Annual Review 2020
Bright Lights
Innovista
Meridian House, Sandy Lane West, Littlemore, Oxford, OX4 6LB, UK T. +44 (0)1865 788350 W. www.innovista.org E. hello@innovista.org
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Dare I ask… how was your 2020? I think we can dispense with “fine, thanks”! It was a challenging year. I’m sure many of you will have had serious concerns of your own in the last 12 months. However, you didn’t forget Innovista’s remarkable men and women who are working harder than ever to offer hope in such desperate times. Jason Lane International Director
You shone a bright light into some very dark and broken places. The church leaders we support faced unprecedented challenges, and yet, crucially, opportunities. You funded emergency coaching for them when many leaders didn’t know how to respond to Covid-19. Through this, simple churches burst into life, reinventing themselves as hubs of hope and healing for whole communities. At a time when food, medicine and even a listening ear were in short supply, it was God’s love in action - doing new things in new circumstances. I hope that the following stories will be a huge encouragement to you. You really are making a world of difference. THANK YOU.
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A Flexible Friend Cornel (23) and his team of youth leaders from Nisporeni, Moldova, took Innovista’s Tempo Leadership Course in 2019. Then Covid-19 hit. Thankfully, he had just learned about the importance of flexibility. Cornel always believed that he had what it takes to be a leader. He is the youth and worship leader at his church, Bethany, in Nisporeni, a town just outside the capital Chisinau. He’s a self-motivated young man supporting himself by selling fruit, veg and innovative solid fuel. And then there’s his cleaning business…
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We have a motto: strong people are flexible in any situation.
Cornel, left, leading his team through a Tempo discussion
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However, he knew that he still had plenty to learn about effective Christian leadership: “Before doing Tempo, I would correct a young person by telling them ‘you are wrong’. Now I know not to make it personal.” It’s a small change of emphasis that’s really helped him as he builds an effective team around him. Just as importantly, he learned about the importance of being flexible. “It’s easy to have a course of action, but sooner or later, you will come up against a big tree. You need to be ready to move around it.” As Innovista’s Moldovan National Director Maricela explains, flexibility can sometimes be hard: “You can see a rigid way of thinking that they have inherited. It says ‘We’ve always been told what to do and how to do it, so we don’t need to plan for the future ourselves.’
There’s an incredible human resource in Moldova, all that’s needed is a shift in people’s thinking to truly unlock it.” For Cornel’s youth group, called Be You, the first big challenge hit in 2020 with the Covid-19 lockdown. First, they called each member to find out their practical needs. Next, the team relaunched the youth club online and encouraged the young people with a video challenge “Five Things to do in Quarantine”. And the club grew from 50 to a remarkable 200 members. Cornel is looking forward to the end of lockdown, but knows that online ministry will need to continue. “Young people want recognition,” he says. “And they were looking for it online, but not in a good way. Be You teaches them that they don’t have to do bad things to get recognised.”
After eight sessions of Tempo, Cornel and his team say they have a shared vision: “We want to be an example for all of Moldova.” “We have a motto: strong people are flexible in any situation.” Whatever the ‘new normal’ brings, you can be sure Cornel and his team will be ready for it.
Cornel and the Be You youth group members
Click here to make a donation and help us train more leaders like Cornel.
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Rising to the Covid-19 Challenge “There is an unstoppable wave of pastoral and practical challenges facing church leaders” Jason Lane. At the start of the pandemic, at Innovista, we heard a cry for help. Church leaders, like many of us, were overwhelmed and scared. The world around them had changed and so had church life. Their buildings were often closed. People were coming to them with terrible stories of hardship. They needed a new way to be church in very different times. They simply didn’t know where to begin.
Baha providing food parcels to the elderly in Central Asia
Answering this cry for help, we carried out 647 emergency coaching sessions with over 250 leaders in the first few months of the pandemic - mostly online. These sessions focussed on encouraging leaders to reach out beyond their churches and into their communities to serve the most vulnerable.
The sessions covered topics such as: • Serving the mission of God • Care for the poor and vulnerable • Courage and creativity In turn, the leaders have been both courageous and creative. New projects sprung up across the region, as leaders mobilised their churches and rose to a new challenge.
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Central Asia: For Each According to Their Need A young leader in Central Asia noticed the elderly struggling to get hold of basic food supplies since the lockdown. With Innovista’s help, he galvanised a team to source and deliver more than 200 food packages for the most vulnerable. And every penny needed for the project was raised by his church.
Ireland: New Normal, New Church Church leaders in Ireland wanted their churches to be ready for a new role in the “new normal”, with lives and livelihoods lost. Innovista Ireland helped fund and facilitate a discussion with 80 church leaders. They talked through the aspects of church life they want to rebuild and reimagine, sparking initiatives like this one: “I had an idea to connect with the foodbank families by giving them
a small gift, and invited the church to give €2/€5 towards the project. We worked with the foodbank and 27 vulnerable families received a children’s activity pack.“ Jane
Ukraine: The Angels of Lviv As Covid-19 took hold in Lviv, Western Ukraine’s largest city, normal life ground to a halt. And that included public transport. Doctors were unable to get to the city’s two hospitals to do their vital job. Dmytro, a church leader trained by Innovista, identified a solution: he set up the Lviv Angels, church members who drove medical staff to and from the hospitals to keep the lifesaving response running smoothly.
Central Asia: The Breath of Life Coronavirus swept through the capital of another country in Central Asia, stretching the city’s health infrastructure to its limit.
Lviv Angels on the road
Many elderly people were left struggling to breathe. However, they were unable to travel to hospital and health workers couldn’t come to them. Some of the city’s church leaders clubbed together to buy some oxygen ventilators. A large team of volunteers, led by one of Innovista’s trainers, drove around the region, offering scores of sick, frightened Covid-19 sufferers words of comfort and the chance to breathe easily again.
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Wisdom and Volley When you learn how to model true, Christlike leadership, other people notice the difference. People are drawn, not just to you, but to Jesus himself – the perfect example of a leader. There are plenty of stories to tell of people coming to faith in Jesus through the men and women we train and support. Here is just one story, though, that has warmed our hearts personally. Odam* (22) is a young leader in a remote region in Central Asia. Inspired by the Tempo Leadership Course that he attended, he has been serving his community through a volleyball project. Each evening he
witnesses to the love of Jesus with the people who join him on the court. It has already paid dividends. Bekzod* (19) was drawn to the atmosphere of volleyball games and saw that there was something different about the team. “He used to stay behind after the games and help clean up with our youth team,” says Odam. The rest of the team (most of whom were Christians) treated him very well. He could feel a different, friendlier atmosphere where he felt free to talk. And talk he did, to his fellow players. Bekzod had already been asking another friend about Islam. He started reading the Qu’ran. However, it made little sense to him. Odam could see that Bekzod was searching and so he shared the Gospel with him more fully. Bekzod received the offer of eternal life with open arms.
Soon enough, Odam could see that Bekzod was a changed person. “He stopped using bad language in conversations. And his attitude to others has changed as well. Before, he used to think that most people were, at heart, bad. So he treated them as he expected them to treat him. It was a vicious circle. But now he understands that God created everyone. He’s learning to treat every person with love. It’s an amazing transformation.” Bekzod is now a regular at Sunday meetings and helps to lead the volleyball project. His parents don’t yet know about his conversion, however. The team is praying hard that his parents will notice the difference that Jesus has made to Bekzod, just as Bekzod noticed the difference Jesus made to his teammates. * Names have been changed and we have used a stock photo to illustrate this story for security reasons.
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Click here to make a donation and help us train more leaders like Odam.
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Meet Kim, the Ivorian youth leader who isn’t content to coast… In autumn 2020, we launched – with your support – an exciting new venture: Innovista UK is training leaders in the most disadvantaged areas of the United Kingdom.
Ivorian culture is just to “tell, tell, tell.” I’ve learned to really listen to the young people. It’s a two-way conversation now.
With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting disadvantaged communities disproportionately, it is a timely new project.
Kim
Kim is one of the new leaders we have been investing in. He is helping a generation of young West Africans make their way in the UK, helping them keep their faith alive in an unfamiliar culture.
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When you hear about ‘youthwork’, what sort of things come to mind? Table tennis? Camping trips? Kim soon worked out that in the community he’s serving, it means something very different and much more challenging. Kim is a youth pastor from an Ivorian Coast church, based in south east London. He came to the UK in his mid-twenties to study, and joined the sort of church which he was familiar with back home in West Africa; a French-speaking mission linked to the Assemblies of God. He quickly felt comfortable there and started to work for the church alongside his studies. However, when he formally stepped into the Youth Pastor role, he realised he was out of his depth. In West Africa, the term ‘youth’ refers to anyone who is too old for Sunday School (ie. over 18) but who doesn’t want to get lost in
the older congregation. Youth groups can include married couples and people in their thirties and forties. Kim realised that he needed to understand a much younger generation, and how to engage with them if he was to make a difference in their lives. “I’ve had to unlearn and relearn my perspective of ‘youth’ and how we can meet the needs of this first generation of African British citizens in the UK.” The Essentials youth ministry training course was recommended to him by another pastor. In his own words, “it’s been essential!” The Essentials course has given Kim (and three others from his church) a toolkit of ways to build relationships with these young people. It has also encouraged them to build an action
plan for their mission within the church. “Ivorian culture is just to ‘tell, tell, tell,’” he observes. “I’ve learned to really listen to the young people. It’s a two-way conversation now.” Kim is also planning to set up a mentoring programme. “So many of the young people need a role model to grow into fully-rounded faith-filled young adults. They need someone who can disciple them through the ups and downs of growing up in a foreign culture.” We have high expectations for Kim and his plans and we will be sure to keep you updated in months and years to come.
Click here to make a donation and help us train more leaders like Kim.
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Thrive-ing in Lockdown 2020 was a hard year. When lockdown hit and schools closed, young people didn’t just lose access to their education, but to friendships and community too. Isolation has damaged the mental health of many in this generation. Families in disadvantaged contexts also face disproportionate financial pressure through job loss, and inequitable support for homeschooling. For some, lockdown means no escape from a hostile home environment; for others, losing school lunches means a daily battle against hunger. These challenges are very real to the young people Thrive Teams work with in Oxford’s most disadvantaged estates. It was a privilege to walk
alongside them in 2020. Enormous highlights were launching our clubs online after the first lockdown, and seeing their commitment to joining in and looking out for each other; our brilliant summer holiday clubs which were possible in person and in blazing sunshine; and the cheer of our Christmas events in the dark midwinter. Thanks to your support, Thrive Teams were a lifeline to many in 2020. With your help, we continued to develop resilience and leadership in young people who lost so much last year, but have so much to give. Thank you for being there for them: we can’t wait to see what they go on to achieve.
Click here to make a donation to support Thrive Teams.
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Kacie’s Story When Kacie first joined Thrive, she was overwhelmingly shy and struggled even to make eye-contact with leaders. Over several years, her confidence slowly grew, and we all saw her enormous potential. In fact, she won an award for Breakthrough at our 2019 Young Achievers Dinner. Having aced her GCSEs, she started A-Levels and wanted to apply for university, but with little support from her school, the prospect was too daunting. Her ambitions might have gone unrealised without Thrive Teams. We knew what a difference a mentor would make to 17-year-old Kacie’s confidence and aspiration. Just after the first lockdown we matched her with Belinda, a PhD student in Biochemistry (Kacie’s chosen field). With Belinda on her side, Kacie applied to university (including Oxford, where she was interviewed by two colleges). She did brilliantly in her mock A-levels and has received offers from three universities so far. We are excited to see Kacie’s potential being unlocked, and so proud of how far she has come!
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… Back of the Net! A year of fabulous fundraising Not only have you enabled the training of 1,259 leaders during a global pandemic but you’ve also encouraged and supported some of our incredible Innovista fundraisers;
Emily
2,600
netball goals
Emily, who lives in Oxford raised £3,418 by scoring a staggering 2,600 netball goals in 9 hours. This was part of the 2.6 Campaign in April. Susan Shi, a supporter from Bath, raised £277 by running a 10k in October.
Susan
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Kate Woods, staff member, raised £2,636 running a virtual half marathon in October. Tim Wills, Chair of our Board of Trustees, raised £5,331 by taking part in the (virtual) London Marathon – completing the 26.2 miles on his own on 4 October.
Also on the fundraising roll of honour for 2020:
Kate
Ruth Lapworth, Jon Pape, Sam and Ibby Payne, Daniel Martin-Thomas and Ben Manning.
Why not take the plunge and raise money for Innovista in 2021. It’s so simple to do – click here and let us show you how.
Tim Together, you raised over £15,000 for Innovista’s work, you got a little fitter and kept friends and family entertained.
Thank You!
2020 in Numbers
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Income
58 26% %
8 5% 2%
% Individuals (incl. Gift Aid)
Grants Churches Other Community Fundraising
Expenditure
79
21%
%
Developing leaders Fundraising costs
The challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic has been that we cut as much expenditure as was possible in 2020 but maintained our investment in fundraising to help us weather the storm. Absolute fundraising costs remained consistent but increased as a proportion of our overall spend in 2020.
£634,107
£641,633
(2019: £634,229)
(2019: £771,939)
After meeting with the (Innovista) Director, and subsequently the team, who are always available and excellent at communicating their vision, we knew we should work together. We have done this for many years now, watching how they seek to equip and develop young leaders working in isolated areas. When hearts are joined we realise we can achieve so much more together than we can on our own. Raymond Bodkin FCA Chair of the Stuart Hine Trust CIO Long-term supporters of Innovista
When I think back about all I learned from the Tempo Leadership Course, I definitely see this as something God used to prepare me for my future. More than ten years later, I still draw from from this training in my professional and Christian life. The learning and personal development process that was started by Tempo has never stopped ever since. We are both deeply grateful for your work, effort and friendship that has influenced our lives in so many ways and played an important role in preparing us for this next step. Thank you in so many ways. Bernhard and Lydia Tempo graduates and long-term supporters of Innovista
You can see people and communities changed in hard-to-reach places by investing in local leaders. Sign up to a monthly donation today and get a free book. Click here for more information
Innovista International is registered in England and Wales as a charity no. 1108679 and a company limited by guarantee no. 5371169
