Who Are Life Discovery? What church or denomination do you represent?
All this sounds very expensive. How can everyone afford to attend?
Are there any basic rules of attendance?
What kind of response have you had to your work so far?
How many people are involved in this work?
Do you give guests the opportunity to make up their own minds?
Can people get practically involved?
What if we can't get a group of people together?
How many people 'get saved' on your days?
Aren't programmes like this already available elsewhere?
Isn't this a youth programme?
Will our guests be 'preached at' & what will you be telling them?

Is Life Discovery a registered charity

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Who Are Life Discovery? What church or denomination do you represent?  TOP
Life Discovery doesn't represent any particular church or Christian denomination, nor does it seek to convert or push people towards any church or denomination. It's simply a Christian charity made up of volunteers from Christian churches all around the South East who want to do something about the way their faith is communicated and give ordinary people 'space to think' about the real issues that go with having a relationship with God. Life Discovery team members are unpaid and all give their time and their own money to make these days possible. Many would agree that a day spent karting, jet skiing, mud buggy driving or even kayaking would represent life lived to the full. Most would also agree however, that really being able to live life to the full is about something much deeper. Being able perhaps to properly answer life's key questions - Why Do I Exist?, What's My Purpose & Does My Life Matter? So on a Life Discovery day, we try and enable our guests to look at - and live - life to the full on both levels. They won't be preached at: we just want to offer some answers for guests to consider to some of life's key questions.

All this sounds very expensive. How can everyone afford to attend? TOP
Very simply because we do everything we can cost-wise to enable people to come. Most of our guests (including of course those who are homeless) come free of charge. For those that can contribute, we have a low suggested donation figure of £38 a head (whether the guest attending is Christian or non-Christian) which, given that it includes lunch, dinner, drinks, kit, insurance and all activities, is way less than it actually costs us to run the day (one reason why we give people an additional opportunity to contribute at the end). If a host or a guest can't afford this, then we can discuss with them a number of ways of subsidising attendance so that money need never be a barrier to someone being able to attend a day. Many Christians bringing guests pay on behalf of those non-Christian guests to make the day free of charge to them. Others feel it's important to place a monetary value on the event.

What kind of response have you had to your work so far? TOP
Our vision for this work has now been tested over a number of years, first with the Karting For Life programme launched in 1992, followed with a sister programme, Watersports For Life, established in 1997. Then came the Xtreme Mudsports For Life programme in 2002 followed by the Paintballing For Life programme that was launched in 2006. We have seen some wonderful results from the work. Many people have become Christians on the day themselves, but many more have gone away with the friend, relative or work colleague who brought them, their prejudices about Christianity shattered.

Are there any basic rules of attendance? TOP
Only two. We only subsidise guest attendance for those prepared to stay for the entire event, including the evening talk. We cannot accept guest bookings or guest attendance on the day for any not able to do this, so hosts need to ensure that the people they bring are properly briefed before the event. The second rule is that guests must obviously comply with the various safety rules that will be made clear by instructors during the day.

How many people are involved in this work? TOP
It takes many men and women to operate a Life Discovery day, typically around 20-30 people from lots of different types of Christian churches all over the South East. They're all volunteers, giving up their spare time to make these days possible. Our guests just can't believe the amount of effort that is put in or how excited the team is about doing it.

Do you give guests the opportunity to make up their own minds? TOP
Absolutely. At the beginning of each day we show a video which presents the ministry and our motivation for doing what we do. We are totally honest with our guests right from the word go and we make it clear that the only reason we go to such expense and lengths to run the days is because of faith and our desire to communicate it in a relevant way.

Many would agree that a day spent karting, jet skiing, mud buggy driving or kayaking would represent life lived to the full. Most would also agree however, that really being able to live life to the full is about something much deeper. Being able perhaps to properly answer life's key questions - Why Do I Exist?, What's My Purpose & Does My Life Matter? So on a Life Discovery day, we try and enable our guests to look at - and live - life to the full on both levels. They won't be preached at: we just want to offer some answers for guests to consider to some of life's key questions.

We address those life questions throughout a day that finishes with a Gospel message from a speaker who all the guests will have had fun with throughout the event. We try and make sure that the Gospel message is clear, challenging and relevant and we have our own booklet for guests to take away - 'Exploding The Myths'  - that answers common questions people have about the Christian faith. This is part of our 'Life Changing Stuff' pack which also includes 'stuff' to view (a DVD with some short films) and 'stuff' to listen to (the Gospel of John on CD). We’re always happy to put potential guest hosts in touch with the event speaker prior to the day itself to discuss the message being communicated. On the day, aside from the talks at lunchtime and in the evening, if people want to ask about our faith, they can. Otherwise they are free to enjoy the activities we offer them.

Can people get practically involved? TOP
Yes of course. Our programmes are run entirely due to efforts and giving of Christians who have been led to an involvement in this work.

We run the ministry in faith that the Lord will continue to bring us the people we need. People who can instruct. People who can administrate and project manage. People who can cook. People who can provide the proper clothing. People who have caravans or hospitality units or who can provide transport. People who simply want to support us with financial gifts.

Certainly, those who've been involved with us so far, either practically or financially, have found this ministry an exciting opportunity for reaching people with the Gospel - often people they never thought it possible to reach. See our Help us page.

What if we can't get a group of people together? TOP
You don't have to book a whole day or a large chunk of places. In fact, it’s often good for people to use our ministry on an ongoing basis for smaller numbers of people.

How many people 'get saved' on your days? TOP
To be honest, this indicates a misconception of what we're doing. People who are ready to 'get saved' really shouldn't be on one of our days - the local church can usually meet their needs.

Our days are geared towards the needs of people who have no interest in the Christian faith but who are struggling with the big issues of life and would be receptive to a Christian perspective on this. To answer all these issues, they’ll certainly also need a relationship with a Christian that's stronger than on a surface level: so our days are very much about relationship-building.

Aren't programmes like this already available elsewhere? TOP
Not to our knowledge. The way we do our activities, it's a once-in-a-lifetime day out. If you were to try and replicate what we do on a Life Discovery day by using a secular corporate entertainments company event, the cost might well be several hundred pounds a head. And even where a church or group does organise a day out along these lines with a secular corporate company, it won't be with a Christian organisation all of whose staff are Christian and ready to share the Gospel. Nor, we would argue, will the equipment, the standard of instruction or the time available be anything like as good.

Isn't this a youth programme? TOP
No, it isn't. This is an adult ministry with a minimum age limit of 18 (but no upper age limit!).

Will our guests be 'preached at' & what will you be telling them? TOP
That's not our intention in any way.

Many would agree that a day spent karting, jet skiing, mud buggy driving or kayaking would represent life lived to the full. Most would also agree however, that really being able to live life to the full is about something much deeper. Being able perhaps to properly answer life's key questions - Why Do I Exist?, What's My Purpose & Does My Life Matter? So on a Life Discovery day, we try and enable our guests to look at - and live - life to the full on both levels. They won't be preached at: we just want to offer some answers for guests to consider to some of life's key questions.

We address these questions briefly in the morning, as part of explaining what we're about, then in more detail at lunchtime (where there's also a discussion time). We then bring all the strands of our presentation together in the evening talk before the main meal, after which guests will get our booklet 'Exploding The Myths' to take away and read.

Throughout it all, we hope that the Gospel will be thoroughly presented in a challenging way. We're not trying to communicate an A-Z of Christianity: just to give people a chance to think about key life issues as part of a day during which they build relationships with Christian people as a part of discovering exciting activities.

If you've more questions on this or would like to know the specific nature of the talks given, contact us here and we will send you further details.

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Is Life Discovery a registered Charity TOP

Yes we are.

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