Sunday 8th January 2006 - Chrysalis Arts Trust Stakeholder Presentation

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.

 

Over the past 2/3 years Chrysalis has seen 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 AND 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.

However, we realised that we had reached a bit of a plateau. We were standing still and therefore in effect moving backwards. We needed to discern whether or not this was the end for our ministry or if God had other plans.

 

At the end of 2004 the Management Team and Trustees asked Tim Stone to assist our envisioning. We met regularly from November 2004 to July 2005 to develop a strategy for the future. We realised our main objective is:

to sow more seeds and introduce as many people as possible to the Christian faith.

We also realised we could not realise our dreams with only voluntary help-we needed full time staff and teams.

So we came up with a 10 year plan and worked out how our dreams could come true:

• Produced a business plan
• Worked through the activities/resources
• Drafted our indicative costs
• Determined annual budgets for 10 years
• Looked at income required
• Donations / gigs/ selling resources etc

And our key objectives

1. To appoint a Development Director
2. To have a Core Team of artists and trainers
3. To be the No 1 resource-providing organisation for local church mission in the UK

So far, we can approximate the number of seeds Chrysalis has sown as illustrated in the graph.

 

As a voluntary organisation we estimate the 'cost per seed' to be £15. To grow larger to sow more seeds WILL increase costs - but this is what we believe God would have us do.

Will you be part of the bigger picture?

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So, we've established Chrysalis needs more personnel and resources in order to sow more seeds. To introduce as many people as possible to the reality of God's love and the unique purpose and plan He has for their lives.

Chrysalis Situations Vacant!

• Prayer Coordinator
• Prayer Supporters
• Regional Representatives
• Artistes ( Including musicians, actors, writers, stage designers etc.)
• Technical Support
• Tour Crew
• Photographers
• Multimedia and AV
• Event Hospitality
• Administrators
• Financial Partners

If you feel God is calling you to be part of this exciting ministry please speak to any of the team for further information.
You can find contact details for Chrysalis Arts Trust on the "Contact us" page.