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!
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!
