Dear friends, 

Music is the international language of young people.

They study with it, walk with it, follow it, and often try to find their identity through performers they admire. But even more than that, they want to speak the language of music themselves.

When Terry English and his wife Hanka joined the Josiah Venture team ten years ago, they came with a vision to equip churches to reach young people through music. Terry put his faith in Christ as a teenager in an evangelistic choir for young people in England, so he knew how powerful this tool could be.

Starting with just two churches in the Czech Republic, Terry pioneered an innovative new ministry called “Fusion.” Going into the schools to invite people to join a pop/rock choir, his team saw churches quickly attract 40-60 unbelieving teenagers to weekly practices. Part of every meeting was teaching about God, and intentional relationships that shepherded young people toward faith in Christ.

Those first two choirs literally transformed the churches they were in, filling them with young people, and Fusion began to spread. Now, there are 38 Fusion choirs in 9 countries, reaching over 1,500 young people every week.

At the end of April, the JV team held the second ever international “Fusiondary Festival,” where choirs from all 9 countries gathered for a weekend of learning and celebration. Almost 1,000 young people descended on a small Czech town called Vsetin–over half of them from unbelieving families.

Each of the Fusion choirs performed for the rest of the crowd, and the atmosphere and energy were simply electric. Several sets of seminars took them deeper into spiritual topics, and the gospel was clearly presented in multiple ways.

Already we know of a number of young people who put their trust in Christ as a result of this powerful event. But perhaps even more significantly, they returned home to a weekly community, connected to a local church where their lives are continuing to be transformed by Christ.

Central and Eastern Europe are being changed. Thank you for making it possible to bring true “gospel” music to lost young people.

Because he has given us a new song,