Gavin, who has been at YFC for 13 years, national director for the last six and a council member of the EA since 2012, will replace Dr Krish Kandiah, who left the EA in the summer to become president of the London School of Theology.
Ken Wright, chair of the YFC Board, said: ‘We are enormously sorry to see Gavin move on. He is an outstanding and inspirational leader who has steered YFC to grow and develop in so many ways, taking the good news of Jesus to hundreds of thousands of young people.’
Gavin told Premier Youthwork: ‘It’s with a heavy heart I leave YFC. I love Youth for Christ but the Lord has led me to move on from ministering within a single generation to help the whole Church reach the people of the UK. I’m not giving up on youth work! The director of mission role is just not just for adults, it’s trying to reach people from the cradle to the grave. I still work with young people in my own
church; there’s no sense I’m going to drop all of that. I believe in young people. The future of YFC will be greater without me than with me. My prayer is that the right person comes along and takes YFC to places I never could have. I pray that my successor does greater things than I ever could have done. We need someone who really loves young people and really loves Jesus. It’s an incredible job; in many ways it’s the most exciting Christian job there could be.’
Gavin follows in the footsteps of his dad, who left YFC for the EA. His grandfather also led the EA. Gavin said: ‘Some are saying it’s a family business, I’m just saying that sometimes the Lord loves to use certain families to do certain things!’
