Work has begun on a double decker bus to turn it into a Message Bus for the young people of Warwick and the surrounding areas.
Message Buses are part of The Message, a UK christian charity that delivers work in schools, creates christian youth resources and supports local churches with mission and evangelism training. Message Buses are state of the art mobile youth centres that work across the UK. This new bus will be the first Message Bus in the Midlands.
Together for Change obtained funding through the Warwick Churches Team and King Henry 8th Trust, to give a grant to the Message Trust which has enabled the Message Bus to be commissioned. The bus will be based in Warwick and used to support young people in that area, but it can also be hired out across the diocese when it is free, with the main objective being to launch new christian youth groups and support existing youth groups and schools work. The bus can accommodate up to 30 young people from a classroom - giving ample space for learning.
The bus is currently being stripped out and prepared for the installation of state of the art technologies including; Xboxes, kareoke machines, plasma screens, iPads and also a kitchen that will serve hot food. There will also be an outdoor space with seating, outdoor plasma screens, a parasol and food hatch.
A full time Youth Evangelist/Bus Manager has also been funded to enable the bus to run and deliver quality youth provision. This person will be responsible for raising volunteers and additional bus drivers who can facilitate the vision of the bus youth ministry.
CEO of Together for Change, Jet Jones says;
"The Message Trust have a long history of working with the most disadvantaged young people and engaging them with exciting presentations on the gospel of Jesus and we are looking forward to partnering with them. Watch this space for more updates on this exciting project!"