Yesterday evening I had the privellige to spend a couple of hours in the company of some of the most inspiring people I have ever met. I had the chance to go and visit a community centre in an area called Westbury. Here, a group of men work tirelessly to improve their community. They all used to be in rival gangs in the area. These gangs were at large during the 1960′s, 70′s and part of the 80′s. Many young people were involved and many were hurt or killed during this time. But in the 80′[s, this group of men decided enough was enough and they wanted to be unified in their mission to stop the gangs. So the group was formed, after much negociations and leaps of faith from all parties. Now, 20 years later, Westbury is proud to say there are no gangs in their area. They work closely with over 150 young people in schools to prevent them from getting involved in gangs. They visit them in their homes, helping them to find their identity and find a place of love and encouragement. This amazing group of men also visit gang members who are in prison for their crimes. They work hard with all the authorities, the police, prison service and schools to support young people.

One member of the group last night told us how they visited a group of 4 men in prison who had, between them, killed 7 young people in one night. He took with him the father of one of these young people so that he could tell the men in prison that he had forgiven them. Most of the men who come out of prison help with mentoring the young people. They can tell them what it is like in prison and act as role models to them.

I was totally blown away by so many of the things that were said last night. The one that sticks out in particular is what one of the x gang members said to me:
“Those men who are now in prison, it is only by the grace of God that they are there. They could have been killed, like those they killed. But God has poured his grace upon them so he has a purpose for their life.”

They believe this purpose, especially for them, is to support young people, to be to them the fathers they don’t have, to show them love and encouragement, to work with churches to make a difference. What more proof of God’s amazing grace do you need?