Stepping Out – go where He leads
For the past 11 years, you may have seen Sandhurst Youth around the town. But behind the people, projects and activities is a much bigger story: the story of God at work.
It began quietly in 2015. Youth worker Frank was playing basketball with Stephen Chown, then Executive Officer of Sandhurst Town Council. Their conversation turned to the lack of youth work in the town. An ordinary conversation — but God was opening a door.
The vision was to invest in young people, not as problems to be solved, but as people made in God’s image, with God-given identity and potential. Church and community working together, aiming to form an independent charity within three years. Incredibly, that happened in 2018.
God brought us the right people at the right time. Esther brought passionate faith but never felt truly at home in Sandhurst and so moved on. Mike arrived, a “marmite” character to some, but with an extraordinary heart for young people, bringing a determination “to go where other people won’t go, talk to those others won’t talk to, and achieve miracles.”
Through them, God has been teaching us what incarnational ministry means: entering the young peoples’ world, building relationships, listening and walking alongside them, following where He leads.
There have been difficult times. In 2022 Sandhurst Youth found itself homeless, but God had not lost control. He opened another door, and Sandhurst Baptist Church offered to be our base right in the heart of the town. What looked like an ending became a new beginning.
Doors continued to open: work in Sandhurst School, mentoring, supporting restorative justice, and a growing relationship with the RMA. Again, God was opening doors we could never have planned.
Then came another crisis. Funding had been lost, and by January 2026 SY could have been finished financially. Yet just two days before New Year Mike secured another job reducing our cost base, and in March Sandhurst Town Council reinstated its funding. Once again, God had provided.
Now a new path is emerging through our partnership with Army Welfare Service. It would be easy simply to become a successful secular youth organisation. But we believe God has called SY to remain true to its calling: relational, incarnational, and rooted in the Gospel.
So the question now is not simply, “What can SY do next?” but “What is God doing, and how can we follow Him?”
Please pray for SY and the young people of Sandhurst. We believe God is still at work, still opening doors, and still calling us to follow where He leads.
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/sandhurstyouth