GO4IT & GUTS
Rose Supported Youth Club and Discipleship in Portrack, Stockton on TeesOne of the great opportunities that we have as the Rose Education Foundation is to develop long-term partnerships with projects and ministries that we recognise as significantly impacting and caring for young people in the region, especially those in more difficult and deprived areas. We continue to be glad of the tireless work done by Portrack Church and the team there, which seeks to reach out to local young people on Portrack estate.
Within the wider ministry, grant funding from the foundation has specifically resourced the ‘Go4It’ youth club and ‘Guts’, a place for initial discipleship.
Sadly, given the circumstances of the area, Go4It tends to have to run at a financial loss in order to stay open on a weekly basis. The club welcomes 10-14 year olds into the church hall setting and engages them in activities, crafts and games, seeking to build relationships between leaders and young people. It has also seen the development of junior leaders as older teens that have grown out of the age range of the club have stayed on to serve practically and be invested in as they develop their own leadership skills.
Rachael Ezra, one of the youth workers at Portrack Baptist Church, explained that grant funding from the Rose Education Foundation not only meant that the club could continue to run and reach out to young people in that area, but they were able to replace their old pool tables with new ones, something which really pleased and excited the young people.
Developing from the Go4It club is Guts, which seeks to build a bridge from the estate to the church and offers early discipleship to young people.
One of the very special aspects of Guts is the intentional connections between leaders and young people, and it was grant funding from the Rose Education Foundation that enabled these relationships to develop further as leaders prayerfully considered each young person in turn and chose to bless each one with a book or journal specific to them and their journey. Further, the funding also went towards providing transport for occasional extra trips, which helped even more to build up these relationships.
Rachael states that the Rose Education Foundation has made ‘a world of difference’ to their ministry and the young people reached through it, explaining that if it wasn’t for the support of the foundation, the work would simply become unsustainable. We are happy to offer this support, and grateful for the great effort being done by Rachael and the whole team as they seek to love and engage with each young person living on that estate.
As with so many of the wonderful ministries that exist across the area, we are inspired by the intentional and relentless effort being made to reach out to the young people of our region.