Who is This Man?

Recording Jesus calming the storm in lego

Last weekend we had a very exciting event. For a second year we had a youth away day and invited young people from different churches around the country to come join with us. This year we had 24 young people, from 4 different churches, aged between 11 and 20. (We also had 5 different nationalities when leaders were included). The theme of the day was Who is This Man? We looked at Mark's gospel and thought about how Jesus shows that he has power over every aspect of life.

The young people were split into 5 different groups, and each group were given stories from Mark, and they recreated them, using whichever medium they preferred. Amazingly each groups chose something different. We had lego, shadow puppets, a comic strip, playing cards and a traditional drama. Each group filmed their work and at the end of the day we all sat down and watched the full production. I then closed the day with a short talk reminding them that Jesus is the Son of God, the one with power to save us from our sins.

It was such an encouraging event. It was great to see the young people coming together and working on their different projects. Not one person knew everyone there so it was a good chance to meet new people and to encourage existing friendships. Of course I could not have organised this without the help of a great team of leaders, and of course, all credit should go to our great God and Saviour.

Thank you to all of you who were praying for this event. Praise God that we had so many young people there - I was starting to worry that we wouldn't actually fit in the building! Praise God that they were all engaged and listened well at the end of the day. Please pray for these young people, for those who do not yet know God, and for those that do, that they would all be growing in their relationship with him, and that they would continue to want to know more about him.

Now that we've had this away day, my focus has now shifted to the ECM Biennial which will be in Spain in 2 weeks time. Please pray for all the last minute arrangements and details that need to be sorted. Please also pray for safe travels for the 600 or so people who will be joining us there.

Thinking about the Shepherd-King...

Sheep blocking the road in north Wales

As you may be aware, since Christmas we've been studying the book of Zechariah in youth group. It's been a really encouraging series as they've been learning and thinking about how the Old Testament points towards the New Testament and to Jesus. This was very clear in the study we had tonight. We were looking at chapters 9-11 and it's amazing just how clearly it points forward to Jesus. There were audible moments of realisation when they started to understand the links, firstly between Jesus as the true shepherd - the leader who will care for his people in the right way, and secondly between Zechariah throwing 30 pieces of silver to the potter and Judas' blood money being returned to the priests and them using it to buy land from a potter.

Tonight was such an encouraging study. Sometimes youth work can feel like a lot of hard work. They're all really tired from long weeks at school and sometimes they just don't want to be in a Bible study. Tonight they were all really engaged and happy to read the Bible. After thinking about the fact that Jesus is the shepherd-king, we then thought about what it means for us. It was so great to see them thinking about what it meant for them personally. We all know that sheep can be stupid, can be led in the wrong direction, or can just be really stubborn. I'm not surpised that the Bible chooses this picture to talk about us. We need a leader who cares for us but who will lead us in the right way so that we can live in peace with him forever. This is the great picture that Zechariah gives us, and I'm just so encouraged that the young people understood this tonight!

Nex Saturday we will have our youth away day. We currently have 14 young people signed up aged from 12-19. Please pray for this day as we think about who Jesus is. Please pray for me as I finish the final preparations and practice my talk in Slovene. Most of all, please pray that the young people would grow in their relationships with God as they learn more about him.