Advance Youth is all about encouraging and equipping young people to tell people about Jesus, so that they can be bold in their evangelism whether that’s at school, with their mates or in their community. We caught up with Joe to hear about what’s been happening in the North East.
What have you been up to through Advance Youth recently?
We recently took some of the young people to Sunderland for an outreach event. As they took turns to lead worship, share their testimonies and boldly proclaim the gospel in the city centre, they got to have some amazing conversations with the people around them about Jesus. It was incredible watching them confidently, but gently, share their faith and have gospel-filled conversations.
One highlight for me was when a group of eight young people walked past the Advance Youth as they were sharing the gospel. They were initially mocking what was going on, but they stopped near the worship. Some of our youth then got chatting to some of this group and told them about Jesus. When they offered to pray for them, five or six of them gladly received prayer and were visibly impacted by it. It was incredible to see the young people step out of their comfort zone to encourage and speak truth into this group.
As well as outreach mission events, many of the Advance Youth have been chatting to their mates about Jesus and exploring faith with them.
One of the Advance Youth lads, Kieran, regularly meets up with three of his mates having great conversations about the gospel with them, and recently they gave their lives to Jesus! Sarah and Izzy have also been running Bible study sessions with two of their friends every couple of weeks and are having amazing conversations about it, and Anita has been sharing her faith with a friend who decided to follow Jesus – how amazing!
Not only are the Advance Youth growing in their faith but as they step up and out, they’re seeing others respond to the gospel.
What else do you see happening with the Advance Youth?
It’s so beautiful to see how all the young people who are involved are all mates and growing in community with one another. I love how they’re encouraging one another on in faith and mission – it’s so inspiring. And they do it off their own backs, coming together to sharpen each other and find new opportunities to show the love of Jesus.
I love watching them grow, be mates on a mission and join in with what God is already up to.
Find out more about Advance Youth at message.org.uk/advanceyouth
