What a great opportunity Christmas brings with our society focusing the whole month of December around Jesus birthday. But as you know so many people barely give Jesus a second thought at Christmas as it becomes all about time off, presents, decorating, and eating too much. This Christmas Route One is getting involved in refocusing people onto the real meaning of Christmas. We were at the switching on of the Christmas lights in Leigh-on-Sea and will also be involved with Christmas events with Hawkwell Baptist Church and Thundersley Congregational Church. We really had a great time at the Leigh Lights switch on with loads of people coming on the bus including local councillors and the local MP for Southend West. We also had a chance to reconnect with some of the young people we have previously seen in Southend High School for Boys who were very pleased to see the bus and have the opportunity to show their parents around. We also had some great conversations with other families and groups of young people who we hope to get the chance to see in the future in their schools.

Route One at the Leigh Lights

We have completed our first school visit which was into Southend High school for Boy’s. We had a fantastic time on the bus taking lessons with

year 7 on Jesus death and resurrection and also spending time with year 12 & 13 students who were able to ask us anything they wanted in a grill a Christian question time.

It was great to hear lot’s of “wow’s” and “ah cool’s” as they came on the bus and all the students seemed keen to get involved in discussion and engage with the lesson’s. For the year 7's we split into groups and moved them around different areas of the bus focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection explaining what the bible shows us and what it means for Christians. There were so many positive comments from both the students and the teaching staff. One teacher said they would love to use the resource for teaching all the time and we also received an email from a parent who wrote-

“Just a short note to say that my son recently went on to the bus and said that he had an unforgettable, enjoyable and educational experience. A big thank you to you all and keep up the good work!”

Thank you to everyone who has helped this visit happen especially the volunteers who did a great job of leading the group work and answering questions. We will certainly look forward to returning to the school in the future

Well it feels like the floodgates are opening as the requests to use the bus have been coming in thick and fast. The new web site is barely 3 weeks old but in these 3 weeks we have taken a big step forward.

We have received several different types of bookings each of which require organising in a different way.
For example we have been approached by Hawkwell Baptist Church to get involved in their youth activities week in October half term. The organisation of this event is more simple than some others as the organisation including recruiting people and equipping them to use the bus all happens through the one church.

We have been asked by Southend High for Boys to bring the bus in after half term to do lessons with the whole of year 7 on death and resurrection.
This is a very exciting prospect but very different to the event in Hawkell not only because we will be going into school but also because we were contacted by the school direct and not a church. As you are probably already aware we don’t see ourselves as a parachurch organisation (that is an organisation working outside of the church independent of church oversight.)  We come under the oversight of SEELEF which is a forum of local church leaders and we make it our aim to equip the church rather than bypassing the church. We have already made contact with Southend Vineyard (who meet in the high school on Sundays) and Earls Hall Baptist church (which is just round the corner from the school.) Both of these churches are keen to be involved in helping deliver the lessons in Southend High for Boys but we are also open to other churches being involved. If you would like to know more about this then contact Simon This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

We have been asked by the churches in Leigh-on-Sea to be involved in the Leigh lights switch on which is happening on the 27th of November.

We are looking at a possibility of joining with Love Southend and parking the bus outside Southend library for a real meaning of Christmas event on the 12th of December.

These events will be great opportunities for you to see the bus or sign up to get involved in the events with us.

Don't forget to check the website regularly for new info about the upcoming events.