Through our TVC Church partnership with The Message, we are now into our third year of Advance Youth. TVC Church member Joe Winterschladen leads this group of teens and journeys with them as they take the gospel to the streets and in to their schools.
On Saturday, a group of 16 teenagers from across Teesside, Sunderland and Newcastle, including some of our own TVC Church Youth, gathered to be trained and encouraged in sharing their faith with others. The idea of Advance is that it is a training ground, where teenagers can be equipped to share the gospel with their peers
So how did it go?
What a day we had! We met in the morning at The Oakwood Centre for worship, prayer, building friendship and encouragement. We also went through the ‘Jesus at the door’ evangelism tool – which is a simple way of sharing the gospel that can be used in school or with friends or wherever you are. Then in the afternoon we headed out to Preston Park together to put some of the ideas in to action.
We loved this story…
“At the skate park, we met four 13 year old lads. They were taken through the gospel using the ‘Jesus at the door’ cards that we were carrying with us. Afterwards one of the team prayed for them to experience the presence of God. When they were asked ‘what did you feel?’ Each one described honestly what they had felt. One said ‘nervous’ another said ‘different, but in a good way!’. We then asked them if they wanted to follow Jesus and explained what this meant. One of the guys answered ‘yes, it just feels right’. We were thrilled to be able to pray with him and to take him through some next steps on living life with Jesus.
After that, some of their mates showed up on bikes and asked what was going on. One of the lads said ‘they made God come!’
We know these lads will never forget this experience.”
Join us in praying for all those who heard the good news of Jesus this week – that God would continue to meet with them where they are at as they go through this week.
So what’s next?
Next stop is Sunderland! At the end of February the group will meet again for more worship, prayer and training. All those in secondary school are invited to join them as they journey together and are empowered to share Jesus in their everyday lives and live life on a mission!
If you know a teen who would love to be a part of this, get in touch with Joe today!
Do keep praying for our teenagers, as they live out who God has made them to be in their friendship groups and in their schools.
01 Feb 2023
