Exciting times in North Wales
On Tuesday I woke up at stupid o’clock to travel up to North Wales for what would prove to be a very exciting day…
1. PORTER’S BISTRO
First up was a breakfast meeting at the wonderful Porters Bistro with local church leaders to discuss the trafficking / slavery situation in North Wales and how the churches of the North can work together to combat it. It was a really encouraging and inspiring meeting and especially helpful to be joined by Ali Ussery who works closely with the authorities in North Wales.
The upshot of the meeting was a firm commitment to start working together under the Red Community banner, with a fantastic local brother, Barry, taking the lead in coordinating things up north. It was also agreed that we will start to ‘share’ resources and speakers between North and South Wales with speakers booked to do RED Sessions in both ends of the principality.
Perhaps most encouraging was the genuine sense of warm unity around the gospel.
Exciting times!
2. LLANDRILLO COLLEGE
Following the meeting at Porters and the formal start of Red Community in North Wales I headed off to Llandrillo College. My reason for being there was to speak at the Modern Slavery Youth Conference, organised by the North Wales Anti-Slavery Project. I had been invited to work alongside Jim Coy (Anti-Slavery Co-ordinator for North Wales) to deliver an afternoon of interactive teaching for around 100 students, many of whom were training to serve as Police Officers and public servants. It was a real privilege to be asked and a great honour to be involved.
Jim (who is a flippin’ TOP bloke) delivered much of the factual material to the young people. My sections consisted of delivering the #REDalert material for the very first time. This material consisted of an introductory quiz followed by the 3 films that we have just had made by TorFilm coupled with group discussion and feedback. (You can watch and download the first 2 films here and here).The students were clearly impacted by the films and by the issues that they raised. Jim closed out the day and several students stayed behind at the end to express how much the sessions had impacted them.
Job done!
So here are 3 reasons why the day was so exciting:
- Meeting with church leaders who are committed to uniting around the gospel in the name of justice and freedom.
- Connecting with Jim Coy and serving alongside him, along with my friend Ali Ussery.
- Seeing #REDalert work as an effective and engaging awareness resource for young people.
To God be the glory…