Gavin, and Tony join the Aurora Gap year programme--hailing from Stoke on Trent, and Congleton they are kicking their year off with a 3 day residential to learn basic youth work skills followed by the 'To the Max' weekend.

Tom joins us on placement from Birmingham Christian College where he is doing a 'Future Builders' course in Children's Work & Theology. Tom will be working with Louise in Primary Schools.

 Sarah returns from maternity leave to take up the reins of Eavesdrop again & Jon Mills is now a full time team member having moved  from St James'  Audley. Jon will be co-ordinating the Aurora and Church Partnership programmes and looking after our IT and multimedia.

We will be supporting Bea & Ben on their gap year at the Bethel in Abbey Hulton; and Lucy as she starts a 3 year placement with Newcastle Baptist Church.

Rachel Roberts (who was an Aurora last year) is now a Church Partnership worker based at Hanley Elim Church & will also be working with us to update some of our media and publicity

Check out their profiles on the site to get to know more about them & see what they look like!

Cultivate was launched in March 2007, when over 50 youth leaders enjoyed meeting each other, inputting into the development of a local training programme and dipping into the chocolate fountain!

The next meeting is May 24^th; to make sure you get an invite, send us your details here.

As I pondered what on earth I could say that would introduce myself and call us to prayer for this next phase in the ministry at North Staffs YFC, I was struck by how like Cleopas and his friend many of the NSYFC crew must feel right now. (Luke 24: 13-35).

The two friends are discussing their 'unusual' weekend that began with the brutal execution of their spiritual mentor who was supposed to be the saviour of the world and concluded with the unsettling report that Jesus was actually alive again. As wonderful as this news was, it left them feeling a bit disturbed. If Jesus was really alive, where was he? If he had been resurrected, why was Israel still under Roman oppression? Did this mean that everything had gone pear-shaped, and where did that leave them in the midst of all the uncertainty?

What these disciples faced was the transition from where they had been to where they were going. From what was expected, familiar and safe to new understandings, new experiences and a whole new way of living.

And that is what we are experiencing here - in our passion to engage, win, mobilise and release the young people of North Staffs, our life is a combination of the predictable and the unpredictable, the familiar, the new and the odd!

I believe that how we respond to the new phase of ministry to young people that God is leading us into here at NSYFC, and how we manage this period of transition will be the difference between a meaningful future - seeing young lives changed, staff resourced & challenged, and new opportunities opening up before us, and a meaningless future, - change tests us, challenges us and forges the character of our faith.

In his book "Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes," William Bridges identifies three stages of transition--endings, beginnings and a 'zone' in between. Life is a flux between endings and beginnings, loss and new opportunities. That's where we are: experiencing the changes, excited about the future, processing the past.

Loss and transition are always difficult. In the midst of the 'zone', it is only natural to sometimes find ourselves longing for what was, the comfortable, the familiar. Even so, if there is to be any growth for our souls, we must embrace the change that God has led us into, with all of its questions and uncertainties and find our way through.

Our changes at North Staffs YFC did not catch God by surprise, He planned this, and faithfully we have followed, and we know that He will continue to guide, encourage, and envision us for the future.

This time of change leaves me believing that we are standing on the edge of something very new and exciting in the ministry at North Staffs YFC. God has led us into this season of change - which isn't over yet - and I for one am excited about what He has for us around the next corner. I see the hand of God at work in so many places at the moment and I am excited about the opportunity to join in with what He is doing!

Thank you for your support in the work so far - prayerful, personal, and financial - you have been part of building the legacy that I have inherited here - please continue to be part of our journey!

Please Pray for us as we reflect on the journey so far and seek our pace in what is to come. Please pray that God would open up new ways of serving the young people of this area, new opportunities to make God known and new resources to enable this to happen.

Please Pray for me - that I will be faithful in releasing the team into the next stage of ministry - that God would take our excitement and use it for His glory.

Please Pray for us as a team that as we grow and learn through this period of change, we will continue to keep our eyes on the Changeless One - that we will go with the flow of the Spirit and follow God into this exciting, daunting, inspiring, energising, scary time in the ministry here.

When you think about it, it's the stuff of life!

We have now been offered another challenge to meet in the resignation of our pioneer-founder and Director. Johnny has offered his resignation to the Executive and Trustees of nsYFC.

He has heard and seeks to respond to a clear and distinct call to move into the next phase in his journey beyond nsYFC. With much prayer and discussion, the Exec and Trustees want to support Johnny and his family in honouring this call. Knowing the passion Johnny has for local church and its health and growth, it will come as little surprise to many who know Johnny. I am sure that all who know him will want to join with the Exec and Trustees in prayerful support and encouragement in all that lies before him and his family.

That brings us to the not insubstantial task of how to move forward at nsYFC. Every challenge brings with it an opportunity and this challenge is no exception. The heart of the challenge before us is to ensure that this thriving and challenging ministry, so lovingly crafted and nurtured, is not allowed to come to nothing. The opportunity is to see it grow into a new and even more effective ministry.

The trailer for a recent TV documentary says of a local church leader that "... he'd have an easier time plaiting fog than getting kids into church". We have good evidence in nsYFC and its work and ministry to show that does not have to be true. To see young lives changed for ever, to see young people coming to know Jesus, to see them become young adults as mature Christians with their faith secure; that is what we are about.

All here at North Staffs Youth for Christ will value your prayerful support for us during this transition into the future that lies before us. It is our desire that the ministry so lovingly brought to where it is today becomes a lasting legacy, and that we don't have to learn how to plait fog first.

We would particularly value your prayerful input in these matters:

• the detailed undertaking of a focussed consultation in the remainder of this month,
• the next Exec & Trustees meeting on 30th November,
• the planning and consideration of appropriate staffing for the coming years,
• the wisdom and goodness of God in the leading and direction for the whole Douglas household.

Please don't hesitate to direct to comments, prayerful reflection or questions to us at nsYFC (all@northstaffsYFC.co.uk) to myself personally (roger@fairhead.org) or by contact in other ways. With much love and heartfelt thanks for your support during this transition.