Dear Friends,

Think back to your experience in high school. You may remember more about your extracurricular activities and friendships than the specific content of your classes.

Perhaps you were involved in band, choir or student council. You competed in a sport, or at least attended school sporting events with your friends. Clubs like honor society, student council or debate taught you leadership and gave you a group of friends to belong to. School theater and musicals gave you skills needed to manage the pressure of performing in front of people.

Now, imagine this. Your high school has none of the above – no music program, no sports teams, no band and theater, no honor society, student council, choir or debate. You go to school, sit in class, then return home to study for the next test.

Welcome to Central and Eastern Europe.

In the 13 countries where Josiah Venture staff serve, the social and character building activities that you took for granted in a secondary school education are almost entirely absent.

On the other hand, this vacuum opens up a great opportunity for the church to step into an uncluttered “playing field” and offer innovative ministries that shape the character of young people and shepherd them to faith in Christ.

Last month 120 young leaders from across the region gathered at our training center at Malenovice for the first “Academy” – four days of equipping to help them lead Fusion choirs and summer evangelistic camps.

Started just three years ago, the Fusion ministry is already reaching 790 young people a week through 20 choirs in 4 countries. Because of the need in society, we believe that Fusion music ministry can expand to reach many thousands more.

Thank you for helping us respond to these unique open doors,