Today I met up with the YFC centres in and around London. We had our normal meeting and then each centre outlined what they did to the YFC board, with each one sharing one thing from their work that either inspired or excited them, or something that was innovative.

As I sat and listened I found myself getting excited. I knew most of what these people were saying but as each one spoke, the magnitude of what they were doing in their individual areas was massive. I then thought of what they were achieveing collectively and it’s outstanding if you stop to think.

The most amazing thing is this word ‘mission’. Often the definition here can be quite narrow, quite restrictive and quite exclusive. Today, we heard about a great variety, a great smorgasboard, of mission initiatives. Each with it’s own unique flavour and appearance.

We heard about mission through sports, through music, through drop-in cafes, through walking the streets, through running lunch time clubs in schools, through youth clubs, through teaching lessons, through running homework clubs, through inspiring churches, through giving young people opportunities, through dance, through mentoringm and more … such a great variety!

The people there were so different, not just in background, race, sex, church label, but also in their interests, their preferences, their priorities. There was so much variation that people coming in to visit might find it hard to believe that we all shared a common core and all belong to YFC. And there is the amazing thing – each one of us agree that the young people of this nation are in crisis, each one agrees that we want to present Jesus to the young people of today, each one agrees that we reach young people in our areas in certain, often innovative, ways.

No great new thing there I tell myself. But there was something unique about today and it has been troubling me because I have not been able to put my finger on it. Something I had not noticed before. Something that was good and healthy but just not obvious. It has just clicked! It’s a lack of expectation!

Today, there was a lack of expectation that people would be in competiton. There was a lack of expectation that others should think ‘my project is the best and you should learn from me’. There was a lack of expectation that we needed to out-do each other in our centres. There was a lack of expectation that we were going to be judged on what we presented.

There was an abundance, an overflow, an outpouring of mutual love, trust and respect.
No hidden agendas, just a genuine desire to serve God faithfully and with integrity.

I just find that so amazing, so incredibly fantastic and I really do feel ‘wow’ ‘aren’t theses directors and staff people excellent’. The group of people I met with today are a bunch of fantastic, dedicated and sacrificial people with God at their centre. I love them all!