Background

Revival is the Youth Congregation of St. John's Church, Woodbridge, an Anglican church in Suffolk in the UK with a target age group of 11 (Year 7) to 18 years old. It started in the summer of 2000 after Gillan Scott, the Youth Worker at St. John's Church at that time, gained permission and approval to start what would effectively become a church within a church dedicated solely to the needs of young people. A group of about 8 young people came together to form what later would be named Revival and an infrastructure was set up with cell (small) group teaching and worship, socials, services, and work within the local community. Revival currently has about 50 members and is supported by a number of adults and a full time Youth Worker, Andy Williams, who started in February 2004. You can find out about Andy by clicking here .

Vision, the Youth Service at St. John's Church, which had taken place twice before, became Revival's service run entirely by its members. Over the course of time it has grown with people coming to share in the experience of worship and teaching from all over Suffolk.

The main times for those in Revival to get together have been at Cell meetings on Sunday mornings. These small groups have become the core of the congregation, with times for Bible study, worship and prayer, getting to grips with the world we inhabit, learning to get on with each other and trying to understand what God is all about and building individual relationships with him. We also spend a considerable amount of time having “socials”; hanging out together and going out to various places for a laugh and a good time.

In November 2007, Revival gained Young Suffolk's Quality Mark. In order to achieve this, Revival had to demonstrate that they meet the required quality standard indicators for Child Protection, Health and Safety, Staff Support and Development and Organosational management.

Due to the growth of Revival, in September 2002 a new trust by the name of Just42 was birthed out of the work of Revival. The name Just42 comes from a desire to see justice in the lives of young people in the area and the vision comes from Chapter 42 of Isaiah in the Bible. Just42 is an independent trust and looks to work mainly with socially excluded young people and those in rural and remote areas in our part of Suffolk. Check out their website at www.just42.org.uk.