One Year of Ministry Can Be Accomplished in a Year of Ministry
September 2026 marked one year since I took on the Directorship of Cambridge & District Youth for Christ, and what a year it has been. Thank you so much for your ongoing partnership as we seek to offer every young person in Cambridge and District a pathway to fulness of life in Jesus.
Spring Harvest
In April I had the joy of overseeing youth ministry at Spring Harvest again, joined by two of our local team who served in the youth venues. There are so many stories that could be told but here are just two:
Skegness. 11-16s. The young people heard about the compassion of Jesus and a life of love which overflows. Following this we spent time waiting on the Holy Spirit, who began to meet young people across the room. We had young people being prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit for the first time, young people praying for one another, young people who sensed God giving them compassion and a sense of calling and young people being prayed for to be equipped for a life of love that overflows.
Minehead. 16-18s. The preacher rounded off their talk and led into what was planned to be a 15-minute time of prayer and ministry. This was supposed to be followed by a 30-minute break and then a choice of seminars and workshops for the next hour. Instead, Holy Spirit began to meet with young people and they would not stop worshipping. They worshipped through the break. They worshipped through the workshop/seminar time. When the team finally had to bring the worship to a close these young people had been worshipping for an hour and 45 minutes.
Over the two weeks we saw around 180 young people make commitments to follow Jesus. It was a joy to see and be part of all God was doing in the emerging generations at Spring Harvest this year.
Please do pray for the 2027 events as plans and preparation and well underway.
St Neots
Our St Neots project works with some of the most vulnerable young people in the town facing extreme challenges. In June, around 50 young people filtered through the entrance of Open Door Church for a Year 11 Ball. They were in for a night of dancing, candy floss, a professional photo booth and burger and chips from a food van. It was a celebration of the wonderful young people who managed to get through their GCSEs and finish school. The project has been running for 5 years now and many of these young people were in year 7 or 8 when we first had contact. The team have journeyed with them through the highs and lows of secondary school and teenage years and the Year 11 Ball was certainly a highlight. Each young person was called out by name, encouraged and given a certificate marking their achievement. The event was a huge success and will stay in the memories of many for years to come.
I had to meet Sarah and Grace (not their real names) who our team met as part of the first mentoring group in a secondary school. Both struggled with severe anxiety, found it difficult to attend school and wore face masks the whole time. Sarah stayed in contact with the project after mentoring, attended New Day festival and gave her life to Jesus but was too anxious to come to church.
Fast forward a few years and out of the blue Grace messages and suggests trying out church. So, both Sarah and Grace turned up at Open Door church one Sunday morning. After the service Ange (our project worker in St Neots) chatted to them and asked how they had found the service. She was ready to explain all the weird and wonderful things we Christians do at church. But Grace said it was amazing. She said she had never felt so surrounded by love and by family as during worship. Sarah and Grace continue to attend Open Door on a Sunday morning.
Encounter Youth Gathering
In June we supported Holy Trinity’s Churches Encounter Youth event. Young people gathered from 7 churches for games, worship, teaching and prayer ministry. Following an amazing talk young people had the opportunity to respond to Jesus, and we saw 4 young people make first time commitments and 10 recommit their lives to Him. One young person we’ll call Jake had turned up at a local church out of the blue and began attending the youth group. He joined them for encounter where he stood to give his life to Jesus. Since then he has continued his discipleship journey, been lined up with a mentor in his local church and been baptised.
Open House
We continue to deliver our mentoring programme in three secondary schools in partnership with local churches. In the academic year of 2025-2026 we supported 52 vulnerable young people through one to one mentoring.
Our 6 weekly open access youth drop ins across four locations continue to create safe spaces for young people promoting positive wellbeing, building healthy relationships and sharing the love of Jesus.
During the summer term we ran Alpha for Young people after Drop In on Thursday’s. A small group of young people gathered for a meal followed by the video resource, great discussion and opportunities to ask for and receive prayer. The numbers varied across the weeks but had two young people who were present almost every week. One of these decided in the last week that they wanted to make a commitment to follow Jesus and we had the opportunity to pray with them in this significant moment.
We were able to open our city Centre Drop In for 5 Wednesday’s over the summer holidays with extended hours. We welcomed 32 young people across the summer, 15 of whom were visitors. One young person commented "My experience at the drop-ins has been nothing but kind. I always thought in my head that the space was like a comfort zone that was not within my own mind so going every Wednesday or so just felt right.”
Prayer
- We have another Encounter youth worship gathering this term. Please pray for young people to meet with God and be transformed in His presence.
- We are delivering a 3 week bike maintenance workshop. Please pray young people sign up and they are able to build life skill, self-confidence and community which has a positive impact on their lives.
- In February we are running our residential again, please pray for bookings and that God brings the young people he wants to that weekend.
- Please continue to pray for new volunteers for our Drop In spaces and mentoring programme.
- We have just finished advertising for a new Operations Manager and are about to interview so please pray for wisdom and that we would find the right person for the role.
Together we continue to see young people’s lives changed by Jesus. Thank you for being part of the story.