Jon Cox, executive director of Adventure Plus, discusses youthwork, children’s faith, discipleship and the opportunities offered by his Urban Adventure Park.
In 1990, my wife and I, two volunteer youth workers from London, set up AdventurePlus (A+). We came to Oxfordshire to be easily accessible for day or weekend visits for young people from London. We have grown since those days and we now deliver ‘Adventure Youthwork’, in a positive Christian environment, to over 7,500 children and young people every year. We cater for groups from 2 – 200, and we offer Total Adventure Holidays for individuals.
Furthermore, we developed AdventureImpact, our specialist programme for young people from chaotic backgrounds or are at risk of school exclusion or criminal lifestyles. We also run a Discipleship and Instructor Training Gap Year or DisTIL, which is a Christian adventure gap year that provides the first step into the outdoor sport industry as well as developing your relationship with God through the discipleship programme.
But we haven’t stopped here: Adventure Plus is building an adventure centre with a difference. The AdventureBase will feature a brand new Urban Adventure Park, offering Parkour, BMX and skating, scooting, and boarding, as well as traditional adventure activities including canoeing, climbing, caving, mountain biking, archery, bushcraft … all in a positive Christian environment and within easy reach of London.
We are in the final months of completing the purchase of the site and planning permission has been granted so we are now at the pioneering stage and starting to consider design and development. This is a very exciting time to share this adventure of faith with young people and to start to get them involved for two reasons:
Firstly, ownership: After years of preparation and fundraising, the story of the AdventureBase is about to ‘come to life’. This adventure is too big for us to keep to ourselves. When it is built it will be a fantastic centre to come and use – but now is the time to involve young people in helping make it happen and hence to be part of this unfolding story.
The adventure of faith we are travelling to help bring this exciting new Christian adventure centre to life, can be their adventure of faith too. They can get involved by joining our FunRaising programme – to be launched in autumn 2016. Any group can join. There is no set target of an amount to raise – just go out and have fun as a group raising support for the AdventureBase.
We will invite all FunRaisers to a free activity afternoon and a tour of the site, with a BBQ and prizes for groups who have had the most fun raising support and awareness for the exciting ‘Adventure of Faith’ that is unfolding here.
Secondly, get active: AdventurePlus is already offering activities on site – even before we’ve built the base. You can come with your youth group for an adventure weekend away and enjoy a range of activities – but also come and see what is unfolding here on the AdventureBase site. Or join us for our Total Adventure Holidays (for individuals). Come and make new friends or book in with one or two buddies…
So how can you get involved?
There are five ways to get your young people involved in the new AdventureBase:
- We will be working with top practitioners to design the urban adventure zone. If you know any young people who have ideas of features that we could put in – we’d love to hear from them.
- Come and stay! Your young people could be among the first to stay on our amazing site– even before it is built. We have a wonderful camping field and sports hall with a climbing wall.
- Invite A+ to visit you. We are always up for coming to share with your youth group.
- Get a copy of Life to the Max John 10:10, to read more of Jon’s story, and pass it on to a young person!
- Join the AdventureBase FUN Raising club, and be part of a free day of activities as a reward and a hog roast.
We look forward to seeing you soon and please email me at if you want to know more.
Having worked as a health teacher in Sudan, Jon Cox gained degree in Environmental Sciences at King’s London, before founding AdventurePlus ‘to encourage young people to live the Adventure of Faith’. Alongside leading the team at A+, Jon provides training for other organisations in leadership, health and safety and canoe coaching; and occasionally gets out to put his climbing (SPA) and mountain leader (summer) qualifications to good use.