Epic Epping

Nomad have just returned from a fantastic week partnering with Epping Forest YFC in Essex. Working primarily with the legendary Jamie Bennett, we had the opportunity to speak to roughly 500 primary school children during the mission, as we took lessons on the themes of 'Fair Play', 'Living life to the full' and 'Respect'. Through these, we had the chance to tell all these children the good news of Jesus - a wonderful experience! In addition, we went along to youth groups at St Mary's and All Saints Churches of England, where we took a session on being Ambassadors for the gospel. This was a blessing both to us and the young people present. On our return last night, we set the cage up at The Mob youth group in Lichfield, before going home exhausted, but happy! Please pray for the work we did in Epping Forest, that God would water the seed which was planted in so many hearts. Please pray also for all of the heroes at Epping Forest YFC who do an amazing job all-year round in local schools and churches.

God bless and we shall write again after Christmas! Have a good one.

Joke of the week: There's a documentary on tonight about shipbuilding. Should be riveting.

Local and Notts so local work

The last week or so has been very varied for our intrepid Nomad team. Following two days at the Explore residential at Whitmoor Lakes, we headed for Nottingham - home city of the delightful team member that is Mr. James Girling. A great night was had with the cage at Cornerstone Church (James' home church) and it was extremely encouraging to see how much God has blessed the work there. It was a blessing to be able to share about our work with James' mates, and to give them a practical demonstration of what we do! Last week, David and James undertook the Football Association Level 1 coaching course in Derby while Erik and Jenna were at work back in Lichfield, where they had the opportunity to go into the CU group at Netherstowe School. Once the whole team was reunited, we were privileged to be able to take 'The Mob' youth group at Wade Street Church (our base when in Lichfield). Various games and challenges took place, which were related to Jesus' Parable of the Lost Sheep. Please pray that God will bless The Mob - we attend it and help out whenever we are around in Lichfield. Yesterday was another busy day, as the team headed into King Edward's School in the town for a full day's lessons. Some great conversations were had around the cage, particularly at lunchtime when around 150 pupils attended the session and created a sensational atmosphere. Pray that God would have sown a seed. The week continues apace with Hub training tomorrow and a day of lessons in Grace Academy, Coventry on Thursday 22nd.

Blessings and thank you all for your ongoing support. God is good.

Joke of the week: Garfield was spotted in Trafalgar Square recently. That really put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Excellent Exeter, exciting Explore

Nomad continue their frantic pace of bringing the good news relevantly to young people! Last week, after a few days of beneficial Hub training, the team hit the road again. We were bound for Exeter and two days working with the indomitable James Grier who heads up Unlimited Church in the city centre. A half-term programme of events took place, which included a youth cafe, a converted double-decker bus, an opec mic night and volleyball, as well as our cage. The vision of Unlimited Church is to reach young people who are unchurched, and they regularly go around the streets of Exeter trying to chat to these young people about God. They also aim to make church more accesible for teenagers and throw off some of the negative shackles and perceptions of 'religion'. Nomad were truly blessed to be able to be a part of this work for a few days, as many young people were reached during the mission. Please pray for James and his wife Liz as they continue this fantastic work, developing existing relationships and nurturing new ones formed over half-term.

While in the sun-kissed (?!) south, we also took the opportunity to go to Plymouth for a day. There, we partnered with Plymouth Christian Centre as they launched their football youth ministry. A large number of new contacts were made around the cage (including getting to know two Nepalese lads who only moved to the UK a month ago). Please pray for the guys at PCC who strive to develop these relationships and integrate these young people into their existing youth work.

Currently, we are assisting Sarah Hockley, Nathan Iles, Steve Bownds and Tom Soar in leading seminars at the Explore residential at Whitemoor Lakes, near Lichfield. Over 100 Year 7 pupils from schools around the Midlands are at the residential doing various activities. As YFC, we are responsible for roadshows in which they hear a Christian perspective on issues like money and dealing with emotions.

Thanks again for your prayers. James 5v16

Joke of the week: Nobody was expecting our local library to start growing vegetables. What a turnip for the books!

Southall to Shrewsbury...and smiling all the way!

So much has happened since our last post as God continues to bless the Nomad team. In September, a super Fort Rocky weekend was followed by our first mission week in Coventry. We were blessed with great weather as we did school lessons and brought the cage to the HEBA's 'LoveCov' event. The Saturday afternoon in Coventry city centre was particularly blessed, with many young people playing in the cage and chatting about God around it.

From Coventry, we made our way down to Clevedon in Somerset where more schools and detached work was done with the cage and the legendary Neil Wylie at the YMCA. Again, God blessed the work and many contacts were made and relationships built. Please pray for Neil as he develops these.

October continued apace with another mission as we were welcomed to the London borough of Southall. A top week was had working with Calum Burke, as many young people were shown Christ's love in the estates.

After a week back in leafy Lichfield we were on the road again, this time to Shrewsbury where we worked in partnership with both Barnabas Church and Shrewsbury YFC. We did three days of schools lessons and visited six different secular youth clubs - a great opportunity to display that God is interested in the local community!

This week we have two days of Hub training before heading to Exeter on Thursday 1st November to bring the cage to some half-term events. Prayer appreciated!

Please pray for those places where we have already done missions. Pray that the links built in communities can be capitalised on by the local churches and youth workers, who do such a sterling job!

Peace out.

Joke of the week:
Someone threw a lump of cheese at me yesterday as I walked down the street. Mature.

Newmad... Nomad

September 13th 2012

The Nomad team for the 2012/13 has taken shape! Erik Hayter once again leads the team, and is joined by new team members Jenna Allison, David Burke and James Girling. Give thanks to God for the brilliant week we've just had at the Evangelism Training Conference alongside all the other YFC One volunteers. The conference gave us brilliant training in both theology and youth work from some amazing speakers and also developed real unity amongst us! This week is being used to sort out practical things (i.e. van cleaning) as well as going over school lessons and outlining our vision for the year. On Friday, it's off to Smallwood Manor for a Fort Rocky weekend before we head to Coventry for a week's mission from September 17th-23rd. Please pray for the practicalities of travel safety and assembling the cage, but most importantly that young people would meet Jesus at both Fort Rocky and in Coventry!


Joke of the week: My friend has a chicken proof lawn. It's impeccable.

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.