Building new foundations with young people - Summer appeal

Around the time Church Army was founded, 55% of English children were enrolled in Christian Sunday Schools and today this figure is less than 4%. It is vitally important for Church Army to continue its work with children and young people, helping them to understand the relevance of the Christian faith for them in the 21st century.

We are committed to building the foundations of effective community wherever we find ourselves working. At the recent Christian Resources Exhibition, our Chief Secretary Philip Johanson OBE gave the keynote address on the theme of ‘Future Church’ and stressed the importance of ensuring that the mission context of church must be shaped by what is needed and not by what we might prefer it to be.

Colin Fletcher, Bishop of Dorchester, recently hosted a Church Army seminar at the same exhibition on responding to the mission and community challenge of new housing estates and highlighted the work of Ian Biscoe, one of our evangelists.

Ian and his wife Erika started up a new Christian community in Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire. They began with an Alpha course in their home and, with numbers increasing steadily, moved to the chapel of the former airbase. Called ‘Unity’, this community was built on the firm foundations of the Christian message as explained through the Alpha course, and now around 30 people gather together each Thursday. A special children’s session has developed which runs on Sundays and a team of 16 people now helps lead the sessions. Parents are thrilled with this children’s activity, all looking forward to the event each week with eager anticipation.

Click here to see other case studies we have highlighted as part of the “building new foundations” appeal.

Church Army supports all this long term work, and needs your gifts to ensure that it can continue, and that similar projects can be established in many more areas.

These are examples of how, with your support, Church Army is able to demonstrate the love of God by helping to build firm foundations and Christian community amongst young people.

Please would you support us in more projects like these so that our specially trained and experienced evangelists can bring the good news of Jesus Christ to many more people. Your prayer support is vital, and any gift you can send us, however large or small, will help in bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to others, helping to making a difference for good in their lives.

Click here to give on line or phone our donations hotline on 020 8309 3562 or to speak to someone at Church Army call 020 8309 9991