and how to improve the team and be the best we can be, for both God and the Young people.

This has been beneficial to all three members of Nomad, looking at the roles we can adopt to serve each other as a team and individuals.

In the Bible the words Servant or Serve are mentioned 698 times, and the words Servants or Service are mentioned 608 times in the Bible. This implies that much of Christian life is about serving whether that is in a host home, church, youth club, or in school. It means serving your teachers and friends, your work and your work colleagues. In the small things as well as the big things.

In the Bible it says,

‘Ephesians 6:17 - Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people’

‘Colossians 3:24 - Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving’

‘Romans 12:11 - Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.’

These 3 verses are just a few that state this simple point about serving God and not people. When you serve people do it as if you are serving God and the opinions of people and how they react to you serving them doesn’t matter as it is God you are serving not man!

'Sammy B'