Categories: uncategorized
Date: 16 June 2008 07:22:59
Yesterday evening we had a presentation on "The Bay Project", at church. It's an exciting community based thing which is happening here in No-where-ville-on-sea. It was one of those presentations that wasn't just filled with wishful thinking and Christian nonsense but showed the potential for what can happen when church starts being church and gets rid of the ghetto mentality.
The story begins with the vision of one bloke who wanted to help the town when he died and so left a legacy, running into 7 figures, with instructions that it should be used to help the youth of the town. Being a wise bloke he left it in to the Salvation Army to administer.
Now, all credit to the Salvo's here. They could have rushed ahead with projects involving buildings, but they didn't - what they did was wait and talk to people in the community aswell as the churches. They built a vision which they are now putting into place and sharing.
The first tangible thing they did was hire a project manager, who was a highly experienced youth worker with the local county council, but was also a Christian who lived locally (note his experience was the key thing here and his faith only secondary). They then set him up in an office in the town centre, in a building owned by the Baptist Church. So the denominational boundaries are already falling.
This week they are interviewing for two more staff: a children and families worker and a youth worker.
The overall vision includes a range of things which they are working with other local providers on including:
The under 18's night at the local nightclub (which has been happening sporadically, but the nightclub owners want to develop as a monthly event with the help and practical support of the project).
Developing the sexual health provision for young people in the town, so a trip to the nurse becomes a less threatening experience.
Providing a youth club with creche for the teenage mums in the town.
Providing a toy library for the playgroups in the area (i.e. library of big equipment, rather than for individuals).
Providing a monthly chill out session for all the youth workers (secular and Christian, paid and voluntary) in the area.
Providing a safe space for young people to chill in at the weekends, once it hits 9:30 which is when the local police break up the teenagers who congregate on the sea front. This is particularly important as the police strategy has led to drunk teenagers being left vunerable in town when their mates have left them and the police have taken the approach of breaking up large, (safer), groups. The idea is the young people would then be helped to get home safetly. This is something which the police, who are very aware of the holes in their current strategy, are keen to get going as soon as possible.
So it seems that lots of exciting stuff is happening. It's happening because one bloke had the vision to leave the money and others have had the vision to use it appropriately and work beyond traditional boundaries. It's showing the benefit of post-denominational church where people get back to the basics of loving the people around them whether they are Christian or not! This is what church should be about.