Jesus at the edge

|PIC1|As estates go, Edgebury is one of the better ones. Located in the leafy suburb of Chislehurst, its streets of semi-detached and terraced houses are quiet and more or less free from graffiti and vandalism.

That said, “It’s in need of some serious love,” says Lyndsay Smith, the 34-year-old director of Youth for Christ Chislehurst who moved onto the Edgebury estate from Reading two years ago.

Having no centre to work from, she set about networking with local churches and, with their help, broke the ice with the Edgebury youth through small scale outreaches. It’s the opening of a new youth club in the last few months, however, that has seen real victories won with the estate’s young people.

“Even though I’d done work with these guys before, the main bulk of stuff has happened since we opened,” says Lyndsay, who had to fight off stiff opposition from adults on the estate worried that the centre would become a magnet for badly behaved youths.

“We don’t run services here yet because the kids just can’t make that shift yet, but we’ve been able to introduce the God element to them. Bible studies have started up and we’ve taken them to Kensington Temple to give them an experience of church and desensitise them to church,” she continued.

In the three months since it opened, The Edge has become the regular hangout for a group of around 30 boys between the ages of 12 and 18. An after-school club is also doing well in attracting many of the estate’s primary school aged children. The few older girls who do come along seem for the time being to be more interested in the boys than the Bible, although Lyndsay hopes that will one day change.

“Young people need a safe place where they can be loved for who they are. A lot of the young people around here are not looked upon fondly and I think we generally stigmatise and vilify our young people,” she believes.

|PIC2|None of the youths have had any real experience of Christianity, and with more than a third of them excluded from school and around 80 per cent of them at risk of offending or involved in the criminal justice system already, Lyndsay and her two volunteer staff have had to modify their approach to sharing the Gospel.

“We tried a bit of Youth Alpha with them and we had to adapt that heavily because it is designed for more middle class children who are used to sitting down and listening, children who are ready to engage. Our kids just aren’t there yet,” she explains.

Wednesday night is God night, which Lyndsay, as she points to the ketchup stained carpet, can only describe as “a mix of carnage and joy all at once”. There have been occasions when the boys have gone too far – when snack time descended into a bread and ketchup fight, for example. They have on the whole, though, been well behaved and have come to respect the few rules the centre has in place, mainly no swearing, no drinking, no smoking. “It’s a gradual thing,” Lyndsay admits.

While there are set times for open access or Bible studies, in reality The Edge has become the day in day out “go-to” for many of the Edgebury kids, particularly those kicked out of school.

When they’re hungry, they help themselves to pizzas and hotdogs in the kitchen. When a fight breaks out, they run to Lyndsay to help sort it out. When fingers are cut or knees are grazed, they show up at the door asking for the plasters. When they’re bored they stop by to play cards or the computer, watch some TV, or have a shot on the snooker table donated by a local church. It’s not only about entertainment, she stresses, but it all helps to give the young people a space they can feel at home in.

For many of the kids, Christianity is still something of a novelty and sometimes they do make fun of the Bible or elements of the faith. To Lyndsay, however, that’s part and parcel of bringing the Gospel to people who have never known church.

“We’re touching things that we don’t like in our Christianness. The church is predominantly made up of nice Christians and we’re not prepared when people are actually swearing or behaving badly,” she says. “These are non-Christians. It’s about us being prepared to deal with people who are messed up and to touch some really broken lives.”

The approach may not be conventional, but it’s resonating with the youngsters. At their last trip to Kensington Temple, 12 of them went forward at the altar call to accept Jesus into their lives. And when Lyndsay and her team went out on a limb and replaced all Friday night activities with prayer and fasting, the youths just kept showing up. Now they come regularly to be prayed for.

Most of the young people coming to the centre have not been spoken to positively, says Lyndsay, so prayer time has become an opportunity to tell the boys the good that God sees in each of them. One boy was even moved to tears when he was told after a time of prayer that God wanted him to know that he saw a different future for him than what others were seeing.

That’s why for Lyndsay, teaching the Gospel to the youths is as much about demonstrating God’s unconditional love as it is about studying the Bible: “They are seeking love and affirmation and that’s what God is. God is our heavenly Father who pours and lavishes His love upon us and that’s ultimately what everyone is seeking. Most of us come to God through the fact that we’re loved by the Creator of the universe and we are saying not only are you loved but God has a purpose for your life.”

Lyndsay and the team take time out every now and again to chat with parents and make sure they are aware of what their children get up to at the centre. So far there have been no problems. One mother who is a nominal Christian is happy for her children to learn about the faith, while another parent has since given his life to Christ while in prison.

The last few months on the Edgebury estate have seen highs and lows, steps forward and steps backward, but Lyndsay says she is in it for the long haul. “My dream is to build church with these kids. My dream is to see them discipled and going through it with God, producing more fruit than I ever have. That’s my dream and 12 people made a response. God changed the world with 12 people. If we can ground these guys in the Bible and disciple them then there are no limits to what they can do.”