Baptist church wins youth award 

A Baptist church’s youth outreach has been recognised in a new awards programme which spotlights outstanding community projects and services by churches and Christian organisations across Britain and Ireland

Level One at Stirling Baptist Church won the Youth & Children’s Work section of Premier's Love Britain & Ireland Awards.

It was launched in 2014 in response to a local survey looking at the needs of young people, and is the main base for all the church's youth and young adult work. It stages events and programmes throughout the week, including drop-in cafes, acoustic nights, workshops and Bible studies. 

Level One is a space that 'the young people of our church and city have come to know, trust and feel safe in,' states its website. 'This has allowed us to build relationships which has in turn given us the opportunity to help them to explore many of the issues that they are facing in today's society including topics such as faith, relationships, friendships, self-esteem and identity.'

It also won the Most Innovative Youth Work in the 2015 Christian Youth Work Awards.

Rob Fraser Binns is the church's youth pastor (pictured). He said while it was great to be able to receive these awards, 'it is all about the young people that we are working with, the young people that God is impacting, the families and backgrounds that they are coming from and the change that we are seeing God make in them, which is absolutely amazing and way beyond what we ever expected or prayed for.'

'Our heart is for Level One to be a place that the young people of Stirling know as a safe place where they can find support and direction to make healthy life choices,' he continued.

'Our desire is that they will also see and hear of the love that God has for them and we beleive because of this we have seen a number of young people come to faith and which is so exciting to see them on a journey with him.'

The ‘Love Britain & Ireland Awards’ were conceived by Premier as part of its mission to enable people to put faith at the heart of their daily life and bring Christ to their communities. The project has been implemented in conjunction with the Good Faith Partnership.

There were six categories, including community building, work with older people, innovation, and inclusion. 

The award for best overall project - an outstanding project that expresses and enables others to experience Christian love in action - was presented to the Bedford-based Kings Arms Project, which helps people out of homelessness. Its website www.kingsarmsproject.org explains how the project focuses on accommodation, outreach and opportunity to ensure that homeless people can have a bright future.

The judges were Russell Rook of Good Faith Partnership; Baroness Maeve Sherlock OBE, Labour peer and Shadow DWP Minister; Jenny Sinclair of Together for the Common Good; Bev Thomas of the Amani Consultancy and this year's Sam Sharpe lecturer; and the Revd Nims Obunge of Freedom’s Ark Church, CEO of Peace Alliance.

Commenting on the outstanding quality and effectiveness of the organisations which took part, Premier’s CEO, Peter Kerridge said, 'We thank all the organisations who entered the awards project and congratulate the winners in the ‘Love Britain & Ireland Awards’.

“We’ve been blown away by the quality, variety and creativity of those who entered these awards. It’s clear that the Christian community across the length and breadth of these islands is making a huge contribution to the public good.

'The awards demonstrate that faith can transform not only an individual’s life, but effect the well-being of entire communities.'