a little celebration

 I have just a very brief update because I wanted to share that tonight, I met with a friend (who I mentioned in the last post - the one that I took a walk with) that I made last winter. She was not Christian, but ended up being very open to hearing about things of God. We have met up consistently since then, and she has come to different barbecues and social events at my house. It's been so nice to integrate her into my other friendships. 

Tonight, I gave her a Gospel of Mark and we talked about how Christianity is different to other religions because it isn't completely individualistic - it's about loving and caring for other people, as well. We read the bit in Mark when Jesus encounters the rich young man who he tells to sell his possessions - it says, "And Jesus loved him." We marvelled at this Jesus who loves us so much that he'll tell us the hard truths that are best for us. We saw that it is love to be spoken to in such a way and to be offered a different path to what the world offers us.

And in the course of the conversation, my friend said that she follows Jesus. We spoke about how I can hear God speak today and what it means to have the Holy Spirit among us. I love walking this journey with her and hearing the way she grows to love Jesus more and more. It hasn't been a one-time decision - she is walking closer and closer to him, and now, by her own admission and the evidence in her life, she is following him.

And we are rejoicing. Hallelujah. 

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!

Theology School

 I have applied to theology school! 

I always knew that I wanted to do further studies at some point after I finished my bachelor’s degree, because I love learning, but it wasn’t until the past few years that I realised that I would value the opportunity to study theology. I researched different programmes that allow the study of theology alongside a full-time job, and whilst at many different Christian festivals serving YWAM last year, I spoke to different schools. I landed on Westminster Theological Centre (where my friend Vanessa happens to attend), which does a hub model, meaning that you travel to one of the hubs once a week for an evening of study. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a hub near me. I decided that, if WTC ever came to York, I would look into getting a graduate diploma with them.

Fast forward ten months, and WTC is opening a hub in York in September! It has just become official this month, and I have already completed my application!

I have spoken with my YWAM elder about it, and we agree that, after living a difficult time in the London team and being taught a lot of things that weren’t helpful, it would be good for me to have a solid basis of theology. It might even provide some healing! 

In addition to that, in my role as a YWAM location leader, I am frequently asked to teach other groups of people, whether through churches, universities, youth groups, or other YWAM teams. I enjoy being able to teach, but I am also aware that James wrote that teachers would be judged more severely. I want to make sure that I am teaching what is Biblically sound, and not just what makes sense to me. I also want to empower people to be able to study God’s Word for themselves, so that they can read it and decide what they believe. If we don’t teach people in this way, they will believe whatever others tell them is true!

The course I am going to do is a two year graduate diploma in Church Planting and Leadership (A graduate diploma is the next step if you have a bachelor’s degree that isn’t in theology. After I have a graduate diploma, I can do a two year master’s degree). I attended a taster lecture last night on servant leadership, and I learnt so much through that half hour! Whilst I am a little bit nervous to write essays again, especially because they are marked differently here to in the States (you are allowed to write in first person! What????), I am also excited, because even the essay topics are geared towards helping you think about your current ministry and how the study of theology applies. The school also holds two residentials a year, where all of the students come together for four or five days to do teaching in-person. The days begin and end with prayer and worship as a whole school. The lectures are begun with prayer, and from the residential day that I attended last year, I can tell that the lecturers take time to speak about what they sense God leading them to say in the moment. It is amazing to see a theology programme where God and His Word are living and active! 

This course will take one night a week for two years, as well as the two residential study weeks in September and January. I will re-structure my weekly rhythm so that I have a day a week to study and write essays, so that I can do both studying and missions. 

While I am very excited, I do have one final hurdle: the finances. I need £4250 a year for this course. I have begun teaching singing lessons and photographing more clients alongside my regular, full-time missions work, but that won’t bring me nearly all of the £4,250. So if you would like to support my theology course, I would be very grateful. For Americans, you can still send money through the YWAM base in Tyler, Texas. 

For Brits, you can bank transfer me and put a note that it’s for WTC. My bank details are: 

D E Stevenson

20-96-55

83047881

For Americans, there are several ways that you can support me:

1. Send money using Paypal.com to deborahestevenson@gmail.com (it goes directly to my personal bank account - there is no tax receipt for this.)

1. If you are in the States, you may also contact susancookstevenson@gmail.com, since my mother is a co-signer on my bank account and helps me conduct my finances State-side.She can help you use the apps Xoom (a Paypal method of sending money to my bank account) or Zelle to transfer money to my Bank of America account. She can also tell you how to support me via YWAM Tyler in Texas, from whom you may receive a tax receipt. 

1. If you are in the States, you can also give cash or a check to my parents or grandparents. 

1. Mail a check made out to Deborah Stevenson to: 

Susan Stevenson

49 Belle Gate Court

Pooler, GA 31322

Thank you so much for all of your prayer, and as ever, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to email me at deborahestevenson@gmail.com if you would like to talk! I also have WhatsApp, which I will give you via email!

Deborah

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!

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!