The Story and Heart Behind Purpose and Life Club
It started with two mothers and one conversation.
Most of us were given information long before anyone helped us with formation. We were taught what to know, what to do, and what to become. Far fewer of us were helped to understand who we are, why we are here, and how to build a life that holds together.
Purpose and Life Club exists for that work. It is work for every season of life, and it begins with young people, because that is where the question first arrives.
It Began With a Question
Who am I?
Debbie was raising two sons, one a preteen and one a teenager, when she started noticing something in the young people around her, her own included. The move from primary school to secondary school was hard, but not mainly because of the academics. It was hard because of the questions that arrive in that season. Who am I? Do I need to fit in, or am I meant to be different? What is God’s purpose for my life, and how do I live it fully?
Many were entering that season without the language or the footing to answer them. And formation was already happening. Family, friends, school, culture, and social media were all shaping these young people every day. The real question was who was helping to shape them on purpose.
Debbie sensed God drawing her attention to something. What she was learning in her own home could become strength for many other young people coming behind. It was still a journey and it still is, but she heard Him say He was equipping her for exactly this.
Another Chair. The Same Burden.
Teni was asking the same questions from a different seat. She studied Social Policy and Health & Social Care in Greater Manchester, worked in a school in Bolton, volunteered with young people in London, and has served in the NHS. Wherever her work took her, she found herself drawn to the people at the beginning of the story.
But her deepest reason was simpler. She was a mother raising a teenager, praying as every parent prays, for wisdom to raise her children in faith. She knew she could not do it alone. She did not believe parents are meant to have every answer. She believed we are called to do our part faithfully and trust God with the journey.
Then Came the Conversation
The two women had already connected around a shared desire to support the next generation. Then one conversation became different.
They talked about what God was placing on their hearts. The concern was shared, and so was the desire. Both remember God being present in that conversation, and the direction that came with it. So did the name: Purpose and Life Club.
What began as two women asking what God would have them do became a vision for a place where young people can learn, ask honest questions, build friendships that matter, and discover how faith connects to ordinary life. And it became a place where parents can find encouragement, because raising the next generation was never meant to be done alone.
Distinction, Not Isolation
At the centre of PLC is a conviction Debbie holds firmly. When Scripture speaks of coming out from among the crowd (2 Corinthians 6:17), it is not describing isolation. It is describing distinction.
“Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’”2 Corinthians 6:17, NIV
You do not have to lose yourself to belong. You can follow God and still be different. You can stand out without standing alone.
That is what we most want young people to hear early. They do not have to become someone else to be accepted. They can know whose they are, and let that shape how they live.
Continue the story.
Where this is going, what we believe, and who is hosting your child’s journey.