Teenagers and a Tenner

A gospel based fund raising scheme with which I have long been familiar and frequently seen used successfully is based on our Lord's parable of the talents. Each church member is given a sum of money and sent off to use it in whatever way they wish with a view to returning by a fixed date with the original sum suitably multiplied by their endeavours.

Now 10,000 teenagers from 120 schools across the UK are to be handed £10 each and challenged to use it to make their mark on society. The money has been put up by a self made millionaire, Andrew Reynolds. He says "I want to prove that school age children, given the right encouragement, can prove themselves to be the best." The 14-18 year olds have a month to do as much as they can with their loans. If they wish they can group together and pool their resources or they can go it alone. An organisation called "The Big Boost" (funded by the lottery) is putting up a further £50,000 as an incentive to the top 50 teams who will be given £1000 each to develop their idea further.

I think this is an excellent project launched on the day that a Bollywood actress wins "Big Brother" not for herself, but for her country. Our future is in the hands of the young and we must let them know we believe in them and that we are relying on them. I have no doubt that they will come up trumps. However we need to pass on to them the perceived wisdom of the ages that spirituality is as important as materialism.