Chrysalis was born out of a vision given to Mandy Watsham and Nicki Matthews in May 1991. Neither of them had a real understanding of what the Christian Gospel meant. They had both found out about Christianity through friends, and when they discovered the truth, they realised something had to be done to counteract the misconceptions they and others had about Christianity. Their friends and families were unlikely to go church and even if they did, they would undoubtedly be justified in feeling out of place. Several months later Chrysalis was born. A Cabaret-style event including music, drama, and video using mostly secular material. The aim... to create a relaxed and professional environment designed to break down the barriers and misconceptions people have about Christianity. Over the years Chrysalis has travelled the length and breadth of England with over 390 Gigs from Cornwall to Northumberland plus several visits to Eastern Europe with varying personnel and musicians. ALL VOLUNTEERS and all of whom feel God has called them to be part of this, first step evangelism.

In 2003 Chrysalis saw the launch of a new team - Classical Chrysalis to meet a group of people with different musical tastes. The aim is the same as all other Chrysalis presentations to break down barriers and misconceptions people have about Christianity. Our mission statement states that we do this by "meeting people where they're at". The idea of the classical team is to meet people with a love for classical music. Bookings for this team are growing and their presentation is professional and challenging. 2005 also saw our first visit to Easter People to showcase what we do and we were very pleased to go back in 2006 to perform as well as take a seminar. We have also seen growth in bookings for the smaller Cabaret Team. This only involves 4 or 5 people making the logistics much easier.

 

 

In 2005 you may remember that we went through a period of ‘envisioning’ to see where Chrysalis could go next. We came up with an ambitious plan to develop the charity with aspirations to expand bookings and teams. To achieve this expansion we decided to appoint a Development Director, and Jo Foster started with us in October 2006.

Unfortunately Jo was diagnosed with breast cancer, and was off work for most of 2007.
Also that year we had the great news that both Mandy and Nicki were pregnant! Consequently the only areas of growth that year were Nicki and Mandy’s ‘bumps’ !!

Thankfully Jo made a full recovery, and got back to work in 2008 – praise the Lord. She developed many fundraising ideas, liaised with several Conference organisers and started discussions with Prison Outreach groups. The Classical Team was going from strength to strength, including tours in Europe, and Toby and Mollie made their safe arrivals into the world.

Some years earlier Mandy and Nicki had felt a leaning towards presenting Chrysalis locally on a more regular basis in the Trusts home town of Chesham to establish a working reality of this type of relational evangelism. But as the touring diary was so full it was put on the back burner at the time! Now they feel God is again calling Chrysalis to engage more with the local community just as it did when it started back in 1992.

Nicki and Mandy got thinking and praying to see exactly what God had in mind for them and Chrysalis. Two ideas came out that were developed and brought to the Trustees to consider:

1. A touring team made up of ‘gap year’ performing arts students to work alongside churches, within schools and prisons addressing the needs of the communities with a possible social needs slant.

2. Different community events, starting with a Community Choir - made up of local people from outside and inside the church. (again relational evangelism), to have fun, build friendships whilst singing a range of music including gospel and musical theatre.

In September the Trustees had an ‘Extra Ordinary Trustees Meeting’ (is there such a thing as an ‘Ordinary Trustees Meeting??) and we prayed and considered the options.

We decided that the Community Choir was a straightforward proposal that should proceed immediately – partly as the plans led up to Christmas. Also that Jo should produce a Feasibility Study for the Touring Youth Band.

The Trustees met again at the beginning of October to consider the next steps. The Community Gospel Choir was given the full go ahead, and we reviewed the excellent Feasibility Study that Jo had produced regarding the Youth Band. Whilst the Trustees fully supported the proposal, they decided it was better to focus on one new development at a time, and therefore defer it for a year.

With these significant changes, the Trustees also had to look at the role of Development Director. With the change in focus from national expansion to more local work, we realised that going forward, a Development Director was no longer a necessity. Consequently the difficult decision was made to not renew Jo’s Contract when it comes up for renewal in January 2009. It was some relief when Jo admitted that she had been contemplating becoming a full time Mum as both her girls will be at school/pre-school from next year.

So the Classical Team will still be touring and working alongside local churches in the UK. They play a very important part in the future of Chrysalis and will continue to offer their high-class and professional ministry to churches throughout the UK. The Cabaret and main teams will not completely cease to exist but whilst not touring as regularly as they have done, they will be available for certain projects and people will be advised to ring the office if they are interested in using these teams. Chrysalis Rocks is still ‘in the wings’ but we hope they are on the road in 2009.

However, we do believe that Chrysalis is now ‘hatching’ into our next phase. We are all excited by the new ideas for the Community Choir, and the Touring Youth Band in the future. We believe God has great plans for Chrysalis. Thank you for your backing in the past and we would ask for your continued prayers as we move towards these new ventures.

If you would like any further details on the Chrysalis Community Choir or Classical Chrysalis, please contact the Chrysalis Office…….