15th January 2013

Thrity people gathered from accross the Preston area today to hear the findings of some research conducted by Andy Prosser, Centre Coordinator of Fusion YAC Preston. The research report, some 68 pages covers in some depth the needs of the youth and community of East Preston, covering the wards of St. Matthews, Fishwick and Ribbleton.

The November issue of Beyond the Horizon (Fusion’s work in the two thirds world) is now out. The BTH team have been thrilled by your responses to the last issue.

We take a closer look at Ghana and South Asia as well as exploring some of the creative things teams are doing to sustain the work across the globe.

Click here to download the pdf (6Mb)

We're delighted to announce the publicaiton of 6 Radical Decisions by Matt Garvin

A pattern for Christian mission that comes from reflection on the history of the Christian church and the social reality of the 21st Century.

6 Radical Decisions contains a small group study guide and is directly aimed at churches and individuals who want to explore what it means to effectively engage the community outside the walls of the church.

For more information and to order your copy, go to www.fusionyac.org/6rd

We are excited to have our 2011/12 Annual Report for you to read. It’s full of interesting information from the trustees report, to a brief look at the work we have been doing this past year, from summer kid’s clubs to youth cafes, advent pageants, the internship program and our ever popular Foundations course. It also looks ahead to the summer sports outreach where we are partnering with More than Gold, to the annual British Pilgrimage with 80 participants. We hope you enjoy looking through the report and catch a glimpse of our vision – “together with hope.” 

Click here to download the report

Welcome to this latest issue of Beyond the Horizon! After a long break BTH is back with news from more than eleven Fusion Centres across the world. As you may be aware BTH is a bulletin of Fusion’s work in the 2 thirds world. The editorial team has spent time chatting with some of our centre leaders and hope you enjoy this glimpse into their lives and work. In our next issue we will be featuring a selection of these centres, giving you the chance to meet more of the team and get a closer look at their work. We will also have news on the Annual British Pilgrimage and how our international pilgrims found the experience. We hope you enjoy this chance to catch up.

Download the pdf at www.fusionyac.org/BeyondTheHorizon

Fusion Albania are finalizing the work of Oliver Twist drama/play/musical :). For the fourth year running, Fusion Albania are pulling together a cast made up of around forty five young people from around Korce to present a high quality musical production. Previously they put on Les Miserables. Where unemplyment is high, futures and finances not so easy, these opportunities are uniting the young people together and giving them such a rich experience. Starting in May, they are performing in Korca (3 nights), Librazhd (1 night), Elbasan (1 night), Tirana (1night), Vlora (1 night).

Erion, the producer of the musical said, “We have a cast of around 45 people. Something special and different this year is that we have a group of junior high kids involved. They are a joy to work with but in the same time a little more work for Lysiena, Lorena and I. :)”

Around the world, Fusion is recognized for our delivery of practical training to people who want to make a lasting difference in communities. In South Africa, Fusion currently delivers seminars on community development, the Foundations short course and an internship in youth and community work. We have plans to broaden the range of seminars and vocational courses that we offer over the next few years

The 2012 Wheatley St.George’s Community Funday took place on Saturday 21st April, with around 700 people coming along for the afternoon.  As in previous years, the story of St. George and the dragon was re-enacted, as our gallant hero vanquished his foe once more - with more than a little help from a band of brave villagers! The old favourites, such as face painting and the bouncy castle, were as popular as ever. As ever, thanks to the generosity of our many sponsors, the Funday was provided free to all who came.

Wheatley’s youth work keeps on stepping up this year.  The Pulse Wheatley Youth Cafe has now been running for six months and has a regular group of around 15 young people coming along. Over the past two months, Fusion has been in negotiations with the local council to contract Fusion to run their local youth work.  We’re hoping to sign this in two weeks.  It’s a very exciting step for us as we grow to have a well rounded approach to youth provision in Wheatley.

We are giving thanks for answers to prayers about water for the student household; from scarcity they now have plenty, the bore is completed and operating. God is amazingly good and we are now sure that He wants us to continue living in this building. In the process of digging this underground water pipeline we were able to turn those who opposed us into our friends. What an amazing testimony.  
Also following the recently concluded Short School of Mission in Dimapur, Nagaland, the founder/director of Golden Crown College was so impressed by our training and he has decided that he will send a batch of students for Foundations course in Delhi every year. This year 12 students will join us. They will pay the full cost for it. Also he is asking us to run a MONTH long training program for his students and has also volunteered to give us his college for any Fusion activity in future free of cost.

When Fusion Australia said that we might be able to have Skye over here for a year or two, we were so excited. Skye is one of Fusion’s very gifted youth workers with years of experience and a passion for training. Her strength of faith and ability to share this sensitively with others has been one of the elements we’ve really appreciated having on the team here.  Skye is currently working with Dan to produce a training package for the Underpinning Knowledge of running youth cafes.  She’s involved in 3 youth cafes, a breakfast club and an after-school club.  We’re so glad to have here on the team.

Barton, one of the most deprived estates in Oxford, now has its own Youth Cafe for 8-13yr olds’ run by Thrive:Barton, in partnership with Fusion. It is exciting to report that on the first night in February, 23 local children, some with pretty high energy levels, turned up to enjoy activities which included basketball in the sports hall, portrait photography, origami and Wii sports in the main hall and choc-chip cookie baking in the kitchen. Part of our approach is to run activities which help the children to learn about the importance of valuing each other, cooperation, respect and peer leadership.