INSPIRESPRING 2012

The Coventry YFC NewsletterA small glimpse into the vast ministry & current activities of CYFC...

2012 is set to go down in the history books as an amazing year for sport and mission as the Olympics come to the UK and, more importantly, to Coventry.

There has never been a better time to engage in mission to young people as everyone* wi l l be focused on the games over the summer period.

There are already somemassive events being planned by local churches as they prepare to unite w i t h t h e i r l o c a l communi t ies th rough Olympic based outreach,

and it’s not too late for your church to get involved.

At CYFC we are keen to use this Olympic year to see hundreds of young lives changed. Our goal is to support local churches as they take to the streets and parks of Coventry to engage with young people and start the process of b u i l d i n g l o n g - t e r m relationships with them.

On the next page you’ll find a handful of simple ideas on how to engage with the olympics in your own neighbourbood, and

www.covyfc.org 02476 550257Registered Charity No. 1069852

ON YOUR MARKS...GET SET...

GO...

THE OLYMPICS ARE COMING TO . ARE YOU READY?

COVthe team at CYFC would love to help in any way we can.

There are loads more resources available for free from various organisations to help you get involved, so please do check them out and together we can make the the Olympics a mission opportunity that has a lasting impact upon the City of Coventry.

Please do get in touch if you’d like any more info.

OLYMPIC

SPECIAL

*rough translation: “lots of people”)

Your Journey to the Olympics Starts Here...“The Games”The Games is a one day school-based activity programme ideal for Key Stage 2, ages 7 to 11 (although is easily adapted for KS1, ages 4 to 6, or KS3, ages 12 to 14). It is a day that mixes fun and activity with educational curriculum-based sessions that incorporate PE, RE, PHSE, Art, Geography and other areas. It has been developed with More Than Gold as a response to the

London 2012 Games and reflects the specific context of working in schools and so is suitable for schools and pupils of all faiths or none.

CYFC would love to support your church in running a “The Games” day in your local school during the summer term.

The resource is available to download for free from: www.scriptureunion.org.uk/TheGames

Cafe 2012Imagine Youth Cafés opening all over Coventry, welcoming young people to a safe environment, offering them a chance to see the 2012 Games with their friends, play games, have fun and experience a true sense of community! Thanks to the 2012 Games being awarded to London, we

have an amazing opportunity to serve our local communities and reach out to young people in a relevant way. The guys at Aylesbury Vale YFC have produced a great resource to help churches across the UK engage with the 2012 Games.By opening a Youth Café for a few weeks over the summer you could help young people in your area to build new friendships through fun and competition and connect them to the local church.The whole Cafe 2012 resource & a brochure is available to download for free from: www.cafe2012.info

[out]work[ed] 2012Following the success of the J7 [out]work[ed] project back in May 2011,we are planning to run a similar project at the beginning of the schools summer break this year, but with a difference...

The plan is to encourage local church youth groups to head to their local park or playing field armed with sports equipment and spend a few hours each day engaging with local young people by encouraging them to get involved in a sports activity.

Playing sports is a great way for churches to connect with local young people and to start the process of building long term relationships, just by being there and meeting a need. It could also be a great way of promoting a local youth cafe (see left) to follow up those relationship - a simple but effective Olympic mission strategy.

If you would like more information on [out]work[ed] 2012 please do get in touch.

Have you ever considered that you could make a massive Kingdom impact in your local school before most people’s day even starts?Prayers on Toast is designed to offer young Christians a weekly early morning opportunity to pray for their friends (& eat toast) in their school environment as they

seek to live missional lives in front of their peers.Setting up a Prayers on Toast group in your local Secondary School is really easy. We’ve even produced a simple ‘how-to’ guide that you can download for free to help you get started.We’d love to see Prayers on Toast happening in schools

throughout the city, and would love to support you in running a group in your local school. If you’d like to talk further, please get in touch.

To download the guide, visit:www.covyfc.org/toast

Earlybird? You can make a difference...

image courtesy of sundesigns

In May of this year, CYFC’s director, Jon will be embarking on his latest hair-brained idea to raise much needed funds for the continued work of CYFC.

The plan is that, along with an elite group of trained athletes (joke!!), Jon will be cycling from the West coast of England to the East over the course of just 3 days, in an attempt to raise sponsorship that could pave the way to a new employed worker joining the CYFC team and the start of another ‘hub’ of work with local churches and schools within the city.

Tradition dictates that on May 14th, the ride will start by the team dipping their back wheels in the Irish Sea and will end when their front wheels get a dip in the North Sea at the finish on the Wednesday evening.

Obviously, the keys to the success of this event are both the hours of training put in by the cyclists over the coming months, and their ability to raise the funds that will make their trip not only viable but also will hopefully smash their target of £5000 in sponsorship.

We should emphasise this is not one of those irritating instances where someone asks to be sponsored for doing something pleasant on a Sunday afternoon, like asking you to sponsor them for walking two miles through an autumnal wood to provide cats with earmuffs during the firework season. On the trip, Jon and the team will be riding more than 50 miles per day (and that includes some pretty big slopes), incorporating a dizzying rise and fall of some 20,224 vertical feet - it's the equivalent of cycling from London to Sheffield, and cycling up snowdon 4 times along the way. It seemed like a good idea in the pub.

We would love you to consider supporting Jon and the team in their ‘epic’ journey. The easiest way to offer financial support is through CYFC’s JustGiving webpage. Alternatively, you can contact us through our website or by phone to offer your support.

Jon has promised us that he will carry his sponsorship form everywhere he goes for the next 4 months. We’re not telling you that so you know to run & hide, but because we’d love you to sign up and stand with us financially as the team take on this challenge. So if you see him, please ask him about the ride - he loves telling people about it - We know; We have to share and office with him!!

For more information and to sponsor the team online, visit www.justgiving.com/teams/seaYFsea

CYFC GOES SEA 2 SEA...

You can now choose to support CYFC through your own personal eBay account. Every time you sell your ‘stuff’ on eBay you can opt to donate anything from 10-100% of the proceeds to charity - and now that charity can be CYFC. Check our website for more details.

Would you considersupporting thework of Coventry Youth for Christ atan auction...

COV:NET SPECIAL ...At 7.30pm on March 12th, we will be holding a special cov:net session at Esquires Coffee House with guest speaker, Rich Atkinson.Rich is the leader of the Forge Network in Sheffield and will be sharing from his wealth of experience on reaching and keeping a misunderstood generation. We would LOVE you to join us for this evening!

PRAYER DIARY MARCH APRIL MAY

Partnerships

Please pray for the team here at CYFC as we work hard at building strong partnerships with local churches and schools.

Olympic Outreach

Please pray that CYFC would have a significant impact across the city as we help churches prepare to engage with the Olympics over the summer months.

Finance (see page 3)

Please pray for the safety of the team doing the C2C bike ride this month & that we would find new and increased financial support to develop our capacity for mission throughout the coming year. Please also consider your own investment into our work with young people.

Say Hello to our Latest Volunteer...Hi. I’m Louise Tandy, the part-time youth worker at All Saints, Allesley, and have the great pleasure of volunteering with CFYC on Wednesday’s. I am part of the team working in Tile Hill Wood Girl’s School. We go in at 8am (yep, very early!) to meet with a few girls as they arrive for school; chilling out, eating toast together and praying for them in the day ahead. It is amazing to see God at work in these girls, as the majority of them are not Christians but are happy for us to pray for them. At lunch times we hang out with the girls and build up relationships with them through taking an interest and listening to their stories. Next term we have the opportunity of running a youth alpha with them. It’s exciting to see God at work in this way and be able to be a part of it.Please continue to pray for CYFC as we work with God to take Prayers on Toast into other local schools & encourage local churches and their young people to partner with us on this journey.

Meet the CYFC Trustees: Marilyn SandersHi everyone. I’m Marilyn and I worship at West Orchards URC. It’s great to be one of the trustees of CYFC, helping to oversee the work, vision and governance of the Youth for Christ team. The board meets regularly with Jon, the Director, to discuss current issues and to be kept informed of the team’s work. Yes, sometimes we have to make tough decisions but our meetings also regularly involve cake and coffee!So why do I do it? – It’s a great privilege to be a Trustee of CYFC because the team is totally committed to building a generation of young people who know and love Jesus. The Christian ethos of the team is infectious and encouraging. Who would not want to be a part of that? Oh and also, it’s great fun!

AquaSports 201212-19th August

www.aquasports.org.uk

M A K E A S P L A S H T H I S S U M M E R ! !

Last summer, our director, Jon attended a Christian lakeside watersports camp called AQUASPORTS. Based near Marlow, Buckinghamshire, the camp offers young people from 14 to 19 years old a week of exciting watersports and the chance to make new friends from across the country.Sports available (subject to availability) include sailing, canoeing, water skiing, wakeboarding and kneeboarding.

There is also a great programme of land-based sports and evening activities, including challenging talks, small group discussions and ‘The Venue’ – a nightly mad session of interactive entertainment.The camp takes place under canvas – tents, showers and eating facilities (including great food) which are all provided. If you know of a young person who would love a action packed week away with some amazing opportunities to connect with

God, this may well be the camp for them.The total cost of the week is £295, all inclusive, which covers access to all sports and events, accommodation and all related facilities. Everything you need for a fantastic, very wet week away! The deposit for the week is £80.Bursaries may be available to make aquasports more affordable. Do call CYFC or check the aquasports website:

Louise

We are hoping to run a City-wide Youth Alpha course starting in October. If you would be interested in being a part of the team for this, please do get in touch.