Scripture Union England and Wales Mission Report for the 2023/24 financial year
Mission Report
Year ended 31 march 2024
Discover just some of the amazing things God is doing through Scripture Union.
‘We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.’
2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV)
Having only been in post as National Director since March, this Mission Report largely speaks of activities which took place before I came on board. However, it serves as a great reminder of what first attracted me to the role – the excitement I got from seeing the passion, drive and commitment the whole SU movement has for achieving a clear goal – Revealing Jesus to the 95% of children missing from our churches (‘the 95’).
You are an important part of this movement. Whether you’re a pray-er, a giver or a get stuck in-er, you are helping to make a real positive difference in these young lives. And as you read the pages of this report, I hope you’ll be reminded afresh of just some of the wonderful things that your involvement has enabled in driving that vital cause forward over the past 12 months. Please join me in praying that God will continue to work in the lives of all the children and young people who’ve benefited from the activities shown here, and the many more besides.
Dave Newton, National Director
Revealing Jesus together
Our Revealing Jesus strategy continues to be central to all we do – equipping Faith Guides from local churches to reach out, explore the Bible and journey into faith with the 95. This year, we’ve seen even more churches catching the vision, with lots of new Faith Guides coming on board.
See how you can get involved practically or through your gifts and prayers: su.org.uk/revealingjesus
Faith Guides
Faith Guides are ordinary people from churches across England and Wales who, with our support, are Revealing Jesus to local non-churchgoing children and young people. We provide Faith Guides with coaching and expert resources to help them build long-term faithnurturing relationships with ‘the 95’ in their communities, ensuring they can be there for them at every stage of the faith journey: Connect, Explore, Respond and Grow
At the end of the year, there were 463 Faith Guides making an impact across England and Wales, with 147 of them signing up this year alone.
These Faith Guides represent 338 churches, with 101 of those coming on board this year.
During each quarter of the year, groups led by Faith Guides regularly connected with over 9,000 children and young people in the Connect, Explore, Respond and Grow phases of the Revealing Jesus mission framework.
Mission Support
In the autumn, we launched our Mission Support initiative to provide regular FREE Revealing Jesus resources and inspiration for those who aren’t quite ready to become Faith Guides. Nearly 1,000 people signed up to receive this support and the list is growing each day. Please pray that recipients will be inspired to become fully-fledged Faith Guides.
Find out more about Mission Support at su.org.uk/missionsupport
Grow Communities
Grow Communities are a key part of the Revealing Jesus strategy, with Faith Guides supporting children and young people from the 95 to develop culturally appropriate worshipping communities that enable faith to flourish. By the end of the year there were 43 established or emerging Grow Communities serving around 500 children and young people.
Holidays and missions
Scripture Union holidays and missions have been pivotal to the faith of so many over the years. Perhaps even yours!
This year we ran 44 residential holidays attended by 1,787 children (200 more than last year). 12 missions also took place, with an estimated 2,000 children benefitting.
8 New Faith Guide holidays were also part of the programme, giving Faith Guides the opportunity to provide a Christian residential experience for the children and young people they are journeying with.
Our amazing volunteers
We couldn’t run our events and activities without our absolute SUperhero volunteers. There were 1,342 opportunities for volunteer involvement during the year, equivalent to 2,687 working weeks, or 57 full-time staff !
Together in mission
They say, ‘together is better’ and they’re not wrong!…
Mission partners
We work alongside and support 56 Local Mission Partners (separate charitable trusts that share our vision) to build reach and impact. They employ 105 workers between them, alongside many hundreds of volunteers. We’ve also joined forces with 2 National Mission Partners and formed a new partnership with the New Wine movement.
A global movement
Scripture Union England and Wales is part of a family of independent Scripture Union movements around the world. There are over 130 national SU movements working in around 120 countries across the globe, introducing children, young people and families to Jesus and helping them to meet God through the Bible and prayer.
Resources for mission
Helping churches Reveal Jesus through resources has been a staple of our work for many years. This year was no different…
It’s your move
Over 120,000 copies of the It’s Your Move resource were ordered, to provide Bible-centred support to children taking the scary step from primary to secondary school. We estimate this great resource has been given to over 2 million Year 6 pupils over the past 24 years!
Having a hoot at Christmas
We sold over 25,000 copies of our brand-new Christmas storybook The Grumpy Owl and the Joy of Christmas. This captivating storybook was written in collaboration with Artless Theatre Company (one of our mission partners) to accompany their touring play, Amos and the Grumpy Owl, which was attended by over 2,100 people over the Christmas period. More than 600 people also downloaded the free resource pack to help them use the book as part of their Christmas outreach. su.org.uk/grumpyowl
Seasonal resources
Holiday clubs
Our much-loved seasonal storybooks, God Became Like Me? Jesus Died for me? and Jesus is the Light? continued to make an impact at Christmas, Easter and Halloween this year. Over 44,000 copies (combined) were purchased, along with nearly 500 copies of their Welsh-language counterparts.
People took the plunge with our new underwater-themed holiday club resource, Deep Sea Divers. Nearly 300 copies of the leaders’ guide and over 3,500 children’s activity books flew off the shelves, alongside over 1,000 downloads of accompanying resources. su.org.uk/deepsea
Training
Our Mission Enablers are an amazing resource too!
THE Mission possible tour
Our regional teams ran Mission Possible events in 30 churches across England and Wales in the autumn. Over 300 people attended from around 150 churches to be inspired and equipped in effective mission to the 95.
It was great to share ideas and make links with new people. Tour attendee
Online training
266 people signed up to attend one of 5 webinars to get tips and advice for seasonal outreach to children and young people.
Keeping you up to date
We continued to inform and inspire our supporters in a wide variety of ways:
• Our prayer magazine, Connecting You, was sent by post or email to more than 16,000 supporters each quarter.
• A combined 11,000+ people follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
• 7, 800 people receive our Word Live daily Bible engagement email.
• 12,052 subscribe to our monthly update email (up 365 from last year).
Commiting to the future
Feel-good news
In March, we launched an exciting piece of research with our friends at Youthscape, looking into what about the Christian faith felt like good news to today’s young people. 1,000 teenagers from across the UK completed the online survey. Find out what they said at su.org.uk/research
SUM
‘Feel-Good’ News
We launched SUM (our new Instagram channel for young adults) to encourage a younger demographic to get involved in Scripture Union’s mission. Follow @itsasumthing on Instagram for engaging Christian content, interviews with SU people and more.
Thank you!
Hybrid Mission
We continued our research into hybrid mission models to enable online and in-person elements of mission with children and young people to be appropriately integrated at different points on an individual’s faith journey. During the year, 2 pilots projects were launched to test the concept in the areas of mission through sport and online games.
With 95% of the youngest generations not in church, we all have a part to play in Revealing Jesus to them right where they are.
Whether you give, pray or are involved practically, thank you so much. You are making more of an impact than you know, and far more than we can ever express here. May God continue to bless you.
“And how can they hear, unless someone tells them?”
Romans 10:14 (CEV)
On the back page, there’s an overview of the money we received during the 2023/24 financial year, including your gifts, and the ways it was spent.
Thank you so much for everything you do!
Finances
As a charity, we are so thankful for every penny we receive. Your gifts help us fund this vital mission that God has called us to, ensuring that many more children and young people have opportunities to explore the Bible, respond to Jesus and grow in faith. Thank you so much for your continued support.
Total income
£4,215,000
£3,013,000 Donations and legacies
£681,000 Publishing sales
To Donate online, visit su.org.uk/donate
£456,000 Holidays and missions
£65,000 Other, including investments
Total Expenditure
£5,243,000
£3,227,000 Face-to-face mission (including holidays and missions)
£904,000 Commercial publishing
£479,000 Cost of raising funds
£255,000 International activities
£203,000 Advocacy
£175,000 Content creation
Our expenditure exceeded income by £863,000, reflecting our continued deliberate investment in the Revealing Jesus strategy.
None of the actvities in this report would have been possible without the generosity of our wonderful supporters. If you helped financially, prayed for the work or volunteered, thank you so much. Could you give a gift to ensure even more is possible next year?
This is a summary of Scripture Union’s financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2024, extracted from the full Trustee’s Report and Financial Statements which have been audited. A full statement of our financial activities can be found in our Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements, a copy of which can be obtained by contacting us on 01908 856135.
