Posted on: 23rd July 2026

At our Space family BBQ last week at Beeston Space, one our more challenging young people shouted to me as he left, “Shalom, Mark”

Earlier this term, we had explored with the young people the idea of ‘Shalom’ – which in Hebrew is a deep sense of peace where nothing is missing or broken. We talked on the evening about our need as humans to know ‘shalom’ in our lives.

The evening itself felt fairly disastrous – kids kicking off, one girl pretending to faint, 2 lads wanting to fight each other – certainly not full of ‘shalom’. And yet something for this young man, for whom life is chaotic, full of challenge and struggle in his learning and behaviour, obviously landed in some way.

It strikes me that this is precisely the work of God in and through Space. That in the midst of all the brokenness, the chaos, the struggle, through his people who faithfully turn up week in, week out, God is whispering into the lives of young people.

We will never know the full extent of it, we may never seemingly see any fruit, but that isn’t our place in it. Our place is to be present with these young people and in doing so, bring each of them into the presence of God within us.

It is God’s work to challenge, to transform and to bring his ‘shalom’ into the most unpeaceful lives. It is a privilege to be part of it and to see the small snippets of what God is doing.