Meet the Next Gen Bens!
At Love Black Country, we have a passion to throw our arms around the Next Generation in the Black Country. We want to do all we can to ensure they grow up to live in a society transformed by the power of God.
In fact, we’re convinced that the divine destiny for the next and every generation in our region and beyond is to see their communities prosper, families nurtured, children thrive and young people fulfilling their potential.
Responding to God’s call
To that end, in 2018, we stepped out and released Deb Chamberlain to be our Next Gen Champion. Deb has worked extremely hard over the last 3 years to champion this vision for the Next Generation by networking, getting to know and building relationships with and between numerous kids and youth workers in all four boroughs of the Black Country.
Through this work, Deb met two young men with a specific vision for the next generation in their boroughs. In September 2019, we released Walsall’s Ben Butterfield to work as our Next Gen Champion for Walsall and in September 2020, we released West Brom’s Ben Harris to play the same role in Sandwell.
So, we thought it’s high time we introduce the world to our new Next Gen Borough Champions.
Introducing the Next Gen Bens!
An exciting step forward
Releasing the “Next Gen Bens” (they have the same name by pure coincidence, not by our choice!) is an incredibly exciting step forward in our work with the Next Generation and Deb is thrilled at their appointment.
“We believe that the Lord is creating relational foundations between kids and youth workers in all four boroughs of the Black Country but in Walsall and Sandwell, we’re excited to invest in Ben Harris and Ben Butterfield who have both stepped up and shown a real passion for engaging in work across churches. It’s wonderful to be able to invest in and release Ben and Ben to build stronger relational links between kids and youth workers in Walsall and Sandwell so that God can build His kingdom in the Next Generation in a way that no generation has seen before.”
The overarching purpose of our growing Next Gen team is ultimately to identify ways in which we can harness collective effort between churches and partners across the Black Country to reach the next generation with the gospel. We want to help facilitate networking and resourcing opportunities between those who work with the next generation in the Black Country and to recognise gaps and strategically inspire action in regional outreach to the next generation.
Looking ahead
Moving forwards from here, we have a dream to release Next Gen Champions in all four of our Black Country boroughs. We ask that you continue to pray with us that God will reveal and release the right people in the right place at the right time to help us to continue to pursue this generation with all we have. If you have a heart for children and young people, please email deb@loveblackcountry.org.uk so we can connect you with like-minded people in your borough.
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