Mark Watson - The No.40 Project

The No. 40 Project is part of our Wellbeing work and aims to create a safe space for young people in the heart of Cambridge and the surrounding area, which promotes positive well-being, builds relationships, and shares the love of Jesus.

Building Work - Having had delays for various reasons, renovations to No. 40 St Andrew’s Street are now under way and going well. Old walls have been removed and the new walls, accessible toilets and lift shaft are being created. The contractors should be handing the building back over in early June at which point we have final furnishing and decorating to do. Throughout June we have local volunteers coming to help put in the finishing touches, so it feels like a space young people want to come and spend time. One of the groups coming to serve are a group of students from Just Love. Just Love is all about empowering students to make a difference in the local community during their time at university and we are super encouraged to be working with them.

Project Manager – In an amazing answer to prayer we have raised enough to fund a full-time project manager for the space for at least two years. Having advertised the role and interviewed over the last couple of months we have made a job offer which has been accepted. This new team member will begin in at the start of July and have responsibility for overseeing and taking the work of the No. 40 Project forwards including youth drop-ins, wellbeing workshops and faith exploration.

Mentoring – In February we launched a new mentoring program in a local school. This is something we have been working towards for a while, so it is encouraging to see it up and running. Each week a group of four volunteers go into the school to mentor eight young people over a two-hour period. These are all young people in year seven who the school have identified as being able to benefit from some extra support through 1-1 mentoring. Two of the team are Youth for Christ staff and the other two are volunteers from local churches. Our heart is to be able to work alongside local churches to expand the mentoring program into further schools across Cambridge and the surrounding areas. When I asked one young man who I have been mentoring for eight weeks what he had found helpful he said, ‘this is the only space where I can speak to an adult about what is going on in my life’.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support and prayers which allow us to continue seeing young people’s lives changed by Jesus in Cambridge. Please continue praying for the contractors onsite and the building works that they would be finished in good time and that our relationships with the builders are a great witness for Jesus. We would love prayer for the start of our new team member and the process of finalising the furnishing of the new space, advertising and working towards a grand opening in September. Finally, please do pray as we seek to approach new schools and expand the mentoring program in the near future.