Partners’ Newsletter Summer 2020
Director Writes A few months ago, just before we moved our office to Roundhill Centre, my brother Neil Joyce (Electrician) took some pictures from the hill looking over the building across Southdown and towards the city. I knew that the double rainbow image he captured was meaningful as a symbol of God’s promise to us and was a confirmation that we had made the right move. Now, in the midst of the coronavirus situation, the rainbow is even more meaningful. I believe it to be a declaration of God’s promises to us and a confirmation that He knew we were about to face a real storm. Although different in form and shape to the storm Noah faced in the book of Genesis, it is nonetheless a challenge to us all. In Genesis 8:15 we read: Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives”. Noah was full of faith and trusted God as he committed to God’s very specific plan building the ark and gathering the animals.
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The flood lasted for 150 days (about 5 months) and throughout that time Noah remained faithful to God, although I am sure there were times of worry, anxiety, and panic. Over the last few weeks, we have encountered young people who are worried and anxious. We have encouraged them to look to God and to use this time to build a relationship with Him, built on a firm foundation. At Bath Youth for Christ we believe that a time will come when life will go back to normal and we will be able to move about society as we did before. However, we also believe that ‘normal’ will look different. We believe that more people will be looking for hope and belonging to something more………. That more is Jesus! So, could this be the beginning of a new and exciting time in history? I am sure God has a plan, which will be revealed in the coming months. Dave Joyce
Supporting young girls in Oldfield School For several years, we have had the privilege of running the ‘Shine’ course for girls in secondary schools in Bath. Earlier in the year we were invited into Oldfield School to run the sessions for the first time. Here, Sam Packer recalls her experience Gaynor Williams from the Pastoral Department at Oldfield School had been in contact about running Shine with some Year 7 & 8 girls, so I turned up after February half term, not knowing what to expect. The last time I had been there, probably about 20 years ago, it was a girls’ school. We met in the Library and the first teacher I met was someone who had taught my children English at St Mark’s. The girls came in, some loud & noisy and some quiet & timid. We managed four out of the six sessions before CV-19 called a halt to schools’ work.
In that time, we discussed self-image, decision making, appreciating their bodies & how they are made. I have lost count of the number of Shine courses I have run but each time the sessions develop differently depending on how the girls answer and think about the subjects discussed. It was great to spend time with the girls & get to know their personalities, some chatted non-stop and some needed quite a bit of persuading to join in. The favourite session, of course, was decorating Gingerbread Men. The old saying “less is more” meant nothing & they piled the biscuits high with sugary decorations. I shall miss my Monday mornings with them & hope we can meet again to finish our sessions.
A new city-wide initiative Early in February this year a group of young people from 7 youth groups in Bath gathered to worship together under the umbrella of UNITED. This inter-church group of Youth Ministries seeks to support each other to encourage and disciple young people, bringing them together to provide a forum to worship Jesus. The initiative has continued as an online presence during the lockdown with multiple posts in a week featuring some of our own content and sharing content from other Youth Groups.
Facebook: United Youth www.facebook.com/United-Youth100652638294380/?modal=admin_todo_ tour If you want to find out any more information or fancy getting involved with UNITED, please email Eden@BathYFC.co.uk.
We’re still growing and want to reach a wider audience, so please follow us on: Instagram: @UnitedYouthBath www.instagram.com/unitedyouthbath/ Our next live streams will be Friday 29th May and Friday 26th June. YouTube: United Youth www.youtube.com/channel/ UCMXzBlPOsY9HoHSEWvuKMsA
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New opportunities in Peasedown We have recently appointed a new Senior Youth Worker in Peasedown St John. Here Chris Scorah introduces himself and tells us about his plans for this new project.
I am really thrilled to join the Bath Youth for Christ team. Prior to joining the charity, I had been in youth ministry in Warminster for around a decade, often connecting with the team at Wiltshire Youth for Christ. Knowing their work, it is a great privilege for me to be a part of the team developing the vision in Peasedown. We are partnered with ‘The Hive’, a management group put together by the local churches to take over the community centre in Peasedown. As a society, many of us live scattered working lives and the vision for the Hive is to be a place where the whole community can come together to engage in a multitude of positive activities, including a full youth work programme, much like a beehive. Our prayer is that young and older people alike, will form relationships with the church through the Hive and come to know our Lord Jesus. Partly due to present circumstances we have not yet been able to meet with young people, but a lot of hard work has been going on in the background. We feel God has spoken to us about ‘starting right’, so I have been busy praying, connecting with local people, listening to the community and making sure we have everything important in place to be able to hit the ground running. 4
The community centre is an amazing facility and we are thankful for the incredible provision of God. The Hive are providing the building for free on the proviso that we deliver 2 open access youth work sessions for 44 weeks of the year. The sports & arts facilities, a kitchen and large & small meeting spaces will provide so many opportunities for us. We have created a survey to hear from young people about what they would like to see in a youth club and are hoping for a large response. We also hope to partner with the local primary school to deliver a program of support.
Peasedown is a village with a lot of potential and great work is already going on. Going forward, please pray for us as we discern how best to use this facility. Please also pray that young people will be drawn to the Hive, where it can be a safe space and they can come to know God. I believe people are the best resource we can give young people, so pray for people filled with the Holy Spirit to join with us in the venture. “The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me— that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End.” – John 6:44-46 (MSG)
St Luke’s and College Eden Hunter, St Luke’s Youth Worker & Bath College Chaplain, shares some of his experience over the last 8 months. Prior to my appointment, St Luke’s Church had not run a youth ministry for 3 years, so I was starting from scratch. Now, 3 weekly events are up and running - Sunday Sessions, Thursday after-school Drop-in, and Fridaynight socials. My vision has been to empower the youth to grow in their own faith, so Sunday sessions aim to provide a safe space to explore questions and doubts about faith in a natural way. Secondary School Students in the area are encouraged to the Thursday session, and Friday evening socials are for all youth in the area as well as other church youth groups in Bath where mid-week gatherings are not feasible. I have made good connections with other Churches in the area and am developing connections with schools and will be helping to lead the Christian Union in Beechen Cliff School once it reopens. I am busier than ever during this lockdown, making weekly videos to keep my youth engaged. To find out more, see the Youth Website: www.stlukesbath.com/youth relaxed. I have also planned and led events surrounding faith-based celebrations and observances, such as Remembrance Day, Christmas Carol Service, and Holocaust Memorial Day. Currently, I have been writing thoughts of the week which are sent to staff and students, as well as contacting students on an individual basis. The Bath College element of my role is different but just as enjoyable. I have got involved with college life, helping with events, running tutorials, meeting in several small groups to discuss faith-related topics, weekly pastoral support sessions with individual students, as well as playing Ping-Pong with students at lunchtime! I have discovered that connections with students often happen during the downtimes when they are more
I appreciate the variety my job provides, especially the opportunity to operate in both Christian and secular settings. Although glad to be able to continue to work in the lockdown, I do love connecting with people, and so am very excited for the time when we are able to return to our ‘normal’ workspace!
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Prayer points for Bath May>
June>
• Pray for those children we work with who are especially anxious in these times of uncertainty. Please pray for the protection of vulnerable children and young people who are potentially at greater risk during the lockdown
• Thank God for the technology available that we can use to keep connected with young people and as a staff team
• Please pray for staff who are currently furloughed, that they will be able to use this time to reflect and connect with their families
• Pray for parents who find themselves juggling work and childcare, that they would find inner strength and resourcefulness.
• Pray for teachers & staff caring for the children of Key Workers
• Thank God for the encouraging response to Sam Ludwell’s adult online dance classes and for the great opportunity to connect with a new group of people in the Southdown area. Pray that this will continue to develop now and in the future.
• Thank God for the relationships made with the Y7 girls at Oldfield & St Mark’s through Shine
• Thank God for the creativity this current season brings
Text ‘Bathyfc’ to 70085 to give £10. This costs £10 plus std rate msg. Text ‘Bathyfcbible’ to 70085 to give £20 to give a bible to a local young person. This costs £20 plus a std rate msg. Visit https://bath.yfc.co.uk/donate to give monthly or a one-off donation
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July> • Thank God for the amazing opportunities for us to work in Peasedown. Please pray for Chris and the Hive partnership to discern how best to use the facility in the village. Please also pray that young people will be drawn to the Hive, where it can be a safe space and they can come to know God. Pray for people filled with the Holy Spirit to join with us in the venture
• Pray for Chris and the Hive management group in their decisions to be made about recruiting an additional worker for the project
August> • Pray for the Accompanying children who have left Primary School, that they will be able to prepare for their move to secondary school in September.
• Please pray for all our staff as they prepare for the next academic year. Pray for creativity to reach and support young people in new ways.
• Pray for continued financial security for the charity, an increase in giving and success of grant applications.
New ways to give
Help us to see more young people’s lives changed by Jesus text bathyfc to 70085 to donate £10. All texts are charged at £10 plus one message at your standard network rate (based on your service provider rates); the charge will show on your bill. You can also give via our website www.bathyfc.co.uk and press the Donate button at the top of the home page.
Staff Changes In this unprecedented time, we made the decision as a charity to furlough some members of the team. This choice was not made lightly and was well thought through with support from the Trustees. We are a small charity with limited funding, relying on some contractual youth and schools work funding. With closure of schools and other youth provision, we are unable to achieve some of our commitments. This decision will help to protect the long-term viability of the charity and ensure we are ready and
equipped to support young people in schools and youth work when lockdown is over. We continue to support and connect with young people through Zoom, social media and by telephone, and are still reliant on both church and individual giving. Thank you for your prayer and financial support at this time. As I said in the opening article there are great times ahead and God has an amazing plan for Bath Youth for Christ.
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Dance in lockdown With all the recent changes and obstacles in the world, you would think that dance lessons would have to take a break for a while, right?
Motus chill has continued via a messenger call, with us catching up over hot chocolate and a snack in our usual way.
Absolutely not! Here Sam Ludwell tells us about how she has adapted to deliver both Motus and the new adult dance classes in a ‘virtual’ world.
In the new year, after popular demand, I launched adult street dance lessons in Southdown and continue to have 10 - 15 people attending regularly! Some are old students, others are mums from breakfast club, a couple from St Barnabas Church and others who have attended Motus Dance Shows. These have been a lot of fun as well as an awesome workout! New dances and tutorials are posted regularly for this group, available for anyone to access. If you would like to learn some street dance during lockdown, send me a message on Facebook and I can add you to the group.
Choreographing and recording tutorials and uploading them online has had its challenges - it is not quite the same as having a room full of people and it is harder to predict which choreography will require more time for the dancers to grasp! However, the academy is still learning both mine and Freya’s dances and I have been setting them their own little challenges. Just prior to lockdown we created a Motus ‘tik toc’ for which the young people have been working on their videos. We are also playing ‘pass the choreography’, where one dancer chooses a song, creates 4 moves, passes it to the next person who then adds to it.
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Please do pray for our dancers as they face a lot of uncertainty with school, exams, grades and navigating their way through this current situation!
A new way of connecting Riverside Youth Club continues but looks slightly different in this unique time we are living in right now. Every Thursday evening, we meet from 7 to 8 pm on Zoom with both Bath Youth for Christ and Mentoring Plus staff. The Young People have been able to share how they are feeling in this challenging time with all the restrictions and uncertainty. We have been able to help them consider ways to use their time and how we can all keep positive and optimistic. The young people have also wanted to talk about the pandemic conspiracy theories circulating in the media.
We finish each session at 7.58pm ready for the NHS clap. Everyone has wanted to join in, and it has been a great way to end the evening as the young people realise the importance of our health service especially in the current global situation. Although the meeting can be slightly chaotic at times with everyone talking at the same time, the most important thing is we are still connected, and everyone is there for each other.
On a lighter note, we have talked about the new Disney channel, leading to a discussion about Star Wars, Marvel and some Disney classics like The Lion King. We have had lots of fun playing games, such as charades and Pictionary. The young people had the opportunity to draw any film, console games or TV series. and chose Minecraft, BFG and The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. They participated so well in this activity and there was a good sense of encouragement and togetherness. We have also had fun writing and joining in with a quiz. 9
Serving our local community The Southdown Breakfast club has been operating out of the YMCA Centre for some years now. Here one of our staff shares her experience. Moving our office to the Roundhill Centre in February, just up the road from my house, has given me the opportunity to take over the Tuesday breakfast club. Regrettably, I had only done a couple of sessions when we had to close due to Covid-19, but it was quickly becoming a highlight of my week. We normally see 25-30 kids and a handful of parents each session. The kids often make me chuckle, especially those who have a particular, yet unusual, flavour combination for their toast! Our volunteers are amazing. They made me feel very welcome and were really patient with me as I tried to get to grips with the best time to put toast on and how much hot chocolate powder was needed! We see the same kids at each session, and I look forward to being able to get to know them better when we start up again. I hope that breakfast club will help introduce Bath Youth for Christ and their projects to these kids and that we will be able to support them through their teenage years and see their lives flourish. and here one of our volunteers shares her experience I found out about the Bath Youth for Christ Breakfast Club a year ago, when my friend said she was volunteering in our extra week off school and invited me to come along. I loved it from the beginning, but we were in full time school, so could only volunteer once or twice a year. Now I am in sixth form breakfast club has become a part of my weekly routine, and it brightens my Thursdays so much. It is a break from the rigid life in Sixth form and gives me a chance to work with younger children and feel like I’m contributing to the community.
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This year we entered 10 runners in the Bath Half to raise funds for our Connect Mentoring project. Our runners were: John (chair of Trustees), Joe (married to Katie, our schools worker), Steve (Wilts Staff), Rach (married to Dan, Wilts staff), Aisha, Chloe, & Chard (ex-Motus dancers who now volunteer), Cashmir (Mexico 2019), Tom & Jordan. It was fantastic to have runners who have benefited from our projects and who wanted to give something back. It is fair to say there was a mix of ability and experience, but they were all committed to give it their best shot! As race day approached the Corona Virus was developing. We took the extremely difficult decision to pull out of the event to protect runners, staff and the wider community. However, our runners were not to be beaten! Some chose to run the race and others ran it virtually. Bath Half generously recognised the virtual runs and awarded the finishers t-shirts and medals. At the time of writing £2,230 has been pledged and we would like to say a massive thank you to our runners and all who supported them through sponsorship. We have loved supporting our runners and are planning on entering a team again next year. If you fancy giving it a go email lea@bathyfc.co.uk for a runners pack, we’d love to hear from you. In September Dave (Director) is running the London Marathon for Bath Youth for Christ and Genesis (a local homeless charity). If you are able to encourage him through sponsorship you can use the following link www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/david-joyceSAVMLMBONDS3332018-822125 All funds raised will help serve and support young people across Bath and the surrounding area.