Bath YFC's James Vaughton Talks About Bringing Easter Alive to Bath and Wiltshire Children
Easter may have been a busy time for you. But at Bath YFC it was a critical time of the year which saw them working with young people. As today's interview with James proves - Easter was a time for creating engaging assemblies in schools like Beechen Cliff, and creating games and events for Wiltshire youth clubs. Now the team are making plans to work more in Twerton... And have issued their Accompanying Project Report! Download Here!
(PICTURES: JAMES VAUGHTON, BATH YFC LOGO)
Film about The Accompanying Project
How was your personal Easter James?
I finished in the YFC office on Maundy Thursday, enjoyed the weekend at home, in the garden and at church celebrating Christ’s resurrection! After church on Sunday I headed off to Wales with Annie (my wife), Grace and Zac (my children) to stay with my in-laws. We enjoyed a very relaxing time.
The run-up to Easter was a very busy time for you at YFC.. Leading Beechen Cliff's assembly - how was it?
The theme was Freedom and we invited young people to consider what Freedom is, the work of Wilberforce in bringing freedom to slaves and how Christ sets us free 
and that we remember this at Easter!
Do you at YFC appreciate being part of the fabric of life at Beechen Cliff school and why?
Absolutely, schools' work is central to what we do. Our relationship goes a long way back with involvement in lessons, assemblies and currently running a weekly youth cafe.
We are also very pleased to be working with Beechen Cliff Methodist youth worker, Steve Moore and St Luke’s youth worker, James Markham at the youth cafe. Beechen Cliff has historically had a strong Christian Union but doesn’t currently have one so I am currently trying to facilitate re-establishing the Christian Union in the school. Please pray for this!
You were running Easter activities in Wiltshire youth clubs too - is it important for YFC to stretch out your involvement across Bath and Wiltshire?
Steve our staff member who works out in Potterne was involved in Easter activities at clubs and in schools around Devizes. Our involvement in Wiltshire was one of those unexpected God moments. Whilst we love to grow our work it does rely on having the people and resources to do so. The work in Potterne and the surrounding villages happened because God happened to prompt someone to fund the work for three years, which is amazing!
What are your summer plans? and what is next on YFC's agenda?
There are some internal changes which will have external impact over the next few months. Luke will be focusing more on Twerton and his role is now a partnership between YFC and St Michael’s, which is really exciting. Twerton is one of the most deprived areas of the city, with a lot of young people and we believe God is directing us through Luke’s role, our accompanying project and Sarah (our CYM student) to invest more time and resources in this part of Bath.
We will be taking a group away on a Fort Rocky weekend in June, which will be exciting as this is a mix of activities and opportunities to explore faith all rolled into one!
We will be running a youth participation morning exploring the issues faced by young people and what they think of our work at the moment
Are you making plans to commemorate the Olympics?
We are supporting the Love Bath event with our Mobile Youth Cafe however aware that others are doing quite a bit but we are not planning much. I am sure there will be aspects of the Olympics that shape our work and impact weekly sessions but we haven’t planned anything specifically.
What is the most important issue for youngsters in Bath right now? What would you like to push to the top of the news' agenda?
Unemployment is a biggie for young people generally
For young Christians I think there is a real need to equip them to engage with the world around through the lense of their Christian faith. Being a young Christian has never been easy and I think it continues to challenge young people as to how they live out their faith in a world that can be ambivalent and at times hostile to their beliefs. I think related to this we (the church) needs to consider how we equip young Christians to lead now and in the future!
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April 2012