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!

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!

Follow Up

 Hello!

Sorry for the long gap between updates!

The last few months have been full of challenges and growth for both me and for YWAM York. We have established local ministry more solidly in our community through weekly kids club and youth nights, as well as through Easter activities and a holiday club. Our relationships in our neighbourhood are going deeper, and we love getting to know our community better. We especially love our deepening relationships with our youth, who have started to let us into their lives more. In our most recent holiday club, we talked about heroes in the Bible, and several of the children initiated conversations about Jesus and God. It is amazing to get to be a part of those moments of discovery with them! 

We also saw somebody come to Christ on a recent evangelism that we did with a Brazilian DTS team that was visiting York, and a time of Easter evangelism, a Chinese man met Christ! In our unchurched nation, these are victories that we celebrate! 

However, there are also internal challenges that we are facing. Our team has gone down to three members now - Raya left at the end of June after praying and feeling that it was time for her to return to the States. Her departure was not due to anything in YWAM York or in our relationship with her, and we miss her! We are learning to do life as a three and not a four. We are also now splitting our rent and other costs between three instead of four, so we are trusting even more for God to show up every month!

The first weekend of July, we hosted a retreat for all of the bases of YWAM North England. Before you get too impressed, I should say that there are only four bases, and that each team has around 3 members on it (give or take a few for children!). We came together to pray, share vision and to get to know each other. We are already planning activities that we can do together, which are much easier to run with 12 people than with three! It's also nice to have nearby support from our YWAM family. During the retreat, somebody prayed that we would receive money from an anonymous businessman to help with the upkeep of our community centre. I decided that I would really trust God to come through in this way, instead of just agreeing with the prayer and keeping going. This prayer was prayed on 2 July. Three days later, we received a thin envelope through the post at the base. I opened it, and there was a cheque to YWAM York for £1,000 from an anonymous person, dated 2 July! To be honest, I was not surprised; when I saw the envelope, I knew there was a cheque. But it was tangible confirmation from God that He will provide for us in these next months! He is already providing for our building in the face of increased energy costs and maintenance issues!

We are also taking part in several festivals this summer. English people love a festival - the not terrible weather really encourages them to get out their tents and brave the rain in order to be all together. I will be at a total of four festivals this summer - three of them camping! This past weekend, Renee and I were at Cedarwood, a festival for northeastern churches. We represented YWAM England, and we even got to pray with some of the children and the youth who came to visit our YWAM England stand! 

In a few weeks' time, I head to SixtyOne, which is a festival for Christian young people. I have the privilege of creating the artwork for the venue (a massive shed that fits 1,000 people). This intersection of two of my passions - art and students - has me very excited! Some of the students that I know will also be at the event. I can't wait to see students from across the UK awakened for Jesus! 

A few days after arriving home from SixtyOne, I will head back to the same location for Satellites, a youth festival. I will both be representing YWAM England at the YWAM England stand and helping out with the youth from my church! I am so excited to be able to be there as they encounter God in a festival setting - something that hasn't been possible since 2019. 

Festivals are the time youth and young people generally make big decisions for God, decisions which we then get to walk out with them throughout the year. Could you pray for our youth and young people to feel encouraged to take those steps at the festivals this summer, and for us to be able to support them, not just in the coming weeks, but throughout the year? It takes enormous courage to be a Christian young person in England - there aren't so many of them, so just being Christian is a bold move. But they are also the ones who will reach their generation - it is a privilege to be able to walk with them as they influence their generation!

Could you also pray for YWAM York? Renee, Yvonne and I are doing well, and we want to grow in our communication and to create a healthy, good culture for anybody else who decides to come with us. We are spending time over the next few weeks to ask God how He wants us to move ahead in different areas of both our ministry and our community, and we are re-structuring accordingly. We want to be a YWAM base that moves in God's best way for us, that loves God and loves people well!

If you'd like to receive our team newsletter, which will be going out soon, send me an email at deborahestevenson@gmail.com, and I will sign you up for it!

Receive to Give

Last year, when we were praying together about what God had for our base, we felt that we were going to be a base of hospitality and generosity. Those are big concepts for a small team, but we know that York is the third most touristic city in the UK and that we are equipped with an amazing building and a beautiful home, so we have the resources that we need to live those two words out. But it can be challenging to live that out when financial resources are running low, or when you are hosting an outreach team of 12 and three of your four team members are still having to self-isolate after coming back from the States. 

That was the specific circumstance that I found myself in last week (if you couldn’t tell already). But whilst praying for the YWAM Urban Key London (the base where I did my training a decade ago!) outreach team, I felt like God really wanted to pour into them as they poured into our city. As the York team, we had also been asking God to show us new ways to be generous and hospitable this year. So the girls held down the fort with doing our mountains of admin work at home, and I got to be with the London outreach team and show them our city. 

The London outreach team came with a heart to serve. From the first day that they were in York, they prayed for ways to bless the city. They joined in our day of evangelism with The Belfrey church, even though it was a balmy 0 degrees outside. They helped us host our youth nights (vital since we were down 3 people), joined our weekly evangelism, and prayer walked the city with us. And in between our activities, they also served a local church and did prayer walks and practical work of their own. It is so beautiful to see people come with a heart to bless your city, and I think that we were all amazed by their willingness to serve York.

But for me, the most beautiful part was the way that the church of York reached out to the team. I have been a YWAMer for a decade; I know that it is our heart as YWAM to serve and to bless the nations, so I expected that of the team. But what we do not often see is the local church pouring back into a team. And this week, without me even asking or orchestrating it, that happened. Our local church, York Community Church, welcomed the team to various activities and took time to pray for them and to give them lifts home. Our friend Vanessa organised a worship night for the team, and the House of Prayer brought their team over to join in and to minister to and with the outreach team. Our pastor, Simon, prayed for the team at numerous activities and got to know them. Our neighbours, Ruth and David, showed up to the base many times with blankets, heaters and more to make sure that the team was taken care of and helped lead the first prayer walk. Our worship night carried on even after it had officially ended, because the outreach team and the Yorkies were praying and talking to each other, and they were enjoying being together too much to go home, even though it was late. 

I think what amazes me the most about this is the way that God orchestrated it all without us. We had a lack of manpower, but we still had the heart to host the team well. What we couldn’t do ourselves, God did. He brought together a team that had a heart to serve the city and the people of the city who were so grateful to receive a team. It was bigger than us as YWAM York - it was the body of Christ mutually loving each other and pouring into a place together. I’ve been reading a lot about that mutual love and how it will show people Christ (John 15). And over the past two weeks, God has been teaching me about it by letting me see it in practice. Now we will go back to being a team of four, but the way God has moved will continue to affect this city for time to come. He is so good. 

Christmas Outreach

 It is early in the morning here in York, and we are in the throes of a double pronged Christmas outreach (meaning that every day, we are reaching both the city at large through evangelism and our local community through specific community events), but I wanted to take a moment to share what we are doing!

Every week, we as a team have committed to do evangelism outside of the Minster (the Cathedral in York) and the Belfrey (the smaller Anglican church that is next to the Minster). Local churches know that we are there, and they occasionally come along to join us as we reach our city. For our Christmas outreach this year, we decided to do evangelism in front of the Belfrey every day and to invite all of the churches that we know along. On Wednesday, at One Voice, the pastors' unity meeting that we attend weekly, they commissioned us to go and reach our city this week. Several of the pastors and ministry leaders have also signed up to come along and join us over these days. 

Yesterday was our first afternoon out. The sun sets around 3:30 pm these days (that's how far north we are!), so we finish as the sun is setting. We have live music, carols, dance, testimonies and of course bubbles on hand to engage the throngs of tourists that have descended on York to visit the famous Christmas market. Whilst Laura, a local university student that I've had the pleasure of getting to know, played Christmas carols on the bazouki (an Irish folk instrument), I got to speak to several people, including a Chinese student who is studying in Leeds, the biggest city near us. She had gone into the Minster and encountered the Apocalypse Window, which recounts the stories of Revelation. 

Whilst talking to her, I had the privilege of being the first person to explain Jesus to her. I got to explain why Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter and what that means. Then we walked into the Belfrey, where I gave her a Gospel of Luke and told her a bit more about Jesus. I returned outside to continue the evangelism, and when she came out 45 minutes later, she told me that she'd already read about a quarter of Luke and that she would finish it at home. She has since messaged me on Instagram, indicating that she'd like to meet again.

It is amazing to me that God orchestrated it so that she went into the Minster, encountered stories of Jesus, and that I got to meet her afterwards to explain who He is. It can be difficult to explain Jesus to people who have no concept of Him, but it is also so good to remember why I love Him and how extraordinary faith is! It was even better to be able to give her a Bible, something that she doesn't have access to in her nation. We have been praying for weeks for the conversations that we will have over these next few days, that God would send us people who are ready to find out who He is!

Tonight we are hosting our community Christmas party in the Barnabas Centre. We have Covid precautions in place, but as the government is warning people off of meeting, we are praying that God still sends the right people to our party, and that they encounter love, community and God in our building. We are also praying for no Covid to be in that place, as the girls are meant to travel to their families next week and my parents are travelling here. 

Would you join us in praying for the people that we meet during this Christmas outreach? We want to see people meet Jesus and come to faith. We want to see the lonely caught up in family and the joy of Jesus fill our streets. And most of all, we want God to be glorified in York this Christmas season!