Young people communicate Gods love through ice-cream, surfing and socks

Meanwhile, in Chester Diocese a Christian Union wants to run the Sock Project to communicate God’s love to their school using sock puppets, running events and film-based discussions, and performing random acts of kindness in the school lunch hour.

These are two of 84 ingenious new evangelistic projects to receive a pump-priming grant of up to £3,000 from the Church of England’s Youth Evangelism Fund (YEF) in 2009. Half the fund is supported by the Archbishops' Council, the Henry Smith Charity, the Laing Family Trusts, and the Jerusalem Trust.

Launched in 2006, the YEF grew out of a report presented to General Synod in 2002 entitled 'Good News for Young People: The Church of England’s National Youth Strategy', which included proposals for a Youth Evangelism Fund. It aims to enable more young people to connect with the Gospel and develop faith within the life of the Church by allowing the young to share faith with friends in ways that make sense to them. Each year for five years, eight to 10 dioceses are receiving YEF support to resource new ideas for mission.

“It’s for young people themselves,” explains the Archbishops’ Council’s Mission and Evangelism Associate Dr Rachel Jordan in the latest Church of England podcast, “to be able to express their Christian faith in a way that is engaging and will help to introduce their friends to the importance of Jesus Christ in their lives.”

It is easy for church youth groups to apply for YEF funding, Rachel points out, by filling in a simple application form, available from diocesan youth officers, who play an essential role in promoting the YEF to groups in their diocese.

“All they have to do,” she says, “is work out what they want to do and explain to us clearly why they want to do it, so that we can see their heart for mission and evangelism for their generation. Then they need to tell us why they need the money, what it is they want to spend it on.”

The Youth Evangelism Fund grants group, comprising a panel of young people, the Bishop of Bradford, Rt Revd David James, and representatives from the funding bodies, met at Church House in Westminster on 23 September to select this year’s successful projects.

Among them is a project thought up by the group Sticky (Swindon Teenage Independent Christian Kids Youth), from the Old Town Partnership of Churches, Swindon, which aims to set up a live nativity scene retelling the Christmas story in a stable, with a Father Christmas separately handing out children's Nativity story books, and with refreshments and last-minute presents for sale.

In Bristol Diocese, a group from St Andrew’s Church, Chippenham, will receive YEF funding to help set up the Compass Youth Café, to provide a safe environment where young people can hang out with their friends, and host talks, music events and quizzes, all with a Christian message.

The YEF is funding another group, from Winchester Diocese, to hire a beach hut near a new surfreef. The young people will be surfing, hosting barbecues and sharing their faith with their friends.

Groups are being encouraged to think about applying in the New Year for the final round of YEF funding in the following dioceses: Bath and Wells, Salisbury, Gloucester, St Albans, Oxford, Liverpool, Sodor and Mann, Chichester, Rochester ,London, Guildford, and St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

Rachel adds in the podcast: “If you’re in those dioceses, we really want to hear from you. We want your creative ideas on how you can reach your generation.”