Designed By Thornbury Baptist Church
Thornbury
Project Type: Single Church
Project Area: North
Project Address:
THORNBURY BAPTIST CHURCH
GILLINGSTOOL
THORNBURY, S.GLOS
Postcode: BS35 2EG
Website: http://www.thornburybaptistchurch.co.uk
Project History & Affiliations:
Thornbury Baptist Church (TBC) is an independent Baptist Church, which is part of the Celebration Network in the South West. We try to avoid labels but we would describe ourselves as an evangelical/renewal based church. We seek to teach the Bible in a life application manner; have a strong prayer life; reach out to others through a variety of means and to know more of God and the power of His Spirit.
There was a student Youthworker for 3yrs before I started working here in September ’03 and there had been a Youthworker before him; there has been strong support for Youth and Children’s work for many years. In the 5 ½ years I have been in post, I had a full-time Volunteer for 2 of them. Now the Youthwork continues to grow.
Structure & Vision of the Project:
Most Young People leave Thornbury aged around 18 so we focus on 11-18 year olds, splitting them into two Groups; 11-14 and 14-18. For each of these two age groups, we run relationship-building groups, and more Discipleship-based groups. In addition, we try to have a presence in the community, especially local schools.
I focus my efforts on the local Secondary- The Castle School with assemblies, class input, two
weekly lunchtime groups assisting Sports coaching, and lunchtime detached work around the site. After 18, we keep in contact with them wherever they go and offer one to one support, and look to run defined pieces of work with them, for example form a mission team for a particular trip.
About the location of the Project:
TBC is a church of approximately 350 adults and 150 children and young people, a family church drawn from across the generations. Thornbury is a small market town of about 13,000 people, situated 15 miles north of the centre of Bristol in the Severn Vale between the A38 and river Severn. Thornbury is mainly a middle class community with young families and a significant retired population. Although there is much local employment it also has a strong commuter workforce.
About the youth work of the Project:
I would describe this an excellent place to gain experience in Youthwork, as we have contact with many young people in a broad spectrum of situations. We have good relations with local churches in the town and have been a main player in local community summer outreach fortnights over the last few years. One of the groups we worked closely with during these outreaches was New Generation Music and Mission (NGM), which has its headquarters in Thornbury and we have good links with them.
Outside Thornbury, we take it in turns with other churches with youth groups to run a youth event called Re:Gen, and as a church we are a part of the regional celebration network and attend a Bristol-wide Youth event Called the Mix. When taking groups away we often link up with friends from other churches nationally.