What is God doing?

 When we were on camp in Scotland a few weeks ago, my fellow pastoral leader gave a devotion where he challenged us to ask God to give us eyes for what He is already doing. That has been playing in the back of my mind, and as we use the last days of summer (summer ends in September here) to build relationships in Tang Hall, prayer walk and listen to God, I am asking Him what He is already doing in our city.

Earlier this week was Tilly (Vanessa’s daughter)’s first birthday. I organised a little playdate that turned into a party for her, and we invited over a baby who is a week older than her. This little boy’s father isn’t in the equation, and it was really nice to see him interact with Mark, Tilly’s dad. As we all sat round the table - two babies, three single women and a married couple - we shared stories and advice and generally talked about mundane, life situations. Tilly tried to steal the other baby’s water cup, and they held hands briefly between spewing broccoli. And I realised that, at that table, we were functioning as family. The baby’s mum doesn’t have a partner to bounce her fears and ideas for raising a child off of, so Mark and Vanessa served that purpose. She doesn’t have somebody to process a tricky relationship, and Yvonne and I can fill that role. She speaks Spanish to Tilly and sings amazing birthday songs and brings life and joy to the places she finds herself. And our third single friend is a widow who has already raised four children and moved internationally, so she brings us the wisdom of an experienced mother, grandmother and Christian. She and I have gone on holiday with Mark and Vanessa before. I see the way that God has brought all of us together to form a family type unit who can support each other as needed. 

Today, my team and I went to York Minster for a time of prayer. Whilst we were sitting and praying for the city, we marvelled at the ways that York has contributed to Christianity. In my reading for my theology school intensive residential that I have coming up, I’ve been amazed to see how often York comes up. For over 1200 years, this city has been instrumental in the spread of Christianity and in training lay people about God in times where mostly only priests and ordained people received religious education. 

Whilst we were in the Minster, there was an announcement for a service in the chapel for anointing for healing. We decided to go along. The whole service was grounded in Scripture, which we alternately quoted with the priest. He talked about Jesus’s power to heal, and we extolled Scriptures praising God. The priest read from Ezekiel 46, where God declares His desire to bring healing. And when the priest asked those who wished to receive prayer for healing to come forward, there was a queue of over 30 people. He took his time to pray with everyone. Then we had communion together.

As I watched all of those people queue to receive prayer for healing, I realised that there is a hunger and desire to ask God for healing. I recently read John Wimber’s book Power Evangelism, and he reminds the reader of how Jesus’s great miracles of healing led to many towns believing in Jesus. I see that hunger alive in England - in York! - today. The Minster was offering healing prayer to tourists - many of whom don’t know God - quite openly. It was not hidden away. Others crowded in the back to watch and see what would happen. There were no explosions, but as people returned to their seats, you could see the peace that they were experiencing. 

So what is God doing? I suspect that it is something to do with being family and community. There is an openness for healing - and maybe for people to come to Christ through witnessing it! And as I pray about the church planting that I am beginning to be involved with, and as our team continues the process of moving to Tang Hall, I want to join in what God is already doing. Healing. Being together and supporting each other. And hopefully, welcoming more people into God’s family.

As a side note, I think that I may have to discontinue a public blog and move instead to email newsletters. As I move into more of the church planting and building deep relationships with people, I don’t feel comfortable posting the stories of my work on a blog where anybody can find it. So if you would like to be a part of my email newsletter list, please do email me at deborahestevenson@gmail.com to let me know!

US/UK Connection Continued

 Hi everyone! It was so good to see so many of you on my visit to the States earlier this month. It is always an encouraging reminder that there are so many people who are praying for and investing in York alongside me. So thank you!

I have been back in the UK for just over a week now, but it has been such a busy week, so I wanted to share briefly about the outreach team that we hosted this week.

The team came from Renee's church in Massachusetts, and they were all in their fifties and above - the oldest team member was 80! That made quite a change from the teenagers that we usually host on outreach teams. They wanted to learn how we do missions in our city, so they came alongside us as we held two outreach events: one in the city centre and one in Tang Hall, the neighbourhood we hope to move into soon. We brought out the bubbles, bracelet making supplies and poi and brought joy to the area as we got to know the people who came to see us.

City centre outreach and Tang Hall outreach are quite different. When we got the bubbles out in the city centre, there were suddenly more than ten children and their families surrounding us. They were from all over the world - the Netherlands, Turkey and more! Because they were in the city centre enjoying the sites, they were open to chatting and having a good time. Two of the youth that we mentor came along on the outreach, and they were amazing at monitoring the children at the bubbles whilst we had conversations. 

One of our youth and one of the outreach team making bubbles in front of the Minster

Our Tang Hall outreach was a bit different. We prayer walked around the neighbourhood, then took Tilly, Vanessa's daughter and our youngest YWAM volunteer, to the local park. She helped us to meet the families who were there. It took longer for them to warm up to us, but by the end, we had a group of ten or so gathered around, making bracelets and chatting. We are aware that it will take time to meet people and build relationships in Tang Hall, and we went into the day just hoping to meet some people. Tilly really helped with that - some of the small children went to our church's toddler group, which Vanessa runs and Tilly attends! We hope to meet these families again through our children and youth work, and just through being a part of the community.

Tilly takes in all of the bubbles and people at Tang Hall outreach

The outreach team heads back to the States today, and we head up to camp tomorrow! Please pray for us as we take the children and youth from York churches up to Scotland for a week of learning about Jesus. In every baptism that I have been to recently, YCYH (the camp) has come up as a definitive moment in the young people's faith. Pray for our energy, health, safety and for God to move through us and in their lives. And please pray that it doesn't rain the whole time! And once again, thank you so much for your prayer and support. It means a lot to know that you are all behind me!

The Weekends in May

This month has been full of exciting weekend activities - and this coming weekend is no exception! 

On the first weekend, Renee, Yvonne and I did the youth work for a local church’s church weekend away. It took place at a Scout Camp just outside of York, and we had about 7 youth - 6 boys and one girl. The parents were happy for us to be as rough and tumble as we wanted, so between our teaching sessions, we played epic capture the flag in the woods, dodgeball in a clearing and gave them Nerf guns with which to shoot each other.

My favourite part was the teaching bit. In my New Testament module in theology school, we learned four steps to properly analyse NT texts. I promptly taught it to my team, and we taught it to the youth that weekend - using the real terms, like ‘hermeneutics.’ And they took the challenge! We looked at fire in the Bible - the burning bush, the pillar of fire, Pentecost and how we carry the fire. One of the mums texted that, the day after, her twelve year old led their family in using the steps for them to analyse Acts 3 and pray for each other!

They had an ice cream van so we could get free ice cream!

Renee disappearing into a bush in capture the flag

The youth made a den, then got into it, and we had five minutes of blissful quiet

Last weekend, I facilitated a parenting course called “Left to their Own Devices” with a Christian family charity. While I don’t have children, a lot of youth talk to me about their device use, and it was good to be able to talk with parents about addressing porn, healthy boundaries and how to engage with technology alongside their children. But even better was getting to connect with some of the (non-Christian) parents afterwards and tell them about God and church. 

Suggestions from some of the parents

On Saturday this week, we are hosting all of the YWAM teams in north England for a picnic. There are four teams - Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and York - and eight children coming. It has been a while since we all got together, although the leaders saw each other last month, so it will be good to connect again. 

Later on in the summer, I am going to camp! The churches in York all send their children and youth to the same camp in the a Scottish Borders, and the camp is staffed by people from our churches. I’m going in a pastoral role, so instead of looking after a lodge of 8-11 year old girls, I am doing devotional and lending a listening ear/prayer to support the adults who are staffing the camp. I need to raise the funds to go to camp, because we all pay our way, so if you’d like to contribute, please either send it to me via bank transfer or YWAM in Tyler Texas!

We are still in the process of selling the Barnabas Centre - it takes ages in this country for anything to happen with estate agents. We are also still praying into the move to Tang Hall and partnering with our church to do needs-based surveys of the neighbourhood. We want to know what the practical as well as spiritual needs are so that we can choose how to work with others to meet those needs. 

We have a full-on summer coming up, with a missions team coming from a church in the States, camp, a youth festival, a citywide prayer event, one of our youth on work placement with us, and for me, another essay due for my theology course. We are part of the planning and/or are THE planning team for the events, so please pray for us to have the time to plan these things well, execute them well, and also to rest and have fun with our friends and family. 

I’m also planning on heading to the States in July, so if you are in South Carolina, Georgia or Florida, I will see you then! I may even bring a special guest star - you will have to wait to find out who that is!

A Day in the Life

 “What is a typical day in YWAM like?”

After 11 years in YWAM, I still cannot answer that question. Or the, “So what is it that you do? How does it work?” question.

Last night, a friend was giving me a lift home, and she mentioned that she has never understood it, despite a dear friend of hers having been in YWAM for several decades.

So today, I thought, “It isn’t a typical day, but it’s typical enough.”

So here is what I did today:

I woke up and spent time with God.

We maintained the Barnabas Centre (we currently have a rat problem that has also given us an electricity problem - this is why maintaining a 100+ year old building is not one of my favourite activities).

We worshipped together and went on a prayer walk around the church where we will be having a Table Top Sale on Saturday. We then continued praying as we did a walking loop through town.

I met with a woman (not pictured) who just moved to York from Germany. My friend Eliza came along last minute, and we got to know her and showed her around the city.

I had a call with one of my elders where we spoke about vision for the base and next season and prayed.

I went on a walk with another friend who has deep questions about God. She has just started reading the New Testament, so we got to speak about what Matthew means by “childlike faith.” I also recently gifted her a Psalms journaling book, which she pointed out was so different to the New Testament, because it talks about fear. I got to try to explain what “fear of God” is - but something I am learning from these conversations with her is how simple it can be to explain what faith is. After so many years of learning about faith, I think that I over-complicate it in my own thoughts. But getting to walk through the beginning of faith with her helps me to simplify it - which also helps when I get to be a part of citywide Alpha or speak to youth who may not know about certain aspects of Christianity yet. 

When I got home, I found Yvonne prepping for the table top sale (she is baking bread), so I went to do some organising for it as well, before Yvonne, Renee and I had dinner and watched telly together.

So there you have it - a day that is as typical as any is likely to be!

Whilst I was speaking with my elder today, I was struck again by how much I do love getting to walk with people through different stages of faith. I was reading 2 Corinthians 5 this morning, where Paul talks about our job being to reconcile others to God. What a beautiful thought. It is my job - and an absolute privilege - to be able to walk with others as they discover the wide open arms of their Saviour.

Half-Term Club

Every half-term, we hold a half-term club for primary school aged children (ages 4-11). We have games, crafts, and of course, Bible stories. It is such a privilege to share about Jesus with the children in our community. This time, I made a small video to show you what this outreach is like!

Long Overdue 2023 Update

 Hello! It has been five months since I have updated my blog - please forgive me for that! I could say that we’ve been busy, but then, when haven’t we been busy? 

Over the past few months, we have turned a corner with YWAM in York. We are working with our local Church of England church to transition our youth and children’s work to them over the next nine months so that we can prepare to move into Tang Hall, a neighbourhood across town that is larger and rougher than our current neighbourhood. I’m not quite sure how that will look, so I am praying with my elders and asking God to help me to make the right decisions now that will open the doors that we need to have opened in order for us to transition across town - which includes selling our community centre, finding a new house, etc, etc. 

We are working with our church, which is located in Tang Hall, to create a week of Easter outreach events for the community, and we are so excited to be able to meet more of the families and youth of the neighbourhood where we feel God calling us! It is also amazing to see Yvonne and Renee reach out to our local youth and build relationships that have now led to our unchurched youth signing up to Feaster, the Easter event for youth that the church youth workers for the city are putting on together on Maundy Thursday. 

Despite the work load of all of that, it is refreshing to dream again. There has been a rough situation with another YWAM team that I have been dealing with over the past 14 months, and it has taken a lot of my attention and energy. I have also been battling some health situations - I’ve had gastritis that has led to me being poorly since November 2021. I am finally seeing the gastroenterologist in hospital next week, so hopefully we will have a new treatment plan soon! 

I have spent the past few months coordinating city-wide Alpha as a part of my role as a One Voice York trustee. I love One Voice York - our church unity movement - and I have been a part of the team praying into gospel sharing. We are asking God for strategies for reaching the 190,000 non-Christians (as opposed to 20,000 Christians) in the greater York area in the next ten years. If we all turn around and reach those closest to us, we will achieve it! But that means equipping the local church (one of my favourite things!) to be able to do that. I was very privileged to be able to share at the Holy Spirit Day that we had as citywide Alpha a few weeks ago. Twelve churches have run 14 different Alpha courses simultaneously - at least one every week day - and we held the Holy Spirit Day all together in the city centre. I had the opportunity to explain worship and giving a testimony to people who had never been to church before - and to see them trying out worshiping and giving testimonies for the first time! It was beautiful to be able to pray with them and to see them encountering God. As the Alpha courses are all winding down, I am looking forward to hearing more about what God has been doing. I know that several refugees who fled a Middle Eastern country were baptised at one of the churches this past week! 

Cooking for outreach week for our local university's Christian Union.

City-wide evangelism

On a personal note, I was speaking to a non-Christian friend about God as a Father this week and about how His consistent love makes it possible to know that we are loved, in spite of what earthly fathers or friends may do or say. She said to me, “Yes, and because you have His love, nobody can take that away. You are loved.” It was so beautiful to hear about God and His love from her perspective. These kinds of conversations are certainly not the norm, which makes them even more precious when they do occur! 

Something else that I have really enjoyed is leading worship in different circumstances. I’ve known since 2013 that God has made me a worshipper, and since coming to York, there have been so many opportunities to both grow in that gift (and in using it as a part of a team). We have a monthly extended worship meeting at the House of Prayer where we have seen so many younger people growing in their relationship with God in leaps and bounds. I have also gotten to guest worship lead at a few different churches and events, and it is so good to see the ways that God is worshipped in churches across our city! Our church has a monthly worship team gathering where we learn more about the heart of the worshipper and how to bring that to our church and grow together, and it has equipped me really well to be able to take that out to churches who don’t have as many musicians in their congregations. This Sunday, I get to worship with a local church who invites me in quarterly to guest worship lead and to spend time with them. Their church consistently has visitors who have never been to church before, and I learn so much from watching how they welcome those people into their family and teach them about God. 

God is moving in York, and the local church is searching out how to prepare ourselves to open our arms to people who are going to encounter Him. Please pray for those of us who are coordinating things on a citywide level, that we will follow God and the ways He is opening for us. And please pray for YWAM York as we transition across the city, that we will complete the work God has for us where we are and that we will step into the right things that He has coming! 

On a personal level, if you could pray for my health and healing, I would really appreciate it! I am also continuing to learn how to drive in the UK and looking into starting studies to pursue a graduate diploma in theology part-time, hopefully in autumn, so I am looking in how to finance that dream that I’ve had for a while, which I feel God leading me into now. Buying a car and studying both cost money, but I recognise that they are both necessary if I am going to step into the more that God has for me and for my ministry in York! 

And as ever, if you have any questions or want to chat, please email me at deborahestevenson@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!

Investing in the Future

The past few weeks have been all about investing in the next generations. I am not old by a long shot, but God has been speaking to me about how I pour into the generation coming after me - Generation Z and the unnamed generation below them - as I grow and step into new roles. This summer I attended four Christian festivals, three of which were aimed at youth and young people. I heard what God has been speaking over these generations: they care deeply about justice. They are prone to suffering from poor mental health. They value authenticity and have open minds, but at the same time, they struggle massively with forgiveness when those who they look up to fail them. 

Yvonne, Renee and I - YWAM York!

This summer and autumn, I have also stepped back into youth work. It started last year, when I began praying for good leaders to take over youth work for my church, York Community Church. I believe that you have to be willing to be the answer to your own prayers, so when I was asked to consider co-leading the older girls’ group, I already knew that the answer was yes. So now my friends Eliza and Lucy and I meet together weekly with the 14-17 year old girls that are attached to YCC’s youth work. We eat tea together (dinner for you Americans!), worship, pray for each other and study 1 John. Some of the conclusions the girls have drawn from 1 John have surprised me! They are good at pulling out over-arching themes and applying it to other stories that they know from the Bible.

Baking with uni students

As a team, we have also been opening our house to university students on Wednesday nights. After speaking with several of them at Sixty One, the young adult festival run by Fusion and New Wine, I realised that they need a safe place to come where they know that they can ask questions and find support. So we open our house, and sometimes they come just to drink tea, or to bake, or to listen to records, or to just be. It’s been a slow start, but it is a privilege to be a safe place for them!

Yvonne and Renee in character at half term club!

We also just finished our first half term club of the school year! England has a week-long break off of school for every six weeks of term, which means that there are three half term breaks a year. We have held a club for every half term that we’ve been here (barring the ones during strict lockdowns), and while it was a slow start, we now have waiting lists and families who sign up for every club. Many of these children also come to our weekly kids’ club, so we’ve built strong relationships with them. This half term club, we had a safari theme, and Yvonne and Renee decorated The Barnabas Centre vacation Bible school-style and created characters who walked us through the week. The kids loved it, and we got to teach them about David and Goliath, the Good Samaritan, Moses, Aaron and Hur and manna from Heaven. The more that the kids come, the stronger a culture we can create, and this club, we saw them choosing to be generous and to prefer each other. It was beautiful!

Teaching at Holmsted Manor

If you know me, you know that children’s work is not my passion. I prefer working with young adults, which is why last week was one of my favourite weeks of the autumn. I was asked to speak on the DTS at Holmsted Manor, the YWAM base in the south of England. I went down for four days and taught on worship and intercession. We also had a worship night whilst I was there, and it was amazing to hear afterwards about the different things that God was doing across the room. Worship is an area God has worked on a lot in my life since coming to York, and it was a privilege to get to pass on everything that I have been learning. A phrase that I have been holding for a while is that of being a glorious footstool - allowing God to use me as a stepping stone for those who come after me. Passing on what He has given me is a good way to do that! 

Next month, we will take part in Big Green Heart training. Big Green Heart is a tool that takes forgiveness and healing teaching into schools. It has been developed by a friend of ours, and we are excited to be able to put it in our toolbox. I was also trained as a parenting course facilitator with Family Matters (a local Christian charity) this summer, and in early 2023, we hope to be able to put on a course that helps parents manage anger in their teens. Please pray for us as we equip ourselves to serve local youth and our community as best as we can!

This coming Friday, 4th of November, is Hope for the City, a city-wide prayer event with One Voice York, the church unity movement with which I am involved. We are meeting together as the greater York church to pray for the social action projects that the churches of York have come together to create. We will also be praying into city-wide Gospel sharing - an area that Renee and I have been meeting with other pastors and church workers to pray about for several months now! We will be introducing city-wide Alpha, which I get to head up with one of my friends who pastors a local church!

The Barnabas Centre, our community centre!

God is doing a lot here in York. We are very thankful to see Him open doors and direct us where to go. We had a difficult time with housing this autumn, and that means that we are staying in the same house we’ve been in. We are working on sorting out our governance and some other loose ends with the charity as well, and I would appreciate prayers in that area. I am seeking advice and help, but these are still areas that I am no expert in. I do feel the weight of them. And please also pray for God’s protection over all of me: mind, body, emotions, spirit, as we walk through these difficult things! I love that God has called me to this life of missions, but it does have a cost! There have been some rough aspects to this transition to York (which I am happy to discuss over email), but I am very thankful for the family of believers that God has put around me here to support me through it. And I am very thankful for all of your prayers that come so faithfully.

To end on a happy note: thank you to everybody who contributed to my new computer. My old one died abruptly earlier this week (and would have cost several hundred pounds to repair), but thanks to all of your generosity, I was able to buy a new one. Now I can carry on with preparing for the Hope for the City event and all of the other admin/communications work that I didn’t realise came with running a charity!

Thank you for your prayers and your constant support. It is a privilege to be able to see God’s kingdom come in York!