History of Exodus
Vision
The Exodus journey began through the concern of parents and leaders to provide credible alternative venues which would provide connecting points for young people and would in turn lead to following Jesus being the primary focus of their lives.
"So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."
Exodus 3:10
Venues
Our first venue, Exodus- 'The Christian 'Nightbase' opened in Portstewart in March 1997. It was set up to provide a positive, safe entertainment alternative for young people. In March 2004, we moved to a facility in Coleraine with 2 venues - ‘Freedom' and ‘Deep' adding a third 'Fuse' in 2007.
The vision had always been to bring the opportunities of the venue to a wider audience. In October 2007 we moved into offices in the old Lisburn library. The opening of the centre in 2008 is the realisation of a vision to work alongside churches to see discipleship be the primary focus of the Christian community.
Small Groups
1997 also saw the launch of the first Exodus team. Led by Jim Brown, a group of 15 met to study the Bible, enjoy fellowship, pray and prepare before heading to Romania to serve with a local pastor for 3 weeks.
To date over 2500 young people, both Christian and not, have been involved in Exodus teams. Through these experiences many have grown personally and spiritually, learning to seek and follow God and serve Him at home at overseas. Over the years teams have served in locations as diverse as South Africa, Donegal, Lebanon, London and Moldova.
The experiences and relationships developed through the teams have enabled Exodus to work increasingly closely with churches from a range of denominations. As a result much of our focus is now on providing resources, training and support for small group discipleship and service within local churches through The 360 Adventure and Ex-port.
Mentoring
Mentoring has always an important role in the work of Exodus and all staff and volunteer leaders are required to find a mentor to help them grow and develop.
It wasn't until 2001 however that Get Connected our 'kick start' to mentoring was launched to provide clear opportunities for young people to find a mentor. Through this many young people have seen the blessings, wisdom and encouragements that come from an older Christian. As with our small groups we have started to see churches taking up the opportunity to start mentoring in their setting.
Since Exodus opened we have received favour in a way we never anticipated and look forward to be able to develop the work as we response to the needs of young people in the days and years ahead.