Faith Day: A Chat with Amir

One day on our Newcastle outreach, four trainees were taken into Newcastle on a 'faith day' -- they had no idea about it until they got into town. It was there, in city centre, that they learned for the next 12 hours, they were to trust and rely on God to provide not only food and/or shelter, but ministry opportunities and chances to step out in faith. With this in mind, I'm honoured to introduce Amir to you -- one of our team members from Egypt who has blessed England with his obedience and passion for all things involving God, love and football. 

Amir began: "My experience in Newcastle was so good! I wish we could've spent more time there. My main highlight was the faith day... the staff didn't tell us about the faith day, we were just told about it that morning. It was cold, but good. It's a day that you don't have money or food for 12 hours - you just trust that God will provide. But the day is not about finding food or a place to sleep, it's about listening to God and blessing people. My group prayed and went over the river and while praying, I felt like God was asking me to go talk to the manager of the Hilton hotel. So I did. We were all so encouraged by our conversation there and they were encouraged as well. I explained all about our faith and YWAM -- talked about how we were people who simply heard the word of God and wanted to obey! The manager loved that it was about our obedience to God and understood we weren't simply searching for food -- we were offered tea and coffee!"

We spread out later in the town to have certain conversations. I sat on a bench with a guy and talked about God and church with him -- he asked me what I was doing in Newcastle and I explained to him my faith and he was so impressed by what we were doing and how serious we were about our faith. In the end, he asked if he could give us money at the end of the conversation but he was so encouraged and was interested in visiting church. Our main conclusion was that when we tried to find food, we could not, but when we focused on what God wanted us to do, God provided for us. We were reminded that our main goal was not about providing for ourselves, our focus was to bless and listen to God in all circumstances."

In the evening, we had a city-centre wide prayer walk and Mitch ended up in the Grainger market while we were watching a football match in town centre. In the market, Mitch had some conversations and got to talk about his faith to some of the vendors there -- Mitch came out of the market with £4 worth of curry out to feed the team for dinner. We thought it was incredible, so we decided to go back and thank the man in the market for the food but when we did, the man said, 'Wait, wait - let me give you more, let me give you more!' We got three more boxes of curry! It was so good! God provided all day and we were so blessed by taking steps of faith. We're here for more than food and water - we're here to bless. Jesus focused on his ministry and on God in all situations... so yeah, I think it was such a good day. It stretched my faith."

The last question Amir was asked was about how outreach has impacted him greatest. He was quick to reply: "I think I learned a lot about stepping out and having initiative to go out and speak to people. I'm introverted and aren't used to a Western, closed society but I've learnt well how to hear God speak. When he says, "Go and talk to this person" I need just to obey - this is my role. God cares about these people. This is the one thing that I have been challenged most in. I don't have to care about my image, I just have to talk about God and why I do care and why I do love as well."

A Chat with Sharen

Sharen, one of our incredible trainees from India, has been an absolute honour to have on the Newcastle/Manchester outreach. Sharen has been involved in leading worship, leading outreach days, renovating houses, doing club outreaches, sharing testimonies in youth groups and church services and so much more. We had a moment to reflect on all that God's done in Sharen's life and through her the other night and Sharen got to talk a bit about what growth she's seen in herself.

One of the areas she's most excited about is her new-found confidence in English culture. "Before DTS," Sharen says, "I was very bold in my place [India] but when I came to England, I became very nervous around people and was not very confident. This outreach has helped me to reach that confidence in myself and also in sharing my testimony, praying in English and doing evangelism."

"My favourite part of outreach is our team time. During one team time, we shared ways we wanted to challenge ourselves and I was so shocked."


During the first week of outreach, all of the team was asked in what way they wanted to be challenged. Sharen's challenge was to pray in English and to give her testimony in English. A few weeks later, we looked back on the challenges and the entire team applauded when realising Sharen had inherently met her challenge tenfold! It was in this moment our team realised we needed to set new challenges. Sharen rose to the occasion: "I told to the group that I wanted to share the gospel with one person... and the same night, we went to one place [The Globe International Student Café] and I shared the gospel with one person! I didn't even expect it to happen!" 

Sharen also was happy to report about how her times with God have changed during outreach.

"My relationship with God has grown a lot... a lot of the times I thought God was silent, but I learned that God was simply talking to me in new ways. I feel like God has used me in many ways in these two months, in ways sometimes I can't see but now I understand."

Newcastle: A Chat with Vianney Reyes

This is Vianney Reyes -- our team's representing Honduran and one of the three amazing girls we've had the privilege spending outreach with. No lies, it's been a long time since this blog has been updated... so long now that this update comes from our team's outreach to the northern city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne! Vianney had the chance last night to answer a few questions about how Newcastle impacted her and how she impacted it!

"We spent two weeks in Newcastle," she explains, "and our main focus was just blessing the city. We worked a lot with YWAM Newcastle and Westgate Baptist Church, a church that we were blessed to stay at. We helped at the church with various events they had and their ministries, helping out in worship and in Sunday School and their Jubilee party. Outside of the church, we were part of an International students cafe called 'The Globe' and we helped set up, got to know other international students and talk to them. We also volunteered 10 hours at the 'Green Festival' -- it was to create environmental awareness, consume organic products, support locally grown items and make your carbon print less evident in Newcastle. We volunteered there stewarding -- carrying stuff, litter pick, tear down, setting things up, helping out wherever they needed help. We also did a project called 'Space Invaders' which helps young people in Gateshead who have designing/creative talent by giving them the freedom of decorating and renovating a house."

after a day stripping wallpaper at 'Space Invaders'

"My favourite part of the outreach was interacting with people, especially at the Globe Café. It was incredible to get to know people eager to meet other people from around the world and learn more about other cultures. It was a great opportunity to know people -- their thoughts, concerns, their faith, and Jesus. We got to know them as people without forcing our faith on them and were able to establish relationships first."

When asked about what's impacted her the most, she immediately answered, "my relationship with God and my trust in Him has been strengthened so much in this time. I went through a lot of trials but they helped me grow in that confidence that I can trust and rely on Him." 


Our half-team of seven spent two weeks in Newcastle from June 2nd - June 16th. During this time, the other team of five spent two weeks in Manchester -- more on that to come! 

Manchester: A Chat with Mitch Bruneski

Meet Mitch Bruneski -- one of our Manchester & Newcastle outreach team members! I got the chance to meet up with Mitch between some of our ministry times to ask him about our outreach and have him explain what sort of ministries we've been involved in here in Manchester.

"The first day, we went to Leeds," he began, "we led worship with a Portuguese-speaking church there. I got to give my testimony at another Portuguese-speaking church in Manchester the next day. We've been involved this week in lots of football ministry, many prayer walks, and a full English breakfast for a community in Manchester. It was great to get a chance to know the community and then pray for them and their needs."

A lot of our work in our first week happened in a student-dominated community name Fallowfield. Mitch continued: "We helped host a football tournament for university students as well and were able to give a summary to them what the church is really all about. The same evening, we did a prayer walk, handed out tonnes of energy drinks to the students and did some prayer questionnaires with people in the area."

"I was involved in the prayer walk and that was the most powerful thing I've experienced so far. We did a big circle around the university campus and we prayed powerfully against the work that the enemy was doing. My prayer life has completely changed since the beginning of this school -- I felt at first that I wasn't really making an impact by praying. I've learnt that whatever happens in the physical must first take place in the spiritual realm. Before, I thought praying was just praying and I thought that my words couldn't possibly make a difference but I've learnt that I'm taking back authority with my prayers and now I have a whole new understanding of how the spiritual world works and how it will always affect the physical. I realise we made a huge impact on this community whether or not I got to see it immediately."

"God gave me a picture that led me to these two cities," the young Canadian explained. "I saw three distinct lights flickering on a silhouetted map of the United Kingdom, each in different locations. I learned later that these three locations were Newcastle, Manchester and London! I got this picture before we knew which cities we were going to on outreach, so when it was announced that Newcastle and Manchester were going to be the same outreach, I knew God was calling me there."

When asked what supporters could pray for during our time here, Mitch asked "that ministry doors would be opened and that the team would be able to remain healthy."

10 Days in Cardiff

On May 1st, the entirety of our DTS (35 in all) got on a bus and travelled to Cardiff, Wales. Wales is one of the countries in the United Kingdom and Cardiff is its capitol city -- a metropolitan area of around 800,000 people. Our first ten days of outreach were spent here, partnering with a massive youth event called Ignite Hope 2012. Ignite Hope has an annual aim to "[raise] up a generation of young people who are sold out for the gospel and ready to step out into South Wales to see a difference made in the lives of individuals, streets and communities."

The bulk of our time was spent setting up and setting down the event site. We had a large section of the city's main park to build the event on, but it was much too muddy to get any work done for the first little while -- wheel-barrowing wood chips and sand to help absorb the wet ground dominated the many hours of our work days. Ultimately though, we were able to set up a number of bouncy castles, three trampolines, three large café marquees, an outdoor stage and an absolutely gargantuan central marquee that housed our nightly worship/teaching sessions during the event. 

Our outreach team members had plenty of roles during the event itself: doing gate security, facilitating the fun (bouncy castles, football cages), being part of the prayer team during sessions, performing on the outdoor stage, going with the youth to daytime outreaches, providing meals (1000+ sandwiches made!) and more. The flurry of activity was made all the more exciting when we found out that over one hundred young people dedicated their lives to Christ during the long weekend event. Wow. 

It was a privilege to be involved with the Ignite guys to help get the event going. The set-up was fantastically practical, the event itself was spiritually inspiring and the set down was unavoidably muddy -- all of it was a joy to be a part of. Special thanks to the Desperation Leadership Academy guys from Colorado Springs for coming alongside our team and getting the big tents up! 

We spent 10 days in Cardiff total -- on May 10th, our team of 35 split up and dispersed all across the UK. Right now (in this very instant), we're serving in Coventry, Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester... more on those last two cities to come!

thanks to Bronwyn Fairchild and Katie Decker for the photos

Welcome!

Welcome to the Newcastle + Manchester outreach blog! We're glad you've found your way here -- whether you're family, friend or an internet-meandering YWAMer, this blog is for you. While we're serving and loving communities up here in the north of England, we want you - as parents, supporters and loved ones - to know what we're getting up to! It's our way of keeping in touch during this undoubtedly busy season. 

The two cities we are serving/living in are Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Manchester, both located in the northern half of England. At the moment, 7 of us are in Manchester (Mitch, Vianney, Sharen, Amir, Caleb, Kellie and Tom) and 5 of us are in Newcastle (Jordan, Yannick, Nicola, Phil and Josiah). We will be separated like this until the 5 team-members in Newcastle return to us in Manchester on May 26th. 

We've only just begun this outreach and are excited to keep you updated on our adventures. Please tune in often or send this page to people you think might find this helpful!