At the forefront of The Boys’ Brigade’s Object is “The advancement of Christ’s Kingdom”. For 140 years, through our weekly meetings, residential experiences and other events, we have been seeking to fulfil the Object by introducing children and young people to a Biblical narrative that offers them the opportunity to live “life to the full” (John 10:10) through coming to know Jesus for themselves.
Every child and young person is different, so the BB Faith Journey model is not a perfect formula (or a ‘sausage machine’) where young people enter at one end and exit as fully formed, mature, on-fire Christians at the other. It is, however, a framework that allows us to engage with young people, allows them to explore what the Bible tells them about who they are and why they are here, gives them the opportunity to encounter Jesus and acknowledge him as their Saviour and then helps them expand his kingdom by stepping into everything that God has planned for them.
We recognise that for some of our members, we will just be sowing the seeds of faith, sparking their curiosity and seeking to answer some of their questions. It will be for others to nurture those seeds and for God to meet them elsewhere on their journey. We are not, however, content with just seed sowing and we want as many of our members as possible to encounter Jesus and have their lives transformed. Importantly, we also want them to have fun along the way!
“Hook, Book and Took sums up BB for me. You need something to hook young people in, to actually get them there – and the quality programme that we offer does that.
The book, the Bible – is the most important thing, and as you build relationships with young people, often over many years, we have the opportunity to really explore faith together. What they take away (the ‘took’) can be an unknown. Sometimes it is that mustard seed that’s planted, and you just don’t know when God will cause it to sprout and grow.”
– Ash Robinson, BB Leader in Telford