Today, Monday 14th November 2016, marks the anniversary of Thrive Youth Ministries being set up as a charitable trust. Wow! There is so much to thank God for and to celebrate from these last five years. Thanks for being part of the adventure!
It is hard for believe that it was five years ago that, after many months of seeking God and the advice from others,I gathered together a team of supporters who were willing to become trustees of Thrive and to enable me to start this God-given adventure. And what an adventure it has been!
I am so grateful to those founding trustees: Jonathan, Simon, Vicki and Richard, as well as to those who have served subsequently as trustees over the years: Sally and Andy. Thrive wouldn’t have happened without you.
As I look back, I am amazed at God’s goodness above all else. It is a massive testimony of his continued kindness and faithfulness that Thrive is still going, that we are seeing young people growing in their faith and we are working with more churches than ever before.
The adventure has meant that we have had to totally rely on God for all we need: to provide enough finances to support me and my family each month; to give the creativity for starting new initiatives to build stronger youth ministry in our churches such as the Taking the Temperature youth work review or Resolution spiritual retreat events for our leaders; to bless the conversations I have had with church leaders and youth leaders, helping them to take risks in developing their ministry to young people.
I love that we have seen more than 70 young people take part on Thrive-run courses such as our youth growing leaders course and our worship leaders course. We have worked with many more young people through our oversight of First Sunday, and how that is growing into an exciting new project, Thrive Youth, launching in January 2017.
I work with so many experienced and passionate youth leaders and youth workers. They are essential to the growing development of our outreach to young people across the county. I love mentoring them one to one. At a quick count up, I have invested in around 20 key leaders in this way over the five years. I am sure that by investing in leaders, and making sure they continue to grow, we will see their ministries, and the youth they are serving, grow and develop.
It is wonderful to see how Thrive has developed over the years. I am particularly delighted in how our team has grown this year by the appointment of Fiona Stutton as our Children’s Ministry Adviser. Fiona is making such a difference already, and is offering much-needed support to many local churches.
So Thrive is five. No longer are we a baby organisation, we’ve started primary school – still lots to learn, loving making friends and excited for the life ahead.
We want to take time over the coming months to celebrate this milestone. We hope to hold a celebration event to thank everyone for supporting us and joining in on this adventure, as well as making sure we take time to thank God for his goodness.
I want to take some time to reflect on all that God has done over these five years as well as start to look ahead to what he might have in store for us over the next five years. The work is not complete yet. We still want to see every church in our area develop a thriving youth ministry, where we see more and more young people coming into a living relationship with Jesus, and knowing what God’s plans and purposes are for each of their lives.
Thanks for being a core part of this adventure of faith.