When Sarah first stepped into her local Exodus Centre for breakfast club one Friday morning, she had no idea how a pancake breakfast would change her life. She soon felt at home around the people she met there, and she recalls: “A friend and I decided we wanted to explore faith a little bit, so we decided to do an Exodus team."
As Sarah worked through her Ex-change Team Journal, she read Matthew 11:28 (NLT), where Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” At the time, Sarah was struggling with some big questions, like ‘who am I?’ and ‘what am I doing?’. She says, “When I read that verse, I felt God speaking to me and I knew that if the Jesus that I'm learning about is real, and he has the power to do all this, I want a relationship with Him.” That moment was the launch of her faith journey.
Sarah’s Exodus team culminated in a trip to Hungary, but her journey of faith was just beginning. When she returned from the trip, she connected with other believers in her school. She studied her Bible, became active in her youth group, poured into the lives of others through ministry, and joined her church as well as a Bible study. She says, “God was providing all the things I needed at the time.”
The change in Sarah’s life quickly became apparent to those who know her. She says, “I am a completely different person, because now I depend on Christ so much. I know that it is Christ working through me. And all the people around me have noticed such a difference…. I just feel so much joy, because I know that everything is in his hands, and he is so present.”
Exodus has continued to support Sarah in her young faith through mentoring. Exodus staff member Bea was Sarah’s team leader last year and has served as her mentor ever since. Bea says, “I think my favorite thing to see is the joy that radiates from her. She cannot hide it; you can see that she's so excited about Jesus, that she loves him so much, and that Jesus is her life. It's been a privilege walking with her.”
As she leaves secondary school behind, Sarah is excited to continue growing in her faith. She is spending the summer serving the Lord at ministries in several different countries, before heading off to do a gap year in Portugal to study Scripture. Her whole life has changed since she became a follower of Jesus, and she can’t wait to see where her journey of faith takes her.
Sarah wrapped up her story by encouraging other young people to be a part of Exodus. She says, “When people look at Exodus Teams, I think they just look at the week you go away. But I genuinely think the most important and impactful part of it is the discipleship course that you're doing every week.” That discipleship course changed the trajectory of her life and she wants other teens to join an Exodus team and know Jesus as she does. She says, “You have everything to gain and nothing to lose, so you might as well try it out!”
