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Hi I'm Sara. I've always been a Penarth girl and live locally
with my lovely husband, Alex. I've been working with the young
people at Tabs and in the surrounding area in various guises (and
under various titles!) since 2000. I am currently working full-time
at Tabs as their 'Youth Specialist'. My aim is to enable the church
to help the young people of the area become disciples of Christ.
I received a JNC youth work qualification and a diploma in Youth
and Community Work and Applied Theology from CYM at Bristol Baptist
College in 2005.
I'm a Penarth girl. I studied at Swansea Uni and worked in the
Welsh Assembly before going full-time as youth worker/leader/
specialist(!) at Tabs. I became a Christian in my bedroom in 1998
while still studying at Swansea. I'd been going to chapel and
reading the Bible for two years in an attempt to make up for all
the unholy stuff going on in my life. Then one evening I read
the Bible (1 Peter 4) and I realised that I'd never be good enough
to get to heaven on my own. I started to panic and asked God what
else I had to do. I sensed his reply - "You don't have to
do anything, Jesus died for you." I felt such relief and
left my bedroom a changed girl. God's still working on cleaning
up my life but now I know it's not about being good enough but
about trusting in Jesus. Now I have the hope that God accepts
me as I am because of Jesus.
As
Youth Specialist at Tabs I try to support the teenagers who already come to church.
Youth Small Groups and Sunday morning groups mean that that young people can discuss
their belief and their lives and work out their faith with people of a similar
age on a regular basis. Being a Christian and a teenager in today's society can
be really difficult and I want to help them as much as I can. I also work
with young people outside the church to try and help them realize God's love and
plan for them. We run Youth Alpha to provide a non-threatening opportunity for
young people to ask questions about the meaning of life. I want to see youth work
taken out of the church building, engaging with the youth on their territory and
working with agencies outside church who are already involved with young people.
Long term I'd love to see a Christian drop-in centre for young people in Penarth. Please
pray for the young people and the much-valued volunteers who work with them, that
Father, Son and Holy Spirit are at work in their lives, helping them be the people
God intends them to be. I believe that all young people are very valuable to God
and that he has a plan for their lives. I pray that he can use Tabs to guide young
people into a closer relationship with him.
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