| The BB Faith Journey |
| When Sir William Alexander Smith founded the BB in 1883, he had a clear vision to advance Christ’s Kingdom. He did this through engaging with young people, giving them opportunities to explore the Christian faith in word and deed, inviting them to encounter Jesus and respond to the gospel for themselves and challenging them to further expand the kingdom by going out in the world to make a difference. Wrapped around this was a programme that helped young people develop their skills and engage in activities which grew character. 140 years later, it’s this combination of the Christian faith and the vibrancy of the programme that has ensured, despite all the challenges, that the BB remains one of the largest Christian youth organisations in the UK. Every child and young person is unique, so our BB Faith Journey cannot ever be a ‘one-size fits all’ formula where young people enter at one end and exit as mature Christians at the other. But we think it is helpful to have a framework to guide how we offer children and young people an opportunity to meet with Jesus and make informed decisions about whether they want to answer his call to “follow me”. Describing this journey will also be helpful to those who don’t know us or are new to our ministry, which is important as we seek to grow. So, our Ministry Team which we were able to create following the funding received from the Uniformed Youth Fund, alongside our Christian Faith Group have developed a framework, or model, that is based on four ‘E’s’: Engage, Explore, Encounter and Expand. |
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| Engage is about the work that we do to set up groups and connect with young people. Explore is about the opportunities we give for young people to be introduced to the Bible and the Christian Faith through our programme and devotions. Encounter is about the opportunities we offer young people (in our groups, in the Church, on camps and residentials) to personally connect with God through the Bible, prayer and worship and have the opportunity to choose to follow Jesus for themselves. Expand is about answering the “What difference can I make?” question and the way we support young people to positively impact the world around them and step into leadership. We hope that this simple model will help Churches and others understand the work the BB undertakes week in week out to engage children and young people with the Christian Faith. We also hope that it will help leaders value and celebrate the work they are engaged in. We believe the Faith Journey model will also help us to begin to understand how we can better support and equip leaders as they journey with their young people, including through the provision of resources and training opportunities. |
Over the past few months, we have also been reflecting on ways in which we can further support the Faith Journey – especially at the Encounter and Expand stages – and we are excited to be preparing to launch a new way of working to complement our existing work. We will shortly be announcing more about Spaces, an exciting new offering to support Churches in their ministry with young people that can work alongside the BB Company. |
| We hope the Faith Journey model helpful in living out the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom and supporting children and young people to live “Life to the Full”. |
Dunfermline has two great companies who work with young men across the city. You can find out more about them here.
3rd Dunfermline – Meet every Wednesday.
4th Dunfermline – Meet every Friday
Want to find a company closer to where you are? You can search for one here.