Youth programmes

Examples of HOPE youth activities 

Ignite HOPE Cardiff had young people in key positions on the team. Although youth driven, Ignite HOPE’s events were not youth-exclusive. For three days in May 2008, and every year since, more than 430 young people have donated 6,500 hours of kindness to their communities. In the evenings a further 800 young people are reported to have attended the city central site for music, worship and teaching. The site also hosted numerous family-friendly activities. Teams were sent out at night into the city in order to mix with clubbers and ensure that people got home safely. Building on these events, Ignite HOPE ran for a further ten days across South Wales, attracting more than 500 people.

Gary Smith, co-founder of Ignite HOPE tells how local communities were touched by the actions of these Christian teenagers. “Kids we met during the projects came along to the evenings to see what this was all about.” Some members of the support crew for the evening events joined Alpha courses as a result of their good experience working with the Ignite team. “One policeman patrolled on the Saturday and came back on his day off, grabbed a t-shirt and got stuck in. It was brilliant”. 
 

The Macclesfield Christian Mission worked closely with the Message Trust in 2008 to run a series of HOPE events in local schools. As a whole, the projects gained exceptional feedback from the church, the council and the community. In the schools especially, teachers were left with a positive view of the church. Pupils too were “blown away” by the impact of hearing about God and His power to work in their lives. The local radio station and newspaper covered many of the events, including a youth concert and a community weekend. In all, 28 local churches were involved, reaching over one thousand young people through the schools covered by the HOPE activities. “The HOPE year helped to take the church out to the community and break down any barriers.”