Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog!

I’m Laura, I’m 23 years old and live in Billericay, Essex.

I work full time for Arise Ministries as the operations assistant – involved in lots of things from administration to event planning and delivering. I am currently self-funded, for details on this visit my support page. Arise Ministries is all about helping churches pioneer new outreach to the children in their communities.

My home church is Braintree Elim which I love going back to as and when I can. My church family are lovely and very supportive of me and what I do. Whilst here in Billericay I attend Sawyers Church, occasionally helping out in the youth group and operating visuals when I’m around.

My parents and my dog live in Braintree, as does my sister Sarah and her husband Matt, my two beautiful nieces Maddie (5) and Emi (3) and my littlest nephew Billy (1). My brother Russell and his wife Becci live in Yeovil with my gorgeous niece and nephew, Chloe (13) and Sam (10).

Previous to this I was part of a touring youth team with Viz-A-Viz Ministries and before that I was a fitness instructor at Complete Fitness 

I have wanted to do what I am doing now since I was 14. I can remember sitting in a really boring school cathedral service and feeling really angry. Angry that there were almost 1000 girls in the service and for many of them this was their only experience of God and Church and it was so dull! I knew that being a Christian is not dull and knew I wanted to do something with my life to share this. The phrase going round in my head was ‘Make Church Fun’. I knew I wanted to go out to meet people where there are, share my experiences with them and hopefully challenge people on their view of God, Church and Christians.

I absolutely love what I do, it’s intense work but so rewarding. I have had so many fantastic experiences and look forward to many more!

I’m trusting God to provide my needs and guide my future.

Contact me on laurabayliss@ariseministries.org.uk

Tags: Braintree, Braintree Elim, Check It Out, Chelmsford County High School, Complete Fitness, Essex, Leading Edge, Liv'It, Make Church Fun, Schools Week, Solid, Spring Harvest, Taste, Viz-A-Viz, Wickford

So…here we go! 4 weeks of rehearsals and preparations and now we hit the road. Heading to Grantham for 2 School’s Weeks.

I’m quite excited…also a little scared! I’m desperately trying to think if there is anything I have forgotten, or should have done that I didn’t even realise I should have done. Hmmm! Have done my packing and somehow the mountain of clothes on my bed has gone into my case with room to spare…It’s a bit worrying!

I shall try and keep you updated with whats happening as and when I can. Just pray for us! My prayer is that we all gel together as a team and can be the best shining lights possible and that we won’t waste any opportunities to chat with the young people. We are going to be busy so the temptation will be to retreat to quiet during breaktimes and lunchtimes but actually these are the most valuable times to really get to know the young people!

Have a look at a few photos from our photoshoot on the CIO Team page.

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It’s 9.15pm and all of us except Keel and La Roche are staying in the same place. Me and Becca are sharing a room. We’re just unpacking and sorting ourselves out. This week we are in Ambergate Sports College (for pupils with moderate learning difficulties and complex needs), in at 8am tomorrow to set up. We are only seeing 61 pupils all week but have a full timetable so we get to see everyone lots which is good! Tomorrow we are seeing Year 8 and 9 for a Values Lesson, some speed dating (don’t worry…!), a music lesson and a lesson on Friendship. Must get an early night!

Tags: Grantham, Packing, Schools Week