Did you miss our Showcase? Or did you get there but want to relive it all again? Don’t worry, we recorded it all and after a bit of editing, we have now uploaded it to our YouTube channel! 

Packed with positive stories, updates and testimonials from staff and young people, it was a really uplifting time. We were joined by our Patron, the Bishop of Norwich the Rt Revd Graham Usher, who prayed for us as well as Alive Church Pastors, Phil and Jo Thorne (our landlords!) who commissioned us in our new centre.

You can watch it all here:

https://youtu.be/hx2Vx5MC3f8

As I wrapped up the evening, I shared this verse from 2 Corinthians 6 v2 “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation” 

Now is the time. This phrase popped into my head back in February and it has felt like a prophetic word for us that is becoming a reality as each month passes. Opportunity after opportunity has presented itself to us expanding our work into new schools and building new relationships. Even over the last month, we have seen significant developments in our projects. Here are a couple of examples.

Our education project Boost is now over-subscribed from school referrals, meaning we have decided to open up on a further day, increasing our provision. Judging by our conversations with school partners, all the places will be gone in the next few weeks. John* (name changed) started at Boost last month. His social worker recently told us that John is “doing very well, engaging in all learning. John feels this is really helping him to access education”.

Last year we took a total of 35 young people to our Encounter Summer camp. This year, we already have 40 young people booked and we still have over 2 months to go before bookings close. We, therefore, think we will reach our maximum capacity of 50 young people on camp this year - a huge achievement!

And yet despite the positive momentum we are experiencing, we also can’t ignore the reality of our finances. Again, as I shared at the Showcase, we have been blessed in recent years with some large legacy donations that have allowed us to invest in projects like Boost and resources such as Tracks (our mobile recording studio). But much of that funding is now coming to an end and in the meantime, our costs have driven up, especially in the last few years. Combined, this means we now need to step up our fundraising efforts. And so we have launched our Big 100 campaign as we seek 100 people to give £20 a month.

Could you be a part of our Big 100? Or do you know someone who you could suggest this to? Or a group of people that I could visit and share more about our work as we try to find more people to support us? Whether it's a group of 100 or 10, I will happily visit and share some stories about what we do. 

It's so quick and easy to give. You can either email us and we will send a standing order form or you can set it all up online via Stewardship by going here:

https://www.stewardship.org.uk/partners/norwichyouthforchrist

I’m not really a pushy person, but I’m also not apologetic about our work and the need for this finance. We are at the cutting edge of youth ministry, engaging with schools that have no other Christian voice, working with broken young people who are not in education, and bringing the hope of the gospel to thousands of young people who otherwise wouldn’t hear it. And so, I cannot help but ask people to support us.

But thank you for standing with us. Whether in prayer, in finance or in encouragement, you are the enablers of our work and therefore part of the team that helps to reach young people with the good news of the gospel.

All our thanks,

Nick