We’re uniting to reach non-church children
Imagine 13 million kids getting to hear about Jesus! Former Regents Principal Dave Newton is dreaming big in his new role at Scripture Union. He told Chris Rolfe about his first few months in the job and his goals
“Scripture Union exists to reach the 95 per cent of children or young people who don’t engage with church,” says Dave Newton.
That’s why, with his heart for evangelism, Dave was so excited about leading the team that’s aiming to make this vision a reality when he stepped in as SU’s National Director in March.
The 156-year-old organisation has long worked with churches, schools and individual believers to provide training and resources for faith building and outreach. But as Dave set out in his new role he inherited SU’s recently introduced Revealing Jesus strategy – a mission framework designed to enable churches to help children and young people explore and grow in faith.
“People often think of Scripture Union as a publishing house or the people who run holidays. Yes, we do that, but we’re now focused on reaching this 95 per cent who don’t go to church but are often open to exploring faith,” he says.
Getting started
In his first few months in the job, Dave has focused on raising awareness of all SU has to offer.
“People don’t realise the resource we could be to churches; helping them take a more missional approach.
“One thing we offer, for example, is free coaching and support to volunteers and youth workers. We’ve also created a simple booklet to help a young person who’s just chosen Jesus understand the next steps in their new faith.”
One of Dave’s priorities from the outset has been networking with like-minded youth organisations.
“In my second week we had a national youth agency retreat,” he says. “Twenty organisations met, including guys from Limitless, Urban Saints and Youth for Christ.
“We had another session just last week to pray for children and youth in the nation, focusing on issues like education, identity, mission partnership and how we can work together to reach this lost generation. We very much want to be a catalyst or enabler and to partner with anyone we can in order to reveal Jesus.”
Set for summer
Summer is approaching as I’m speaking to Dave, and with it comes SU’s energetic programme of 66 holidays around England and Wales, staffed by 2,000 volunteers.
“One of the reasons we still do residential holidays is that they offer key moments for young people to respond to Jesus for the first time or to recommit to faith. This is what we’re aiming to offer through ‘Revealing Jesus’ – the opportunity to connect, explore, respond and grow.”
That said, SU also recognises the broader programmes on which camps or festivals are based don’t suit everyone. Alongside its holidays it is also running smaller, more tailored activities.
“We have bake-offs and holidays themed around adventure, sailing and robotics. These are smaller communities for young people who might say, ‘I don’t like adventure but I do like computer programming’. Again, it’s about revealing Jesus wherever and however we can.”
With the back-to-school season in Scripture Union wants to reach the 95 per cent of children who don’t engage with church view too, SU is also running training for schools workers over the summer, working with 60 mission and charity partners to equip and resource them for the coming academic year.
What’s next?
In his previous role as Principal at Regents Theological College, Dave gave the college’s structure and curriculum a radical overhaul. As he looks to the future at SU, is a similar shake-up on the cards?
“We’re already clear about our mission to reach the 95 per cent, focusing on our Revealing Jesus methodology,” says Dave.
“Any revolution will be around how we mobilise people to do that.”
SU is currently working with around 400 partner churches, he says. “What I would love to do is build on that by helping every Christian who has contact with non-church kids to take responsibility for those who are on their patch.”
You might lead a school walking bus with 30 children; you might be a football coach or a dance teacher. How can you reveal Jesus in those spaces?
“What really excites me is thinking about what it would look like if thousands of everyday Christians started to say, ‘I want to reveal Jesus to the 13 million children and young people who don’t know him.’ I’m daring to dream of the impact that could have.”
This dream is relevant to churches too, he adds. “If we’re talking revolution, it would be in terms of mobilisation and helping churches to turn inside out in terms of their focus. At the moment, most of the resource that goes into children’s and youth ministry is for the five per cent of children who already attend church. But what about the 95 per cent who don’t?”
The big Elim opportunity
Dave is excited about the opportunity this creates to work with Elim. As SU’s first Pentecostal national director, Dave describes his new role as “stepping into a new mission field with an opportunity to serve Elim in a new space.”
“Elim has its own youth department but there are things SU and other agencies can offer.
“We could help churches turn their youth ministries inside out to reach non-Christian kids in their area, and help them discover who Jesus is. We’d love to partner with Elim to do that.”
Equipping and enabling
On a more personal note, how has a significant move from a ten-year stint leading academics to a focus on youth and children been for Dave?
“The biggest change has been the travel,” he says. “At Regents I was fairly office-based but in the first three months here I did over 5,000 miles in the car going here, there and everywhere.
“I’m an evangelist at heart, so stepping back into that gifting and calling and getting to shape an organisation around mission is really, really exciting!
“I guess one side of the coin in my work has been training, equipping and releasing at Regents. The other side is the evangelism here and in my earlier roles at places like Youth for Christ.
“Now, it feels like the coin is on its edge and spinning. I’m about equipping and enabling but also evangelism, and it’s these two together that make me come alive – along with our amazing staff team.”
Some might ask why you’d step back into youth ministry after leading adults.
Usually it’s the other way round.
“For me,” says Dave, “evangelism is what I’m about, so wherever I get to do that I’m excited. And what better place to do that than with the next generation?”
Standing out in a secular world
In its mission to help children discover faith, Scripture Union works in an increasingly secular environment. How does it tackle the challenge? By offering relevant, practical help and going the extra mile, says Dave.
“When you’re working in a secular culture it’s important to find ways to be united rather than divided. How can we be good news people? What is the message of the gospel that really makes a difference? Where do we agree rather than disagree?”
One way SU does this is by equipping and resourcing churches to work with children transitioning from primary to secondary school.
“Primary schools welcome churches in to run our ‘It’s Your Move’ workshops each year and don’t hold back on sharing the Christian faith,” says Dave.
SU also builds a strong reputation with its focus on professionalism and safeguarding while working among children with challenging backgrounds or situations.
“You’ve got to go above and beyond in this area, and with more than 150 years of putting children first we’ve created a culture that shows we really care.”
At a recent camp for children with additional needs, for example, SU partnered with the Torch Trust to enable a blind child to fully participate in the event.
“It was one young person, but the length we went to to make sure they could enjoy the whole experience is typical of Scripture Union. It’s not just about the masses: individuals matter.”
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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