Displaying items by tag: Youth

Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre is privately run, by MTC, on the same site as two prisons. MPs want the Government to take over this detention centre, where children are kept in their cells for all but thirty minutes a day. MTC had previously been told to improve. The House of Commons justice committee said the Government should act by June 2020 if conditions tantamount to solitary confinement are not addressed. MP Sir Bob Neill said, ‘The experience of the inspectors over the past year has shown that some of the promises made by MTC are worth less than the paper they are written on. The ministry of justice has failed in its oversight of this private contractor.’ The centre holds 87 boys and girls convicted or awaiting trial for serious offences. They have complex behavioural problems or other vulnerabilities, such as self-harming.

In South Asia, a fourteen-year-old boy lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital after a massive hemorrhage in his brain. The cause? He was spending too much time on a violent online game. Sadly, his case is not an isolated incident. With the pandemic restricting access to the outdoors, the youth in our 10/40 Window countries are lured on to the internet. Window International Network has launched a massive social media prayer campaign to intercede for our 10/40 youth. Pray for an end to online gaming, violent games and pornography. Pray for the success of the planned mini presentations to educate youth to use their time online mainly for educative and creative purposes.

England has seen a 36% increase in homeless under-25s seeking support since lockdown began. Youth charities in Wales and Northern Ireland have a 50% increase. Charities and youths say some councils are failing them during the Covid-19 crisis. ‘Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives.’ But what if you don’t have a home? ‘Your grandparents were called to war, you were called to sit on the sofa,’ is a saying. But what happens if other people’s sofas are the only thing keeping you off the streets? For many homeless young people, sofa surfing is the only way of keeping a roof over their heads, staying with different friends for days or weeks at a time, while they seek support and work out their next move. The government has stopped landlords evicting tenants until the end of June. There is no protection against being thrown out by parents or friends.

Alfie Dean from Babbacombe wanted to do something to help others in his community during lockdown; so the 13-year-old set up a pantry outside his house to help vulnerable people who cannot get to the shops and those struggling to buy essentials. He erected two shelves at the end of his driveway and stocked them with milk, bread, tins, pasta, biscuits, etc. A sign read, ‘Babbacombe Pantry - take what you need, leave what you don’t and donate what you can’. In the first two days fifty people used the pantry. In Buckinghamshire a Network Rail bridge between junctions 16 and 17 on the M25 carries a large graffiti sign, ‘Thank you NHS’ (see). It is not clear who painted the heart-warming message.  In America hundreds of Christians surrounded a hospital and sang and prayed to raise the spirits of staff and coronavirus patients: see

In South Korea, in 2016, generations from across the nations converged to fast and pray and believe God for the birthing of new, youth-led prayer and mission movements. After the UPRISING in Korea, young people have owned the vision and taken the zeal for united prayer to their respective regions and nations. The ‘waves’ have rolled out; there is now UPRISING in the Philippines, South Africa, Mongolia, Bolivia, Malaysia, Europe, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and California. On 14-18 July, in Sydney, Australia there is a calling for another United Prayer. The theme will be: ‘From the Womb to the World.’ and an estimated 1,500, young and old, will attend a four-day destiny-engaging event at the Rosehill racecourse, with even more expected to be present in the Solemn Assembly in Sydney. The organisers hope that many more will join them in catalysing waves of youth-led global prayer and mission movements at the UPRISING.

The Message Trust, a Christian youth charity, will take the good news of Jesus to 150,000 young people through its schools work this year. It is launching the Higher Tour 2020, which will see music bands and mission teams from the organisation head into schools across the country. Working with local youth workers, they will provide assemblies and RE lessons. All the young people they come into contact with will be invited to a gig to enjoy music from age-related bands, and then be given the opportunity to respond to the gospel presentation they will have heard. Each person who makes a commitment to Christ will then be linked in to a local youth worker to continue discipleship. Pray for these events to build thousands of relationship opportunities for the local church to connect and build ongoing outreach with local schools. Pray also for powerful follow-up and CU discipleship courses to be birthed in schools.

We know that Jesus came to transform our brokenness, and, as His representatives on earth, we carry His mandate. But how do we address the huge issue of mental health? Emerge Advocacy has been taking on the challenge. Launched in Guildford in 2016, Emerge is a ‘voice of hope’ to young people who find themselves overwhelmed by their thoughts and feelings and unable to keep themselves safe. Teams in A&E departments bringing comfort, hope and peace to young people admitted after self-harming or a suicide attempt. They have already supported over 350 young people, and their work is recognised by the Care Quality Commission. Young people struggling to articulate thoughts and feelings to health professionals may feel intimidated by the clinical environment. Volunteers stay with them, reassuring them, chatting, explaining what is happening, and helping them engage with health professionals, so that the experience is not so overwhelming.

Pastor Toby leads Spacnation South London, a faith-based organisation committed to transforming the lives of young people. In a generation where many young people have been dejected, abused and simply overlooked, Spacnation offers an alternative, whilst changing the narrative of this generation one step at a time. They are rescuing people from gangs, from addiction and from fear, with over one hundred baptised each week. They have set up 23 safe houses for gang members who are willing to turn their life around and escape from a life of crime; they say their safe houses are homes full of fun, food and fascinating stories. Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has backed the initiative, saying the safe houses seem to be working and are part of a solution. See

Hope Youth (formally Hope Revolution), the youth arm of Hope Together, seeks to engage young people from across the church in mission and evangelism. Hope Youth has numerous partners including but not limited to the Church of England, Alpha, Limitless, Youth for Christ, Scripture Union, Message Trust and the Pais Movement. Collectively this group has facilitated the creation of various initiatives and resources including Mission Academy, Mission Academy Live, and Amplify, part of Advance 2020, an evangelistic movement to promote and stir up the gift of the evangelist building towards a cross-country outreach in 2020. Alongside this they are praying and planning together for what an intentional, strategic, and spirit-filled year of mission will look like in the UK in 2020, taking the gospel to the nation on an unprecedented scale. See

University students are attending chapel services at a higher rate than the rest of the population, challenging the notion that young people aren't interested in church. When 54 college chapels in Durham, Oxford and Cambridge universities were surveyed, the figures showed that there were twice as many students making their way to church on Sunday than there were adults in the rest of the population attending services at regular churches. Meanwhile a separate study showed that from 2017 to 2018, the total number of young people sitting the Religious Studies GCSE fell from 282,193 to 253,618, and 701 schools in England stopped entering students into the subject altogether. However, GCSE reforms now state that pupils must study at least two religions, so the subject has a more secular ethos and is not particularly relevant to Biblical Christian study.