Happy New Year. Reflecting on 2011

Happy New Year! Well 2012 is upon us, bringing us all fresh challenges and, prayerfully, fulfilled promises. As it’s the first week of the year I thought it would be great to look back on 2011 and reflect on the massive things God has done at BASE. It puts into perspective the lows of the year and helps us all get excited for what he has planned in 2012!

Cafe Church

Cafe Church continues to grow both numerically and spiritually and it’s great that the whole church has got behind it, making it not just a youth thing, but a multi generational thing. The messages given are all about how you can move on with God in your life and seem to be impacting the youth in a big way. We are seeing our young people stepping up and grabbing the opportunities that God is giving them, with new young people leading and organising the services as well as new people on the sound and vision team. Looking back to how we started in 2010 and how far we have progressed you can see Gods hand on the whole thing.  Keep praying throughout 2012 as we see new people stepping up and replacing the older youth who are preparing to leave for university.

Lifegroups

Lifegroups, or youth housegroups started in 2011 and are now firmly established, with new groups being planned for 2012. The Lifegroups started as Youth Alpha, and after the course was finished we progressed into boys and girls groups, with teaching that affected both sexes. The groups are still developing, but it’s really encouraging that the majority of our young people attend. (and the curry nights are awesome!)

The Band

Youth Worship Band ONE53 is now called The Band. Julia Bing has done an awesome job of leading our talented young musicians over 2011, with great new songs learned, and The Band becoming established, not just at Cafe Church, but at UPC as well. It’s great to see new faces in the band too who are developing into mighty young people of God, and brilliant musicians. Please pray for Julia as she leaves for university this year and has the daunting task of finding and mentoring her successor.

FUSED

Numerically, FUSED has grown amazingly over the last year. The first event had 60 people there. The last event at the end of October had 160! FUSED has been based at UPC, but now we are going on the road, with the next event at Dalton Zoo in February, Broughton Victory Hall in May and then a FUSED weekender in July at Coniston, before returning to UPC again in October. We have had some great guest speakers, and will continue that trend in 2011. We have seen people give their lives to God, and whole attitudes changed towards their faith. 2012, is going to be a massive year!

Our Youth

This is the biggie! The youth at BASE has grown yet again! Every time we seem to lose people to university, God replaces them with double! That’s not the main thing for us though. The main thing is seeing how much the youth are coming on in their walk with God. They are reading their bibles frequently, praying constantly, and asking questions about how they can become more involved in the BASE Project! It’s so encouraging to see, and I’m sure that the church in general is encouraged too to see a generation who are prepared to take Gods kingdom to the next level. It’s such a privilege to be part of this and to be part of their lives. Please keep praying for our young people as they hit all the hassles that teenagers face.

So there you have it. Pretty awesome eh? We haven’t even mentioned, Adored, The schools work and the Christian Union starting in UVHS, The IHEARTULVERSTON campaign, the intern and The Youth Alpha Course! We are believing that 2012 is going to be even bigger than 2011, so please keep us in your prayers, but more importantly, keep thanking God for the great work He is doing in our area!

So That was Christmas?

So Christmas is over for another year. All the hassle of the last month trying to get things sorted out for the big day, presents bought, food prepared, decorations up, and before you know it, after an afternoon snooze after eating dinner and opening your pressies....it’s all over.

Then there’s that flat feeling on boxing day. Maybe thats why New Year is so close, so you have one more fling to look forward to, and then your resolutions to make to take your mind off the last week.

I did a sermon once on the difference between Christmas and xmas, with the difference being that with xmas you are celebrating the date, but with Christmas you are celebrating something a whole lot more. You are celebrating the birth of our saviour, Jesus. It’s great that we have all the trimmings as long as we remember what the whole celebration is about for us as Christians.

As we prepare for the new year, my mind is racing with the next steps  to making BASE even bigger and impactful in 2012, but I’ll go into that a bit more in the new years’ blog. For now I want us to concentrate on looking forward and preparing ourselves.

Keep Praying

I know it’s been a tough year for most of us, but if we look back, look at how much has happened with BASE and the youth in the area! Keep praying that God will bless us as a Youth Organisation spiritually, healthily, and financially.

Keep Planning

One of the great things about this year has been the amount of you who have came to me with ideas and plans for BASE. Keep it going! You wouldn’t believe what an encouragement it is to myself, and the senior church leaders, that you are doing this. It shows us that the teaching you are getting is sinking in, and we are raising a generation of young leaders that are going to take not just this town, but this area, this county, this country for God!

Keep Dreaming

God loves dreamers! Keep dreaming big things for BASE, no matter how unlikely they seem. Jesus said that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will be able to move mountains. The church needs dreamers. There’s enough people already trying to keep the church as a social club and a place of social standing. God doesn’t want you to do that, he wants you to think outside the box, to dream big, and to be mighty in his eyes for doing his will well, not mighty in mans eyes  for the position you hold and nothing else.

Have a great week everyone. I pray that you all have a brilliant new years eve, celebrating with loved ones and being great witnesses for Christ!

Christian? Really?

I learned the hard way about being a great witness for Christ. In my mind I'm a great driver, probably the best, not just in Ulverston, but in Cumbria, heck, lets just go the whole hog and say the UK. Nobody can drive as well as me, in my own mind. In my own mind, everyone else needs to go and resit their driving test, because I never make mistakes and they do. Here starts the lesson.

I was driving in Yorkshire once, and a lady was in front of me and she did the unthinkable and STOPPED at a quiet roundabout to check if anything was coming (you could see for miles that there wasnt). Mr Perfect driver lost it. I was shouting at her from the confines of my car and at the next opportunity overtook her, and as I was doing so, I looked across at her and mouthed you idiot (or words to that effect)  and sped off. I was allowed, because in my mind I was the perfect driver.

A few days later I was walking through the village with our Pastor. He stopped and started talking to a woman who I didnt recognise. He was being all chatty, they obviously knew eachother. He then proceeded to introduce me. "this is Graham, our Youth Pastor"

"oh really?" she replied "I hope you dont get as mad with the youth as you did with me!"

Yes youve guessed it, it was the driver from previously. Now apart from wanting the ground to swallow me up, I was actually ashamed of my behaviour. It wasnt the fact that I was a leader in the church, it was the fact that I was a Christian. I could have single handedly put that lady off coming to church for life. Fortunately, she accepted my apology, but I dont know, even to this day, if she ever set foot in a church again.

Matthew 5:16 says "let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." and thats what weve got to try and do. The way we act when we are around people who aren't Christians speaks more to them than any sermon we can preach, or word we can say to them about how great God is, because they notice what we do, and how we act. If we are no different to them when we are out of church, then what appeal is there for them to get saved? If we go around getting drunk, causing hassle, swearing loudly and fighting in public then its not just a terrible witness for the church, but it calls in to question our faith in God.

When we do a FUSED event, do you want your friends to turn up not realising that you are a Christian? Can you imagine if your behaviour, like mine with that lady driver, puts someone off Christianity forever? its not a great thought is it?

I put in one of my Facebook statuses that its easy being a great witness at church. Lets show the world that we great witnesses at all times, in School, at uni or at work. Remember, Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? Lets not let it get to that though!

You lot are brilliant. We love you to bits, and are really proud of how you, as well as the church, have grown over the last year. Lets push on, lets see our church grow, and most of all, lets be great witnesses for christ!