Summer Soul mission

Sam Tyndall

This was my second Summer Soul mission and it was bigger and more ambitious than ever.

It was run under the banner of national outreach initiative, Hope 2008.

Our base for the week was St Michael le Belfrey Church, situated in the shadow of York Minster, and involved 100 students from churches across the city and elsewhere.

The mission comprised of three main components: the Hope cafe, street questionnaires and social action.

Summer Soul York Minster July 2008

St Michael's was transformed into the cafe and opened from 11am to 11pm every day, offering tea, coffee and home-made cakes.

Team members played live music during the evening sessions and offered prayers for healing on the church forecourt.

Our cafe guests were often willing to chat about matters of faith and spirituality - although some preferred talking about football or the weather! I had a few very encouraging and challenging conversations and clearly the cafe was a much needed sanctuary.

On the Saturday afternoon short talks on topics such as hope and forgiveness were incorporated into the cafe format.

The questionnaires gave us the chance to ask people on the street about their attitudes to faith, hope and God.

Questions included, 'Do you have a satisfying purpose in life?'; 'What is the greatest problem facing humankind?' and 'If you could know God personally would you be interested?'

Many of us found stopping people in the street really daunting but we made some great contacts. Opportunities to share God's love had an amazing impact on lots of folk.

Revealingly, 80 per cent of those questioned said they would like to know God personally.

I spent much of the mission coordinating the social action work.

As well as four specific garden clearing projects for needy York residents, we also worked alongside City of York Council, litter picking and removing graffiti in different communities.

I was really impressed with the way the teams had such enthusiasm for the work, and continued to stay cheerful when the going got tough.

One of the mission's special moments was when we got to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of York on the steps of the Minster in the pouring rain. We told them about Summer Soul and posed for pictures – some of which even made the national news!

The mission culminated on Sunday with a free barbecue outside St Michael's which included African drumming, face painting and a live worship band.

Gram Seed, an ex-football hooligan and drug addict, later gave his testimony and spoke at an evangelistic service in the evening.

Hundreds turned up to listen to his incredible story and significant numbers went forward to commit their lives to Jesus for the first time.

Summer Soul was hard work, challenging, but really encouraging. The unity of the team was fantastic, and it was great to see the way God worked though us to bless and reach the city of York.

We pray that all those we came into contact with will continue to be drawn into a relationship with Jesus.