As explained here, this is the first in a series of posts we are going to put up over the next few weeks talking about how Unite came about and where it is now. We are hoping that this might help us to figure out where to go next.

In 2003 Becky and I were involved with the youth group at Above Bar Church in Southampton. Because she knew vaguely what she was doing, she got paid to do this. At this time letters to her were addressed to Ms Thornton. Mrs Ward was my mum. I was working for IBM.

You know how when you go on a residential you often decide God has told you to do something, you get all excited. Somewhere between 2 days and 3 weeks later, it's all blown over and you decide you aren't going to chance the known world after all. In the case of John and Andy, the last bit didn't happen. Not for a year or two anyway.

Having two young people that wanted to change the world, or Southampton at least, was a good thing. As they came to the end of school, they began to look around for something exciting to do for God. At that time, staying in Southampton didn't seem an option – there weren't many options to do this, and none that involved starting and running outreach projects to young people. Many conversations later we'd come up with some money, Ruth to work with them a few days a week to give them “direction” and they got started.

The vision was to help the young people in Southampton to get to know Jesus. The strategy was to find ways for churches to work together to achieve this. I don't really remember when exactly they came up with the name “Unite”, but it seemed to work and as it was their project it was their decision anyway.

Personally, I had never had the faintest interest in church unity. My view was that there were good and sensible reasons that people met in different congregations in different buildings on Sundays. Everyone has a different personality and preferences, so it seemed natural that they would want to meet in different ways. I had always had a passion for working with young people, and this seemed exciting, and I wanted to be involved.

I think I lasted about 6 more months at IBM before I decided to leave, sell my flat and live off the profits so I could be involved day-to-day. Becky was our top advisor, doing what she would continue to do which was help me see things more clearly.

So, that's how we got started. In future posts over the next few weeks, we'll write more about where things went and how we began to be changed as we went on. Stick around and we might even admit to some mistakes.