The last two weeks have been exciting times in the life of the Church. When the post of Youth Minister was created we knew that there was only enough money for three years of work. Those three years come to an end at the end of September this year (doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!).

So a small group of enthusiastic individuals have been working very hard for the last year and a half to secure funds for another three years. It’s fair to say that whilst we’re all 100% behind the vision & the work, we were a little sceptical about our ability to raise the required sum which was almost £115,000.

We’ve been supported by lots of amazing people, organisations & trusts and have been really encouraged by their commitment to us & have seen it as confirmation of what we’re trying to achieve. We seemed to be making good progress, but we were still a way off the total we needed.

But the hard work has been worth it…

Last week we were informed that we had been awarded a £30,000 grant (over three years) by the Joseph Rank Trust. An amazing blessing which seemed to come from nowhere. Throughout the application process we were advised that it was unlikely they’d be able to support us, for a whole host of reasons, but God seemed to sweep those aside, leading to a really positive outcome.

Then last night, after a great deal of work, we signed an agreement with the Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust which will see our Youth Minister seconded to the Trust  for one and a half days a week (term time) for the next three years,  to help deliver schoolswork projects, and to develop relationships between the Trust, schools & Churches across Milton Keynes. We’ve been working towards this for some time and the Lord has been ‘making the way straight‘ for us.

These two developments have secured the remainder of the money we need to fund our Youth Ministry work for the next three years – with money left over to start an additional fourth additional year.

In addition, to the above, the response to Ricky’s Sponsored 10k Run has been amazing, and we expect the final total raised to be £2,000!

We praise God for His faithfulness and His provision…