On Tuesday 1st September I'll be leaving Lymington for my gap year with YFC and travelling up to the YFC Head Office in Halesowen. Once I arrive the plan is to have a quick bite and a short session at 2.30pm and then we'll be travelling to Worcester University where we'll have ETC (Evangelism Training Conference) for 2 weeks until the 15th September - I hope they remember my birthday on the 8th!
After ETC everyone will go their own separate ways to different YFC centres around the UK and some people will be on the road for the year - including the sports teams and theatre and production groups. I'll be travelling to Swindon where I'll meet my host family and church and start settling into life as a youth worker for YFC for the next 10/11 months!
I can't wait to get started!
Monday 24 August 2009
So what's it all about?
The mission of YFC is 'Taking the Good News Relevantly to Every Young Person in Britain'. This is done by
- Demonstrating Gods love
- Declaring relevantly the Good News about Jesus
- Giving young people an opportunity to accept Christ as their personal Saviour
- Serving the local church by providing both evangelistic and discipleship resources
Some facts about Swindon
- Population of 157 000
- Railway town till the 70's and now holds high tech and manufacturing companies
- 20% of population is young people - one in four are living in poverty - 'invisible children'
- 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce
- High rates of teen pregnancy
Some quotes about Swindon
The Counselling needs of Children and Young People
"63% of young people in Swindon wanted to speak to someone about their problems"
School Counsellor
"Children in Swindon don't really suffer so much from financial poverty but a 'poverty of love' - with parents separated or working all hours to maintain their lifestyles"
How Swindon YFC is addressing the problem
1. Assemblies - aim to build relationships with teachers and students and communicate Christian or moral truths
2. Lessons - cover Christian beliefs or events and look at how Christianity affects our lives in terms of values, morals, lifestyle, relationships with other people and how we view ourselves
3. Support work with disadvantaged kids - getting alongside them and caring for them and demonstrating there is a God who cares whilst serving the school
4. Head'z'up project - a project run in partnership with Swindon Academy a local secondary school, other youth workers and the council for year 11 students who are at risk of exclusion. The programmes aims to broaden the learning experience and enable students to make a more effective transition into the wider world of further education, training or employment
5. Lunchtime clubs - run 6 times a week and SYFC also supports a further 2, meeting 120 young people every week. Many of them are called 'The Experience' and are a mixture of fun, games and activities examining life and faith issues
6. Rock Solid - a youth work resource which YFC provides to local churches but SYFC does not currently run any themselves
7. Detached work - involves hanging out with groups of young people and getting to know them. The aim is that through friendships they would grasp something of how God sees them - as precious to Him
If you’d like to find out more about Swindon YFC go to http://www.syfc.org.uk/
My hopes and aims for the year
- I want to become more like Jesus and learn how to demonstrate his love
- I want to grow in my faith and increase my understanding of the Bible
- I want to discover and use my gifts to serve others
- And discover Gods plans for my future
Thanks for taking time to read through this – I’ll try and keep you updated!
God Bless
Matt x
- Demonstrating Gods love
- Declaring relevantly the Good News about Jesus
- Giving young people an opportunity to accept Christ as their personal Saviour
- Serving the local church by providing both evangelistic and discipleship resources
Some facts about Swindon
- Population of 157 000
- Railway town till the 70's and now holds high tech and manufacturing companies
- 20% of population is young people - one in four are living in poverty - 'invisible children'
- 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce
- High rates of teen pregnancy
Some quotes about Swindon
The Counselling needs of Children and Young People
"63% of young people in Swindon wanted to speak to someone about their problems"
School Counsellor
"Children in Swindon don't really suffer so much from financial poverty but a 'poverty of love' - with parents separated or working all hours to maintain their lifestyles"
How Swindon YFC is addressing the problem
1. Assemblies - aim to build relationships with teachers and students and communicate Christian or moral truths
2. Lessons - cover Christian beliefs or events and look at how Christianity affects our lives in terms of values, morals, lifestyle, relationships with other people and how we view ourselves
3. Support work with disadvantaged kids - getting alongside them and caring for them and demonstrating there is a God who cares whilst serving the school
4. Head'z'up project - a project run in partnership with Swindon Academy a local secondary school, other youth workers and the council for year 11 students who are at risk of exclusion. The programmes aims to broaden the learning experience and enable students to make a more effective transition into the wider world of further education, training or employment
5. Lunchtime clubs - run 6 times a week and SYFC also supports a further 2, meeting 120 young people every week. Many of them are called 'The Experience' and are a mixture of fun, games and activities examining life and faith issues
6. Rock Solid - a youth work resource which YFC provides to local churches but SYFC does not currently run any themselves
7. Detached work - involves hanging out with groups of young people and getting to know them. The aim is that through friendships they would grasp something of how God sees them - as precious to Him
If you’d like to find out more about Swindon YFC go to http://www.syfc.org.uk/
My hopes and aims for the year
- I want to become more like Jesus and learn how to demonstrate his love
- I want to grow in my faith and increase my understanding of the Bible
- I want to discover and use my gifts to serve others
- And discover Gods plans for my future
Thanks for taking time to read through this – I’ll try and keep you updated!
God Bless
Matt x
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