Kingsbridge Youth For Christ

Kingsbridge Youth For Christ is part of British Youth for Christ. We exist to see young people’s lives changed by Jesus. British Youth for Christ was established in 1947 by Billy Graham and today has over 60 centres in the UK.

Kingsbridge Youth For Christ has been running for 30 years in November 2027. 

Through youth clubs, assemblies in local primary schools, weekly mentoring, regular lessons in the local secondary school, our bus project providing a safe and welcoming space for young people twice a week, evangelistic events, trips, and attending a Christian youth festival each summer, we seek to bring the gospel to every young person in our area in a relevant way.

We work closely with the town council, local police and other services to positively impact youth culture and individuals in our town.

We have two paid members of staff and over 25 volunteers. Becky Evans works full time as the Director and Charlotte Conley works part time as a youth worker - working 2/3 of her time with KYFC and 1/3 for a church in a local village. We are funded solely by the generosity of individuals and churches, and occasionally through grants.

Kingsbridge is located in South Devon in a small market town of around 6,000 people. There is a strong sense of community here and the scenery is stunning. We are surrounded by beautiful beaches and rolling hills, and in the warmer months the town becomes a hive of activity, with many holidaymakers coming to enjoy the area. Our work involves a lot of the outlying villages with Kingsbridge as the hub.

Our office is located at Kingsbridge Family Church, who we share the space with.

The KYFC Bus

We have a converted long wheelbase van that we park on the town square in the centre of Kingsbridge twice a week. On board we have funky LED lights, seating, a PS4 and a hot chocolate station. On a Monday after school until 4:30pm we give out more than 50 hot chocolates each week, chatting with many young people about their days at school and how they’re doing. Many stay to play PS4 until it’s time for us to pack up.

On a Friday night we are out between 8:30pm and 10pm providing a safe space for young people to come and hang out in whatever state they may be in. We offer a non-judgemental and supportive listening ear, as well as providing hot chocolate, water, first aid and ‘scran’ (toast and crumpets).

During both of these sessions, but especially on a Friday night, we regularly have conversations with young people about faith and the big questions of life.

The Lounge Youth Club 

“The Lounge” is our weekly youth club run at Kingsbridge Family Church every Tuesday from 7–8:30pm. It is open to everyone in school Years 7–11. Activities include the gaming hub with a high-spec gaming PC, a Nintendo Switch, pool table, crafts, table tennis, football upstairs in the main hall, board games and a tuck shop.

Almost all of the 20+ young people who attend the club have no church background. Each week one of the team leads a “God slot” – a team game, fun challenge, or something similar, followed by an evangelistic talk sharing something of their testimony, the difference Jesus has made in their lives, and God’s heart for the young people who attend.

Christian Union and Bible Study

On a Wednesday after school we run two Christian groups consecutively.

Christian Union is open to everyone in school Years 7–11 who wants to know more about God, whether they would call themselves a Christian or not. It is pitched with no assumption of prior knowledge of God or the Bible, and gives young people opportunities to explore faith and invite their friends.

Many of the young people stay on for Bible Study – the later group aimed at school Years 10–13, or younger if they have been brought up in church and have foundational knowledge of the Bible. We open the Bible together and explore the Word of God more deeply. This school year we have done series on Acts and Daniel, and we are currently looking at Esther.

In both of these groups it is such a privilege to watch their faith and confidence grow. During times of prayer many of the young people are now praying out loud, speaking more boldly and with greater confidence. It is so encouraging to be part of their journey.

With this group of young Christians we organise a social event each half term. These include activities such as climbing, go-karting, cinema trips, McDonald’s (always!), picnics on Dartmoor and BBQs on the beach. We take the young people in the KYFC van.

Primary Schools

We currently go into seven local primary schools delivering regular whole-school assemblies. These involve games or challenges, songs, Bible stories and relevant messages.

In Salcombe Primary School we run ‘Ethos Club’ every Wednesday lunchtime with volunteers from Salcombe Church. We see eight children each week and spend 45 minutes looking at a Bible story, doing a creative activity and chatting together. Each term the sessions are themed around one of the school values. The children regularly ask brilliant questions and we have great conversations as we explore the stories together.

We also run Bible lessons in several primary schools and, at the end of the year, we deliver a ‘transition lesson’ to Year 6 students in all the primary schools we visit.

The local secondary school

In Kingsbridge there is one secondary school serving a large catchment area with around 1,200 students.

We have a team of mentors who go into the school each week to see students for 30-minute sessions. Our mentoring project is shaped to serve the school and support students where local resources are often stretched, and health services are at capacity.

We are not teachers, parents, psychologists, therapists or doctors**, but our team are trained to provide a listening ear, build self-confidence and resilience, and demonstrate unconditional and non-judgemental value for the students we work with. We work with the senior leadership team to identify students who would benefit from having a trusted and committed adult to talk with as they work through personal and social challenges.

Recently we have also been able to go into the school more frequently (for the first time since before Covid) to deliver lessons and assemblies. Since then, we have seen significant growth in engagement with our projects. We are in a really exciting and fruitful season.

Satellites

For the last few years we have taken a group to Limitless Festival. This summer we are heading to Satellites Festival, a Christian youth festival run by Youthscape and held in Somerset. We are very excited — it is always an amazing week where many lives are transformed.

Church Partnership 

Our youth worker Charlotte works part-time for KYFC and part-time for a church in a nearby village, helping to grow and develop their youth work. They run a weekly youth club and also go into the village primary school.