One of the challenges the church faces today is effectively equipping church leaders. As part of the work of the training departmentyoung leaders are given the chance to increase in leadership through mentoring sessions. These happen monthly and cover such issues as ‘Acting with appropriate spiritual authority’, ‘Finding, holding and sharing spiritual vision’, ‘Maintaining a healthy work/church/life balance’ and ‘Character vs skills’. This works on an apprenticeship model that means the leaders don’t have to leave home or church to gain relevant help and training.

On the first Sunday of each month about 700 young people gather for ‘The Mix’ youth celebration. Young people from churches all over the greater Bristol region travel in for a time of  youth relevant teaching and worship that is ‘soul survivor’ in style. There are opportunities to meet other young people and get to feel that they are part of something much bigger than just their own local youth group. Training is provided for youth workers and twice a year we have a guest night where we have seen many become Christians for the first time as well as a couple of hundred recommitments.  

We now have a network of about 55 full-timeyouth workers who are Christians. Some work within the statutory youth sector, others for secular youth charities, some for para-church youth organisations and others are church based. We have met twice this year to share what is

happening across the city and to network together. It is brilliant to see such potential among zealous Christians working with the youth of Bristol in so many different ways and in such a variety of contexts.

Over the last 12 months two large prayer events and two outreach evenings have been organised alongside Philip Jinadu and the ICQ team. Last October and April, we had 1,000 people from different denominations and cultural backgrounds in the Colston Hall, Bristol praying for the ‘lost’. Then this year we had 900 praying in the open air at Bristol’s Lloyds Bank Amphitheatre. These were fantastic events.

 

There was a Christmas extravaganza in December with an orchestra of 30 top quality musicians plus all the wintery effects and traditional carols. It has been so exciting to see people making their journeys to faith in God.

 

In November we ran our first Bristol Region Leaders’ Retreat Day. We had over 100 senior leaders from churches of all the major denominations, white and black, old and young. It  was a day when we spent time praying, worshipping and listening to God. We focussed our discussion time on how we could work together more in unity, prayer and shared outreach.

It is a tremendous privilege to be involved in running our ‘Practical Theology’ Course. The course is designed to help young people to think through issues of their faith, leading them to greater maturity and more effective Christian service. The course has one day per week of reaching, and the rest of the time theyoung people are involved in ‘hands-on’ service with a  local church or Christian organisation. Our students are involved with a range of different work, which I have summarised below:

 

• Bristol International Students’ Centre shows practical Christian love and care to thousands of foreign students, as well as running ALPHA courses and organising cultural evenings.

 

• Grapevine, Bridgwater is involved with reaching out to school children and youngsters

in North Somerset.

 

• Woodlands Church, Clifton works with student groups and local community projects in three locations throughout the city.

 

• Ebenezer Church, Horfield works with students and young people in North Bristol, and organises an annual ‘community clean-up’ event to show practical concern and love to a needy area.

 

• The Cause Youth Project, Weston-super- Mare runs a youth congregation and is  involved in a number of after-schools clubs. It impacts the lives of over a hundred young people with the gospel.

 

• Cairns Road Baptist Church runs a wellattended community café on three mornings a week.

 

• Living Waters, Clevedon works with a large number of young people within the town.

 

• TEAR Fund is working to promote justice and social awareness amongst young people in Bristol.

 

• The Evangelical Alliance (Bristol) has this year taken on a Media Intern who works as an Evangelical Churches’ Press officer in Bristol. We usually have students from Glenwood Church in Cardiff, but they have now set up their own training programme. We hope that our loss is  Their gain. Consequently, this year we have had fewer students than previously, but our core group of 20 or so have appreciated the material presented, which is designed to both inform and provoke.  When asked what the benefit of the training has been, the responses included the following encouraging comments:

 

Before the lectures we have a time of worship and prayer each week, in order to try to keep ourselves grounded in the reality of daily discipleship rather than becoming lost in abstract theological discussion. There is also the opportunity for the students to share about what has been going on in their various placements, which has been much appreciated: “I think that the catch-up session at the start is great.”

 

To find out more about theTraining Department or the Practical Theology Course, please call  Philip Thomas or Tim Dobson on 0117 9166658.