Sorted 

 

– a missional youth church in the heart of Bradford...

Sorted began life in 2003 in North Bradford as Andy & Tracy Milne sensed a calling to get alongside young people and pioneer a youth church. The vast majority of young people in Bradford 10 and Bradford 2 have little or no church background; the local area includes two tough council estates with big social issues and areas that were inside the top 1% of deprivation in the UK.

Sorted team spend lots of time simply hanging with young people in schools, on the streets and in the parks looking for people of peace; listening to problems and stories over a game of football or whilst sat in a school lunch club. As trust forms, groups are formed in homes, playgrounds and church halls through a mix of fun and friendship as a new Christian community begins to slowly take shape. The work includes loving and serving young people, doing life together and addressing their needs by discussing both life issues and the good news of Jesus in ways that are designed to be relevant to their needs and culture.

Sorted’s weekly pattern: - they meet for 2 big activity sessions (one on BD2, one in BD10) each Friday evening, then for mid week small groups and finally a weekly worship service. Young people chose which bits they want to attend – some only take part each Friday, serving their peers by making a positive contribution to the activity session and hearing a testimony to invite them to ponder whether God is real and what difference this makes. Others seek to question and explore faith at a deeper level through involvement in small groups. Others push further by taking the plunge into a life of faith and discipleship as they meet to worship and discover how God can begin to transform our lives. Sorted meets weekly as a series of ‘stages’ and young people can attend one, two or all of these different stages depending on their level of relationship both with God and Sorted.

Coming out of the pandemic, Sorted is rebuilding its groups. The 2 Friday evenings groups and the worship service are growing in number again on the back of school’s work and summer provision. There is a buzz of excitement about the future after the slog of the pandemic! There is a flourishing young adult group with plans in place to start new small discussion groups once a new pioneer youth worker has been appointed.

Sorted is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. We are a Church Army project and part of Leeds Diocese as a youth church with a Bishops Mission Order.
 

TYM

 

– a missional youth church in a south London estate… 

Abbey Wood and Thamesmead are in an area in South East London in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Youth behaviour can be challenging, but the response to the gospel has been striking and lives are being transformed. Many of the young people reached by TYM live in Abbey Wood, where 31% of the population are aged 0-17, which is higher than the London average, and the area has particular problems with anti-social behaviour, arson and criminal damage amounting to 108 crimes per 1000 people. It has several deprived council estates, home to most of the young people connected with the project. Drug abuse and drug dealing are a problem, alongside lack of opportunities and other aspects of deprivation. Young people are sometimes sucked into drug dealing and can become involved in its associated violence. Many young people are in the NEET category.

This youth church began in 2013 and is now consolidated as Transform Youth Ministries (TYM), based on the principles of the Church Army “Sorted” project in Bradford, which emphasises growing local youth leadership. The aim is to reach unchurched young people with the gospel and disciple them, so that they in turn become evangelists and disciples. There is a well-established schools outreach, youth club with gospel message, youth prayer group and a youth congregation with about 12 committed members. There is a strong partnership with London-wide youth charity XLP, who provide a weekly outreach near William Temple Church based on their double decker youth bus, and the churches are in partnership with a URC community church.

 

Seacroft

 

– a missional youth church in a Leeds estate…

The mission on Seacroft continues to evolve and change to meet the
needs of the youth they are in contact with. Neil and his team have seen massive changes to the relationships made within the community, whilst the existing ones have been strengthened over the past 18 months. 

The 2 youth clubs that they run on a Friday night are going really well. The younger youth group has a great atmosphere where the children are learning the softer skills of being able to get along and resolving conflict in an acceptable way. The older youth group has taken off in a way that has surpassed all expectation. It is great to be able to be here for these guys. Please continue to pray for volunteers as more are needed on a regular basis. Both groups run with the purpose of connecting with the young people of Seacroft and giving them a space of creativity, fun and belonging.

Being in an area of high deprivation during the 'cost of living crisis,' food is expensive and some families struggle to find enough so the local food bank donates food so that every session involves something nice to eat. Jesus built community with his disciples around food and the same thing is happening in Seacroft!

The youth church that's called called "Revolution Church"  is growing slowly. The Relationships made in school and at the youth club has led to some teenagers coming along on a Sunday afternoon, to see what happens. The goal is to explore Christian values and faith at an age appropriate level.

They've launched "the Biker Initiative" this year, where they reach out to young people on bikes. The goal is to educate young people about traffic and road safety and therefore save young people's lives. Only in the last few days a fifteen year old boy has lost his life and a second is in hospital due to crashing the motorcycle they were both riding on, which shows how important this work is. They are getting up to 30 young people at the garage with a core of 10-15 that are coming regularly and have had over 7000 hits on Facebook with that and are also getting the regular bikers DBS in line with the safer recruitment policy. 

The holiday club's, school catch up's (called Tough Talk Assemblies) and the partnership with other Trusts in the parish to be part of the "Change Project", where disadvantaged young people are taken away for an adventure packed few days are also running really well.

 

Tin Can

 

– a missional youth church in the north of Wales… 

The Tin Can Youth Hut is an old metal chapel gifted to the team around Josh and Jack in Wrexham, where they run much of their outreach and do youth church.

The Tin Can afterschool drop in sessions have been really encouraging over the last few months. They've seen a community of year 7-9s come in and really make it their home. Josh, Jack & the team of volunteers are getting on really well with this group and are excited to build on the relationships they have with these young people. They’ve invited them to camp this summer and are hopeful for a number of them coming along.

The 16+ group is also going really well. The relationship there are much deeper as they’ve been journeying with these young people for a few years now. Some of the issues the young people are dealing with in their personal lives are really tough, which is why prayer is really value for this group. A few of the young people have stepped up as young leaders in the drop in and are doing really well.

The Youth Church continues to grow. It’s been encouraging to see young people from unchurched backgrounds returning each month to hear the gospel, engage in worship and come and chat about faith with the team. It's been a good uptake for camp this year from this community with 12 young people already signed up and looking forward to coming along.

Last month Jack and Josh started the Questions Sessions to run in conjunction with the Youth Church in Tin Can. These were set up as a non-judgemental space for young people to come and ask any questions they feel like they need to ask about the Christian faith. The first session was very encouraging. The hope is, that these sessions will allow young people to better explore their faith journey, feel safe in a space where they can ask questions they wouldn’t normally ask and have some fun along the way.


A young person’s transformation within a missional youth church… 

Megan (14) lives on the Caia Park estate in Wrexham, where Church Army started St Asaph Centre of Mission in 2015. Caia Park estate is infamous for rioting and racial tensions and is one of the most deprived areas in Wales. Unemployment, family breakdown and debt problems impact the community daily. Research by Loughborough University, commissioned by the End Child Poverty Network, revealed that in three of the five wards in Caia Park almost half the children are in poverty.

Pioneer Evangelist Josh Smith says, "The kids here feel like 'I’m from Caia Park, I’ll never amount to anything'".

Megan regularly attends the ‘Tin Can Youth Hut’. With little Christian witness on the estate this was the first place Megan ever heard about Jesus or has had positive role models to look up to. Last summer she went to a Christian camp with a group from ‘Tin Can’ where she gave her life to Christ.

"Josh took us on a camp and we learned about how Christians are, what they believe in, their faith and stuff like that. It was really good. Over that summer I started to believe, and now I’ve got a Bible that Josh gave me. My favourite verse is from Philippians; you can do all things through God because he gives you the strength” she says.

Megan has since attended Youth Alpha and is slowly exploring her faith.