Being Bold

One of those who heard about Jesus was Liam. After spending the morning praying, worshipping and getting equipped in evangelism, one team of young people took to the streets to prayer walk. As they did, they saw Liam sat on a bench. Gracie, one of the team, felt like God was nudging her to go and chat to him. Although she was nervous, Gracie introduced the team to Liam and told him about what they were doing. When she asked if there was anything he’d like them to pray for, Liam was touched and immediately said he wanted prayer for a business he was starting up. 

After they’d all prayed together, Gracie asked if she could share her story about what Jesus has done in her life. As Liam listened, Gracie shared about the hope of Jesus and he began to cry. ‘You don’t understand, this is mad. The timing of this is crazy’, he said. ‘I’m in trouble with some difficult people and about to make a decision that could have bad consequences. I was recently chatting to a Christian mate of mine who told me about Jesus too, so maybe bumping into you today is God telling me there’s another way.’ 

Hearing this, Gracie decided to be bold and ask Liam if he’d like to give his life to Jesus and he said ‘yes’! There and then, Liam stood up, prayed to accept Jesus into his life, hugged the team and thanked them. And as he left, he phoned his Christian friend to tell him what had happened! 

And it wasn’t just Gracie’s team that God used. Whilst prayer walking in Edmonton, Jonah felt like he and the team should go into a sports shop. Inside, he got chatting with the shop manager, Amira, about football. As they were talking, he felt God encourage him to be brave and share the gospel with her. As Jonah started to tell her about Jesus, Amira was surprised and explained that her boyfriend is a Christian and had recently talked to her about his faith too. She told them that she was from a Muslim family, but wasn’t practising and had a lot of questions about faith. There in the shop, Amira was able to ask Jonah all her questions about Jesus and when she was done, the team asked her if she wanted to follow Jesus. Excitedly, she said ‘yes’ and the team prayed with her as she accepted God into her life. 

Later that day, Amira messaged the Advance Youth social media channel saying, ‘Thank you for the conversation today, you guys have really changed my mind and perspective on things.’ And that’s not all! The team also had a message from her boyfriend who said, ‘Amira told me about your chat today and what the Advance Youth are doing, and I just wanted to say thank you. Keep doing what you’re doing!’ 

Throughout the week, it was incredible to see how God kept encouraging the young people as they stepped out in faith. 

During one prayer time, Juriel and Talei felt like they needed to pray for healing for someone that day. As they took to the streets with their team, they prayed that God would lead them to the person they needed to speak to. When they saw David, they knew this was who God was drawing them to. The girls grabbed the opportunity to be bold, introduced the team and shared what they felt like God was saying to them, offering to pray for David and his family. He was amazed that they knew what to pray for. After they all prayed together, David felt more peaceful, and the girls felt so encouraged that they went with new boldness to keep praying for others they met. 

There are countless stories like Liam’s, Amira’s and David’s of how Jesus changed lives as the young people stepped out. As well as praying for people and sharing the gospel with them, the young people showed the love of Jesus in action too. They had great fun as they litter picked, served the local community in foodbanks and hosted a community BBQ alongside the Mustard Seed homelessness outreach ministry.

And the mission isn’t stopping with The Scattering. Groups of young people meet every month across the UK with Advance Youth for prayer, worship and to be spurred on in evangelism.